Романские времена в истории Великобритании.


                         Roman Influence in Britain.
   As a result of the conquest  signs  of  Roman  civilization  spread  over
Britain. There had been no towns in Britain before the Romans conquered  it.
The civilized Romans were city dwellers, and as soon as they  had  conquered
Britain they began to built towns, splendid villas, public baths as in  Rome
itself. York, Gloucester, Lincoln and London became the chief  Roman  towns;
there were also about fifty other smaller towns. London  which  had  been  a
small trading settlement before the conquest now became a center  for  trade
both by road and river. Colchester, Gloucester, York and Lincoln  sprang  up
round the Roman military camps. The town of Bath became famous for  its  hot
springs.
   The towns grew up as markets and  centers  of   administration.  In  most
towns there were market-places  and  plenty  where   merchants  sold   their
goods. The rich merchants and official had luxurious houses which  contained
many rooms, with mosaic floors and central heating. Every Roman town  had  a
drainage system and a good supply of pure water. Temples  and  public  baths
could be found in  most  towns.  The  Roman  towns  were  military  stations
surrounded by walls for defence which were guarded by the Roman warriors.
   The Romans were great road-makers and now a network  of  roads  connected
all parts of the country. One of the chief road  was  Watling  Street  which
ran from Dover to London, then to Chester and into Wales.  Along  the  roads
new towns and villages sprang up.
   Great tracts of forest were  cleared,  swamps  were  drained,  and  corn-
fields took  their  place.  The  province  of  Britain  became  one  of  the
granaries of the Roman Empire.
   A constant trade was carried on with  other  parts  of  the  empire.  The
chief exports were corn, lead, tin, and building tiles. The goods were  sent
in wagons along the roads of  Britain,  Gaul  and  Italy  to  Rome.  Britain
imported luxury goods, especially fine pottery and metalware.
   But together with a high civilization  the  Romans  brought  exploitation
and slavery to the British Isles. Rich Romans  had  villas  in  the  country
with large estates, which were worked by gangs of slaves. Prisoners  of  war
were sent to the slave-market in the Roman Empire. The free Celts  were  not
turned into slaves but they had to pay heavy taxes  to  the  conquerors  and
were made to work for  them.  The  Romans  made  them  clean  forest,  drain
swamps, built roads, bridges and walls for defence. That was how the  famous
Hadrian’s Wall was built too.
   Among the Celts themselves inequality began to grow - the tribal chiefs
and nobility became richer than other members of the tribe. Many of them
became officials acting for Rome. Tribal chiefs who submitted were
appointed to rule their people as before, but now they acted in the name of
the Roman Emperor. The noble Celts adopted the mode of life of their
conquerors. They lived in rich houses and they dressed as Romans. They were
proud to wear toga which was the sign of being a Roman citizes. They spoke
Latin, the language of the Romans. But the rank-and-file Celts went on
living in their tiny huts, they spoke their native Celtic tongue and they
did not understand the language of their rules.

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