J. Collingwood Bruce

“ 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. ”

“ The day came that no man can escape, and King Edward drew near to die. He had it much at heart that William should have his kingdom, if possible; but he was too far off, and it was too long to tarry for him, and Edward could not defer his hour. He lay in heavy sickness, in the illness whereof he was to die; and he was very weak, for death pressed hard upon him. Then Harold assembled his kindred, and sent for his friends and other people, and entered into the King’s chamber, taking with him whomsoever he pleased. ”

“ So far from declining a hill, it uniformly selects it. For nineteen miles out of Newcastle, the road to Carlisle runs upon the foundation of the Wall, and during the summer months its dusty surface contrasts well with the surrounding verdure. Often will the traveller, after attaining some of the steep acclivities of his path, observe the road stretching for miles in an undeviating course to the east and the west of him, resembling, as Hutton expresses it, a white ribbon on a green ground. ”

“ He is stripped of the cloak which marked his nobility; and though he carries his hawk upon his fist, its usual posture is reversed, an intimation that his hawking days are over. Harold is well guarded by a party of armed horsemen. Guy rides before, clad in the decorative mantle of his rank, and having the falcon upon his fist, with its head advanced as if ready to take wing. The artist has very successfully portrayed in the countenance of Guy the chuckling conceit of this heartless chieftain in the possession of so rich a prize as Harold. ”

“ Severus was drawn into Britain by the revolt of almost all the confederate tribes; and, after many great and dangerous battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island which he had recovered from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some imagine, but with a rampart. For a wall is made of stones, but a rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies, is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and raised above the ground all around like a wall, having in front of it the ditch whence the sods were taken, and strong stakes of wood fixed upon its top. ”

“ At the word of command, Dex aie, the Normans halted, and turned their faces towards the enemy. Now commenced the fiercest part of that bloody day’s encounter. Neither party was wanting in courage. All the chroniclers do justice to the contending forces. “One hits, another misses; one flies, another pursues; one is aiming a stroke, while another discharges his blow. Norman strives with Englishman again, and aims his blows afresh. One flies, another pursues swiftly; the combatants are many, the plain wide, the battle and the melée fierce. ”

“ DEATH OF HADRIAN AND SEVERUS. Severus’ restless pursuit after happiness was equally vain. His dying words are said to have been, 'Omnia fui et nihil expedit'—I have tried everything, and found nothing of any avail. What a contrast to the language addressed to him by the Ethiopian soldier—'Thou hast been everything—conquered everything: now, conqueror, be a god!'
393 The Roman Barrier of the Lower Isthmus. ”

“ How great think you must have been the slaughter of the conquered, when the conquerors’ is reported, upon the lowest computation, to have exceeded ten thousand? Oh how vast a flood of human gore was poured out in that place where these unfortunates fell and were slain! What a dashing to pieces of arms, what a clashing of strokes; what shrieks of dying men ”

“ 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, [13] 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. ”

“ An Englishman began to speak first, as Harold had directed him, and said, ‘Sire, we sorrow greatly that we are about to lose thee; and we are much alarmed, and fear that great trouble may come upon us. No heir of thine remains who may comfort us after thy death. ”

“ In our sister island, we unhappily witness, though in a subdued form, much of that animosity of race which led to the devastation and bloodshed that Gildas deplores. When will Saxon and Celt lay aside their differences, and unite for the common weal of Britain! Why should they regard each other with mutual suspicion? Why should the one triumph, and the other sink into hopeless, helpless despair? ”

“ The Duke, desirous of doing all honour to his expected guest, goes out to meet him. When the two parties approach, Guy very officiously introduces Harold to the Duke, and seems to expect great commendations for his zeal and activity. Harold himself follows Guy, having once again the mantle of gentle birth on his left shoulder, and carrying his hawk upon his fist, looking forward, in token of liberty. William sits firmly upon his horse; his manner is quiet, but very decided; his figure is that of a strong, square-built man. ”

“ A battle now being imminent, Gurth, the brother of Harold, was exceedingly anxious that the king should retire from the host and give the command to him. Gurth had taken no oath to William, and therefore had not the punishment of perjury to fear. Besides, if he were slain, England would still have her king; and army after army could be raised, if need be, to resist the pretensions of any invader. Harold refused to adopt the wise counsel of his brother. Though a brave man, he had not the self-command of William, nor the same power of taking an enlarged view of a subject. ”

“ The antiquary who has been revelling in the associations of the past will scarcely fail, as he looks down from his Wall-traversed heights upon the vale which gave birth to such a man, to give for a moment the reins to his imagination, and suffering his mind to penetrate the mists of futurity, ruminate upon the changes which the efforts of the Stephensons are destined to produce, not only in the physical, but in the moral aspect of society. ”

“ ITS EVENTUAL DECAY. If the meddling hand of man had been withheld from the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus, the Wall might have stood, even to the present hour, in almost its original integrity. It is necessary to say ‘almost,’ for nothing can be more correct than the observation of Hodgson—
Though man has had the chief labour in effecting its destruction, its whole line and all its stations, castles, and towers, ever since it was deserted by the Romans, have been incessantly suffering prostration by the hand of nature. ”

“ Guy holds a naked sword with its point turned upwards; he is attended by a guard, who is armed with a sword of prodigious size, and a spear. This attendant touches the elbow of his chief with one hand, and with the forefinger of the other points to some object, probably the messengers of William, who are now approaching. Harold, though suffered to wear the chlamys of nobility, comes into the presence of the haughty Count in a slightly inclining posture. He feels he is at the mercy of his captor. He has a sword, but its point is directed to the ground. His companion has neither cloak nor sword. ”

“ The spade and the plough of the rustic have often exposed documents, which have revealed the movements, as well as the modes of thought and feeling, of those who have slept in the dust for centuries. The casual wanderer by the relics of the Vallum and the Wall, may not succeed in culling facts that are new to the Historian, but he will probably get those vivid glances into Roman character, and acquire that personal interest in Roman story, which will give to the prosaic records of chroniclers, a reality, and a charm, which they did not before possess. ”

“ It is well known to persons conversant in antiquity, that the great men of those times had only two ways of being accoutered when they set out upon a journey; either in the habiliments of war, or for the chase. Harold, as going on an errand of peace, we find here represented in the latter. The bird upon the fist was a mark of high nobility. We see it frequently upon seals and miniatures, of that age, of ladies as well as men; and so sacred was this bird esteemed, that we find it prohibited in the ancient laws for any{31} one to give his hawk or his sword as part of his ransom. ”

“ A little to the west of the station, not far from the gateway, was recently found the slab which is here figured. Although the inscription is not deeply cut, it is very legible, and doubtless means—The lightning of the gods. When any spot was struck with lightning, it was immediately deemed sacred, and venerated as such by the Romans, being surrounded by a breastwork of masonry, similar to that put round the mouth of a well. Conscious guilt makes cowards of the most dauntless warriors! ”

“ The Saxon ladies, full of reverence for the character of their lately deceased monarch, Edward the Confessor, might naturally resent the attempt of Harold to resist the evident wish of that monarch to bequeath his crown to William, and, imbued with the superstition of an ignorant age, regard the fatal results of the battle of Hastings as a just judgment from God for the violation of an oath taken upon the relics of the saints. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The supposition that Hadrian built the Wall is consistent with the accounts which historians give 391us of his attachment to architectural undertakings. One writer, of great research, says of him—
HADRIAN A GREAT BUILDER. No prince, perhaps, ever raised so many public and private edifices as Hadrian. In every city of note, throughout the empire, some erection perpetuated his memory: bridges, aqueducts, temples, and palaces, rose on every hand. Many cities, likewise, were either wholly built or repaired by him. Building seems, indeed, to have been a main feature in his system of government. ”

“ About half way up are the ruins of a tower, erected about a century ago, as an object in the landscape. It stands on the Wall, and has been entirely formed out of its stones. At the summit, the ditches of both Wall and Vallum are cut through the native rock, of which the hill consists, and are in excellent order. The Wall stands very near the edge of a scar, sufficiently elevated to have formed of itself a defence; it is remarkable that the Romans should have thought it necessary to draw a ditch on the north side of it at all. ”

“ MINOR DEITIES. A glance at some of the minor, and local deities must conclude our review of the gods of the Barrier.
The deities of Greece and Rome were without number. Every fountain and river, every hill and forest, had its tutelary deity; every product of earth, air, or sea, its guardian; every place its genius; every household its penates. The antiquities found on the Wall furnish us with numerous illustrations of this fact. The engraving represents an altar which was found at Birdoswald, and is now at Lanercost. ”

“ MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES FOUND ON THE LINE OF THE WALL.
Most apposite is the remark of Dr. Johnson, that ‘Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings.’ Few things are so well calculated to produce this effect, as the altars and lettered tablets that have been left on our soil by the Romans. When we but glance at them, who is not moved at the reflection, that they were chiselled by 394hands which for so many centuries have mouldered nerveless in the dust! ”

“ It is the tradition of the country that all the stones of the Wall were handed from one man to another by a set of labourers stationed in a line from the quarry to the place where they were required. Many will tell you, 'I have heard my mother say, that the Wall was built in a single night, and that no one was observed to be engaged upon it, save an old woman with an apron full of stones.'—This, however, is a tradition of almost universal application. ”

“ The new occupants of a country usually adopt the appellations bestowed by their predecessors upon its more prominent features. Thus, though in England the ancient Briton, Roman, Saxon, Norman, and modern English, have successively prevailed, many of our most familiar rivers, as the Thames, the Isis, and the Avon, have borne, as Whitaker shows, through each successive change, their present names. The appellations of cities are much more variable, but some even of these are indelible. ”

“ To the student of the Wall, however, the collection of Roman antiquities which the castle contains, will be the object of greatest interest. In the number and importance of its altars and inscribed stones, it excels every other museum in Britain. As the Castle contains so many of the spoils of the Wall, it is much to be wished that it could be made the depository of all that have been discovered on the line. ”

“ It is about thirty-six yards long, and has, in some places, five courses of facing-stones entire; the grout of the interior which rises still higher, gives root to some fine old thorns. This sight may be rendered more interesting by the antiquary’s carrying his eye forward, and tracing the Wall in its onward course; in its modern representative, the turnpike road, it is seen, (having crossed the North Tyne, and passed the station of Cilurnum,) bounding up the opposite hill in its usual unflinching manner, and making for the wastes and mountains which it is speedily to traverse. ”

“ As it is, our metallic currency has little value beyond its commercial worth, and generation after generation is compelled to contemplate, with what complacency they may, the same lady sitting immoveably upon the same enduring rock, and the same mounted knight making his interminable attempt to slay the same deathless dragon. The immense number of the coins found upon the line of the Wall, and the extension of the series from the earliest periods down to the time of Honorius, prove incontestibly the length of time that the Romans maintained their hold of this isthmus. ”