Yet again, I had to attend that... place... with those... people. In early today. Getting told what to do by teenagers. Scrubbing pots. Standard. (This is Britain 2022, not Renaissance Italy, evidently).
The old ball and chain got back in touch. It is an undeserved title, for she is a nice lady, but still, much work for very little pay. Standard. (This is not the Umayyad Emirte during the tenth century, evidently).
I have been giving some thought to the history of Britain as a nation of enslaved people. It is certainly true, from the testimony of none other than Julius Caesar that there are similarities between Britain and Gallic peoples:
"The maritime part, away from them, they had crossed over from Belgium (which almost all of their urban centres had been called by their [Belgian] names, having arisen from which, they arrived from urban centres there). The reason was waging wars and the spoils of war, and in waging war they captured fields to till and had stayed there. A multitude of men is crammed together in buildings, almost exactly the same as Gallic peoples." Gallic War 5.12 (my translation).
So there are evidently some similarities and evidence of cultural interchange between the Gauls and the Britons. Tacitus (Agricola 11) has some supporting evidence of this, claiming that those Britons nearest the Gauls were similar to them (though he does add that others were not, and that there were more in common with Scots and Germans than anything else). In any case, Tacitus does say that the rest of the Britons were much like Gauls, but also adds an important detail (Agricola 21) that Britons were better authors than the Gauls were. There is no other evidence to back this up (with Ausonius being the first 'Gallic' author, much later in history, 4th-5th century C.E.). Anyway, Tacitus does say in a couple of places (Agricola 21) that Britons adopted Roman customs, only to form a part of their enslavement, but also (15) that Britons began to get very annoyed at being treated as slaves (one thinks of the modern day equivalent to the toga - the suit, I always wear a suit, yet I am a slave). Elsewhere, Julius Caesar (Gallic War 6.13) says that the vast majority of Celts are virtually slaves, all of them, with the exception of two classes. (One is reminded of that classic photograph of the Two Ronnies and John Cleese: lower, middle and upper class). One, is the equites (Gallic War 6.15), that is cavalrymen, knights. There is one other class, which pays no taxes, and makes the laws: the Druids. In the book Moneyland by Oliver Bullough, it is absolutely certain that there is very strong evidence for a certain section of society, in Britain, which pays no tax, and is at the top tier. Oddly enough, among the holders of these offshore trust funds and dodgy tax schemes, are several of the front bench politicians in the Conservative Party. You can read more about it here. So, these people, the top tier, pay no tax, and make the laws. What has changed since the days of Julius Caesar? Not much, it would seem. Britons were slaves wearing togae, now Britons are slaves in suits.
There were, however, a few differences. Strabo (4.4.4) suggested that there were three subdivisions of Druids, the Bards, Vates (‘prophetic bards’) and Druids. Ammianus Marcellinus (15.9.8) wrote that there is a similar subdivision adding that the Druids were smarter than your average bear. Ammianus, and indeed other writers, such as Hippolytus (Refutation of All Heresies 1.2 and 1.22) mention that Druids were Pythagorean style philosophers. This may extend to their belief in the afterlife, but there were certain... practices, which were most certainly not Pythagorean, which the Druids got up to. These were famously mentioned by Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, Caesar, and others.
In summary, there is a very long tradition of Britons screwing themselves over, being ruled over by people that did not obey their own rules, and that virtually the rest of the entire nation is pretending to be something they're not, by dressing up smartly, but are, in fact, slaves, much like myself. But it's okay. I found a new job today, the only catch is I will need to know something about the law in order to do that job, thus rendering 12 years of study and £15,000 worth of student loans down the pan, and instead, I get to pay £20,000 up front (oh! the honour, the privilege!) for being put through my paces again by studying the most difficult degree there is, with the exception of medicine. So, let's hear it for "Great" Britain. I had applied to be a university lecturer, but seemingly, in order to be able to be eligible to study the qualification enabling one to become a university lecturer, one already has to be a university lecturer. "Great" Britain. Land of beggars, paupers and slaves: always has been, always will be.
Max.
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