Chronicles (1 of 6): The Historie of England (4 of 8): The Fovrth Booke Of The Historie Of EnglandHolinshed, Raphael
History
Chronicles (1 of 6): The Historie of England (4 of 8): The Fovrth Booke Of The Historie Of England
Holinshed, Raphael
Great Britain -- History -- Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D.
"All the compasse of the earth (most victorious emperor) being now
recouered through your noble prowesse, not onelie so farre as the
limits of the Romane empire had before extended, but also the enimies
borders beeing subdued, when Almaine had beene so often vanquished,
and Sarmatia so often restrained & brought vnder, the people called
[Sidenote: Vitungi, Quadi, Carpi, and people of Germanie and Polonie.]
Vitungi, Quadi, Carpi so often put to flight, the Goth submitting
himselfe, the king of Persia by offering gifts suing for peace: one
despitefull reproch of so mightie an empire and gouernement ouer the
whole greeued vs to the heart, as now at length we will not sticke to
confesse, and to vs it seemed the more intollerable, bicause it onlie
remained to the accomplishing of your perfect renowme and glorie. And
verilie as there is but one name of Britaine, so was the losse to be
esteemed smal to the common wealth of a land so plentifull of corne,
so abundant with store of pastures, so flowing with veines of mettall,
so gainfull with reuenues rising of customs and tributes, so enuironed
with hauens, so huge in circuit, the which when Cesar, the founder of
this your honourable title, being the first that entered into it, writ
that he had found an other world, supposing it to be so big, that it
was not compassed with the sea, but that rather by resemblance the
great Ocean was compassed with it. Now at that time Britaine was
nothing furnished with ships of warre; so that the Romans, soone after
the warres of Carthage and Asia, had latelie beene exercised by
sea against pirats, and afterwards by reason of the warres against
Mithridates, were practised as well to fight by sea as land; besides
this, the British nation then alone was accustomed but onelie to
[Sidenote: Picts and Irishmen.]
the Picts and Irishmen, enimies halfe naked as yet & not vsed to weare
armor, so that the Britains for lacke of skill, easilie gaue place to
the Romane puissance, insomuch that Cesar might by that voiage onelie
glorie in this, that he had sailed and passed ouer the Ocean sea.
"But in this wicked rebellious robberie, first the nauie that in times
past defended the coasts of Gallia, was led away by the pirat when he
fled his waies: and beside this, a great number of other ships were
built after the mould of ours, the legion of Romane souldiers was
woon, and brought to take part with the enimie, and diuers bands of
strangers that were also souldiers were shut vp in the ships to serue
also against vs. The merchants of the parties of Gallia were assembled
and brought togither to the musters, and no small numbers of barbarous
nations procured to come in aid of the rebels, trusting to inrich
themselues by the spoile of the prouinces: and all these were trained
in the wars by sea, through the instruction of the first attemptors of
this mischieuous practise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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