10 The geography and inhabitants
of Britain,
already described by so many writers, I will speak of, not that my research and
ability may be compared with theirs, but because the country was then for the
first time thoroughly subdued. And so matters, which as being still not
accurately known my predecessors embellished with their eloquence, shall now be
related on the evidence of facts. Britain,
the largest of the islands which Roman geography includes, is so situated that
it faces Germany on the
east, Spain on the west; on
the south it is even within sight of Gaul; its
northern extremities, which have no shores opposite to them, are beaten by the
waves of a vast open sea. The form of the entire country has been compared by
Livy and Fabius Rusticus, the most graphic among ancient and modern historians,
to an oblong shield or battle-axe. And this no doubt is its shape without Caledonia, so that it has become the popular description
of the whole island. There is, however, a large and irregular tract of land
which juts out from its furthest shores, tapering off in a wedge-like form.
Round these coasts of remotest ocean the Roman fleet then for the first time
sailed, ascertained that Britain is an island, and simultaneously discovered
and conquered what are called the Orcades, islands hitherto unknown. Thule too was descried in
the distance, which as yet had been hidden by the snows of winter. Those
waters, they say, are sluggish, and yield with difficulty to the oar, and are
not even raised by the wind as other seas. The reason, I suppose, is that lands
and mountains, which are the cause and origin of storms, are here comparatively
rare, and also that the vast depths of that unbroken expanse are more slowly
set in motion. But to investigate the nature of the ocean and the tides is no
part of the present work, and many writers have discussed the subject. I would
simply add, that nowhere has the sea a wider dominion, that it has many
currents running in every direction, that it does not merely flow and ebb
within the limits of the shore, but penetrates and winds far inland, and finds
a home among hills and mountains as though in its own domain.
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