remembered, who made use of Greek letters for both their public and private transactions.[1] It is further clear, from Cæsar's narrative, that there must have been no inconsiderable extent of land under cultivation, and therefore cleared, at least partially, of forests, probably for the most part among the Cantii, or men of Kent, whom he calls the "most polished;"[2] moreover, if Cassivelaunus had only one-tenth of the "four thousand war chariots" mentioned by Cæsar,[3] he must have required roads, and well-made roads, too, along which to manœuvre them; not forgetting also the fact, that the construction of such chariots implies considerable mechanical skill. Cæsar adds, that the Britons made use of iron which they obtained from their maritime districts, a statement confirmed by the existence, till within a recent period, of numerous furnaces in the Weald of Sussex, for the extraction of iron from the iron sand of that district.[4] The extremely barbarous Britons, to whom the popular stories refer, were no doubt those of the more northern and central districts—Celts, who had been driven back by the advancing tide of the Belgæ of Northern France.
Cæsar's reasons for invading Britain. The invasion by Cæsar was the result of various and mixed circumstances, among which we may well believe one inducement to have been the desire on his part of making his rule in Gaul pre-eminently famous by the subjugation, under Roman rule, of
- ↑ Cæs. Bell. Gall. vi. 13, 14.
- ↑ Ibid. v. 10.
- ↑ Ibid. v. 15.
- ↑ Sussex was the chief seat of the iron manufacture of England till coal became abundant. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth seventy-three furnaces are said to have been at work, and the last, at Ashburnham, was only blown out in 1827. The railings round St. Paul's Cathedral (temp. Queen Anne) are made of Sussex iron.
