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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ However pleasing the change, the traveller will not fail occasionally to look back upon the road he has trod, and view with secret satisfaction those bold and airy heights which so well symbolize the austere and undaunted spirit of that great people whose works he is contemplating ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The soldiers in Britain seem to have sympathized with their companions at Rome and to have erased the name of the fallen emperor from the dedicatory slab. Human nature is the same in every age. How often have we, in modern times, seen a name cast out with loathing which yesterday received the incense of a world’s flattery!
The above inscription gives us the station of the Ala secunda Asturum, in the reign of Heliogabalus, A.D. 221. ”

“ 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. ”

“ THE BRITONS SUPINE IN YIELDING TO THE PICTS. 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. ”

“ Behind the garden wall at Chesters stands a fragment of the Wall. The north fosse is filled with water. Ascending the hill which leads to Walwick, the earth works are seen on the left hand. When near the top of it, our out-door antiquary, while he pauses for breath, will do well to look back, and contemplate the scene he is leaving. The lines of the Barrier are seen boldly descending the well-wooded and fertile banks on the east side of the river. Warden-hill is to the south, and will attract attention by its elevation. ”

“ THE WALL ON THE CRAGS. A difficulty will here present itself to nearly every mind; why was the Wall drawn along the cliffs at all? Horsley cut the knot instead of untying it. ‘As such steep rocks,’ says he, ‘are a sufficient fence of themselves, I am inclined to think the Wall has not in those parts had either strength or thickness, equal to what it has had in other parts.’ Present appearances give us no reason to suppose that the Wall on the crags was in any respect inferior to what it was in the low grounds. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is true the Romans walled out humanity from us; but it is as certain they thought the Caledonians a very formidable people, when they at so much labour and cost built this Wall; as before they had made a Vallum between the Forth and the Clyde. ”

“ It can scarcely be supposed that the garrison at Æsica were dependent for their daily supply of so important an article as water upon an open cutting outside the Barrier. The feeblest of their foes could, in an instant, cut off the provision. No doubt the country, for some distance north of the Wall, was held in subjection by the Roman forces, but when the Wall was built, and the station planned, such was not the case. The station itself is not destitute of water. A well, sunk some years ago, to the depth of twenty-four feet, yields to the tenants of the farm-house an unfailing supply. ”

“ It is difficult to conceive how any person can traverse the line of the Barrier without coming to the conclusion, that all the works—Vallum, Wall and fosse, turrets, castles, stations, and outposts—are but so many parts of one great design, essential to each other, and unitedly contributing to the security of a dangerous frontier. ”