The Romans in Britain- Extended Literature

Extended Literature

(i) The climate is foul with frequent rains and mists, but there is no extreme cold. Their 

day is longer than in our part of the world. The night is bright and, in the furthest part 

of Britannia, so short that you can barely distinguish the evening from the morning 

twilight. If no clouds block the view, the sun’s glow, they say, can be seen all night 

long: it does not set and rise, but simply passes along the horizon. In fact, the flat ends 

of the earth cannot, with their low shadow, raise the darkness to any height; night 

therefore fails to reach the sky and its stars. 

The soil is productive of crops, except for olives, grapes and other natives of warmer 

climes, and rich in cattle. Crops are slow to ripen, but quick to grow - both facts due to 

one and the same cause, the abundant moisture of land and sky. Britannia yields gold, 

silver and other metals, a reward for victory. The Ocean, too, produces pearls, but they 

are dusky and mottled. Some think that those who gather them lack skill. Whereas in 

the Red Sea they are torn alive and breathing from the rocks, in Britannia they are 

collected as the sea throws them up. I find more plausible a lack of quality in pearls 

than of greed in us.

The Britanni themselves readily submit to the levy, the tribute and the other obligations 

of empire, provided that there is no abuse. That they bitterly resent, for they have been 

broken in to obedience, not to slavery. Divus Julius, the first Roman to enter Britannia 

with an army, did indeed intimidate the natives by a victory and gained control of the 

coast, but he can be said to have pointed it out, not handed it over, to posterity. Then 

came the civil wars, with the weapons of Roman leaders turned against the 

commonwealth. But even in peace, Britannia was long out of mind. Divus Augustus 

called this ‘policy’, Tiberius ‘precedent’. Gaius Caesar unquestionably planned an 

invasion of Britannia, but his quick fancies shifted like a weathervane, and his vast 

efforts against Germania came to naught. It was Divus Claudius who was responsible 

for the great undertaking: he sent over legions and auxiliaries and chose Vespasian as 

his colleague- the first step towards his future greatness. Nations were subdued, kings 

were captured and Vespasian was marked out by fate.

Aulus Plautius was the first consular to be appointed governor, and soon after him 

came Ostorius Scapula – both men with distinguished military records. The nearest 

parts of Britannia were gradually shaped into a province, and moreover a colony of 

veterans was founded. Certain states were presented to King Togidumnus, who 

maintained his unswerving loyalty down to our own times - an example of the long-established Roman custom of employing even kings to make others slaves. Didius 

Gallus, the next governor, held on to what his predecessors had won, and even pushed 

a few forts…