Page:The Celtic Review volume 3.djvu/268

Rh people of South Britain whom Cæsar conquered were mere barbarians.

That there were barbarous races living in various parts of the British Isles two thousand years ago seems established beyond dispute. But Cæsar himself shows us that the British people who first opposed him were as different from those races as day is from night. True, he applied the term ‘barbarian’ to all of them indifferently. But, in the mouth of a Roman, ‘barbarian’ meant no more than it does to-day in the mouth of a Chinaman, to whom all Europeans are ‘barbarians.’ The occasion, then, on which Cæsar reveals to us the civilization of the ruling race in South Britain, is his description of the great sea-fight off the south coast of Brittany, in which the Romans annihilated the combined fleet of the Devonians and the people of Guened, or Vannes. Prior to that great victory, it was quite hopeless for the inferior Roman galleys to force their way to British shores; and that the victory was a Roman instead of a Celtic one was wholly due to the ingenuity and daring of the Romans. For Cæsar clearly points out that the navy of the allies, which consisted of 220 ships, fully equipped and appointed, was superior to that of the Romans in every respect. So far as one can judge from Cæsar’s description, the Celtic ships were of the style that we now call ‘Dutch built’; broad in the beam, with high forecastle and poop. They were built entirely of oak, and their stout timbers were well riveted together with iron pins ‘as thick as a man’s thumb.’ Their bulk was such that the idea of the small, light Roman galleys attempting to ram them was regarded by the Romans as out of the question; and the ships of the Celts rose so high above the water-line that the projectiles from their forecastles were thrown downward upon the deck-turrets of the Roman galleys. Conversely, the missiles of the Romans lost half their effect by having to be thrown upward. Other details show the same superiority in culture. The Romans do not appear to have known or thought of anything better than ropes for their anchors until they saw the chain cables of the Celts. Further, although Cæsar refers