I was thinking about the Roman view of Britain last night, after watching a programme where they were discussing archaeological evidence that the Picts traded with the Romans rather than simply mounted raids across Hadrians Wall.

One of the archaeologists made the point that much of our information come from early Roman writers who were, in effect, propagandists for the empire. It suited them to portray the Picts as savages to the closeted citizens of Rome, I guess (though this wasn't mentioned) because their tax dinari were paying for everything out at the far flung edges of the empire and had to be justified.

It appears the picts appreciated some of the finer things in life, including roman glass etc.