DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13856#0018
12
Roman Antiquities recently discovered on the site of the
trade, a place from which goods could be shipped in quantities, and a nucleus
around which would gather a moving population of traders in natural products and
manufactures. These would send on their goods from the interior, and thus
ensure shipment to the continent. It may be viewed as a village, station,
or market-place for such commodities, and would resemble the ports upon
the coast line or river side, accessible to the natives of a country connected
with the far-off colonies of our own times. Its subsequent grandeur, develop-
ment, and growth is to be referred, as we shall see, to Roman times; for the
growth of all cities must depend on existing congenial circumstances as much in
ancient days as now. Any increase in trade necessitates the occupation of a larger
population, and when we consider that the Romans were masters of our land for
nearly 400 years, so long a period could hardly elapse without material alterations
taking place both in the limits and character of the first settlement of the city.
To bring this before our own experience we have but to compare the metropolis
of the reign of Queen Elizabeth with that of the present clay, or further to reflect
upon the extension of the city and increase of its population within the last
fifty years. Liverpool is another case in point, its commercial growth is within
human recollection; and Brighton also, as a place of recreation and resort, is an
illustration of how rapidly a town may start into importance from but the
humblest of beginnings. With all our increase we have not yet reached to the
extent of Rome as a city. In the reign of Valerian * it is said to have been
enclosed by a circumference of fifty miles, and possessed, says Lipsius,f a
population of 4,000,000 inhabitants.
The first mention of London by classic writers is that already referred to .as
occurring in the Annals of Tacitus. In describing the insurrection under
Boadicea the author speaks of London as being celebrated for its merchants
and its trade, " copia negotiatorum et commeatorum maxime celebre," and as
contributing with Camuloclunum and Verulamium a large proportion, viz.,
between the three places, of 70,000 citizens and allies to its subjection. It is
to be presumed that these allies, the sociis of our author, were no small pro-
portion of the number. It is well known that many of the petty British kings
were at war with each other, and, consequently, many of the states were
friendly to the Roman power. Caesar himself tells us that many ambassadors
came to him undertaking to provide hostages, and with offers of submission
to his rule. It is probable therefore that in this insurrection there were
included many of the characteristics of a civil war. It has been usually the
* Vopiscus in Aureliano. \ Fabricci Roma, cap. 2. 1 Ccesar, Comm. iv. 2.
Roman Antiquities recently discovered on the site of the
trade, a place from which goods could be shipped in quantities, and a nucleus
around which would gather a moving population of traders in natural products and
manufactures. These would send on their goods from the interior, and thus
ensure shipment to the continent. It may be viewed as a village, station,
or market-place for such commodities, and would resemble the ports upon
the coast line or river side, accessible to the natives of a country connected
with the far-off colonies of our own times. Its subsequent grandeur, develop-
ment, and growth is to be referred, as we shall see, to Roman times; for the
growth of all cities must depend on existing congenial circumstances as much in
ancient days as now. Any increase in trade necessitates the occupation of a larger
population, and when we consider that the Romans were masters of our land for
nearly 400 years, so long a period could hardly elapse without material alterations
taking place both in the limits and character of the first settlement of the city.
To bring this before our own experience we have but to compare the metropolis
of the reign of Queen Elizabeth with that of the present clay, or further to reflect
upon the extension of the city and increase of its population within the last
fifty years. Liverpool is another case in point, its commercial growth is within
human recollection; and Brighton also, as a place of recreation and resort, is an
illustration of how rapidly a town may start into importance from but the
humblest of beginnings. With all our increase we have not yet reached to the
extent of Rome as a city. In the reign of Valerian * it is said to have been
enclosed by a circumference of fifty miles, and possessed, says Lipsius,f a
population of 4,000,000 inhabitants.
The first mention of London by classic writers is that already referred to .as
occurring in the Annals of Tacitus. In describing the insurrection under
Boadicea the author speaks of London as being celebrated for its merchants
and its trade, " copia negotiatorum et commeatorum maxime celebre," and as
contributing with Camuloclunum and Verulamium a large proportion, viz.,
between the three places, of 70,000 citizens and allies to its subjection. It is
to be presumed that these allies, the sociis of our author, were no small pro-
portion of the number. It is well known that many of the petty British kings
were at war with each other, and, consequently, many of the states were
friendly to the Roman power. Caesar himself tells us that many ambassadors
came to him undertaking to provide hostages, and with offers of submission
to his rule. It is probable therefore that in this insurrection there were
included many of the characteristics of a civil war. It has been usually the
* Vopiscus in Aureliano. \ Fabricci Roma, cap. 2. 1 Ccesar, Comm. iv. 2.