History Memes

Fuck I can't remember where I got that the Romans were getting fed up with Britain. Pretty sure it was a book I read when I was like 17 that listed off a bunch of the shit that lead up to the great Celtic revolt. It was basically a bunch of letters where the governor and emperor were going over cost value shit, the conclusion was that is worth it but only barely.

I'm not familiar with that exact exchange, but it was definitely openly discussed, both before and after the conquest, that Britain was not a good financial investment for the Empire. Funny enough, a pre-conquest Roman writer suggests that Britain was worth more unconquered, since they could tax imports and exports at tariff rates instead of internal portoria rates.

The thing is, the main imperial concern in the conquest of Britain was not so much financial as security. And private Roman interests very quickly took root and established very profitable connections in Britain - private interests which would not have been silent about a proposed pull-out.

I think Suetonius(?) suggests that Nero considered pulling out because of the rebellion, before the news reached Rome that it was put down. After it was put down, such notions were dropped.