Júlio César invade a Britânia em 55 a.C. e em 54 a.C. como prolongamento da guerra da Gália e comenta na sua obra «Commentarii de Bello Gallico»:
«Britanniae pars interior ab eis incolitur quos natos in insula ipsi memoria proditum dicunt, maritima ab eis, qui praedae ac belli inferendi causa ex Belgio transierunt (qui omnes fere eis nominibus civitatum appellantur, quibus orti ex civitatibus eo pervenerunt) et bello illato ibi permanserunt atque agros colere coeperunt. Hominum est infinita multitudo creberrimaque aedificia fere Gallicis consimilia, pecorum magnus numerus. Vtuntur aut aere aut nummo aureo aut taleis ferreis ad certum pondus examinatis pro nummo. Nascitur ibi plumbum album in mediterraneis regionibus, in maritimis ferrum, sed eius exigua est copia; aere utuntur importato. Materia cuiusque generis ut in Gallia est, praeter fagum atque abietem. Leporem et gallinam et anserem gustare fas non putant; haec tamen alunt animi voluptatisque causa. Loca sunt temperatiora quam in Gallia, remissioribus frigoribus.
Insula natura triquetra, cuius unum latus est contra Galliam. Huius lateris alter angulus, qui est ad Cantium, quo fere omnes ex Gallia naves appelluntur, ad orientem solem, inferior ad meridiem spectat. Hoc pertinet circiter mila passuum quingenta. Alterum vergit ad Hispaniam atque occidentem solem; qua ex parte est Hibernia, dimidio minor, ut aestimatur, quam Britannia, sed pari spatio transmissus atque ex Gallia est in Britanniam. In hoc medio cursu est insula, quae appellatur Mona: complures praeterea minores subiectae insulae existimantur, de quibus insulis nonnulli scripserunt dies continuos triginta sub bruma esse noctem. Nos nihil de eo percontationibus reperiebamus, nisi certis ex aqua mensuris breviores esse quam in continenti noctes videbamus. Huius est longitudo lateris, ut fert illorum opinio, septingentorum milium. Tertium est contra septentriones; cui parti nulla est obiecta terra, sed eius angulus lateris maxime ad Germaniam spectat. Hoc milia passuum octingenta in longitudinem esse existimatur. Ita omnis insula est in circuitu vicies centum milium passuum.
Ex his omnibus longe sunt humanissimi qui Cantium incolunt, quae regio est maritima omnis, neque multum a Gallica differunt consuetudine. (...)»
«The interior portion of Britain is inhabited by those of whom they say that it is handed down by tradition that they were born in the island itself: the maritime portion by those who had passed over from the country of the Belgae for the purpose of plunder and making war; almost all of whom are called by the names of those states from which being sprung they went thither, and having waged war, continued there and began to cultivate the lands. The number of the people is countless, and their buildings exceedingly numerous, for the most part very like those of the Gauls: the number of cattle is great. They use either brass or iron rings, determined at a certain weight, as their money. Tin is produced in the midland regions; in the maritime, iron; but the quantity of it is small: they employ brass, which is imported. There, as in Gaul, is timber of every description, except beech and fir. They do not regard it lawful to eat the hare, and the cock, and the goose; they, however, breed them for amusement and pleasure. The climate is more temperate than in Gaul, the colds being less severe.
The island is triangular in its form, and one of its sides is opposite to Gaul. One angle of this side, which is in Kent, whither almost all ships from Gaul are directed, to the east; the lower looks to the south. This side extends about 500 miles. Another side lies toward Spain and the west, on which part is Ireland, less, as is reckoned, than Britain, by one half: but the passage into Britain is of equal distance with that from Gaul. In the middle of this voyage, is an island, which is called Mona: many smaller islands besides are supposed to lie [there], of which islands some have written that at the time of the winter solstice it is night there for thirty consecutive days. We, in our inquiries about that matter, ascertained nothing, except that, by accurate measurements with water, we perceived the nights to be shorter there than on the continent. The length of this side, as their account states, is 700 miles. The third side is toward the north, to which portion of the island no land is opposite; but an angle of that side looks principally toward Germany. This side is considered to be 800 miles in length. Thus the whole island is 2,000 miles in circumference.
The most civilized of all these nations are they who inhabit Kent, which is entirely a maritime district, nor do they differ much from the Gallic customs. Most of the inland inhabitants do not sow corn, but live on milk and flesh, and are clad with skins. (...).»
Em 43 d.C. os Romanos invadem o Sudoeste, a zona mais interessante em termos económicos, e passam a controlá-lo. Entre 60 e 61 d.C. a Rainha Boadicea dos Icenii, lidera-os numa revolta contra os Romanos, com o apoio de aliados bretões, após Roma não ter cumprido o acordado com o Rei dos Icenii após o seu falecimento e desrespeitar a sua mulher e as suas filhas e o seu povo. Após ganharem uma vantagem inicial e se dirigirem a Londinium (actual London), o abandono e a destruição da cidade por parte dos Romanos, muito inferiores em número, vai-lhes permitir enfrentar os Bretões em melhores condições. Boadicea, segundo Tacitus na sua obra «Annales», fala desta forma ao seu povo:
«But now it is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters. Roman lust has gone so far that not our very persons, nor even age or virginity, are left unpolluted. But heaven is on the side of a righteous vengeance; a legion which dared to fight has perished; the rest are hiding themselves in their camp, or are thinking anxiously of flight. They will not sustain even the din and the shout of so many thousands, much less our charge and our blows. If you weigh well the strength of the armies, and the causes of the war, you will see that in this battle you must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves.»
O líder Romano, por sua vez, terá dito segundo Tacitus:
«Ignore the racket made by these savages. There are more women than men in their ranks. They are not soldiers - they're not even properly equipped. We've beaten them before and when they see our weapons and feel our spirit, they'll crack. Stick together. Throw the javelins, then push forward: knock them down with your shields and finish them off with your swords. Forget about plunder. Just win and you'll have everything.»
Os Bretões serão derrotados pela fragilidade dos seus equipamentos militares e os Romanos reforçarão a sua posição na Grã Bretanha.
É nessa mesma obra, «Annales», que Tacitus se refere aos Cristãos e a Jesus Cristo, a propósito da horrível culpabilização do grande incêndio de Roma em 64 d.C., por parte do horroroso Nero:
«(...) Sed non ope humana, non largitionibus principis aut deum placamentis decedebat infamia, quin iussum incendium crederetur. ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos et quaesitissimis poenis adfecit, quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Chrestianos appellabat. auctor nominis eius Christus Tibero imperitante per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio adfectus erat; repressaque in praesens exitiablilis superstitio rursum erumpebat, non modo per Iudaeam, originem eius mali, sed per urbem etiam, quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque. igitur primum correpti qui fatebantur, deinde indicio eorum multitudo ingens haud proinde in crimine incendii quam odio humani generis convicti sunt. et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu canum interirent aut crucibus adfixi [aut flammandi atque], ubi defecisset dies, in usu[m] nocturni luminis urerentur. hortos suos ei spectaculo Nero obtulerat, et circense ludicrum edebat, habitu aurigae permixtus plebi vel curriculo insistens. unde quamquam adversus sontes et novissima exempla meritos miseratio oriebatur, tamquam non utilitate publica, sed in saevitiam unius absumerentur.»
«(...) But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.»
Em 150 depois de Cristo os Romanos não dominam aprnas a Caledónia, a futura Escócia, as «Highlands», onde colocam duas grandes muralhas:
«Roman Roads in Britain around 150 AD/CE» por Andrei Nacu (Wikipedia)
«The Romans Cause a Wall to be Built for the Protection of the South» por William Bell Scott (1857)
Muralha de Adriano e vestígios do castelo Milecastle: Fotografia de Adam Cuerden (Wikipedia)
Uma emocionante e extraordinária ficção relativa à ligação entre Celtas e Romanos na Britânia é a excelente obra de Marion Zimmer Bradley «The Forest House» (1994), em que o Amor entre Eilan, Sacerdotisa Druídica e Gaius, Oficial Romano, evidencia como a Sociedade pode dialecticamente, com as suas horríveis e cruéis imposições político-religiosas, separar e unir eternamente uma Mulher e um Homem que se Amam!
Em 410 d.C os Romanos retiram-se da Britânia e deixam os Bretões Celtas Latinizados à mercê das bárbaras invasões de Anglos, Saxões e Jutos vindos da Germânia, que os limitam à Cambria (Wales), à Cornubia (Cornwall) e os fazem emigrar para a Aremoricae cerca de 500 a.C., que passa a designar-se por
Britannia Minor, Bretagne, Brittany.
«Britain 500 CE» por Briangotts com a licença de utilização Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.fr)
«Peoples of Britain circa 600» HHel-hama/IMeowbot/Everyking
(Wikipedia) Criative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)
Mas o carácter indelével da Cultura Latina na BRITANNIA e na GALLIA vai-se manifestar no desenvolvimento da Língua Inglesa (English Language), que actualmente tem mais influência do Latim e das suas Línguas derivadas (Latinas) do que da Línguas Germânicas.
Thomas Finkenstaedt e Dieter Wolff na sua obra «Ordered profusion; studies in dictionaries and the English lexicon» (1973) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language) estimaram que a origem das palavras em Inglês teriam as seguintes origens em termos relativos:
- Langue d´oil (Língua Galo-Românica), incluindo o Françês e Normando antigo (28,3%);- Latim, incluindo o científico e técnico da Idade Moderna (28,24%);
- Línguas Germânicas, incluindo as derivadas do Inglês antigo, mas não incluindo palavras Germânicas que têm origem no Latim, no Françês ou em outras Línguas Latinas (25%);
- Grego (5,32%);
- Sem etimiologia definida (4,03%);
- Nomes próprios (3,28%);
- Outras línguas (menos de 1%).
Nos mapas criados por Notuncurious (Wikipedia) com a licença de utilização Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en) poderemos observar as actividades económicas dos Romanos na Britânia:
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