Chapter 2
British and Roman Times.
Our earliest information as to this part of Britain is confined to what we can gather from Caesar, other writers simply repeating his statements. From him we learn that the South-Eastern districts were inhabited by tribes much more refined than those of the interior; that they were of the same race as the Belgae , across the straits, in many cases bearing the same names -- as for instance the Atrebates -- and that there was a great intercourse between these kindred nations. Indeed, shortly before his time, Divitiacus, a Belgian chieftain, who held the valley of the Somme, had not only become very powerful in Gaul,but had extended his dominion over Britain : and Caesar incidentally shows that the Britons of these parts must have been continually engaged in maritime expeditions, by informing us, as one of the reasons for the invasion of the island, that he had found that, in all his wars they supplied reinforcements to his Gallic enemies. Even the Veneti, though situated on the southern shores of Brittany were assisted in their naval wars by Britons from the coasts opposite the Menapii and Morini, i.e., from Kent and Sussex.
The Veneti, whom we thus see connected with these regions, -
