Романские времена в истории Великобритании.



                 A Roman Villa.

      Forty-three years after the birth of Christ the  finest  soldiers  the
world had known came against the ancient Britons and conquered  their  land.
These soldiers were called Romans, after their chief  city  Rome  in  Italy.
They ruled Britain for nearly four hundred years &  have  left  many  traces
behind them. While in Britain, one  can  still  see  the  remains  of  their
splendid roads, the ruins of the forts they built and  parts  of  the  great
walls they erected to defend their towns.  In  the  southern  parts  of  the
country homes called villas have been found.
      Villas are not great castles with thick walls  &  towers  built  as  a
protection against enemies,  but  simple  dwelling  -  houses  unfitted  for
defense. That shows how peaceful the country was  when  first  these  villas
were built under Roman rule.
      On the heights of Greenwich Park overlooking the  Thames  there  is  a
piece of pavement about two feet square. It was once part of  the  floor  of
one of these country houses. It is made of small pieces of  red  tile,  each
about a square in size, set in a bed of cement. No one can  tell  what  part
of the is belonged to; perhaps, it was a bit of the floor of a  room,  or  a
passage or even of a stable.
      What did the Roman villa look like from the outside? We  can  scarcely
tell. Perhaps, it was a long whitewashed building with  a  corridor  running
its whole length. Or, perhaps, it stood round  two  sides  of  a  square  or
round three, and had the corridor on its inner side. Some people think  that
only the lower walls of villas were built of stone, while  the  upper  walls
were made of rough plaster held together with a framework of wood. The  roof
was made of red tiles or slabs of gray stone. The floors of the lower  rooms
were raised a little on pillars, so  that  hot  air  from  a  furnace  might
circulate underneath. And their were special pipes in  the  walls,  so  that
the hot air might rise through the walls, so that the  hot  air  might  rise
through the walls and warm them. The Romans  brought  this  way  of  warming
houses from their old homes in Italy, & they found it  very  useful  in  the
cold climate of Britain. The rooms on  the  ground  floor  were  paved  with
small pieces of tile laid very closely together in cement. By  using  pieces
of different colors, pictures were made on the floors of the  living  rooms.
Some of these have been dug up today & can be  seen  in  museums.  They  are
called  mosaics.  The  walls  of  the  rooms  were  decorated  with  painted
pictures. Somewhere in the villa the was a bath, for the  Romans  were  very
careful to keep  themselves  clean.  And  certainly,  too,  there  would  be
statues, either roughly made in Britain  useful   or  brought  by  merchants
from Italy, where the best sculptors  were.  Then  the  owner  bought  these
statues to decorate his villa. And beautiful dishes of red pottery would  be
seen everywhere in the house. Some of them would be used for  decoration,  &
some for eating from or for holding things. And  in  the  grounds  near  the
house there would be an orchard, for the Romans loved orchards.  Their  were
fond of growing trees of all kinds, so their would be cherry trees &  apples
trees. The Romans were the first to grow cherries in England.
      Let us pretend we are visiting a Roman  villa  many  years  after  the
conquest. A great many trees have been cut down since the Romans first  come
to Britain, so there is more room to grow corn then there used to be in  the
time of the ancient Britons. And many Romans who leave  near  the  villa  we
are reading about have made much money by exporting  corn  to  Roman  armies
quartered on the Continent. Their owner of the villa does the  same  us  his
neighbors. He has many labourers who help him to till his lands. He  doesn’t
pay wages, as modern farmers do,  but  in  return  for  work  he  gives  his
labourers piece of land, on which they can grow corn for  themselves.  Today
labourers can leave their master & go to another or if they like.  But  none
of these labourers who work for the master of the villa are  allowed  to  do
that.
They lived in huts not far from the villa. The man who makes ploughs &  hoes
that are used on the farm & shoes. The farm horses lives  in  one  of  these
small houses. He gets his wood from the great forest and his iron  from  the
district that we now call Sussex. The man living in the neighboring  hut  is
the cobbler, who tells leather & makes shoes & sandals for everyone one  the
estate, and harness for the horses. There is a joiner, to  who  is  skillful
in building barns and cowhouses, as  well  as  in  making  carts.  Sometimes
however, things for the farm & the  house  are  bought  in  London,  &  when
anything requiring great skill has to be done, clever workers are  send  for
from there. The master has slaves, too, & the work for nothing.
We can imagine the owner of  the  villa  strolling   round  his  orchard  in
spring. He looks at his blossoming apple trees & wonders whether the  cherry
trees that his grandfather brought from the Continent will have a good  crop
this year. When he looks across river he doesn’t see  any  buildings.  There
is only the marshy land, which is  sometimes  covered  with  water  at  high
tide. And further of he can see forest. The merchant’s boats from  Gaul  are
drafting up the river with the tide. And higher up  are  London  Bridge  and
the red roofs of London. London, which the master of  the  villa  looks  at,
has become a much bigger place than it was  at  the  times  of  the  ancient
Britons. At has wharves & many warehouses. Its streets are noisy. There  are
huge buildings, such as temples & baths; and  the  inhabitants  have  lately
built themselves a wall,  because  they  fear  that  times  of  trouble  are
coming, & that all the wealth that they have collected will  be  in  danger.
But if you & I could see that Roman London, we should think it a very  small
places indeed.
The villa is not far from the Roman road from Dover to London. The  road  is
making for the southern and of London Bridge. The owner  of  the  villa  has
seen Roman Emperors ride a long this road at the had of  armies,  and  often
he hears the steady tramp of squads of  recruits,  who  have  been  sent  to
Britain from all parts of the world to fill gaps  in  the  Roman  garrisons.
They are mere lads thinking of homes on the  Rhine  and  the  Danube,  which
they will never see again. Sometimes their officers ride up to the  door  of
the villa to beg a night’s lodging, especially in  winter  time.  They  have
nothing like the long nights of winter in their southern homes.  Our  friend
of the villa takes them in, for he has a  boy  of  his  own  serving  as  an
officer with the armies in  the  north  of  Britain  &  likes  to  send  him
messages, & parcels as well, on the baggage carts.
      The officers & he talk a good deal together.  He  wants  to  know  the
news from other parts of the Empire, & they wish to know  something  of  the
land to which they have come. He tells them that he  supplies  corn  to  the
great armies lying on the Rhine, & that the chief trouble of  this  part  of
Britain comes from the Saxon pirates, who sometimes capture his ships,  raid
to the coast, & even threaten to plunder London.  Since  the  citizens  have
built their wall, his wife has never ceased to beg him to give up the  villa
& live always in London. She says she cannot sleep peacefully at nights  for
fear of the pirates. In winter time the owner of  the  villa  lives  a  good
deal in London, partly because of his wife’s fears, & partly  because  there
is more company there.
      He is careful about religious things & attends the services at the
temples. Occasionally he goes to the little Christian church built in his
father’s days. The Romans of an earlier time worshipped many strange gods,
& our friend has some images of them in his hall. But missionaries of the
Christian religion have been preaching in Britain for many years, & his
always willing to talk to them & listen to readings from their books about
Christ. In his grandfather’s time many Christians were persecuted & awful
tales are still remembered. But people & more tolerant now, & the
Christians have built themselves at church, in which the Christian faith is
taught.
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