Scottish quote of the day: Calgacus, before the battle of Mons Graupius, Scottish Highlands, AD83/4:

Published on 04/07/2012 13:43

Calgacus, the first Caledonian to have a recorded identity and a chieftain of the Caledonian Confederacy, made this rousing speech denouncing the exploitation of Britain by Rome before the battle of Mons Graupius, in which his side was roundly defeated by the Roman army of Agricola.

“You have not tasted servitude. There is no land beyond us and even the sea is no safe refuge when we are threatened by the Roman fleet....We are the last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to rumour has protected us up till this day. Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie open—and everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there is no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans. It is no use trying to escape their arrogance by submission or good behaviour. They have pillaged the world: when the land has nothing left for men who ravage everything, they scour the sea. If an enemy is rich, they are greedy, if he is poor, they crave glory. Neither East nor West can sate their appetite. They are the only people on earth to covet wealth and poverty with equal craving. They plunder, they butcher, they ravish, and call it by the lying name of ‘empire’. They make a desert and call it ‘peace’.”

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