Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity. . . . After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and having come to the extreme limit of the west. [Britain was the westernmost province of the Roman Empire.] Clement of Rome (c. 96, W), 1.6.
After their languages were divided, men gradually began to multiply and spread over all the earth. And some of them tended towards the east to dwell there. And others went to parts of the great continent. Others went northwards, so as to go as far as Britain. Theophilus (c. 180, E), 2.107.
The compilers of narratives say that on the island of Britain there is a cave situated under a mountain with a chasm on its summit. When the wind rushes through the cave, . . . a sound is heard like cymbals clashing. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.487, 488.
By this time, . . . [the name of Christ has reached] the various confines of the Moors, all the limits of Spain, the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons—inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ. Tertullian (c. 197, W), 3.157, 158.
Britain is deficient in sunshine, but it is refreshed by the warmth of the sea that flows around it. Mark Minucius Felix (c. 200, W), 4.182.
The next best pearls are those taken from the sea at Britain. Origen (c. 228, E), 9.417.