96 C E A N I A BRITANNICA. [CHAP. V.
The smaU red studs on the shield from the Witham, though described as cornelian, are clearly
of coral; for wliich the lai-ge vitreous studs, on that from the Thames, may perhaps be regarded
as a substitute.
There is evidence, more or less distinct, that the Britons, lilce the Gaiús, used in war the
large brazen trumpet, or carmjx, of which Diodorus and Enstathius speak*; and, also like
the continental Celts, that they employed military standards, the symbol on which was a figure
in bronze of the wild boar+.
The Britons had a numerous cavalry, which encountered Ca;sar ia his two invasions, and of
which several notices occur in the subsequent century J. The horse and mounted warrior is also
a favourite representation on autonomous British coins. The British horse, however, appears to
have been accustomed only to a desiútory sort of warfare, and was little capable of a sustained or
well-combined movement. It was obviously very inferior to that of the continental Gauls, who
had large bodies of well-disciplined cavah-y, who entered into the service of foreign princes, and
from whom, after their subjection to Rome, a great part of the legions was supplied §. The
British horses, at least in the north of the island, are by Dion described as small and swift |1;
they were doubtless of an indigenous breed. In their small size they seem to have resembled
the Gallic ^onvt^—galloways, which under the name of manni were valued at Rome for their
rapid paces in harness If. They were indeed obviously more fitted for draught than for the
saddle; and hence their use in chariots may have arisen, or at least been promoted; as was
clearly the case with the small horses of the Asiatic Sigynni**.
Diodorus tells us that the Britons, preserving primitive modes of life, in their wars used
chariots, as the ancient Greek did in the Trojan war+f. This northern war-chariot is named
essedum by Caisar, and novinus by Mela and Tacitus J J. Ca;sar, who often speaks of the carts and
waggons, carri, rhedm (probably fWe petorita—pedicar, foui-, and rlod, a wheel, Cymric), which
the Gauls were accustomed to bring in great numbers to their battles, nowhere says that they
brought them into the engagement, as the Britons did their esseda; with which latter the Roman
legionaries evidently first came in contact in Britain§§. He says the soldiers were dismayed
by the dangers and unequal nature of this mode of warfare, which as a novelty he minutely
describes. It is probable that Diodorus has appKed to the Gauls the description, given by
* Dio(loTU3, lib. V, c. 30. Eustathius, on Homer, II, 18. and Transalpine Gauls, prior to the battle of Telamón, 225 n.c.
V. 219. De Lagoy, foe. c«. pi. 2. fig. 6, 8, 9, 10, 11. Large - - - - -
brazen trumpets have often been found m Ireland. See Camden,
-vol. iv. p. 231. Petrie, " Dublin Penny Journal," 1833,
vol. ii. p. 27. Archseological Journal, vol. xii. p. 96. Thirteen
were found, with celts, spear-heads and bells, all of bronze,
in a large vessel of the same metal, in King's County, about
1832. Eobinson, Transactions of the Eoyal Irish Academy
for 1848-49.
t Livy, lib. xxxi. c. 21 ; lib. xsxiii. c. 24, 38, 39; lib.
X.1XVÍ. c. 40. Cffisar, B. G. lib. i. c. 22 ; hb. vii. c. 2. De la
Saussaye, Revue Numismatique, 1840, vol. iii. p. 245. pi. 19.
t Ctesar, B. G. lib. iv. c. 24, 26, 34; lib. v. c. i), 15.
Tacitus, Vit. Agrie, c. 35, 36. Dion apud Xiph. lib. Ixii. § 12.
§ Livy, hb. xlii. c. 57, 58 ; lib. xliv. c. 20, 28. Csesar,
B. G. lib. i. c. 15, 42. The Transalpine chief Viridomarus
(222 B.C.) is represented hy Plutarch as taking the field
momitcd on a horse, to which he set spurs, brandishing a
spear which he held in his hand (Marcellus, c. 7). There
were 20,000 horse and waggons in the army of united Cisalpine
Polyb. lib. ii. c. 23, 27. 1 Dion apud Xiph. lib. kxvi. § 12.
If Ovid, Amor. Ub. ii. El. 16. v. 49. Horat. lib. i. Od. viii.
The word mann-us is supposed to be Gallic. A translator, in
1736, of Petronius (Satyr, c. 45) renders the word " Monhorses,"
and suggests that they were brought from the British
Mona or Man.
** Herodotus, hb. v. c. 9. Strabo, hb. xi. c. 11. § 8.
-j-f Diodorus, lib. v. c. 21.
i t Csesar, B, G. hb. iv. c. 24,33,34; lib. v. c. 15, 16, 17, 19.
Mela, lib. iii. c. C. Tacitus, Vit. Agric. c. 12, 35, 36. Coviuus
is clearly found in the Welsh cywain, to carry. Essedum
is said by Ginzrot (Die Wägen der Gr. u. Römer, München,
1817, p. 377) to be from the Celtic esa, a carriage.
This word, however, does not exist in the Welsh or Gaelic ;
and though, as Vossius suspected, essedum is probably a Celtic
word, Scheffer (De Re Vehic. ii. 23) says he had sought for
its etymology in vain.
§§ Caesar, B. G. lib. i. c. 26, 51 ; lib. vi, c. 30; lib. vii. c. 18 ;
lib. viii, c, 14,
CHAP, V. ] HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY OE BRITAIN. 97
Csesar, of the British essedum; and Strabo, who says some of the Celts of Gaul used carriages
in their wars, must refer merely to the numerous vehicles which accompanied them*. Each
chariot carried two men, a driver, auriga, and a chariot-soldier, essedarius, or covmari/us, who,
notwithstanding the reverse statement of Tacitus, was probably of superior rank+. The
charioteer had by practice such command of the horses, that he could, even when on hilly
ground, run along the polet, raise himself on the yoke, and retreat with the greatest speed into
the body of the car, which he drove with extraordinary swiftness and skill. "We have no
account of the combats between different tribes of Britons, in which war-chariots must have
been engaged on both sides; but, in fighting with the Romans, the first object of the charioteers
was to break the ranks of the enemy's horse, by rapidly driving the chariots among them, an
object often in great measure attained by the dread inspired by the noise of their wheels.
Meanwhüc the chariot soldiers were actively engaged in throwing their missile weapons, and an
advantage being in this way secured, they leaped from the chariots and engaged on foot, sword
in hand. The chariots were driven oif to the rear, where they awaited the result, and aiforded a
ready means of escape if required; as is well shown on a medal of L. Hostüius Sascrna, which
probably represents a British chariot in full retreat §. The war-chariots formed an important
division of the British armies, and were brought into battle in great numbers; as by Cassivelaunus
against Julius (54 B.C.); Caractacus against Aulus Plautius (A.D. 43); Boadicea against
Suetonius Paulinus (A.D. 61); Galgacus against Agrícola (A.D. 84); and even, as would appear,
as late as the wars of the Caledonian Britons with Severus ||. Ceesar refers to the fom- thousand
essedarü of Cassivelaunus, all which remained to him, after disbanding the greater part of his
forces, as a small number Tf.
* Diodoms, lib. V. c. 29. Strabo, lib. iv. c. 5. § 2, where
aTTi/vT/ represents an easy carriage, and answers to the Latin
carpentum : see Euripides, Phoen. 861. With the conformity
of manners which existed, it would not be surprising if the
use of chariots in battle could be shown to have obtained in
Gaul as well as Britain. The authority of C^sar, however,
appears conclusive ; and the custom of fighting from the essedum,
among northern and western nations, must be regarded
as characteristically British. That poets, hke Virgil (Georg.
iii. 204) and Lucan (i. 426), both of whom name the Selgic
esseda, or covinus, should have used au erroneous designation
need not surprise us ; though Virgil says nothing as to its being
used in battle. Philargyrius indeed, commentmg on this passage
of Virgil, quotes CiEsar himself, for the assertion, as generally
thought, that the essedum was used by the Gauls,—" Multa
millia equitum atqne essedariorum habet ; " but the "Liberad
Ciceronem III." being lost, we cannot admit Csesar in evidence
agamst himself, and must conclude that he was really speaking
of a British chief. Livy's reference (lib. x. c. 28, 30) to the chariots,
" essedis corrisque," of the Cisalpine Gauls at the battle
of Sentinum (295 B.C.) would he more to the point, as observed
by Mr. Long (Smith's Dictionary, Gallia Cis, p. 937), were he
confirmed by Polybius (lib. ii. c. 28), the carriages mentioned
by him at Telamón (225 B,C,) not appearing to be war-chariots,
Livy himself, in the subsequent section, speaks of them, not as
esseda, but carpenta ;—" carpeuta Gallica"—his usual name
for the travelhng carriages or carts which the Cisalpine Gauls
took with them to battle, to which he frequently refers (lib,
xxxi, c. 21, lib. xxxvi. c. 40), and which were doubtless similar
to the "rhedse" and " carri" of Transalpine Gaul, in the time
of CiEsar. Similar " plaustra " were used, as Tacitus tells us,
in Britain (Ann. xiv. c. 34). Four-wheeled carriages, petorita,
drawn by two horses, are seen on the Column of Antonine,
representations probably of these Gallic vehicles. Montfaucon,
torn. iv. p. 194.pl. 118, 119, The silver chariot of
Bituit, king of the Arverni (121 B,C,, Florus, lib, iii, c. 2),
was probably the vehicle in which he travelled from battle to
battle.
t The superiority of the charioteer—" honestior anriga"—
is the reverse of what obtained amongst the Egyptians, Assyrians
and Greeks. The accuracy of Tacitus may perhaps in
this instance be questioned; and Niehuhr is probably right
when he describes the British chariot as " driven by a vassal,
who in battle also protected his lord." History of Rome,
vol. ii. p. 527.
t " De temone Britanuo excidet Arviragus." Juv. iv. 125,
§ Cffisar, B, G, lib, iv. c. 33; hb. v. c. 16. Diodorus,
lib. V. c. 29. Tacitus, Vit. Agric. c. 12, 35, 36. DionajjKrf
Xiph. lib. Ixii. § 4. The Marquis de Lagoy (Recherches
Nnmismatiques snr I'Armement des Gaulois, &c. 1819) seems
first to have pointed out that the representations on this and
on some other medals are those of British chariots. See also
Rev. Beale Poste, Journal of the British Archieologieal -Association,
vol. vi. p. 252.
II (Csesar, B. G. lib. v. c. 15 et seq. Dion, lib. Ix. ^ 20.
Tacitus, Ann. lib. xiv. c. 34 et sej.; Vit. Agric. c. 35 et seq.
Dion apud Xiph. lib. ixii. § 4 ; lib. Ixxvi. § 12.
^ CiBsar, B. G. lib. v. c. 19.