THE ROMAN CONTINGENT 33 



not drive away the Britons as the Europeans 

 drove away the red Indians, but settled among 

 them much as the English have settled in India. 

 Their policy was to bring civilisation, industry, 

 and commerce to the people they had conquered ; 

 to build towns and cities ; to set up such a system 

 of military stations as would secure their enter- 

 prise from enemies both within and without ; and 

 to lay down such a net-work of roads as would 

 afford ready and easy communication between all 

 parts of the country. Only a small proportion of 

 the Romans took to farming, and these only in 

 the neighbourhood of towns and military stations, 

 or in districts with a comparatively dense and 

 homogeneous Roman population. Consequently 

 the Roman cattle were confined to the vicinity of 

 towns and military stations, and, a large number 

 being required for transport and other military 

 purposes, it is inconceivable that many got into 

 the hands of the natives. 



The nature of the Roman evacuation of 

 Britain is well known. It was almost a rout : 

 a kind of forced march in which every impedi- 

 ment was left behind and only fighting gear and 

 the minimum of food supplies were carried. The 

 necessary transport animals were taken away, but 

 cows and young stock, which would have been an 

 insufferable encumbrance, were left behind. We 

 know also the state of the country after the flight 

 of the Romans ; how the unsettled natives had 



