The Ethnology of the British IslandsLatham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
History
The Ethnology of the British Islands
Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
Ethnology -- Great Britain
If we ask what proportion these foreign and miscellaneous elements in
the Roman Legions of Britain bore to the true Romans, we wait in vain
for an answer. This is because the constitution of the other portions of
the army is unknown. Who (for instance) composed the _Fortenses_, the
_Stablesiani_, the _Abulci_, and numerous other companies? Perhaps,
Romans; in which case the proportion of Syrian, Slavonian, and other
non-Roman elements is diminished. Perhaps, Syrians, Slavonians, or
Germans; in which case it is increased. That the above-named troops,
however, belonged to the ethnological divisions which are denoted by the
names, is in the highest degree probable. It is also probable that the
list may be increased; thus the _Pacenses_, the _Asti_, the _Frixagori_,
and the _Lergi_, although there are doubts, in every case, about the
reading, and still greater about the signification, have reasonably been
thought to have been regiments, or companies, named from the localities
where they were levied; but, as already stated, these localities are
doubtful.
As blood foreign to both the British and Roman was introduced into
Britain, so was British blood introduced elsewhere. All the foreign
stations of the British troops are not known; but that there was, at
least, one in each of the following countries is certain--Illyricum,
Egypt, Northern Africa. The history of foreign blood in Britain, and of
British blood in foreign countries are counterpart questions.
The lines of Roman road are the best _data_ for ascertaining the parts
of our island where the mixture of Roman and foreign blood was greatest:
since it is a fair inference that those districts which were the least
accessible were the most Keltic. These are North Wales, Cornwall and
Devonshire, the Wealds of Sussex and Kent, Lincolnshire, and the
district of Craven. On the other hand, the pre-eminently Roman tracts
are--
1. The valleys of the Tyne and Solway, or the line of the wall and
rampart which divided South Britain from North.
2. The valley of the Ouse, or the parts about York.
3, 4. The valleys of the Thames and Severn.
5. Cheshire and South Lancashire.
6. Norfolk and Suffolk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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