ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 219 



more about the ancient Britons. As an effect of these two 

 raids the southern tribes of Britain were regarded at Rome 

 as vassals of the Empire ; but had the Britons themselves 

 been asked they might have told a different tale. 



But our chief interest is to learn what Caesar has to tell us 

 about the people. We have seen they were good fighters ; 

 another point on which we may claim kinship, a foreign 

 enemy at the gate united tribes which before were unfriendly. 

 He siDeaks of the inhabitants as numerous, and living in 

 dwellings similar to those of the Galli. (By another author 

 these are described as cabins made of brushwood — virgeas 

 habitant casas.) He describes them as wearing their hair 

 long, shaving all but the head and upper lip, and staining 

 themselves with woad {inficiunt vitro). For money they 

 used rods, of iron or copper, of a certain weight. He credits 

 them, too, with being excellent charioteers, though he says 

 nothing about the scythes fixed to the axles ; Pomponius 

 Mela, the historian, seems to be the only authority for them, 

 and as it is unsupported by any of the numerous discoveries 

 that have been made, we may, I suppose, dismiss it as a myth. 

 Having their horses under perfect control, they had the 

 mobility of cavalry with the stability of foot-soldiers. The 

 coast-dwellers he considered the more civilised ; those 

 living inland did not sow corn, they lived on milk and flesh. 



Nearly 100 years passed ere Rome took in hand the sub- 

 jugation of Britam. It had been planned years before by 

 the Emperor Augustus, but imperial matters occupied his 

 attention, and it was left to Claudius, 43 a.d., to undertake 

 the conquest. The Second Legion, under the command of 

 Vespasian, afterwards Emperor, subdued the south and 

 penetrated as far as Somersetshire. Within three or four 

 years all south of the Humber was annexed, but fighting was 

 contmued m the highlands to the North and West till the end 

 of the 2nd century. 



Thus it is to the Lowlands, which were the first to settle 

 down peacefully, that we must turn for scenes of civil life. 

 Here it was that towns, villages, and country-houses would 



