others clattered their cups of mead (a jar of that unpleasant drink was
on the table) in token of their agreement.

I observed also how much interested, and how very earnest and intolerant
these Barbarians were in the matter of religion. Of Christianity they
knew nothing, so that although they were aware that the Britons were
Christians, they had not a notion of what their creed really was.
Yet without examination they started by taking it for granted that their
own worship of Woden was absolutely right, and that therefore this other
creed must be absolutely wrong. "This vile religion," "This sad
superstition," and "This grievous error," were among the phrases which
they used towards it. Instead of expressing pity for any one who had
been misinformed upon so serious a question, their feelings were those
of anger, and they declared most earnestly that they would spare no
pains to set the matter right, fingering the hilts of their long
broad-swords as they said so.

Well, my dear Crassus, you will have had enough of me and of my Saxons.
I have given you a short sketch of these people and their ways. Since I
began this letter, I have visited the two other ships which have come
in, and as I find the same characteristics among the people on board
them, I cannot doubt that they lie deeply in the race. For the rest,
they are brave, hardy, and very pertinacious in all that
they undertake; whereas the Britons, though a great deal more spirited,
have not the same steadiness of purpose, their quicker imaginations
suggesting always some other course, and their more fiery passions being
succeeded by reaction. When I looked from the deck of the first Saxon
ship, and saw the swaying excited multitude of Britons on the beach,
contrasting them with the intent, silent men who stood beside me, it
seemed to me more than ever dangerous to call in such allies.