XI. Indigenae an advecti. Cf. note, G. 2: indigenas.
Ut inter barbaros, sc. fieri solet. Cf. ut in licentia, G. 2; and ut inter Germanos, G. 30.
Rutilae—asseverant. Cf. the description of the Germans, G. 4. The inhabitants of Caledonia are of the same stock as the other Britons. The conclusion, to which our author inclines below, viz. that the Britons proceeded from Gaul, is sustained by the authority of modern ethnologists. The original inhabitants of Britain are found, both by philological and historical evidence, to have belonged to the Celtic or Cimmerian stock, which once overspread nearly the whole of central Europe, but were overrun and pushed off the stage by the Gothic or German Tribes, and now have their distinct representatives only in the Welsh, the Irish, the Highland Scotch, and a few similar remnants of a once powerful race in the extreme west of the continent and the islands of the sea. Cf. note on the Cimbri, G. 37.
Silurum. The people of Wales.
Colorati vultus. Dark complexion. So with the poets, colorati Indi, Seres, Etrusci, &c.
Hispania. Nom. subject of faciunt, with crines, &c.
Iberos. Properly a people on the Iberus (Ebro), who gave their name to the whole Spanish Peninsula. They belonged to a different race from the Celtic, or the Teutonic, which seems once to have inhabited Italy and Sicily, as well as parts of Gaul and Spain. A dialect is still spoken in the mountainous regions about the Bay of Biscay, and called the Basque or Biscayan, which differs from any other dialect in Europe. Cf. Prichard's Physical Researches, vol. III. chap. 2.
Proximi Gallis. Cf. Caes. B.G. 5, 14: Ex his omnibus longe sunt humanissimi, qui Cantium (Kent) incolunt, quae regio est maritima omnis, neque multum a Gallica differunt consuetudine. Et—also: those nearest the Gauls are also like them.
Durante vi. Either because the influence of a common origin still continues, etc.
Procurrentibus—terris. Or because their territories running out towards one another, literally, in opposite directions, Britain towards the south and Gaul towards the north, so as to approach each other. See Rit., Död. in loc., and Freund ad diversus.