Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

came they conquered, and forced the conquered people to obey the laws of Rome.

3. At last, Julius Cæsar, the most famous of all the Roman generals, set out to conquer Britain. When the Britons saw the Roman soldiers landing on their coast, they gathered themselves together and mounted their war-chariots and attacked them. But though the Britons fought long and bravely in many battles, the Romans won, because they had the better arms, and were better trained for fighting.

4. Before long, however, Julius Cæsar went back to Rome, taking all his soldiers with him, and he grew in time to be so great that other Romans were jealous of him, and feared that he would make himself king. Therefore they resolved to kill him. So Cæsar never came back to Britain, and for another hundred years the Britons lived on in their old, rough, savage way.

5. Then the Roman armies came again. They conquered the Britons; they made roads for their armies to march along, and towns of brick houses to live in, and strong walls to protect the towns. They built the first beginnings of London, Chester, and York, and of many other towns that are still standing. And the Britons learned to depend upon them for everything. This state of things lasted for about three hundred and fifty years. Then the Romans went away, because enemies were attacking their own homes, and their emperor called them back to defend Rome.

[graphic][merged small]

2. HOW OUR FOREFATHERS CAME TO BRITAIN

(A.D. 450-550).

1. The world in those days was full of robbers and of savage nations, who wandered hither and thither over sea and land, looking for rich countries where they might settle, and slaying and plundering every man who was not strong enough to drive them away. The brave Roman soldiers had been fighting against these nations for hundreds of years, but now the barbarians had grown more powerful than ever, and they overcame the Romans, and, little by little, took possession of all the countries which the Roman soldiers had so long defended.

2. Britain was surrounded with tribes of these barbarians, all eager to rush in and make slaves of the people and rob them of the riches that they had gained under the peaceful rule of the Romans. There were the Picts, who lived in the mountains of Scotland, where the Roman soldiers could not reach them, and the Scots, who then lived in Ireland, and the Saxons, who came from Northern Germany in their ships. They all knew how prosperous and rich Britain was, and hoped to conquer it.

3. So long as the Roman soldiers remained, they protected the country. They built high, strong walls, parts of which you may still see, across the island, to keep out the Picts, and forts all along the coasts, and the Roman soldiers marched up and down between them day and night, always ready to resist the barbarians.

4. But when the Romans were gone away, the Britons were quite unable to protect themselves. The barbarians, seeing how helpless they were, came on more boldly than before. They marched into the land, burning the corn and plundering the houses. They killed many of the people, and made slaves of many more. The Britons were sore distressed, and at last their leaders resolved to try and get one tribe of the barbarians to settle in Britain and defend them against all the others.

5. Now in the north of Germany there lived a very strong race of men, tall and fair, and very handsome. They had blue eyes and long yellow hair. They were heathens and barbarians, but they were less savage than the other enemies of the Britons; for they were fond of their homes, and their wives and their little ones, and they liked to live peaceably upon their farm-lands, growing corn and rearing cattle. There were three tribes of them, called the Angles or English, the Saxons, and the Jutes. These people were our own forefathers, just as Englishmen were the forefathers of our relations who live in the colonies and America.

6. The Britons thought that these were the men who would defend them best, and they sent and asked two brothers, called Hengist and Horsa, to come and drive away the Picts and Scots. Hengist and Horsa, being young and bold, at once got ready three ships, and, taking with them as many warriors as the ships would hold, crossed the sea, and drove the Picts out of Britain. They then settled down in the Isle of Thanet, which the Britons gave them for their home.

7. But very soon our forefathers saw that Britain

was a better country than Germany. Here were the

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

wide roads and the harbours, and the cities which the Romans had made, and the fields all drained and cleared, and ready for the farmer. They sent message after

« ÎnapoiContinuă »