in the year 84 he extended a chain of stations from Solway Frith to
Tynemouth. He introduced laws and civilization among the Britons, taught
them to desire and raise all the conveniences of life, reconciled them to
the Roman language and manners, instructed them in letters and science,
and employed every expedient to render those chains which he had forged
both easy and agreeable to them. The inhabitants having experienced how
unequal their own force was to resist that of the Romans, acquiesced in
the dominion of their masters, and were gradually incorporated as a part
of that mighty empire. The chain of stations erected by Agricola was
afterwards connected by an earthen rampart, raised by the Emperor Adrian
as an obstruction to the Caledonians, who frequently descended and
committed the most dreadful ravages in the Roman territories.
The early commerce of the ancient Britons was carried on by barter,
without the aid of money, but about the commencement of the Christian era
a mint master was invited over to Britain from the continent. A mint was
erected at Colchester, and money of gold, silver and copper was coined in
that city; about forty different specimens have reached our times. Mines
both of silver and gold were worked in the island during the reigns of
Augustus and Trajan. The Romans drew their revenues from various
sources; commerce, mines, legacies, houses, and lands all contributed to
supply their exactions; and as they had suggested to the natives the mode
of making money, they did not fail to supply the exhausted treasury of
Rome from the industry of Britain. A succession of ages had almost
identified the Britains with the Roman conquerors; and when the Emperors,
pressed by difficulties at home, and weakened by their possessions
abroad, began to withdraw their legions from this island, the inhabitants
importuned them to remain, to protect them from the incursions of the
Picts and Scots. The wall of Severus was no longer a barrier to these
semi-barbarians. During the residence of the Romans in this island,
comprehending a period of 400 years, many great public works were
accomplished, and they left behind them numerous monuments of their skill
and industry. The conquered country was divided into six provinces, each
of them governed by a prætor and præstor, the former charged with the
general administration of government, and the latter with the management
of finances.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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