The Roman invasion

English Literature

The Dawn of English Literature

THE ANCIENT BRITONS AND THEIR LANGUAGE

Literature is closely connected with the life and history of the people. In order to understand English literature it is necessary to know the history of the country.

In the 4th century В. С.¹ the country we now call England was known as Britain. One of the tribes who lived there was named the Britons. They belonged to the Celtic race and spoke Celtic. There are still some traces of this language found in the English of today. Most of all we find them in geographical names:

dun/dum = down, dune (the towns of Dunscore, Dunedin, Dum­barton);

avon = river (Stratford-on-Avon); kil = wood (Kilbrook).

¹ В. С (before Christ [kraist]) — before our era

Another Celtic tribe Gaels [geilz] lived in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Their descendants still live there and use some words of Celtic origin, such as Loch Lomond, loch [k>h] — lake.

The life of the ancient Britons was very primitive. They be­lieved that different gods lived in the darkest parts of the woods. Some plants such as mistletoe and the oak-tree were considered to be sacred. Ancient Britons planted corn, lived upon fish and the flesh of their cattle, made coarse cloth for their clothes, and were good warriors. They also built many temples and altars, frag­ments of which can still be seen in Great Britain.

The Britons had a strange and cruel religion — the religion of the Druids. They sacrificied human beings and often burnt men and their animals together with them.

Some customs of the Druids are kept in England nowadays. On New Year's Day the mistletoe, which becomes green at this time of the year, is hung up in all houses.

Vocabulary

altar ['o:lta] n алтарь mistletoe ['misltau] n омела

ancient ['emjbnt] а древний origin |'Dna^in| n происхождение

cloth [klrjG] n ткань, материал primitive ['pnmitiv] о примитивный

coarse [ko:s] а грубый ч race [reisj n род; племя

custom ['kAstam] n обычай sacred f'seikrid] а священный

dawn [do:n] n рассвет; начало sacrifice ['ssknfais] v приносить жертвы

descendant [di'sendant] n потомок temple ['tempi] n храм

fragment ['frsegmgnt] n обломок, ос- tribe [traib] n племя

колок; pi остатки warrior ['wonal n воин

10. What customs of the Druids are still kept in the country nowadays?

11. What traces of the Celtic language can we find in the English of today?

12. What Celtic tribe lived in Ireland, Scotland and Wales?

In the year 55 В. С Britain was conquered by the Romans. Their language was Latin. The Romans were very practical men. They were good at building many-storeyed houses, bridges and roads.

The Romans had heard from travellers about some valuable metals which had been found in Britain. Julius Caesar [' chirijas' si:za] was the first Roman who invaded the country in the 1st century B.C. To conquer the Britons the Romans had to encamp troops all over the country. The English cities later rose from these camps. The word castra — camp was later pronounced fkesta], ['Jesta] and fsesta]. Now there are many English towns which have the Latin ending, such as Lancaster, Manchester, Worcester and others.

The Romans brought their civilization with them and taught the Britons to build bridges, houses and roads.

In England one can still find interesting remains of the Roman times, such as some ruins of public baths and tiled floors of Roman villas. Many of the great highways of England have been built on the military roads once made by the Romans. A large number of English words come from the Latin language, e. g. street comes from strata, wall from vallum, port from portus, etc.

The Roman occupation lasted for more than 400 years till 407 A. D. when the Romans troops left Britain.

Questions and Tasks

1. When was England called Britain?

2. What people lived there?

3. What race did they belong to?

4. What language did they speak?

5. What can you say about their culture?

6. Prove that their culture was very primitive.

7. How did the ancient Britons live?

8. By whom were the Britons governed?

9. Prove that the religion of the Druids was cruel.

Vocabulary

bath [ba:9] n баня

civilization [sivilai'zeijsn] n цивилиза­ция; культура

encamp [т'кагтр] v располагать ла­герем

' A. D. (Anno Domini) — in our era

highway ['haiwei] n шоссе, автома­гистраль invade [m'veid] v вторгаться military ['militan] а военный remains [n'meinz] n pi остатки

ruin [rum] n pi развалины, руины troop [tru:p] n войска

tiled [taild] а покрытый плиткой valuable ['vaeljuabl] а ценный

Questions and Tasks

1. By whom was Britain conquered in the year 55 before our era?

2. What language did the Romans speak?

3. What were the Romans good at?

4. Why did they decide to occupy the island?

5. Who commanded the Romans?

6. What did the Romans have to do to conquer the Britons?

7. Prove that there are still some traces of the Romans' influence in modern English.

8. What interesting remains of Roman times can you still find in England?

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