Francis John Haverfield

“ CELTIBERIA, a term used by Greek and Roman writers to denote, sometimes the whole north-east of Spain, and sometimes the north-east part of the central plateau of the peninsula. The latter was probably the correct use. The Celtiberi, in this narrower sense, were not so much one tribe as a group of cantons—Arevaci, Pelendones, Berones and four or five others. They were the most warlike people in Spain, and for a long time offered a stubborn resistance to the Romans. ”

“ It was not till the 3rd century that country houses and farms became common in most parts of the civilized area. In the beginning of the 4th century the skilled artisans and builders, and the cloth and corn of Britain were equally famous on the continent. This probably was the age when the prosperity and Romanization of the province reached its height. By this time the town populations and the educated among the country-folk spoke Latin, and Britain regarded itself as a Roman land, inhabited by Romans and distinct from outer barbarians. ”

“ In truth, the maintenance in effective condition of so large a Roman force in so remote and difficult a region was in itself a real achievement and such as at that time no one but Scipio could have performed. He redeemed by organized strategy the vacillations and follies of statesmen who had sat at home and sent out inadequate expeditions or incompetent commanders. The site was, under the Roman Empire, occupied by a Roman town called Numantia, and the Itinerary tells of a Roman road which ran past it. ”

“ Excavations during the last four years have yielded finds of almost unique importance. These include the foundations of several successive forts, one above the other, which throw much light on the character of the Roman military post; an unparalleled collection of Roman armour, including ornate helmets, and a good series of coins and datable pottery. The whole illustrate the history of the Roman army and that of Roman Scotland very remarkably and to an extent equalled by no Scottish site as yet explored. ”

“ The two elements together composed the most important town of western Europe in Roman times. Lugudunum controlled the trade of its two rivers, and that which passed from northern Gaul to the Mediterranean or vice versa; it had a mint; it was the capital of all northern Gaul, despite its position in the south, and its wealth was such that, when Rome was burnt in Nero’s reign, its inhabitants subscribed largely to the relief of the Eternal City. ”

“ This is the frontier which is now visible and visited by the curious. It consists, as we see it to-day, of two distinct frontier works, one, known as the Pfahlgraben, is an earthen mound and ditch, best seen in the neighbourhood of the Saalburg but once extending from the Rhine southwards into southern Germany. The other, which begins where the earthwork stops, is a wall, though not a very formidable wall, of stone, the Teufelsmauer; it runs roughly east and west parallel to the Danube, which it finally joins at Heinheim near Regensburg. ”

“ The towns of the province, as we have already implied, fall into two classes. Five modern cities, Colchester, Lincoln, York, Gloucester and St Albans, stand on the sites, and in some fragmentary fashion bear the names of five Roman municipalities, founded by the Roman government with special charters and constitutions. All of these reached a considerable measure of prosperity. None of them rivals the greater municipalities of other provinces. Besides them we trace a larger number of country towns, varying much in size, but all possessing in some degree the characteristics of a town. ”

“ The old Celtic tribes were broken up: instead, municipalities of Roman citizens were founded to rule their territories. Thus the Allobroges now disappear and the colonia of Vienna takes their place: the Volcae vanish and we find Nemausus (Nîmes) . Thus thrown into Italian fashion, the province took rapidly to Italian ways. By A.D. 70 it was “Italia verius quam provincia” (Pliny) . The Gauls obviously had a natural bias towards the Italian civilization, and there soon became no difference between Italy and southern Gaul. But though education spread, the results were somewhat disappointing. ”

“ Development from the Second Stage to the Third.—Towards the end of the Republic many changes began to work themselves out in the Roman army. If Camillus began the system of pay and long service, it was effectually developed by long foreign wars in Spain and in the East. Moreover, the growth of Rome as a wealthy state tended to wreck the old theory that every citizen was a soldier, and favoured a division of labour between (e.g.) the merchant and the military, while the increasing complexity of war required a longer training and a more professional soldier. ”

“ Traces of Romano-British inhabitation have been noted elsewhere in Manchester, especially near the cathedral. But there was no town here; we can trace nothing more than a fort guarding the roads running north through Lancashire and east into Yorkshire, and the dwellings of women-folk and traders which would naturally spring up outside such a fort. ”

“ The country houses of Roman Britain have long been recognized as embodying these (or allied) types; now it becomes plain that they were the normal types throughout Britain. They differ widely from the town houses of Rome and Pompeii: they are less unlike some of the country houses of Italy and Roman Africa; but their real parallels occur in Gaul, and they may be Celtic types modified to Roman use—like Indian bungalows. Their internal fittings—hypocausts, frescoes, mosaics—are everywhere Roman; those at Silchester are average specimens, and, except for one mosaic, not individually striking. ”

“ That a strong Celtic element existed in Spain is proved both by numerous traditions and by the more trustworthy evidence of place-names. The Celtic place-names of Spain, however, are not confined to Celtiberia or even to the north and east; they occur even in the south and west. ”

“ In general, the Gauls of these provinces accepted Roman civilization more or less rapidly, and in due course became hardly distinguishable from the Italian. In particular, they eagerly accepted the worship of “Augustus and Rome,” devised by the first emperor as a bond of state religion connecting the provinces with Rome. Each August, despite the heat, representatives from the 60 (or 64) tribes of Gallia Comata met at Lyons, elected a priest, “sacerdos ad aram Augusti et Romae,” and held games. ”

“ The proud, fierce queen and her people rose, and not alone. With them rose half Britain, enraged, for other causes, at Roman rule. Roman taxation and conscription lay heavy on the province; in addition, the Roman government had just revoked financial concessions made a few years earlier, and L. Annaeus Seneca, who combined the parts of a moralist and a money-lender, had abruptly recalled large loans made from his private wealth to British chiefs. ”

“ Later still, in the Elizabethan period and after it, the name Watling Street seems to have been applied by antiquaries to many Roman or reputed Roman roads in various parts of Britain, and English map-makers and inferior writers on Roman roads still perpetuate the fictions. ”

“ Thus, he was prominent in providing endowments for higher study and research, in introducing archæology and geography to the circle of Oxford historical work, and in founding the British Schools at Rome and Athens. In pursuit of his principles he helped actively to put natural science, English and foreign languages on a more adequate basis in Oxford, and to give women full opportunities of academic education at the university. ”

“ GAUL, the modern form of the Roman Gallia, the name of the two chief districts known to the Romans as inhabited by Celtic-speaking peoples, (a) Gallia Cisalpina (or Citerior, “Hither”) , i.e. north Italy between Alps and Apennines and (b) the far more important Gallia Transalpina (or Ulterior, “Further”) , usually called Gallia (Gaul) simply, the land bounded by the Alps, the Mediterranean, the Pyrenees, the Atlantic, the Rhine, i.e. modern France and Belgium with parts of Holland, Germany and Switzerland. ”

“ The conquest of Britain was at last over. The wall of Hadrian remained for nearly two hundred years more the northern limit of Roman power in the extreme west.
II. The Province of Britain and its Military System.—Geographically, Britain consists of two parts: (1) the comparatively flat lowlands of the south, east and midlands, suitable to agriculture and open to easy intercourse with the continent, i.e. with the rest of the Roman empire; (2) the district consisting of the hills of Devon and Cornwall, of Wales and of northern England, regions lying more, and often very much more, than 600 ft. ”

“ ROMAN ARMY. In the long life of the ancient Roman army, the most effective and long-lived military institution known to history, we may distinguish four principal stages. (1) In the earliest age of Rome the army was a national or citizen levy such as we find in the beginnings of all states. (2) This grew into the Republican army of conquest, which gradually subdued Italy and the Mediterranean world. A citizen army of infantry, varying in size with the needs of each year, it eventually developed into a mercenary force with long service and professional organization. ”