4W STATE OF BRITAIN 



speaks thus, was familiarly acquainted with the 

 great power of the Roman state, and the popu- 

 lous countries that then composed the empire, 

 and would not be likely to use the language he 

 has done, unless the Britons were really numerous 

 and powerful. Had Tacitus been a native of 

 some small state, his language might be con- 

 strued to mean, that the Britons were power- 

 ful compared with his own petty nation. But 

 Rome was then at the height of her greatness, 

 and really potent nations might well have ap- 

 peared weak in the eyes of a Roman. The 

 language of the writer may, therefore, be under- 

 stood to mean fully as much as the expressions 

 will convey : and, together with the forty -one 

 years that the Romans took to conquer Britain, 

 sufficiently prove that it was, at that period, both 

 populous and powerful. 



So far, we have proceeded on the direct evidence 

 furnished by Caesar and Tacitus, but there are 

 other facts which lead to a strong presumption in 

 favour of the same conclusion. The internal 

 systems of economy of Britain and Gaul were 

 very similar, and Gaul was known to be ex- 

 tremely populous. And to an overflow of its 

 population, the invasion of Italy, by the Gauls, 

 was attributed. Appian states, that there were 

 four hundred nations in Gaul, and Diodorus 



