in the mountains their
original wildness, but the southern coasts ranked in the earliest
times as rich and civilised. They stood within the circle of the
relations that had been created by the expeditions of the Keltic
tribes, by the mixture of peoples thence arising, by the war and
commerce of the earliest age.

In the great war between Rome and Carthage, which decided the destiny
of the ancient world, the Keltic tribes took part as allies of the
Punic race. If Carthage had conquered, they would have maintained in
most, if not all, the lands they had occupied, and especially in their
own homes, their old manners and customs, and their religion in its
existing form. It was not merely the supremacy of the one city or the
other, but the future of Western Europe that was at stake when
Hannibal attacked the Romans in Italy. Rome, which had already grown
strong in warring against the Gauls, won the victory over the
Carthaginians. Thenceforth one after another of the Keltic nations
succumbed to the superiority of the Roman arms, which at last invaded
Transalpine Gaul, and struck its military power to the ground.

From this point the reaction against the Keltic enterprises
necessarily extended itself also to Britain.

The great general who conquered Gaul did not feel sure of being able
to accomplish his task unless he also obtained influence over the
British tribes, from which those of the Continent constantly received
help and encouragement, unless he established among them the authority
of the Roman name.

It was an important moment in the world's history, well worthy of
remembrance, when Caesar first trod the soil of Albion. Already
repulsed from the steep chalk cliffs of the island, he found the flat
shore on which he hoped to disembark occupied by the enemy, some in
their war-chariots, others on horseback and on foot; his ships could
not reach the shore; the soldiers hesitated, encumbered with their
armour as they were, to throw themselves into a sea with which they
were not familiar, in presence of an enemy acquainted with the
ground, active, brave, and superior in numbers; the general's order
had no effect on them; when however an eagle-bearer, calling on the
gods of Rome, threw himself into the flood, the men would have thought
themselves traitors had they allowed the war-standard, to which an
almost divine worship was paid, to fall into the hands of the enemy;
fired by the danger that threatened their honour, and