The opening of I. THE ROMAN RULE IN BRITAIN
Earliest Notices of the British Isles--The Celts--Their Settlement in Britain--Their Character and Customs--Druidism--Its Organisation and Authority--Its Tenets--Stonehenge and other Remains--Cæsar's Preparations--The First Invasion--Peril of the Romans and their Retirement--The Second Invasion--Cæsar's Battles with Cassivelaunus--Claudius in Britain--The Resistance of Caractacus--His Defeat and Capture--His Speech before Claudius--The Conquest of Anglesea--Boadicea's Rebellion--The Capture of Camulodunum and London--Her Defeat and Death--Agricola in Britain--His Campaigns and Administration--His Campaign against the Caledonians--His Recall--The Walls of Hadrian and Severus--Rivals to the Emperor--Constantine's Accession--Christianity in Britain--Invasions of the Picts and Scots--Dismemberment of the Roman Empire and Departure of the Romans--Divisions and Administration of Britain under the Romans.
Separated from the continent of Europe by the sea, the British isles were not known to the nations of antiquity until a somewhat late date. Herodotus was ignorant of their existence; but Strabo, a contemporary of Cæsar, tells us that the Carthaginians had for a long period carried on a considerable commerce with the Cassiterides, or tin-islands, which are usually identified with the Scilly islands, and doubtless included also part of the Cornish coast.