History of the Britons (Historia Brittonum) — John Shaqi
History of the Britons (Historia Brittonum)Nennius, active 796
History
History of the Britons (Historia Brittonum)
Nennius, active 796
Britons; Great Britain -- History -- Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D.
8. Three considerable islands belong to it; one, on the south, opposite
the Armorican shore, called Wight;* another between Ireland and Britain,
called Eubonia or Man; and another directly north, beyond the Picts,
named Orkney; and hence it was anciently a proverbial expression, in
reference to its kings and rulers, "He reigned over Britain and its
three islands."
* Inis-gueith, or Gueith.
6. It is fertilized by several rivers, which traverse it in all
directions, to the east and west, to the south and north; but there
are two pre-eminently distinguished among the rest, the Thames and the
Severn, which formerly, like the two arms of Britain, bore the ships
employed in the conveyance of riches acquired by commerce. The Britons
were once very populous, and exercised extensive dominion from sea to
sea.
10.* Respecting the period when this island became inhabited
subsequently to the flood, I have seen two distinct relations. According
to the annals of the Roman history, the Britons deduce their origin both
from the Greeks and Romans. On the side of the mother, from Lavinia, the
daughter of Latinus, king of Italy, and of the race of Silvanus, the son
of Inachus, the son of Dardanus; who was the son of Saturn, king of the
Greeks, and who, having possessed himself of a part of Asia, built the
city of Troy. Dardanus was the father of Troius, who was the father
of Priam and Anchises; Anchises was the father of Aeneas, who was the
father of Ascanius and Silvius; and this Silvius was the son of Aeneas
and Lavinia, the daughter of the king of Italy. From the sons of Aeneas
and Lavinia descended Romulus and Remus, who were the sons of the
holy queen Rhea, and the founders of Rome. Brutus was consul when
he conquered Spain, and reduced that country to a Roman province. He
afterwards subdued the island of Britain, whose inhabitants were
the descendants of the Romans, from Silvius Posthumus. He was called
Posthumus because he was born after the death of Aeneas his father; and
his mother Lavinia concealed herself during her pregnancy; he was called
Silvius, because he was born in a wood. Hence the Roman kings were
called Silvan, and the Britons from Brutus, and rose from the family of
Brutus.
* The whole of this, as far as the end of the paragraph, is
omitted in several MSS.
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