The Last of the Legions and Other Tales of Long Ago Page 6

  VI

  THE FIRST CARGO

  "Ex ovo omnia"

  When you left Britain with your legion, my dear Crassus, I promised thatI would write to you from time to time when a messenger chanced to begoing to Rome, and keep you informed as to anything of interest whichmight occur in this country. Personally, I am very glad that I remainedbehind when the troops and so many of our citizens left, for though theliving is rough and the climate is infernal, still by dint of the threevoyages which I have made for amber to the Baltic, and the excellentprices which I obtained for it here, I shall soon be in a position toretire, and to spend my old age under my own fig tree, or even perhapsto buy a small villa at Baiae or Posuoli, where I could get a goodsun-bath after the continued fogs of this accursed island. I picturemyself on a little farm, and I read the Georgics as a preparation; butwhen I hear the rain falling and the wind howling, Italy seems very faraway.

  In my previous letter I let you know how things were going in thiscountry. The poor folk, who had given up all soldiering during thecenturies that we guarded them, are now perfectly helpless before thesePicts and Scots, tattooed Barbarians from the north, who overrun thewhole country and do exactly what they please. So long as they kept tothe north, the people in the south, who are the most numerous, and alsothe most civilised of the Britons, took no heed of them; but now therascals have come as far as London, and the lazy folk in these partshave had to wake up. Vortigern, the king, is useless for anything butdrink or women, so he sent across to the Baltic to get over some of theNorth Germans, in the hope that they would come and help him. It is badenough to have a bear in your house, but it does not seem to me to mendmatters if you call in a pack of ferocious wolves as well. However,nothing better could be devised, so an invitation was sent and verypromptly accepted. And it is here that your humble friend appears uponthe scene. In the course of my amber trading I had learned the Saxonspeech, and so I was sent down in all haste to the Kentish shore that Imight be there when our new allies came. I arrived there on the very daywhen their first vessel appeared, and it is of my adventures that I wishto tell you. It is perfectly clear to me that the landing of thesewarlike Germans in England will prove to be an event of historicalimportance, and so your inquisitive mind will not feel wearied if Itreat the matter in some detail.

  It was, then, upon the day of Mercury, immediately following the Feastof Our Blessed Lord's Ascension, that I found myself upon the south bankof 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 thelandfall of our visitors. Sure enough, I had no sooner ridden up thanthere was a great red ship, the first as it seems of three, coming inunder 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, withsnow-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 noneof the Saxons should land until the king had come down to speak withtheir leaders. Presently I was under the ship, which had a gilded dragonin the bows, and a tier of oars along either side. As I looked up, therewas a row of helmeted heads looking down at me, and among them I saw, tomy great surprise and pleasure, that of Eric the Swart, with whom I dobusiness at Venta every year. He greeted me heartily when I reached thedeck, and became at once my guide, friend, and counsellor. This helpedme greatly with these Barbarians, for it is their nature that they arevery 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, theyfind it hard, however, to avoid a certain suggestion of condescension,and in the baser sort, of contempt, when they are dealing with aforeigner.

  It was a great stroke of luck meeting Eric, for he was able to give mesome idea of how things stood before I was shown into the presence ofKenna, the leader of this particular ship. The crew, as I learned fromhim, 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 theletters "ing" after the name of the chief, so that the people on boardwould describe themselves as Kennings, Lancings, and Hastings. Iobserved in the Baltic that the villages were named after the family wholived in them, each keeping to itself, so that I have no doubt that ifthese fellows get a footing on shore, we shall see settlements withnames like these rising up among the British towns.

  The greater part of the men were sturdy fellows with red, yellow, orbrown hair, mostly the latter. To my surprise, I saw several women amongthem. Eric, in answer to my question, explained that they always taketheir women with them so far as they can, and that instead of findingthem an encumbrance as our Roman dames would be, they look upon them ashelpmates and advisers. Of course, I remembered afterwards that ourexcellent and accurate Tacitus has remarked upon this characteristic ofthe Germans. All laws in the tribes are decided by votes, and a votehas not yet been given to the women, but many are in favour of it, andit is thought that woman and man may soon have the same power in theState, though many of the women themselves are opposed to such aninnovation. I observed to Eric that it was fortunate there were severalwomen on board, as they could keep each other company; but he answeredthat the wives of chiefs had no desire to know the wives of the inferiorofficers, and that both of them combined against the more common women,so that any companionship was out of the question. He pointed as hespoke to Editha, the wife of Kenna, a red-faced, elderly woman, whowalked among the others, her chin in the air, taking no more notice thanif they did not exist.

  Whilst I was talking to my friend Eric, a sudden altercation broke outupon the deck, and a great number of the men paused in their work, andflocked towards the spot with faces which showed that they were deeplyinterested 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 andmanners of these Barbarians. A quarrel had broken out about a child, alittle blue-eyed fellow with curly yellow hair, who appeared to begreatly amused by the hubbub of which he was the cause. On one side ofhim stood a white-bearded old man, of very majestic aspect, whosignified by his gestures that he claimed the lad for himself, while onthe other was a thin, earnest, anxious person, who strongly objected tothe boy being taken from him. Eric whispered in my ear that the old manwas the tribal high priest, who was the official sacrificer to theirgreat god Woden, whilst the other was a man who took somewhat differentviews, not upon Woden, but upon the means by which he should beworshipped. The majority of the crew were on the side of the old priest;but a certain number, who liked greater liberty of worship, and toinvent their own prayers instead of always repeating the official ones,followed the lead of the younger man. The difference was too deep andtoo old to be healed among the grown men, but each had a great desire toimpress his view upon the children. This was the reason why these twowere now so furious with each other, and the argument between them ranso high that several of their followers on either side had drawn theshort saxes, or knives from which their name of Saxon is derived, when aburly, red-headed man pushed his way through the throng, and in a voiceof thunder brought the controversy to an end.

  "You priests, who argue about the things which no man can know, are moretrouble aboard this ship than all the dangers of the sea," he cried."Can you not be content with worshipping Woden, over which we are allagreed, and not make so much of those small points upon which we maydiffer. 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 becontent with as much as they can learn from their mothers."

  The two angry teachers walked away with discontented faces; andKenna--for it was he who spoke--ordered that a whistle should besounded, and that the crew should assemble. I was pleased with the freebearing of these people, for though this was their greatest chief, theyshowed none of the exaggerated respect which soldiers of a leg
ion mightshow to the Praetor, but met him on a respectful equality, which showedhow highly they rated their own manhood.

  From our Roman standard, his remarks to his men would seem very wantingin eloquence, for there were no graces nor metaphors to be found inthem, and yet they were short, strong and to the point. At any rate itwas very clear that they were to the minds of his hearers. He began byreminding them that they had left their own country because the land wasall taken up, and that there was no use returning there, since there wasno place where they could dwell as free and independent men. This islandof Britain was but sparsely inhabited, and there was a chance that everyone of them would be able to found a home of his own.

  "You, Whitta," he said, addressing some of them by name, "you will founda 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 thebroad acres which your valour will have gained for them." There was noword of glory or of honour in his speech, but he said that he was awarethat they would do their duty, on which they all struck their swordsupon their shields so that the Britons on the beach could hear theclang. Then, his eyes falling upon me, he asked me whether I was themessenger from Vortigern, and on my answering, he bid me follow him intohis cabin, where Lanc and Hasta, the other chiefs, were waiting for acouncil.

  Picture me, then, my dear Crassus, in a very low-roofed cabin, withthese three huge Barbarians seated round me. Each was clad in some sortof saffron tunic, with a chain-mail shirt over it, and a helmet with thehorns of oxen on the sides, laid upon the table before him. Like most ofthe Saxon chiefs, their beards were shaved, but they wore their hairlong and their huge light-coloured moustaches drooped down on to theirshoulders. They are gentle, slow, and somewhat heavy in their bearing,but I can well fancy that their fury is the more terrible when it doesarise.

  Their minds seem to be of a very practical and positive nature, for theyat once began to ask me a series of question upon the numbers of theBritons, the resources of the kingdom, the conditions of its trade, andother such subjects. They then set to work arguing over the informationwhich I had given, and became so absorbed in their own contention that Ibelieve there were times when they forgot my presence. Everything, afterdue discussion, was decided between them by the vote, the one who foundhimself in the minority always submitting, though sometimes with a verybad grace. Indeed, on one occasion Lanc, who usually differed from theothers, threatened to refer the matter to the general vote of the wholecrew. There was a constant conflict in the point of view; for whereasKenna and Hasta were anxious to extend the Saxon power, and to make itgreater in the eyes of the world, Lanc was of opinion that they shouldgive less thought to conquest and more to the comfort and advancement oftheir followers. At the same time it seemed to me that really Lanc wasthe most 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 theothers 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 wasderived; while Lanc though he was equally well born, took the view ofthe common men upon every occasion, claiming that the interests of themany were superior to the privileges of the few. In a word, Crassus, ifyou could imagine a free-booting Gracchus on one side, and two piraticalPatricians upon the other, you would understand the effect which mycompanions produced upon me.

  There was one peculiarity which I observed in their conversation whichsoothed me very much. I am fond of these Britons, among whom I havespent so much of my life, and I wish them well. It was very pleasing,therefore, to notice that these men insisted upon it in theirconversation that the whole object of their visit was the good of theIslanders. Any prospect of advantage to themselves was pushed into thebackground. I was not clear that these professions could be made toagree with the speech in which Kenna had promised a hundred hides ofland to every man on the ship; but on my making this remark, the threechiefs seemed very surprised and hurt by my suspicions, and explainedvery plausibly that, as the Britons needed them as a guard, they couldnot aid them better than by settling on the soil, and so beingcontinually at hand in order to help them. In time, they said, theyhoped to raise and train the natives to such a point that they would beable to look after themselves. Lanc spoke with some degree of eloquenceupon the nobleness of the mission which they had undertaken, and theothers clattered their cups of mead (a jar of that unpleasant drink wason the table) in token of their agreement.

  I observed also how much interested, and how very earnest and intolerantthese Barbarians were in the matter of religion. Of Christianity theyknew nothing, so that although they were aware that the Britons wereChristians, they had not a notion of what their creed really was. Yetwithout examination they started by taking it for granted that their ownworship of Woden was absolutely right, and that therefore this othercreed must be absolutely wrong. "This vile religion," "This sadsuperstition," and "This grievous error" were among the phrases whichthey used towards it. Instead of expressing pity for any one who hadbeen misinformed upon so serious a question, their feelings were thoseof anger, and they declared most earnestly that they would spare nopains to set the matter right, fingering the hilts of their longbroadswords as they did 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 Ibegan this letter, I have visited the two other ships which have comein, and as I find the same characteristics among the people on boardthem, 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 thesame steadiness of purpose, their quicker imaginations suggesting alwayssome other course, and their more fiery passions being succeeded byreaction. When I looked from the deck of the first Saxon ship, and sawthe swaying excited multitude of Britons on the beach, contrasting themwith the intent, silent men who stood beside me, it seemed to me morethan ever dangerous to call in such allies. So strongly did I feel itthat 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 suddenlycorrecting himself and thinking that he had said too much, he added--

  "A temporary occupation--nothing more."