The British nation a history / by George MWrong . ce, but mainly, we may believe, formoving troops easily, and thus holding the conqueredtribes in subjection. Probably few Romans of the first rank ever dwelt inBritain. Officials, traders, and soldiers Avent thither fromEome, as they now go to India from England,and ruled a subject population by virtue ofsuperior organization and culture. Thoughthe Gauls readily for-got their tongue forthat of Rome, appar-ently the Britons neverin large numbers gaveup theirs. Some chief-tains adopted the lan-guage of the conquer-or, his dress and civi-lization,
The British nation a history / by George MWrong . ce, but mainly, we may believe, formoving troops easily, and thus holding the conqueredtribes in subjection. Probably few Romans of the first rank ever dwelt inBritain. Officials, traders, and soldiers Avent thither fromEome, as they now go to India from England,and ruled a subject population by virtue ofsuperior organization and culture. Thoughthe Gauls readily for-got their tongue forthat of Rome, appar-ently the Britons neverin large numbers gaveup theirs. Some chief-tains adopted the lan-guage of the conquer-or, his dress and civi-lization, and even afictitious Roman j)edi-gree, and Rome, inBritain as elsewhere,used such leaders asagents of her ownsupremacy. The tax-gatherer did his sor-did work, and theburden became evermore crushing, espe- Hadrian in 119, cially for Severus in 208- the well-to-do citizens of the towns. An em- 211, Coastan- i i_ ^i j_t • tinsin296 Con- P^^or, ambitious to survcy even the outlyingstantine in 306. parts of his dominions, occasionally reached. V^/ 26 THE BRITISH NATION Britain and gave the island a temporary importance by his presence. Every year the conscription carried off drafts of men : British recrnits served Rome in Ganl and Spain and on the Danube and the Euphrates. On the other hand, Christian missionaries earried to Britain what became in 313 the religion of the emperor, and many of the Roman masters, and of their British dependents and slaves, accepted the faith of Christ. The Picts or Caledonians from the north, the Scots from what is now Ireland, Saxons from across the Xorth „, , ,. „ Sea, harassed the Roman power, and pene-The decline of . -r i m •? the Roman trated sometimes as lar as London. Towardspower m ^j^g end of the fourth century the feebleness of Romes sway wrs seen when more thanone rebel general was proclaimed Emperor in Britain byhis soldiers, and crossed to Gaul in a vain attempt tomarch to the capital. The later days of Roman rulewere marked
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