he Pax Romana the wild and warlike
Briton became a quiet cultivator of the ground, a peaceful and not
discontented dependent of the all-conquering Power which ruled the
whole civilized world.

C. 17.--In the country the husbandman ploughed and sowed and reaped
and garnered,[252] sometimes as a freeholder, oftener as a tenant;
the miller was found upon every stream; the fisher baited his hook and
cast his net in fen and mere; the Squire hunted and feasted amid his
retainers (who were usually slaves); his wife and daughters occupied
themselves in the management of the house. The language of Rome
was everywhere spoken, the literature of Rome was read amongst the
educated classes; while amongst the peasantry the old Celtic tongue,
and with it, we may be sure, the old Celtic legends and songs, held
its own. Intercourse was easy between the various districts; for along
every great road a series of posting-stations, each with its stud of
relays, was available for the service of travellers. In the towns were
to be found schools, theatres, and courts of justice, with shops of
every sort and kind, while travelling pedlars supplied the needs of
the rural districts. No one, except actual soldiers, dreamt of bearing
arms, or indeed was allowed to do so,[253] and the general aspect of
the land was as wholly peaceful as now. But every one had to pay a
substantial proportion of his income in taxes, in the collection of
which there was not seldom a notable amount of corruption, as amongst
the publicans of Judaea. In the bad days of the decadence this became
almost intolerable;[254] but so long as the central administration
retained its integrity the amount exacted was no more than left to
every class a fair margin for the needs, and even the enjoyments, of
life.

SECTION D.

The unconquered North--Hadrian's Wall--Upper and Lower
Britain--Romano-British coinage--Wall of Antoninus--Britain
Pro-consular.

D. 1.--The weak point of all this peaceful development was that the
northern regions of the island remained unsubdued. It was all very
well for the Roman Treasury, with true departmental shortsightedness,
to declare (as Appian[255] reports) that North Britain was a worthless
district, which could never be profitable [Greek: [_euphoron_]] to
hold. The cost would have been cheap in the end. All through the Roman
occupation it was from the north that trouble was liable to arise,
and ultimately it was the ferocious independence of t