21 The following winter passed
without disturbance, and was employed in salutary measures. For, to accustom to
rest and repose through the charms of luxury a population scattered and
barbarous and therefore inclined to war, Agricola gave private encouragement
and public aid to the building of temples, courts of justice and
dwelling-houses, praising the energetic, and reproving the indolent. Thus an
honourable rivalry took the place of compulsion. He likewise provided a liberal
education for the sons of the chiefs, and showed such a preference for the
natural powers of the Britons over the industry of the Gauls that they who
lately disdained the tongue of Rome
now coveted its eloquence. Hence, too, a liking sprang up for our style of
dress, and the “toga” became fashionable. Step by step they were led to things
which dispose to vice, the lounge, the bath, the elegant banquet. All this in
their ignorance they called civilisation, when it was but a part of their
servitude.
|