reared in the forests and marshes, with which the country was covered:
they shifted easily their habitation, when actuated either by the
hopes of plunder, or the fear of an enemy: the convenience of feeding
their cattle was even a sufficient motive for removing their seats:
and as they were ignorant of all the refinements of life, their wants
and their possessions were equally scanty and limited.
[FN [a] Caesar. lib. 4.]

The Britons were divided into many small nations or tribes; and being
a military people, whose sole property was their arms and their
cattle, it was impossible, after they had acquired a relish for
liberty, for their princes or chieftains to establish any despotic
authority over them. Their governments, though monarchical [b], were
free, as well as those of all the Celtic nations; and the common
people seem even to have enjoyed more liberty among them [c] than
among the nations of Gaul [d], from which they were descended. Each
state was divided into factions within itself [e]: it was agitated
with jealousy or animosity against the neighbouring states: and while
the arts of peace were yet unknown, wars were the chief occupation,
and formed the chief object of ambition among the people.
[FN [b] Diod. Sic. lib. 4. Mela, lib. 3. cap. 6. Strabo, lib. 4.
[c] Dion. Cassius, lib. 75 [d] Caesar. lib. 6. [e] Tacit. Agr.]

The religion of the Britons was one of the most considerable parts of
their government; and the Druids, who were their priests, possessed
great authority among them. Besides ministering at the altar, and
directing all religious duties, they presided over the education of
youth; they enjoyed an immunity from wars and taxes; they possessed
both the civil and criminal jurisdiction; they decided all
controversies among states as well as among private persons, and