Young Folks History of England | Page 2

arms and breasts naked, and painted all over in blue patterns. They
yelled and brandished their darts, to make Julius Caesar and his Roman
soldiers keep away; but he only went on to a place where the shore was
not quite so steep, and there commanded his soldiers to land. The
savages had run along the shore too, and there was a terrible fight; but
at last the man who carried the eagle jumped down into the middle of
the natives, calling out to his fellows that they must come after him, or
they would lose their eagle. They all came rushing and leaping down,
and thus they managed to force back the savages, and make their way
to the shore.
There was not much worth having when they had made their way there.
Though they came again the next year, and forced their way a good
deal farther into the country, they saw chiefly bare downs, or heaths, or

thick woods. The few houses were little more than piles of stones, and
the people were rough and wild, and could do very little. The men
hunted wild boars, and wolves and stags, and the women dug the
ground, and raised a little corn, which they ground to flour between two
stones to make bread; and they spun the wool of their sheep, dyed it
with bright colors, and wove it into dresses. They had some strong
places in the woods, with trunks of trees, cut down to shut them in from
the enemy, with all their flocks and cattle; but Caesar did not get into
any of these. He only made the natives give him some of their pearls,
and call the Romans their masters, and then he went back to his ships,
and none of the set of savages who were alive when he came saw him
or his Romans any more.
Do you know who these savages were who fought with Julius Caesar?
They were called Britons. And the country he came to see? That was
our very own island, England, only it was not called so then. And the
place where Julius Caesar landed is called Deal, and, if you look at the
map where England and France most nearly touch one another, I think
you will see the name Deal, and remember it was there Julius Caesar
landed, and fought with the Britons.
It was fifty-five years before our blessed Saviour was born that the
Romans came. So at the top of this chapter stands B.C. (Before Christ)
55.

CHAPTER II
.
THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN. A.D. 41--418.
It was nearly a hundred years before any more of the Romans came to
Britain; but they were people who could not hear of a place without
wanting to conquer it, and they never left off trying till they had done
what they undertook.
One of their emperors, named Claudius, sent his soldiers to conquer the
island, and then came to see it himself, and called himself Brittanicus in
honor of the victory, just as if he had done it himself, instead of his
generals. One British chief, whose name was Caractacus, who had
fought very bravely against the Romans, was brought to Rome, with
chains on his hands and feet, and set before them emperor. As he stood

there, he said that, when he looked at all the grand buildings of stone
and marble in the streets, he could not think why the Romans should
want to take away the poor rough-stone huts of the Britons. The wife of
Caractacus, who had also been brought a prisoner to Rome, fell upon
her knees imploring for pity, but the conquered chief asked for nothing
and exhibited no signs of fear. Claudius was kind to Caractacus; but the
Romans went on conquering Britain till they had won all the part of it
that lies south of the river Tweed; and, as the people beyond that point
were more fierce and savage still, a very strong wall, with a bank of
earth and deep ditch was made to keep them out, and always watched
by Roman soldiers.
The Romans made beautiful straight roads all over the country, and
they built towns. Almost all the towns whose names end in chester
were begun by the Romans, and bits of their walls are to be seen still,
built of very small bricks. Sometimes people dig up a bit of the
beautiful pavement of colored tiles, in patterns, which used to be the
floors of their houses, or a piece of their money, or one of their
ornaments.
For the Romans held Britain for four hundred years, and tamed the wild
people in the south, and taught them to speak and dress, and read and
write like themselves, so that they could hardly