348 CHAP. REMAINS OF ELEPHANTS, &c. du lièvre et petits carnassiers *. De très grandes epiphyses de vertèbres, pourroient faire soupçonner des cétasest. Il-y-a aussi quelques fragmens humains. Malheureusement, on n'a pas assez distingué les hauteurs différentes, òu chaque os fut trouvé, pendant six mois que les fouilles durèrent, ni les os qui etoient dans le retranchement mentionné par Reisel, de ceux qu'on trouva hors de ses Itmites. On deterra, par example, aussi des morceaux de charbon et des fragments d'objets fabriqués par l'homme, comme des vases, &c. qui assurément n'avoient pas été deposés en meme temps que les grands os. Reisel dit qu'il y avoit des débris d'un ancien mur, épais de huit pieds et de quatre vingts de tour, qui paroit avoir été l'enceinte d'un fort ou d'un temple; et l'on voit en effet encore quelques restes §. Aussi Spleiss conclut-il que ces os etoient ceux des animaux qu'on sacrifioit; mais ils etoit pour la plupart bien plus profondement que les fondations de ce mur: d'ailleurs l'on en trouve encore plus près du Necker, dans un sol naturel, et tout semblable à celui òu on les deterra. Tout ce qu'on pourroit conclure de leur abondance dans cette enceinte, c'est qu'ils avoient deja été une fois deterrés et rassemblés à cet endroit par quelque curieux. M. Autenrieth a trouvé dans le voisinage une foret entière de tronc || de palmiers couchés. * Sometimes three hundred oxen were sacrificed. Livy, B. XXII. Ch. X. Hares and deer. Kennet, p. 276. Swine, sheep, eagles, lions, a hundred at a time. Bernard, Vol. II. p. 85. † Bones of whales and other sea animals were sometimes exhibited. By Augustus. See Suetonius, Ch. LXXII. By Scaurus. See Catrou, Vol. VI. p. 96. Sacrifices and games were common for a great many centuries. § Sacrificial Temples were round. Kennet, p. 84. -- These trunks of trees are very probably the wrecks of an amphitheatre, see Chap. X. The vases assist in proving a Roman origin. REMAINS OF ELEPHANTS, &c. Note.**-The Emperor Probus, after slaying near four hundred thousand of the barbarians, (and the entire submission of nine kingdoms), drove the rest beyond the rivers Elbe and the Necker. He took as much booty from them, as they had taken from the Romans; besides which, he planted Roman colonies and garrisons on the barbarian soil, and placed his soldiers upon them.-Bernard, Vol. II. p. 289, from Flavius Vopiscus. The great stone wall which Probus caused to be built by the Roman legions reached from the neighbourhood of Newstadt and Ratisbon on the Danube, across hills, vallies, rivers, and morasses, as far as Wimpfen on the Necker, and at length terminated on the banks of the Rhine, after a winding course of near two hundred miles.-See Gibbon, Ch. XII. As Probus had been much in Egypt, and possessed such vast numbers of wild beasts, (see Ch. XI.) there can be little doubt but that the troops, during this labour, and especially on the fulfilment of their arduous task, were indulged with the combats of beasts, and other amusements, which were usual in the camps: and that the reduced kings and their subjects would be conciliated by the like means. Probus transplanted a great number of Vandals into Thrace.-Augustan Hist. Vol. II. 293. He also sent some Vandals to Britain, who, it is supposed, settled near Cambridge, and from whom a village was named Vandalsburg. See Rees's Cyc. "Vandals." The history or life of Probus is exceedingly imperfect, having been lost; and there remains little more than has been preserved in the Augustan History, by Flavius Vopiscus, which see, p. 273. In Poland a few bones have been found. Note.-There is perhaps not a place mentioned where bones have been found, that was not visited by large Roman armies, and most of them even by Emperors. Trajan twice invaded Dacia, and the wars were long and difficult: he made it a province of the empire, and plant 349 CHAP. XII. 350 CHAP. REMAINS OF ELEPHANTS, &c. ed it with Roman colonies. On his return to Rome, the spectacles lasted for months: eleven thousand various beasts were slain; and ten thousand gladiators combated.-Augustan History, Vol. I. p. 20. On the other occasion of his return from Dacia, a medal was struck to celebrate his victory, upon which is represented a chariot drawn by four elephants.-Haym. Vol. II. p. 206. Augustus, partly in person, and partly by his lieutenants, conquered Pannonia, (Hungary). He put a stop to the inroads of the Dacians, (Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia), by cutting off three of their generals with vast armies. He drove the Germans beyond the Elbe.-Suetonius, "Aug." XXI. Domitian invaded Germany, Poland, and Dacia. If bones of elephants, and such wild beasts as were slain in the Roman games, are found in any places, not known to be mentioned as having been frequented by the Romans, can the same cause for their existence, in such places, be doubted? May not some of those countries have adopted the like sports by purchasing beasts? In Ostrobothnie, a grinder. At Falkenburg, in Halland, two bones. In Iceland, a petrified grinder *. Pontoppidan mentions, from Torfœus, a prodigious skull and tooth. * Such instances of bones, which may have been conveyed by travellers, as curiosities, cannot be supposed to affect the general question.-The late periods of the conquests in the above countries have been selected in preference to those of Cæsar and others, in consequence of the Romans having subdued Egypt, and then possessing such numbers of wild beasts.All the elephants and wild beasts, shown from the earliest times as curiosities, must have produced many of the remains of single animals, which have been found. CHAPTER XIII. -Wealth. Sketch of the History of Roman Britain, ending A. D. 427. rors. XIII. BRITAIN, to any one who is searching for truth, or real history, CHAP. furnishes no materials which are worthy to occupy his time or attention, until that island attracted the notice of the Romans: and even then, for nearly a century, we are confined to the picture which Cæsar has drawn in his Commentaries. Rude as is his description of the Britons, he failed with his immense army to subdue them. The intercourse which this event caused between Britain and Italy, appears to have had a favourable effect on the savage manners and customs of the natives. The residence of Agricola may be considered as the foundation of 352 JULIUS CÆSAR. CHAP. a rapid approach to a degree of civilization, and even grandeur, seldom granted to their own island, in those ages, by the generality of the English in modern times. The invasion by Cæsar is described in so many books, that it will be merely glanced at in this chapter, in order to dwell at greater length on that part of history, which is more to the purpose of this essay; and much less known to most readers. From the first invasion of Britain, by Julius Cæsar, about fifty-four years before Christ, to the abandoning of the island, is four hundred and eighty-one years. Of this number there are no less than three hundred and twenty years in which Britain is not noticed by any known author*. In the rest of that long period, war is almost the only topic which engages the attention of the Romans, when Britain is mentioned. The manners and customs of the Britons, and of the resident Romans, while the island was under their domination, can only be known by the few incidental remarks that can be collected, and the very numerous vestiges which have been discovered and described by Antiquarians. Cæsar invaded Britain two successive years; the first time with two, and the second, with five legions†, and about two thousand cavalry, in eight hundred vessels. On the approach of the Romans to the * Horsley, Britannia Romana. Chronological table. † A legion, without auxiliaries, was about six thousand foot, and with auxiliaries, double the number. The auxiliaries were levies from the conquered countries. In the reigns of Dioclesian and Maximian a legion consisted of six thousand six hundred and sixty-six. Bernard, Vol. II. p. 348. |