The Britons proper from the
interior showed fewer signs of progress. They did not break the ground for
corn; they had no manufactures; they lived on meat and milk, and were
dressed in leather. They dyed their skins blue that they might look more
terrible. They wore their hair long, and had long mustaches. In their
habits they had not risen out of the lowest order of savagery. They had
wives in common, and brothers and sisters, parents and children, lived
together with promiscuous unrestraint. From such a country not much was to
be gained in the way of spoil; nor had much been expected. Since Cicero's
conversion, his brother Quintus had joined Caesar, and was now attending
him as one of his lieutenant-generals. The brothers were in intimate
correspondence. Cicero, though he watched the British expedition with
interest, anticipated that Quintus would bring nothing of value back with
him but slaves; and he warned his friend Atticus, who dealt extensively in
such commodities, that the slaves from Britain would not be found of
superior quality.[2]
[1] Nassau and Darmstadt.
[2] "Britannici belli exitus exspectatur. Constat enim, aditus insulae
esse munitos mirificis molibus. Etiam illud jam cognitum est, neque
argenti scrupulum esse ullum in illa insula, neque ullam spem praedae,
nisi ex mancipiis: ex quibus nullos puto te litteris aut musicis
eruditos exspectare.
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