§ 3. The Romans in Britain

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In the first century B.C. while the Celts were still living in tribes the Romans were the most powerful people in the world. The Roman Empire was the last end the greatest of the civilizations of the ancient world.

In 55 B.C. a Roman army of 10,000 men crossed the Channel after the eight – year war in France, or Gaul as it was then called, and invaded Britain. The Celts saw their ships approaching and with loud shouts rushed to attack the invaders in the sea as they were landing. And the well-armed invincible Romans under one of greatest general of that time, Julius Caeser had to return to Gaul. His second visit to Britain a year later was more successful but the real conquest of Britain by the Romans began nearly a hundred years after Caesar's visits to the island. In 43 A. D. a Roman army invaded Britain and conquered the South-East. The Celts fought fiercely against the Romans who never managed to become masters of the whole island and had to encamp troops all over the country to defend their province which consisted only of the southern part of the island.

The Romans remained in Britain for about four centuries and during that time Britain was governed by Roman governors and protected by Roman legions. As the result of the conquest signs of Roman civilization spread over Britain. There had been no towns in Britain before the Romans conquered it but as soon as Romans settled in its territory the towns, splendid villas, public baths as in Rome itself began to grow over the country. London (Lindinium at that time) which bad been small trading settlement before the conquest now became a centre for trade both by road and river. Being a great road-builders the Romans built the roads which connected all parts of the country. Roman roads, bridges and walls have remained to this day.

But together with a high civilization the Romans brought exploitation and slavery to the British isles. The free Celts were not turned to slaves but they had to pay heavy taxes to the conquerors and were made to work for them.

Besides, many words of Modern English have come from Latin. The words which the Romans left in the language of Britain are for the most part the names of the things which they taught the Celts. Thus, the word street came from the Latin strata which means "road", port from the Latin portus, wall from the vallum. The Latin word – "castra" – camp became a suffix and was later pronounced as /stoa/. The names of many English towns never dropped the Latin ending (Manchaster, Doncaster, Winchester).

But the Romans and the natives of Britain did not become one nation because all that Roman wanted was to make them work for themselves. The Roman way of life influenced only the south-eastern part of the country. Only among the Celts of the South and East the tribal chiefs became rich and adopted the mode of life of their conquerors. They spoke Latin, the language of the Romans, all the other natives of the country spoke their native Celtic tongue and they did not understand the language of the rulers.

Early in the 5^th century (407 A.D.) the Roman legions were recalled from Britain to defend the central provinces of the Roman Empire from the attacks of the barbarian tribes. They never returned to Britain again and the Celts were left alone in their land but not for long.