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pointed this rational, though extensive, scheme of conquest. Before his departure the prudent general had provided for security as well as for dominion. He had observed that the island is almost divided into two unequal parts by the opposite gulfs, or, as they are now called, the Friths of Scotland. Across the narrow interval of about forty miles he had drawn a line of military stations, which was afterwards fortified, in the reign of Antoninus Pius, by a turf rampart, erected on foundations of stone." This wall of Antoninus, at a small distance beyond the modern cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, was fixed as the limit of the Roman province. The native Caledonians preserved, in the northern extremity of the island, their wild independence, for which they were not less indebted to their poverty than to their valor. Their

10 See Horsley's Britannia Romana, 1. i. c. 10.a

The remains of two Roman walls exist in Britain, one extending from the Clyde to the Frith of Forth, and the other from the Solway to the mouth of the Tyne. The former is an intrenchment of earth, and is known by the name of Grimes Dike. The latter, which is a far more important work, consists of two parallel lines of fortifications--a stone wall and an earthen rampart—which run parallel to, and generally within sixty or seventy yards of each other; the stone wall being on the northern, and the earthen rampart on the southern side of the island. The wall between the Solway and the mouth of the Tyne was at a later period, at all events, the boundary of Roman Britain. Respecting the builders of these walls there is a difference of opinion. It is stated by Tacitus that Agricola erected a line of forts between the Friths of Clyde and Forth in A.D. 81 (Agricol. c. 23); and we learn from Capitolinus that in the reign of Antoninus Pius a rampart of turf was raised by Lollius Urbicus in A. D. 140. (Antonin. Pausan. viii. 43, $ 4.) There can be no doubt that this is the wall between the Friths of Solway and Forth, usually described as the wall of Antoninus, since an extant inscription attests that it was raised in his reign. With respect to the southern wall there is more difficulty. Spartianus states that "Hadrian first built a wall eighty miles in length, dividing the Romans from the barbarians" (Hadrian, c. 11); and the same writer, in another passage, also relates that Septimius Severus built a wall across the island. (Septim. Sever. c. 18.) Hence the stone wall from the Solway to the Tyne has been ascribed to Septimius Severus, and the parallel earthen rampart to Hadrian. But Mr. Bruce, the most recent writer on the Roman wall, adduces strong reasons for believing that the stone wall and the earthen rampart are parts of one fortification, and are essential to each other. He supposes that they were both raised by Hadrian, whose name frequently occurs in inscriptions found in the locality, and that no wall was built by Severus, though this emperor may have repaired the work of Hadrian. In confirmation of this view, it may be stated that neither Dion Cassius nor Herodian attributes the erection of any wall to Severus. See Bruce, The Roman Wall, an account of the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus, extending from the Tyne to the Solway, London, 1851. The passages from the ancient authors relating to the Roman walls are collected by Böcking in his Commentary to the "Notitia Dignitatum," Pars Post. p. 887.-S.

incursions were frequently repelled and chastised, but their country was never subdued." The masters of the fairest and most wealthy climates of the globe turned with contempt from gloomy hills assailed by the winter tempest, from lakes concealed in a blue mist, and from cold and lonely heaths, over which the deer of the forest were chased by a troop of naked barbarians."

Conquest of Dacia ; the second exception.

A.D. 101-106.

Such was the state of the Roman frontiers, and such the maxims of imperial policy, from the death of Augustus to the accession of Trajan. That virtuous and active prince had received the education of a soldier, and possessed the talents of a general." The peaceful system of his predecessors was interrupted by scenes of war and conquest; and the legions, after a long interval, beheld a military emperor at their head. The first exploits of Trajan were against the Dacians, the most warlike of men, who dwelt beyond the Danube, and who, dur ing the reign of Domitian, had insulted with impunity the majesty of Rome." To the strength and fierceness of barbarians they added a contempt for life, which was derived from a warm persuasion of the immortality and transmigration of the soul.15 Decebalus, the Dacian king, approved himself a rival not unworthy of Trajan; nor did he despair of his own and the public fortune, till, by the confession of his enemies, he had exhausted every resource both of valor and policy." This memorable war, with a very short suspension of hostilities, lasted five years; and as the emperor could exert, without control, the whole force of the State, it was

11 The poet Buchanan celebrates with elegance and spirit (see his Sylvæ, v.) the unviolated independence of his native country. But if the single testimony of Richard of Cirencester was sufficient to create a Roman province of Vespasiana to the north of the wall, that independence would be reduced within very narrow limits.

12 See Appian (in Proœm. [c. 5]) and the uniform imagery of Ossian's poems, which, according to every hypothesis, were composed by a native Caledonian. 13 See Pliny's Panegyric, which seems founded on facts.

14 Dion Cassius, 1. lxvii. [6 seq.].

15 Herodotus, 1. iv. c. 94. Julian in the Cæsars, with Spanheim's observations 15 Plin. Epist. viii. 9 [4].

Dacia

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terminated by an absolute submission of the barbarians." The new province of Dacia, which formed a second exception to the precept of Augustus, was about thirteen hundred miles in circumference. Its natural boundaries were the Dniester, the Theiss or Tibiscus, the Lower Danube, and the Euxine Sea. The vestiges of a military road may still be traced from the banks of the Danube to the neighborhood of Bender, a place famous in modern history, and the actual frontier of the Turkish and Russian empires.18

Conquests
of Trajan in
the East,
A.D. 115-117.

Trajan was ambitious of fame; and as long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters. The praises of Alexander, transmitted by a succession of poets and historians, had kindled a dangerous emulation in the mind of Trajan. Like him, the Roman emperor undertook an expedition against the nations of the East; but he lamented with a sigh that his advanced age scarcely left him any hopes of equalling the renown of the son of Philip." Yet the success of Trajan, however transient, was rapid and specious. The degenerate Parthians, broken by intestine discord, fled before his arms. He descended the river Tigris in triumph, from the mountains of Armenia to the Persian gulf. He enjoyed the honor of being the first, as he was the last, of the Roman generals who ever navigated that remote sea. His fleets ravaged the coasts of Arabia; and Trajan vainly flattered himself that he was approaching towards the confines of India. Every day the astonished senate received the intelligence of new names and new nations that acknowledged his

17 Dion Cassius, 1. lxviii. [c. 6] p. 1123 [c. 14], 1131. Julian in Cæsaribus. Eutropius, viii. 2, 6. Aurelius Victor in Epitome.

18 See a Memoir of M. d'Anville, on the province of Dacia, in the Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 444-468.

19 Trajan's sentiments are represented in a very just and lively manner in the Cæsars of Julian.

20 Eutropius and Sextus Rufus have endeavored to perpetuate the illusion. See a very sensible dissertation of M. Freret in the Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xxi. p. 55,

sway. They were informed that the kings of Bosphorus, Colchis, Iberia, Albania, Osrhoëne, and even the Parthian monarch himself, had accepted their diadems from the hands of the emperor; that the independent tribes of the Median and Carduchian hills had implored his protection; and that the rich countries of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria were reduced into the state of provinces." But the death of Trajan soon clouded the splendid prospect; and it was justly to be dreaded that so many distant nations would throw off the unaccustomed yoke, when they were no longer restrained by the powerful hand which had imposed it.

his succes

A.D. 117.

It was an ancient tradition that, when the Capitol was founded by one of the Roman kings, the god Terminus (who Resigned by presided over boundaries, and was represented, acsor Hadrian, cording to the fashion of that age, by a large stone) alone, among all the inferior deities, refused to yield his place to Jupiter himself. A favorable inference was drawn from his obstinacy, which was interpreted by the augurs as a sure presage that the boundaries of the Roman power would never recede." During many ages the prediction, as it is usual, contributed to its own accomplishment. But though Terminus had resisted the majesty of Jupiter, he submitted to the authority of the Emperor Hadrian."

21 Dion Cassius, 1. lxviii. [c. 18, seq.]; and the Abbreviators.a

The

22 Ovid. Fast. 1. ii. ver. 667. See Livy [i. 55], and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, under the reign of Tarquin.

23 St. Augustine is highly delighted with the proof of the weakness of Terminus, and the vanity of the augurs. See De Civitate Dei, iv. 29.

a A permanent addition was made to the Roman empire in the reign of Trajan, which Gibbon has omitted to notice. In A.D. 105 the part of Arabia extending east of Damascus down to the Red Sea was conquered by A. Cornelius Palma, and formed into a Roman province under the name of Arabia. (Dion Cass. lxviii. 14; Ammian. Marc. xiv. 8.) It continued to be a Roman province after the death of Trajan, and was enlarged by Septimius Severus, A.D. 195. (Dion Cass. lxxv. 1, 2; Eutrop. viii. 18.) Its principal towns were Petra and Bostra, the former in the south and the latter in the north of the province. If we follow the authority of Niebuhr, another permanent addition was made to the empire in the reign of Trajan, by the conquest of Nubia, which he supposes to have remained subject to Rome till the middle of the third century. But the evidence on this point is not conclusive. See Niebuhr's Lectures on the History of Rome, vol. iii. p. 227; and Kleine Schriften, vol. ii. p. 186.-S.

b The turn of Gibbon's sentence is Augustine's: "Plus Hadrianum regem hominum, quam regem Deorum timuisse videatur."-M.

resignation of all the Eastern conquests of Trajan was the first measure of his reign. He restored to the Parthians the election of an independent sovereign; withdrew the Roman garrisons from the provinces of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria; and, in compliance with the precept of Augustus, once more established the Euphrates as the frontier of the empire." Censure, which arraigns the public actions and the private motives of princes, has ascribed to envy a conduct which might be attributed to the prudence and moderation of Hadrian. The various character of that emperor, capable, by turns, of the meanest and the most generous sentiments, may afford some color to the suspicion. It was, however, scarcely in his power to place the superiority of his predecessor in a more conspicuous light than by thus confessing himself unequal to the task of defending the conquests of Trajan. The martial and ambitious spirit of Trajan formed a very singular contrast with the moderation of his successor. The

Contrast of

Antoninus

Pius.

restless activity of Hadrian was not less remarkaHadrian and ble when compared with the gentle repose of Antoninus Pius. The life of the former was almost a perpetual journey; and as he possessed the various talents of the soldier, the statesman, and the scholar, he gratified his curiosity in the discharge of his duty. Careless of the difference of seasons and of climates, he marched on foot, and bareheaded, over the snows of Caledonia and the sultry plains of the Upper Egypt; nor was there a province of the empire which, in the course of his reign, was not honored with the presence of the monarch." But the tranquil life of Antoninus Pius was spent in the bosom of Italy, and, during the

94 See the Augustan History, p. 5. [Spartian. Hadr. c. 9.] Jerome's Chroni cle, and all the Epitomizers. It is somewhat surprising that this memorable event should be omitted by Dion, or rather by Xiphilin.

25 Dion, 1. lxix. [c. 9] p. 1157. Hist. August. p. 5, 8.

[Spartian. Hadr. 10,

16.] If all our historians were lost, medals, inscriptions, and other monuments would be sufficient to record the travels of Hadrian.a

a The journeys of Hadrian are traced in a note on Solvet's translation of Hegewisch, Essai sur l'Epoque de l'Histoire Romaine la plus heureuse pour le Genre Humain, Paris, 1834, p. 123.-M. See also Gregorovius, Geschichte des Römischen Kaisers Hadrian, Königsberg, 1851.-S.

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