BOOK I. The Welsh tradition may be therefore read without incredulity, which deduces two colonies from Gaul, not Kymry or Kimmerians, but of Kimmerian origin; the one from Armorica, and the other from Gascony." The distinction taken as to their origin suits the situation of the Kelts, who, to use the expression of the triad, were of the first race of the Kymry. The Armorican emigration was of the tribe called Brython", a name which recals to our recollection, that Pliny found a people called Britanni remaining in Gaul in his time.76 The colony from Gascony was the Lloegrwys, whose name became attached to that part of the island which they occupied; for the largest part of England has been always named Lloegr by the Welsh poets" and chroniclers. 78 Tacitus expresses 74 The fifth triad is this: "The three peaceful people of the isle of Britain. The first were the nation of the Kymry, who came with Hu Cadarn to the island of Britain. He obtained not the country, nor the lands, by slaughter or contest, but with justice and peace. The other was the race of the Lloegrwys, who came from the land of Gwasgwyn; and they were of the first race of the Kymry. The third were the Brython, and from the land of Llydaw they came; and they were of the first race of the Kymry. And these were called the three peaceful nations, because they came one to the other with peace and tranquillity; and these three nations were' of the first race of the Kymry, and they were of the same language." Trioedd ynys Prydain. Archaiol. p.58. 75 The Brython are frequently mentioned by the old Welsh poets: by Aneurin, in his Gododin, 1 Archaiol. p. 10., and by Taliessin, p. 31. 50. 66, 67. 73. He once mentions the Morini Brython, in his Prif Gyfarch, or Primary Gratulation, p. 33. 76 Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. iv. c. 31.; and Dionysius. 77 Aneurin speaks of Lloegr, p. 7., and calls its inhabitants Lloegrwys, p. 4. 9. and 11. Taliessin has Lloegr, p. 64. and 59., and Lloergrwys, p. 51. 55. Llywarch Hen and Myrddhin also use both words, as 108. 117. 153., &c. 78 Besides the fabulous Brut Tysilio, and the Brut ab Arthur, 2 Archaiol. p. 116, 117., their historical chronicles Brut y Saeson, and the Brut y Tywysogion, p. 469, 471., &c. speak of England under this name. II. his belief, that the Gauls peopled Britain", and CHAP. Bede derives its inhabitants from Armorica.0 The position of the Kelts on the maritime regions of the west of Europe, bringing them more within the reach of intercourse with the civilised nations of antiquity, who frequented the ocean, they had begun to feel the influence of the superior progress of the improved part of the world. The Grecian settlement of the Phocians, at Marseilles, about 540 years before the Christian æra, flourished afterwards into great wealth and consequence. These colonists subdued some of the Keltic regions. around them, founded cities, built a splendid temple to the Ephesian Diana, raised large fleets, pursued extensive navigations, of which the voy. age of Pytheas towards Iceland is an instance; and became distinguished for the elegance of their manners, their love of literature, and spirit of philosophy. They made their city so attractive for its intellectual resources, that some of the noblest of the Romans lived at Marseilles, in preference to Athens; and they diffused such a taste for Grecian customs around them, that the Gauls used Greek 79 Tacitus Vit. Agric. In Camden's Britannia numerous analogies of manners and language between the Britons and Gauls are collected, to prove their identity of origin. Some of these are worth our con sideration. 80 Bede Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. i. We have two collateral proofs from the analogy of language of the affinity between the inhabitants of Britain and the ancient Kelts. Pausanias, mentioning that every Keltic horseman was followed to battle by two attendants, says that the Kelts called this custom, in their native language, Trimarkisian, because the name of a horse among the Kelts is Markan, Phoc. lib. x. p. 545. Mark is also a horse, tri is three, and trimarkwys is literally three horsemen, in the ancient British, and present Welsh. Cæsar states, that the Keltic people, who bordered upon the ocean, were in his time called Armoricæ, lib. v. c. 44. In the ancient British, and in the Welsh, ar-mor-uch literally mean upon the seaheights. I. BOOK letters, and wrote their contracts in Greek.81 The Keltic invaders of Greece must have also introduced many beneficial improvements into their native country; for Strabo mentions, that treasures taken from Delphi, in the expedition under Brennus, were found by the Romans at Tholouse. 82 It was remarked by Ephorus, that the Kelta were fond of the Greeks 83; and their diffusion into Spain, which he also notices 84, brought them into immediate contact with the Phenicians and Carthaginians; and their Druids are certainly evidence that a part of the population had made some intellectual advance. The preceding facts, connected with the analogy of the language, as at first remarked, satisfactorily prove that our earliest population came from the Kimmerian and Keltic stock. 81 Strabo, p. 272, 273. Justin. L. 43. c. 3. 83 Ib. p. 304. 84 Ephorus stated, that they occupied the largest part of Spain, up to Cadiz. Strabo, p. 304. And Strabo mentions, that before the Carthaginians possessed Spain, the Keltoi and the Tyrians held it, p. 238. CHAP. III. Phenicians and Carthaginians in Britain. CHAP. III. Phenicians and Britain. in Spain BUT though the Kimmerii, and their kindred the Kelts, may have peopled Britain, a more celebrated people are also stated to have visited it. The Phenicians, in their extensive commercial navigations, colonized many of the islands, and some of the coasts of the Ægean and Mediterranean Seas. Inscriptions in their language have been found in Malta. They occupied Spain, and founded Cadiz ; and it was probably in pursuit of them, that Nebuchadnezzar, the celebrated King of Babylon, became the conqueror of Spain. They had also an established intercourse with islands, which the Greeks called "the Islands of Tin," or Cassiterides. This, The Cassibeing a descriptive name, was probably the translation of the Phenician appellation.' As Herodotus intimates, that the Cassiterides were, with respect to Greece, in the farthest parts of Europe 2; as Aristotle talks of Keltic tin3; and Strabo describes 3 1 Κασσιτερον is the word used by the Greeks for tin. Bochart has founded an ingenious etymology of the "Britannic islands" on the Hebrew, Baratanac, which, he says, means the Land of Tin. He says Strabo calls Britain, Betraviny. Boch. Canaan, lib. i. c. 39. p. 720. He also intimates, what is more probable, that the word Kaσσipov may have been of Phenician origin. The Chaldean Targums, of Jonathan and Jerusalem, certainly call tin kastira and kistara, as the Arabs name it kasdar. See Numbers, xxxi. 22. 2 Herod. Thalia, c. 115. 3 Aristot. lib. Mirabilium; Mela places the Cassiterides in Celticis, or among the Keltæ, lib. iii. c. 6. p. 262. terides. BOOK I. both these islands and Britain, to be opposite to the Artabri, or Gallicia in Spain, but northward, and places them within the British climate; as in another passage he states them to be as to Rome, without, or on our side of the columns of Hercules"; as he mentions them to be productive of tin, obviously connecting them at the same time with the British islands; and in another part, as being in the open sea, north from the port of the Artabri', or Gallicia: the most learned, both at home and abroad, have believed the Cassiterides to have been some of the British islands. This opinion is warranted by there being no other islands famous for tin near the parts designated by Strabo; and by the fact, that British tin was so celebrated in antiquity, that Polybius intended to write on the British islands, and the preparation of tin.8 It has been suggested, that the Scilly islands and Cornwall were more peculiarly meant by the Cassiterides. When Cornwall was first discovered from the south of Europe, it may have been thought an island, before greater familiarity with the coast taught the navigators that it was only a projecting part of a larger country; and even then, when the whole country connected with it was found to be 4 Strabo Geog. lib. ii. p. 181. 5 Ib. lib. ii. p. 191. He joins them with the British islands, xx Καττιτερίδες, και βρεττανίκαι. 6 Ib. lib. iii. p. 219. Here he says, than tin is produced among the barbarians above Lusitania, and in the islands Cassiterides, and from Britain is brought to Marseilles. 7 Ib. lib. iii. p. 265. In this passage Strabo says likewise, they are ten in number, adjoining each other. 8 Polyb. Hist. lib. iii. c. 5. Festus Avienus describes islands under the name of Estrymnides, which are thought to be the same with Strabo's Cassiterides. He says they were frequented by the merchants of Tartessus and Carthage, and were rich in tin and lead. De oris Marit. |