14 Roman Britain and Early England 



The tribes which lived further inland were, according to 

 tradition, native to the island. Most of them did not sow corn, 

 but lived on milk and meat, and were clothed in skins. This 

 means that they had migrated from Europe at a much earlier 

 time, that they had no intercourse with foreigners, and probably 

 only a fighting intercourse with neighbouring and more civilized 

 tribes. These lived along the eastern coast, for communication 

 was easier by sea than by land, and the best corn-growing soils 

 lie close to the North Sea. 



About thirty years after Caesar's visits Strabo gave an interest- 

 ing account of the Britons, of what they produced as well as of 

 their looks and habits. Among the exports from the island were 

 corn, cattle, skins, captive slaves, and hounds of a good breed for 

 hunting-packs. i The men are taller ', he says, ' than the Celts and 

 not so fair-haired, but they are rather loosely built. A proof of their 

 size can be seen in some of them here in Rome just out of their 

 boyhood, but all the same taller by half a foot than the tallest 

 men here. Their legs and feet are badly shaped, and altogether 

 they have not graceful figures. In habits they are like the Celts, 

 rather simple and barbarous. Some of them live on milk not 

 made into cheese ; for they do not know how to make cheese, 

 and they have no experience of gardening and other kinds of 

 agriculture. Their towns are coppice-woods ; for they fence in 

 a wide circle of country with trees which they have felled, build 

 huts and put up stalls for their cattle only for a short time.' 



Under the Roman rule the Britons had necessarily to become 

 more civilized. A great amount of corn was grown and exported 

 to Roman provinces on the Continent. The best methods of 

 cultivation known to the Romans at the time were introduced as 

 far as they could be with a backward people, most of whom had 

 been reduced to slavery. While the country was being improved 

 by the construction of roads and by cultivation, the people were 

 being demoralized. In spite of rebellions against oppressive 



