THE FIRST CARGO
"Ex ovo omnia"
When you left Briton with your legion, my dear Crassus, I promised that
I would write to you from time to time when a messenger chanced to be
going to Rome, and keep you informed as to anything of interest which
might occur in this country. Personally, I am very glad that I remained
behind when the troops and so many of our citizens left, for though the
living is rough and the climate is infernal, still by dint of the three
voyages which I have made for amber to the Baltic, and the excellent
prices which I obtained for it here, I shall soon be in a position to
retire, and to spend my old age under my own fig tree, or even perhaps
to buy a small villa at Baiae or Posuoli, where I could get a good
sun-bath after the continued fogs of this accursed island. I picture
myself on a little farm, and I read the Georgics as a preparation; but
when I hear the rain falling and the wind howling, Italy seems very far
away.
In my previous letter, I let you know how things were going in this
country. The poor folk, who had given up all soldiering during the
centuries that we guarded them, are now perfectly helpless before these
Picts and Scots, tattoed Barbarians from the north, who overrun the
whole country and do exactly what they please. So long as they kept to
the north, the people in the south, who are the most numerous, and
also the most civilized of the Britons, took no heed of them; but now
the rascals have come as far as London, and the lazy folk in these parts
have had to wake up. Vortigern, the king, is useless for anything but
drink or women, so he sent across to the Baltic to get over some of the
North Germans, in the hope that they would come and help him. It is
bad enough to have a bear in your house, but it does not seem to me to
mend matters if you call in a pack of ferocious wolves as well.
However, nothing better could be devised, so an invitation was sent and
very promptly accepted. And it is here that your humble friend appears
upon the scene. In the course of my amber trading I had learned the
Saxon speech, and so I was sent down in all haste to the Kentish shore
that I might be there when our new allies came. I arrived there on the
very day when their first vessel appeared, and it is of my adventures
that I wish to tell you. It is perfectly clear to me that the landing
of these warlike Germans in England will prove to be an event of
historical importance, and so your inquisitive mind will not feel
wearied if I treat the matter in some detail.
It was, then, upon the day of Mercury, immediately following the Feast
of Our Blessed Lord's Ascension, that I found myself upon the south bank
of the river Thames, at the point where it opens into a wide estuary.
There is an island there named Thanet, which was the spot chosen for the
landfall of our visitors. Sure enough, I had no sooner ridden up than
there was a great red ship, the first as it seems of three, coming in
under full sail. The white horse, which is the ensign of these rovers,
was hanging from her topmast, and she appeared to be crowded with men.
The sun was shining brightly, and the great scarlet ship, with
snow-white sails and a line of gleaming shields slung over her side,
made as fair a picture on that blue expanse as one would wish to see.
I pushed off at once in a boat, because it had been arranged that none
of the Saxons should land until the king had come down to speak with
their leaders. Presently I was under the ship, which had a gilded
dragon in the bows, and a tier of oars along either side. As I looked
up, there was a row of helmeted heads looking down at me, and among them
I saw, to my great surprise and pleasure, that of Eric the Swart, with
whom I do business at Venta every year. He greeted me heartily when I
reached the deck, and became at once my guide, friend, and counsellor.
This helped me greatly with these Barbarians, for it is their nature
that they are very cold and aloof unless one of their own number can
vouch for you, after which they are very hearty and hospitable.
Try as they will, they find it hard, however, to avoid a certain
suggestion of condescension, and in the baser sort, of contempt, when
they are dealing with a foreigner.
It was a great stroke of luck meeting Eric, for he was able to give me
some idea of how things stood before I was shown into the presence of
Kenna, the leader of this particular ship. The crew, as I learned
from him, was entirely made up of three tribes or families--those of
Kenna, of Lanc, and of Hasta. Each of these tribes gets its name by
putting the letters "ing" after the name of the chief, so that the
people on board would describe themselves as Kennings, Lancings, and
Hastings. I observed in the Baltic that the villages were named after
the family who lived in them, each keeping to itself, so that I have no
doubt if these fellows get a footing on shore, we shall see settlements
with names like these rising up among the British towns.
The greater part of the men were sturdy fellows with red, yellow, or
brown hair, mostly the latter. To my surprise, I saw several women
among them. Eric, in answer to my question, explained that they always
take their women with them so far as they can, and that instead of
finding them an incumbrance as our Roman dames would be, they look upon
them as helpmates and advisers. Of course, I remembered afterwards that
our excellent and accurate Tacitus has remarked upon this characteristic
of the Germans. All laws in the tribes are decided by votes, and a vote
has not yet been given to the women, but many are in favour of it, and
it is thought that woman and man may soon have the same power in the
State, though many of the women themselves are opposed to such an
innovation. I observed to Eric that it was fortunate there were several
women on board, as they could keep each other company; but he answered
that the wives of chiefs had no desire to know the wives of the inferior
officers, and that both of them combined against the more common women,
so that any companionship was out of the question. He pointed as he
spoke to Editha, the wife of Kenna, a red-faced, elderly woman, who
walked among the others, her chin in the air, taking no more notice than
if they did not exist.
Whilst I was talking to my friend Eric, a sudden altercation broke out
upon the deck, and a great number of the men paused in their work, and
flocked towards the spot with faces which showed that they were deeply
interested in the matter. Eric and I pushed our way among the others,
for I was very anxious to see as much as I could of the ways and manners
of these Barbarians. A quarrel had broken out about a child, a little
blue-eyed fellow with curly yellow hair, who appeared to be greatly
amused by the hubbub of which he was the cause. On one side of him
stood a white-bearded old man, of very majestic aspect, who signified by
his gestures that he claimed the lad for himself, while on the other was
a thin, earnest, anxious person, who strongly objected to the boy being
taken from him. Eric whispered in my ear that the old man was the
tribal high priest, who was the official sacrificer to their great god
Woden, whilst the other was a man who took somewhat different views, not
upon Woden, but upon the means by which he should be worshipped.
The majority of the crew were on the side of the old priest; but a
certain number, who liked greater liberty of worship, and to invent
their own prayers instead of always repeating the official ones,
followed the lead of the younger man. The difference was too deep and
too old to be healed among the grown men, but each had a great desire to
impress their view upon the children. This was the reason why these two
were now so furious with each other, and the argument between them ran
so high that several of their followers on either side had drawn the
short saxes, or knives from which their name of Saxon is derived, when a
burly, red-headed man pushed his way through the throng, and in a voice
of thunder brought the controversy to an end.
"You priests, who argue about the things which no man can know, are more
trouble aboard this ship than all the dangers of the sea," he cried.
"Can you not be content with worshipping Woden, over which we are all
agreed, and not make so much of those small points upon which we may
differ? If there is all this fuss about the teaching of the children,
then I shall forbid either of you to teach them, and they must be
content with as much as they can learn from their mothers."
The two angry teachers walked away with discontented faces; and
Kenna--for it was he who spoke--ordered that a whistle should be
sounded, and that the crew should assemble. I was pleased with the free
bearing of these people, for though this was their greatest chief, they
showed none of the exaggerated respect which soldiers of a legion might
show to the Praetor, but met him on a respectful equality, which showed
how highly they rated their own manhood.
From our Roman standard, his remarks to his men would seem very wanting
in eloquence, for there were no graces nor metaphors to be found in
them, and yet they were short, strong and to the point. At any rate it
was very clear that they were to the minds of his hearers. He began by
reminding them that they had left their own country because the land was
all taken up, and that there was no use returning there, since there was
no place where they could dwell as free and independent men.
This island of Britain was but sparsely inhabited, and there was a
chance that every one of them would be able to found a home of his own.
"You, Whitta," he said, addressing some of them by name, "you will found
a Whitting hame, and you, Bucka, we shall see you in a Bucking hame,
where your children, and your children's children will bless you for the
broad acres which your valour will have gained for them." There was no
word of glory or of honour in his speech, but he said that he was aware
that they would do their duty, on which they all struck their swords
upon their shields so that the Britons on the beach could hear the
clang. Then, his eyes falling upon me, he asked me whether I was the
messenger from Vortigern, and on my answering, he bid me follow him into
his cabin, where Lanc and Hasta the other chiefs were waiting for a
council.
Picture me, then, my dear Crassus, in a very low-roofed cabin, with
these three huge Barbarians seated round me. Each was clad in some
sort of saffron tunic, with chain-mail shirts over it, and helmets
with the horns of oxen on either side, laid upon the table before them.
Like most of the Saxon chiefs, their beards were shaved, but they wore
their hair long and their huge light-coloured moustaches drooped down on
to their shoulders. They are gentle, slow, and somewhat heavy in their
bearing, but I can well fancy that their fury is the more terrible when
it does arise.
Their minds seem to be of a very practical and positive nature, for they
at once began to ask me a series of questions upon the numbers of the
Britons, the resources of the kingdom, the conditions of its trade, and
other such subjects. They then set to work arguing over the information
which I had given, and became so absorbed in their own contention that I
believe there were times when they forgot my presence. Everything,
after due discussion, was decided between them by vote, the one who
found himself in the minority always submitting, though sometimes with a
very bad grace. Indeed, on one occasion Lanc, who usually differed from
the others, threatened to refer the matter to the general vote of the
whole crew. There was a constant conflict in the point of view; for
whereas Kenna and Hasta were anxious to extend the Saxon power, and to
make it greater in the eyes of the world, Lanc was of opinion that they
should give less thought to conquest and more to the comfort and
advancement of their followers. At the same time it seemed to me that
really Lanc was the more combative of the three; so much so that, even
in time of peace, he could not forego this contest with his own
brethren. Neither of the others seemed very fond of him, for they were
each, as was easy to see, proud of their chieftainship, and anxious to
use their authority, referring continually to those noble ancestors from
whom it was derived; while Lanc, though he was equally well born, took
the view of the common men upon every occasion, claiming that the
interests of the many were superior to the privileges of the few.
In a word, Crassus, if you could imagine a free-booting Gracchus on one
side, and two piratical Patricians upon the other, you would understand
the effect which my companions produced upon me.
There was one peculiarity which I observed in their conversation which
soothed me very much. I am fond of these Britons, among whom I have
spent so much of my life, and I wish them well. It was very pleasing,
therefore, to notice that these men insisted upon it in their
conversation that the whole object of their visit was the good of the
Islanders. Any prospect of advantage to themselves was pushed into the
background. I was not clear that these professions could be made to
agree with the speech in which Kenna had promised a hundred hides of
land to every man on the ship; but on my making this remark, the three
chiefs seemed very surprised and hurt by my suspicions, and explained
very plausibly that, as the Britons needed them as a guard, they could
not aid them better than by settling on the soil, and so being
continually at hand in order to help them. In time, they said, they
hoped to raise and train the natives to such a point that they would be
able to look after themselves. Lanc spoke with some degree of eloquence
upon the nobleness of the mission which they had undertaken, and the
others clattered their cups of mead (a jar of that unpleasant drink was
on the table) in token of their agreement.
I observed also how much interested, and how very earnest and intolerant
these Barbarians were in the matter of religion. Of Christianity they
knew nothing, so that although they were aware that the Britons were
Christians, they had not a notion of what their creed really was.
Yet without examination they started by taking it for granted that their
own worship of Woden was absolutely right, and that therefore this other
creed must be absolutely wrong. "This vile religion," "This sad
superstition," and "This grievous error," were among the phrases which
they used towards it. Instead of expressing pity for any one who had
been misinformed upon so serious a question, their feelings were those
of anger, and they declared most earnestly that they would spare no
pains to set the matter right, fingering the hilts of their long
broad-swords as they said so.
Well, my dear Crassus, you will have had enough of me and of my Saxons.
I have given you a short sketch of these people and their ways. Since I
began this letter, I have visited the two other ships which have come
in, and as I find the same characteristics among the people on board
them, I cannot doubt that they lie deeply in the race. For the rest,
they are brave, hardy, and very pertinacious in all that
they undertake; whereas the Britons, though a great deal more spirited,
have not the same steadiness of purpose, their quicker imaginations
suggesting always some other course, and their more fiery passions being
succeeded by reaction. When I looked from the deck of the first Saxon
ship, and saw the swaying excited multitude of Britons on the beach,
contrasting them with the intent, silent men who stood beside me, it
seemed to me more than ever dangerous to call in such allies.
So strongly did I feel it that I turned to Kenna, who was also looking
towards the beach.
"You will own this island before you have finished," said I.
His eyes sparkled as he gazed. "Perhaps," he cried; and then suddenly
collecting himself and thinking that he had said too much, he added--
"A temporary occupation--nothing more."
