The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

284 SHEEP BREEDING AND
in the most northern parts had flocks of covered sheep, and their
wool was consequently very fine*.
Here also maybe produced the evidence of Eumenius, who in
his Oration, which will be quoted more fully hereafter, intimates
the abundance of the sheep on the western banks of the Rhine
by saying, that the flocks of the Romans were washed in every
part of the streamt-
Caesar informs us, that the ancient inhabitants of Britain had
abundance of cattle {pecoris magniis niimerus) ; under the
word (pecus) "cattle," sheep must no doubt be understood to
be included. It also appears, that in his time the Celts, or
proper Britons, hved to the North of the Thames, the Belgians
having expelled them and taken possession of the part to the
South, called Cantiiim or Kent. These last were by far the
most civilized inhabitants of the island, not much differing in
their customs from tlie Gauls. With respect to the others,
Caesar says, that for the most part they did not sow any kind
of grain, but lived upon milk and flesh, and clothed themselves
with skinst.
It appears therefore, that before our aera, sheep, and probably
goats, were bred extensively in England, their mUk and flesh
being used for food, and their skins with the wool or hair upon
them for clothing ; and that the people of Kent, who were of
Belgic origin, and more refined than the original Britons, had
attained to the arts of spinning and weaving, although their
productions were only of the coarsest description.
Eumenius, the Rhetorician, who was a native of Augustodunum,
now called Autun, delivered his Panegyric in praise of
the Emperors Constantius and Constantino in the city of
Treves about A. D. 310. In the following passage he con-
gratulates Britain on its various productions, and also on the
* L. iv. cap. iv. § 3. pp. 56-59. ed. Siebenkees.
t Arat illam tcrribilem aliqiiando ripam iiiermis agricola, et toto nostri greges
flumine bicorni morsantur. p. 152.
X Ex his omnibus longfe sunt humanissimi, qui Cantium incolunt ; qum regio
est maritinia omnis ; neque multum a Gallicil differunt consuetudine. Interiores
plerique frumenta non serunt ; sed lacte et came vivunt, pellibusqe sunt vestiti.
De Bello Gallico, 1. v. cap. 10.