CHAPTER II
THE ROMAN OCCUPATION
Julius Cæsar's two invasions of Britain could not have made much difference in the mode of life of the inhabitants of the country. They paid their tribute, and were left alone; and after a time even the tribute seems to have been forgotten. All that remained of his conquest was the graphic, though incomplete, account which Cæsar left of Britain in his "Gallic War," and the lingering memory of this remote outpost of the Empire, a memory which awakened into life at a later date and inspired ambitious emperors and generals with a desire for conquest.
After the final departure of Cæsar it was well-nigh a hundred years before the Romans again interfered with the Britons. The period between 54 B.C. and A.D. 43 is obscure in the annals of the island. No doubt commercial intercourse with Gaul was constant, and Roman culture must have percolated slowly into the country by that channel. The names of some of the British kings who ruled have come down to us, and among them Shakespeare's Cymbeline. It was in the year A.D. 43, during the reign of the emperor Claudius, that the Roman general Aulus Plautius set out at the head of four legions to re-conquer Britain. While the campaign was still in progress the emperor himself arrived; but his sojourn was only sixteen days in duration, and to him belongs none of the credit for the conquest. It was against Caratacus and Togodumnus, sons of the late king Cunobelinus, that Aulus Plautius directed his march. Their capital was Camulodunum, the modern Colchester. Many of the neighbouring tribes espoused the Roman cause; and in four years' time Aulus was able to return to Rome, having completed the task of conquering south-eastern England from Kent to Norfolk.
The next Roman leader to be sent to Britain was Publius Ostorius Scapula; and under him the theatre of war shifted to the north and west, those parts of the island which had hitherto remained practically unexplored. The nature of the struggle likewise changed. The tribes hitherto encountered by the Romans were closely akin to the people of Gaul, and their civilization also was very similar in quality. They were people who valued peace and commerce, and who, when they had recovered from the first shock of outraged independence, were content to become Roman tributaries. But the tribes inhabiting the Welsh mountains were far less civilized. Of trade they knew practically nothing, and very little about the settled pursuit of agriculture. But they loved freedom, and were prepared again and again to rise in its defence. The first task which Ostorius set himself was the conquest of the Decangi who dwelt, according to Tacitus, on the shore of the Irish Sea. He raided their territory; but before anything like a conquest had been effected he was called away to deal with the far more turbulent and warlike Silures of the south. These were the inhabitants of Monmouth and Glamorgan; and they were now under the leadership of the famous Caratacus. This able man had concluded an alliance with the neighbouring Ordovices, and the united tribes were able to offer a stiff resistance to Roman aggression. It was not until the war had lasted many years, and Caratacus had won several victories, that the persistence and the superior science of Ostorius were rewarded with success. The site of the final battle is uncertain, but it may well have been near Church Stretton at the spot now called Caer Caradoc. At this battle Caratacus was defeated and taken prisoner, later to be led in triumph through the streets of Rome. This was probably in the year A.D. 51. To keep the Silures in subjection the first of the great Roman forts in Wales was erected at Caerleon on the river Usk.
Following on the death of Ostorius in A.D. 52 the Silures recovered a degree of liberty; but with the arrival of a new Roman general, Quintus Veranius, in A.D. 58, the struggle began afresh. Veranius, however, died in a few months before he had accomplished anything, and his place was taken by the truly great Suetonius Paulinus. This consummate general adopted the plan of building strong forts at various strategic points all over Britain, from which the legions could control the surrounding country. Two of these forts were placed close to the Welsh border, one at Deva (Chester), the other at Viroconium (Wroxeter). Chester for many generations after its foundation was the base of operations for all military expeditions launched against North Wales. The great desire of Suetonius was to conquer the hitherto unmolested isle of Mona (Anglesey). There was the home of the Druids, the last remnants of the cruel custodians of Celtic learning, protected by the surrounding sea, and by the great mountain barrier of Snowdonia. Flat-bottomed boats were constructed, and the soldiers safely conveyed across the Menai Straits. There the legionaries were for a moment appalled by the weird sight of Druids drawn up in a body, with uplifted arms calling down curses upon the heads of the profane invaders, while women with dishevelled hair and with lighted torches in their hands ran in and out among the ranks. But the fear of the soldiers was but momentary. They pressed forward, completely routed the opposing army, burnt their camp, cut down the sacred groves of oak, and cleared away the last emblems of Druidism. Thus perished a barbarous superstition which had long outlived its utility. It was just at this juncture that news was brought to Suetonius of the great rebellion of the Iceni under queen Boudicca, and the massacre of thousands of Roman settlers at Camulodunum and Verulanium. Without a moment's delay he commenced his march back to the south-west. In quelling the rising he was completely successful; but Wales saw him no more, as he was recalled to Rome in the following year.
A period of peace ensued; and it was not until A.D. 71 in the reign of Vespasian, who had himself served in Britain under Aulus Plautius, that the forward policy was resumed. Of the course of events in the succeeding years our knowledge is imperfect; but it appears that the Silures were completely beaten by the soldier-author Frontinus in A.D. 78. To the famous Agricola was left the task of crushing the Ordovices. He dealt with them so severely that they were left completely without power to rebel again. Having disposed of them, he proceeded to Anglesey; and with the final subjugation of that island the conquest of Wales was complete.
The task of organizing Wales on Roman lines then proceeded apace. South-eastern Britain, together with the midlands, had finally acquiesced in the Roman domination; and those parts of the country were left almost entirely without garrisons. With Wales it was otherwise, and throughout its history the Roman occupation was largely military in character. Except for its mines Wales was a poor country, and there was little to tempt such Romans as desired to settle for life in Britain to make it their home. The towns that came to be built in Wales were therefore military rather than civil. But whatever their character and purpose they were both numerous and important. The most important of them perhaps was Chester, long the home of the Twentieth Legion, from which it derived its Welsh name Caer Lleon (Fort of the Legion). Chester became the permanent home of the legion; and around the fort a thriving town arose, with baths, theatre, and all those amenities considered so essential by the Romans. There the legionaries lived, there they married, and there they died. From Chester the great road which was called Watling Street ran straight to London, and thence to the channel ports. Another road connected the place with York (Eboracum), the most important Roman city in Britain. A third road led to Wroxeter; while from it another branched off, and ran along the hillsides to Conway (Caerhun) and Carnarvon (Segontium). In North Wales were several forts, but with the exception of Carnarvon no towns of any note. The extreme north was well guarded by the twin fortresses of Conway and Carnarvon. The mountains and valleys of Merioneth were kept in subjection by the triangle formed by Tomen-y-Mur near Festiniog, Caergai near Bala, and Pennal near Machynlleth. Roman roads must have been fairly numerous in Wales, but they are extremely difficult to trace at the present day. It is quite certain that the great majority of mountain tracks pointed out to the credulous modern tourist as Roman roads belong to comparatively late mediæval times. A road ran from Conway over the mountains to Tomen-y-Mur, Caergai, and Pennal, and then on to South Wales. This is known as Sarn Helen, and in several places can be clearly traced. There was also another road leading from Tomen-y-Mur to Chester. In Mid-Wales were the forts of Caersws, Caerflos, Y Gaer, and Castell Collen. The passage of the Teifi was guarded by Llanio. On the Towy was Carmarthen (Maridunum). In Pembrokeshire there do not seem to have been Roman settlements or roads; in all probability the country was left to its own devices just as Cornwall was. On the upper reaches of the Towy stood Llandovery. Thence a road led to Gaer near Brecon, then following the valley of the Usk to Abergavenny and Caerleon. Beyond Caerleon, between the Usk and the Wye, lay Caerwent (Venta Silurum), where so much of archæological and historical interest has recently been discovered. On the Bristol Channel there were forts at Cardiff, and at the mouths of the Neath and the Loughor. Connecting the main roads no doubt were many smaller ones, some of them mere tracks across the mountain passes. The infinite pains which the Romans would take to render even one of these less important ways easy and safe is proved by the marvellous "Roman Steps" which lead over Drws Ardudwy from the coast to the high plateau on which stands Tomen-y-Mur.
The question of the extent and durability of Roman influence in Wales is part of the larger question of its extent and durability in Britain as a whole. Whether it persisted right through the English invasions, so that early mediæval institutions can be regarded as having Rome and not the forests of Germany as their home is a question still warmly debated. To what extent Britain, as apart from Wales, had been Romanized it is difficult to determine; for the English invasions were exceedingly destructive, and the invaders little better than savage barbarians. But in Wales the problem assumes a somewhat different form; for the tide of English invasion was stemmed at the foot of the Welsh hills. It was a new Brythonic invasion from the north, as well as the arrival of fugitives from the midlands, that modified the conditions left by the Romans in Wales. Emphasis has been laid by scholars upon the purely military character of the occupation. With the exception of Caerwent and Wroxeter there were no civilian towns; and that most typical product of Roman civilization, the villa, was altogether absent from Wales. On the other hand, it must be pointed out that, although the language remained Celtic, a very large number of words had been borrowed from Latin, and those words by no means confined to the department of warfare. They are words which point clearly to an advance in culture and civilization, in book learning, and in religion. But it is true that political and legal terms remained purely Celtic. It is known that the minerals of Wales were extensively worked by the Romans—copper from Anglesey, gold from Merioneth, and iron from Monmouth. One thing is certain: Wales at the departure of the Romans was a highly civilized land, civilized in its political ideas and in its laws, and Christian in its religion. A love of literature, of art, of independence, and of unity had been so firmly rooted that, despite the welter of lawlessness and bloodshed which the unhappy country had to endure during the succeeding eight hundred years, they persisted through it all. Wales was to enjoy nothing comparable with the tranquillity and the good government of the Roman period until the great Tudor sovereigns began to turn their thoughts to the little land from which they derived the best part of their blood.