Read Ebook: The Roman Wall A historical topographical and descriptive account of the barrier of the lower isthmus extending from the Tyne to the Solway deduced from numerous personal surveys by Bruce J Collingwood John Collingwood

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FINGAL. Raise ye bards, the song! CARACUL has fled from our arms along the fields of his pride.

After the death of Severus, a long period elapsed, in which the Roman historians observe a profound silence respecting the affairs of Britain. Local records and native historians supply but feebly the deficiency. During the reign of Gallienus, which extended from A.D. 260 to 268, a large number of usurpers arose, who are commonly denominated the Thirty Tyrants. Of these Lollianus, Victorianus, Postumus, the two Tetrici, and Marius, are supposed to have assumed the sovereignty in this island; for their coins have been dug up more abundantly here than elsewhere.

Diocletian commenced his reign in the year 284. Though he was a man of energy and ability, the care of a crumbling empire was too much for him, and he divided his honours and anxieties with Maximian. Increasing perplexities a few years afterwards induced the emperors to appoint two Caesars. Diocletian chose Galerius Maximianus, and Maximian nominated Constantius Chlorus. To Constantius was assigned the charge of Britain, where he eventually found a grave. He was the father of Constantine the Great.

During a portion of the united reign of Diocletian and Maximian, Britain assumed an independent position. In order to repress, in the northern seas, the ravages of the Franks and Saxons, who about this period began to demand a place in the world's history, Carausius was appointed to the command of 'the channel fleet.' Gesoriacum, the modern Boulogne, was his place of rendezvous. Carausius, who was an expert seaman, exerted himself, at first, with extraordinary success, against the pirates. Afterwards, it was observed that he consulted his own interest, rather than the public service. The emperors resolved upon his destruction. Carausius, stimulated by self-preservation, as well as ambition, entered into an alliance with his former foes, the Franks and Saxons, and declared himself emperor of Britain. He was favourably received by the natives of the island, and for seven years wielded the sovereignty of his empire with vigour and ability. He repelled the Maeatae and the Caledonians, and having subdued these tribes, attached them to his interest. Nothing, observes Mr. Thackeray, can more fully prove the maritime strength and resources of Great Britain, under an able ruler, than the fact, that Carausius for seven years bade defiance to the Roman power; and at the end of that time fell, not overcome by the imperial forces, but by private treachery. Never before, nor until several hundred years after this period, was the country firmly united under the government of one sovereign.

Constantius was preparing to invade Britain with a fleet of a thousand ships, when Carausius was murdered by Allectus, whom he had trusted as his dearest friend. For about three years the assassin held, though with a less firm grasp, the power formerly possessed by his victim.

A very numerous suite of coins commemorates the successes of Carausius, and vindicates his claim to a share in the empire of the world. Two coins are represented here. On the reverse of one is a galley, which indicates the chief source of his strength, and on the reverse of the other is a lion with a thunderbolt in its mouth, significative, not only of the bold bearing which the ancient sea-king assumed, but of that which his successors in modern times have maintained.

Carausius, according to Macpherson, is the CAROS of Ossian. The following extract, upon this supposition, contains a remarkable allusion to the Wall.

Who comes towards my son, with the murmur of a song! His staff is in his hand, his grey hair loose on the wind. Surly joy lightens his face. He often looks back to CAROS.

It is Ryno of Songs, he that went to view the foe. "What does CAROS, KING OF SHIPS?" said the son of the now mournful Ossian; "spreads he the wings of his pride, bard of the times of old?"

"He spreads them, Oscar," replied the bard, "but it is behind his GATHERED HEAP. He looks over his STONES with fear. He beholds thee terrible, as the ghost of night, that rolls the wave to his ships!"

It would be improper to leave the reign of Diocletian without remarking, that under it, the church of Christ endured the last and most terrible of the ten persecutions, which pagan Rome inflicted upon the followers of the cross. Britain did not escape. Alban and many others, as Gildas and Bede inform us, were martyrs for the faith.

On the withdrawal, in the year 305, of Diocletian and Maximian from the cares of empire, Galerius and Constantius became the rulers of the world.

Constantine, afterwards surnamed the Great, was proclaimed emperor, on the death of his father Constantius, at York. After a protracted struggle with several rivals, he became, A.D. 313, sole possessor of the imperial power. He was the first Christian Emperor, and, in token of his faith, inscribed the monogram of the Redeemer upon his banner, and his coin. The circumstances under which he adopted this step are thus detailed--

The monogram is well displayed on the reverse of a coin of Magnentius, which is here represented. The Alpha and Omega, which accompany the symbol, indicate the faith of the emperor in the divinity of Christ--'the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.'

Constantine removed the imperial seat from Rome to Constantinople.

In this struggle Britain suffered severely. Maximus, having served in the island under the elder Theodosius, was a favourite with the Romanized Britons. They flocked to his standard in such numbers that the island seemed drained of its youth. More than a hundred thousand persons are said to have accompanied him from Britain to the continent.

The loss of the native soldiery was severely felt in the North of England, where the ruthless barbarians renewed their ravages without molestation. The whole island, in the querulous language of its first historian, Gildas, "Deprived of all her armed soldiers and military bands, was left to her cruel tyrants, deprived of the assistance of all her youth who went with Maximus, and ignorant of the art of war, she groaned in amazement for many years under the cruelty of the Picts and Scots."

Theodosius died A.D. 395. He left his dominions to his sons Arcadius and Honorius, who permanently divided them into the empires of the East and West. In the early part of the reign of Honorius, the province of Britain, by the prudence of the emperor's minister Stilicho, had comparative rest from the incursions of the enemy. But when the Gothic war diverted the attention of the government from so remote a province, and the legions of Britain were called away to defend the seat of the empire from the attacks of Alaric, the troubles which before distracted the province, were again called into fearful operation. A spirit of disaffection and revolt increased the evil. Marcus and Gratian were successively declared emperors by the islanders, but were both speedily murdered. Constantine was next raised to the sovereignty, an honour for which he was indebted to his name, not his rank or fitness for the office. Instead of endeavouring to secure the peace of Britain, he transported his army to Gaul and made a successful stand against Honorius. He was assassinated in the year 411.

Whilst Honorius was struggling with the usurper Constantine, he wrote letters to the cities of Britain, conceding the independence of the island, and urging them to adopt measures for their own government and protection. The gift of liberty was to them a fatal boon. Their implacable enemies, finding that the military science of the Romans no longer protected the south, rushed forth to invade the undefended province. The natives, in despair, turned to the still powerful name of Rome, and dispatched messengers to entreat help from the emperor.--But let Gildas 'the wise,' depict the closing scene of ancient Britain's history--

The Roman legion had no sooner returned home in joy and triumph, than their former foes, like hungry and ravening wolves, rushing with greedy jaws upon the fold, which is left without a shepherd, are wafted, both by the strength of oarsmen and the blowing wind, break through the boundaries, and spread slaughter on every side.

And now again they send suppliant ambassadors, with their garments rent, and their heads covered with ashes, imploring assistance from the Romans, like timorous chickens crowding under the protecting wings of their parents. Upon this, the Romans, moved with compassion, send forward, like eagles in their flight, their bands of cavalry and mariners, and planting their terrible swords upon the shoulders of their enemies, mow them down like leaves which fall at their destined period. Having driven their enemies beyond the sea, the Romans left the country, giving them notice, that they could no longer be harassed by such laborious expeditions, but that the islanders, inuring themselves to warlike weapons, should valiantly protect their country, their property, their wives, and children; that they should not suffer their hands to be tied behind their backs, by a nation, which, unless they were enervated by idleness and sloth, was not more powerful than themselves, but that they should arm those hands with buckler, sword, and spear, ready for the field of battle; and, because they thought this also of advantage to the people they were about to leave, they, with the help of the miserable natives, built a wall, different from the former, by public and private contributions, and of the same structure as walls generally are, extending in a straight line from sea to sea, between some cities, which, from fear of their enemies, had then by chance been built.

No sooner were they gone, than the Picts and Scots, like worms, which in the heat of mid-day, come forth from their holes, hastily land from their canoes, differing one from another in manners, but inspired with the same avidity for blood, and all, more eager to shroud their villainous faces in bushy hair, than to cover with decent clothing those parts of their body which required it. Moreover, having heard of the departure of our friends, and their resolution never to return, they seized, with greater boldness than before, on all the country towards the extreme north, as far as the Wall. To oppose them, there was placed on the heights, a garrison, equally slow to fight, and ill adapted to run away, a useless and panic-struck company, which slumbered away days and nights on their unprofitable watch. Meanwhile the hooked weapons of their enemies were not idle, and our wretched countrymen were dragged from the Wall, and dashed against the ground. Such premature death, however, painful as it was, saved them from seeing the miserable sufferings of their brothers and children. But why should I say more? They left their cities, abandoned the protection of the Wall, and dispersed themselves in flight more desperately than before.

Whilst the enemy butchered them like sheep, they increased their own miseries by domestic feuds--

They turned their arms upon each other, and for the sake of a little sustenance, imbrued their hands in the blood of their fellow countrymen.

Again, in their distress, they applied to the Romans. In the address, entitled 'The Groans of the Britons,' our author represents them as saying:--

The barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea throws us back on the barbarians: thus two modes of death await us, we are either slain or drowned.

The Romans could not assist them, and, unwilling to assist themselves, they sought and obtained the help of those 'wolves', as Gildas calls them, the fierce and impious Saxons. The result is known to all--Celtic Britain became Saxon England--and England, with all its faults,--has it not been a blessing to the world?

The picture drawn by Gildas of the misery of the southern Britons, and of the ravages of the northern barbarians, is doubtless correct; but, in ascribing the erection of the earthen rampart, and the stone wall of the LOWER BARRIER to the period of the departure of the Romans, he probably leans upon the erring traditions of his own times. His statement is devoid of probability. A work so bold in its design, so skilfully planned, and involving so much labour in its execution, cannot have been the result of the expiring energies of Rome in Britain. Its very ruins bespeak the masculine vigour of Rome's maturity.

Besides, if we receive the testimony of Gildas upon this point, we must either suppose that several walls have been drawn across the island, or we must reject the assertions of those classical writers who ascribe the works to Hadrian or Severus. The former supposition cannot be maintained, for we meet with no traces of more than one earthen vallum, and one stone wall, in the region in question; and with reference to the latter alternative, it is more likely that Gildas should err in his dates, than that Dion Cassius, and Herodian, and Spartian, should describe, as existing in their day, that which was not to be for centuries.

Another question will arise in the mind of the thoughtful reader;--how was it that the Britons suffered themselves to become so easy a prey to the Picts and Scots? Roman civilization could not, greatly at least, have enervated them. The cultivation of the liberal arts removes from the minds and manners of men their unsightly asperities, but it brings out in bolder relief their more valuable qualities. The vices of the Romans, when grafted upon the previously polluted life of the Britons, would indeed have a tendency to unman them, but why should it have sunk them beneath the level of the Romans themselves? We do not find, moreover, that the Britons who fought in foreign parts were deficient in courage.

An acquaintance with Roman discipline, a knowledge of the Roman art of war, ought to have given them great advantages over their less civilized neighbours on the north of the Wall, and enabled them easily to have retained that great structure as a boundary fence. It is true that great numbers of their youth had from time to time been drafted off by successive emperors, to engage in foreign quarrels, and that thus the land was deprived of its natural defenders. This accounts for a part of their distress, but not all. In a rude state of society, every man is a soldier, and it was an essential part of the policy of Rome to inure every citizen to the practice of arms. There surely would be men enough left to defend their homes, their liberties, and lives! Besides, half a century elapsed between the time when the Romans began to leave Britain to its own resources, and their final refusal of all succour. There was thus time enough to have nurtured a whole generation of veterans; and there was time enough--if the energy had been in them--to have shaken off those feelings of dependence upon Rome, which the presence of their conquerors had fostered. The opportunity, however, was lost; they entreated, and wept, and groaned--and passed off the stage of this world's history. How are we adequately to account for this circumstance? This is not the place to discuss the genealogy of the Picts, but if we adopt the theory of their Germanic origin, the enigma, if not made quite plain, will appear less difficult than before. However great the valour, and however estimable the other qualities of the Celtic race, they did not possess the patience, the perseverance, the capacity for united action, and the power of command, which characterized the Teutonic tribes; hence they would fall before them in any contest which required sustained exertion. Gibbon's estimate of the character of the ancient Britons is probably correct--'The various tribes possessed valour without conduct, and the love of freedom without the spirit of union. They took up arms with savage fierceness, they laid them down, or turned them against each other with wild inconstancy; and, while they fought singly, they were successively subdued.'

On reviewing this sketch of the proceedings of Rome, in relation to this distant portion of her great empire, the reader will perhaps be struck with the amount of attention which the Imperial City bestowed upon it.

The classic authors speak most disparagingly of the land, and its inhabitants--

--and yet Britain, which, according to these authorities, scarcely formed a portion of the habitable earth, which was perpetually lashed by a stormy ocean, and whose inhabitants, unlike many barbaric tribes, were inhospitable to strangers, was the resort, not only of numerous legionary and auxiliary troops, but of very many of the emperors themselves. Great Julius came. Claudius fought upon our soil. Vespasian entered into conflict thirty-two times with the southern Britons. Titus shared in his toils and triumphs. Hadrian was here, and left the impress of his mighty mind behind him. Septimius Severus ended his days in Britain; his sons Geta and Caracalla first assumed the purple in Britain. The emperor Maximinus breathed, sixteen centuries ago, the sea-borne gales of Tynemouth. Britain, with its seas, was the chief scene of the exploits of the emperor Carausius. Allectus reigned three years over it. Constantius was long in the island, and his son, Constantine the Great is said to have first drawn breath upon our soil. Both Constans and Magnentius were here. Theodosius the Emperor fought under his father in Britain. Maximus, who had previously married a British lady, was invested by his soldiers with the purple at York--How comes it that so many of those who boasted of the mastery of this wide world, were induced personally to visit this little isle?--how was it, but that

Coming events cast their shadows before.

It seems as though there was an affinity between England and Earth's rulers--and that thus early it was pointed out as the spot in which, of all others, save one--Jerusalem--mankind had the greatest interest.

The importance of Britain, in the estimation of the Romans, is further shewn by the fact, that, of the different coins struck by the imperial government in the short period extending from the reign of Claudius to that of Caracalla, at least fifty-six relate to this country. Of these, two were struck in the reign of Claudius, five in that of Hadrian, seventeen bear the impress of Antonine, ten of Severus, twelve of Caracalla, and ten of his brother Geta.

Whilst however we maintain that Rome was led to Britain by the impulse of a power of which she was not conscious, and whilst we willingly acknowledge that the conquest of Britain by the Romans was the first of that series of signal providential arrangements, by which, from the dawn of history to the present hour, 'the Governor among the nations' has prepared this island for performing that important part in the drama of history, which she now sustains,--the enquiry yet remains, by what motive were the conquerors more immediately impelled to settle in so remote an island? Such toils would not have been endured, such sacrifices would not have been made, victories over tribes so savage would not thus have been gloried in, except the question 'cui bono?' could have been satisfactorily answered. 'I confess,' says Horsley, 'that when I view some part of the country in the north of England, where the Romans had their military ways and stations, that question naturally arises, which has been often proposed: What could move them to march so far to conquer such a country? It appears wild and desolate enough at present, but must have been more so at that time, from the accounts the Roman historians have given us of it. I shall leave the Caledonian Galgacus, or Tacitus for him, to return the answer--If the enemy was rich, their covetousness moved them; if poor, their ambition. And when they added further desolation to a desolate country, this was their peace.' Ambition was doubtless the leading motive. From the earliest periods of Roman history we find her bent upon conquest. Incessant wars engendered a thirst for victory, and military glory became the ruling passion of the people. The wide grasp of their ambition gave to the features of Roman character harder, but grander lineaments than those which their more polished neighbours of Greece possessed. Flattered, as the lords of the world, by their favourite poets and historians, they gloried in their proud pre-eminence, and thought that they were but fulfilling their destiny in asserting a claim to universal dominion. Candidates for public favour knew well that to fan the popular passion was the readiest way to succeed in their aims. None understood this better than Julius Caesar; and the later emperors, who possessed not the power to strike an energetic blow, found it necessary to maintain the show at least of conquest and of triumph.

Less worthy inducements were, however, not wanting. There are few evils in the fibres of whose roots the love of money will not be found. Gold was another secret but powerful cause of the hardships which the Romans themselves underwent, and of the countless ills which they mercilessly inflicted upon the miserable islanders. The British chiefs in general appear to have had considerable riches among them. Caesar, according to Strabo, acquired a large booty in his two descents upon our shore. Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni, died possessed of very great wealth. To a few states in the south, and within a few years after their first subjection, the philosophical Seneca lent more than four hundred and eighty thousand pounds of our money upon good security, and at exorbitant interest. Severus got a prodigious mass of riches in this land. Gold is not now an article of mineral wealth in Britain. We are not from this to infer that it was not so when it was first invaded. The precious metal is not met with in veins or strata, but is diffused over the alluvial soil, or mixed with the sand of rivers in grains or lumps. When the commercial value of the glittering dust is discovered, it is speedily picked up, and a country, once rich in it, becomes, in the course of ages, impoverished. The number of massive golden torques and armillae of the ancient Britons, which even yet are from time to time being brought to light, favours the idea that the metal was, in ancient days, tolerably abundant. Whatever the secret motives, Caesar came and conquered--

The Roman taught thy stubborn knee to bow, Though twice a Caesar could not bend it now.

In passing from the contemplation of the Roman occupation of Britain to our examination of the remains of the chief monument of imperial power which time has left us, the mind will experience a great transition. In the Wall, we have evident traces of the might of Rome, but it is the might of a giant laid prostrate--

. . . . . Her haughty carcass spread, Still awes in ruins, and commands when dead.

Centuries have elapsed since the vast fabric was upreared, but they have been centuries rife with the fate of empires.

The most ardent lover of the olden time cannot but startle, as he treads the deserted streets, or enters the unbarred portals of BORCOVICUS, and other cities of the Wall, at the thought that the Mistress of Nations is now no more, and that the Eternal City is buried in her own debris. The broken column, the prostrate altar, ever and anon obtrude the fact upon him. Another empire has sprung into being of which Rome dreamt not. In a sense different from that which Virgil intended, the words in his third Georgic are peculiarly striking--

Vel scena ut versis discedat frontibus, utque Purpurea intexti tollant aulaea Britanni.

Or see how on the stage the shifting scenes In order pass, and pictured Britons rise Out of the earth, and raise the purple curtain.

In that island, where, in Roman days, the painted savage shared the forest with the beast of prey--a lady sits upon her throne of state, wielding a sceptre more potent than Julius or Hadrian ever grasped! Her empire is threefold that of Rome in the hour of its prime. But power is not her brightest diadem. The holiness of the domestic circle irradiates her. Literature, and all the arts of peace, flourish under her sway. Her people bless her.

Will Britain always thus occupy so prominent a position in the scene of this world's history?

... Valet ima summis Mutare, et insignem attenuat Deus Obscura promens.

The power that did create, can change the scene Of things; make mean of great, and great of mean.

Is the fate of Persia, Macedon, and Rome, never to be hers? 'O Thou, that didst build up this Britannic empire to a glorious and enviable height, with all her daughter islands about her; stay us in this felicity!' What would Britain at this moment be without the Bible? Let the seven-hilled city say! If Britain herself obey the inspired word, and give it to the nations, then she needs not fear the shock of empires. If not, at a future day the native of a distant isle, or obscure nation, then newly risen into greatness, moralizing over the reedy docks and grass-grown streets of London, may exclaim--How true the words of their own Milton! 'But if ... as you have been valiant in war, you should grow debauched in peace, you that have had such visible demonstrations of the goodness of God to yourselves, and his wrath against your enemies ... you will find that God's displeasure against you, will be greater than it has been against your adversaries, greater than his grace and favour has been to yourselves, which you have had larger experience of than any other nation under heaven.'

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