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start of The Wall |
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Page 215:-
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The Wall, ADDITIONS
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ADDITIONS.
Quanta Caledonis attollet gloria campos
Cum tibi longaevus referet trucis incola terrae
Hic suetus dare jura parens: hoc cespite turmas
Affari; Nitidas speculas castellaque longe
Aspicis? Ille dedit, cinxitque haec moenia fossa,
Belligeris hic dona deis, haec tela dicavit.
Cernis adhuc titulos: hunc ipse vacantibus armis
Induit, hunc regi tapuit thoraca Britanno.
Statius v Sylvar.
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roman wall no.1
Agricola's Wall
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Dio calls the wall sometimes barely
Τειχος, and
defines it Τειχοσ
το
διοιζον
τας
Βιρεγαννου
χαι τα
των
Ρωμαιων
σραγοπεδα
[a]. All that Herodian says of it is, that Severus's army
crossed the forts and earth-works
(ρευμαγα,
(l. ρυμαγα or
ερευμαγα),
και
χωμαγα
τησ
Ρωμαιων
αρχης), that formed the
frontier of the Roman empire here. What Mr. Camden calls the
first Praetentura, and supposes to have been made by
Agricola, was only a chain of forts formed and garrisoned by
him in his third expedition [b].
Praetenturae & stationes agrariae are
mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus xxxi. 8. [c]
Sir John Clerk writing to R. Gale about this wall, concludes
with these words: "After all, I cannot but take notice of
two things with regard to this wall that have given me great
matter of speculation. The first is, why it was made at all,
for it could never be a proper defence, and perhaps at
Boulnesse less than at any other place, since our barbarian
forefathers on the north side could pass over at low water,
or if the sea was then higher or deeper than it is now,
could make their attacks from the north-east side by land.
The second is, why the Scots historians, vain enough by
nature, have not taken more pains to describe this wall, a
performance which did their ancestors more honour than all
the trifling stories put together, which they have
transmitted to us. 'Tis true, the Romans walled out humanity
from them; but 'tis as certain they thought the Caledonians
a very formidable people whem they at so much labour and
cost built this wall as before they had made a vallum
between Forth and Clyde [d]."
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The Wall, structure
aggers
ditches
military ways
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Hadrian's vallum consists of a principal vallum or
agger on the brink of the ditch; the ditch on the
north side of the vallum, another agger on the south side of
the vallum and about five paces from it, which I call the
fourth agger; and a large agger on the north side of the
ditch called the north agger. This I suppose was the
military way to the antient praetentura of stations, and it
must have served for a military way to this work also, or it
is plain there was none attending it. The fourth agger I
suppose has been either made for an inner defence in case
the enemy might beat them from any part of the principal
vallum, or to protect the soldiers from any sudden attack
from the provincial Britans. It is in general somewhat
smaller than the principal vallum, though in some places as
large. These four works keep all the way a constant regular
parallelism one to another [e].
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Severus's Wall
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Severus's wall is called both murus and vallum
in the Latin historians, but it is nowhere said or implied
that it was only of earth, as it is of the other two; so
that the stone wall, of which so much is still remaining,
has been undeniably the wall of Severus, built near
Hadrian's turf one, but not on the same foundation, which is
certain matter of fact and worth the historian's remark.
This may be one reason why some have supposed that Severus
only repaired Hadrian's vallum, concluding from the
nearness of the two works that they must have been done by
the same hand and at the same time. It was finished before
Severus was returned to York, consequently soon after the
peace was concluded. Its date may be fixed to the year 208
from the inscription on the rock over the river Gelt [f],
which agrees with Cassiodorus' Chronicon [g]. To this work
belongs a paved military way, which has every where attended
it on the south side, though not always parallel to it. It
sometimes coincides with Hadrian's north agger, but whenever
this has been too ruinous or otherwise inconvenient, the new
way always accompanied Severus's wall, and came up near to
every castellum on it, and has therefore no doubt been made
at the same time and directly for its service. Someting like
a lesser military way near the wall for the convenience of
small particular passages from turret to turret appeared in
one or two places. There is also belonging to this work a
large ditch on the north side of the wall, but nothing that
can be considered as a sufficient proof of a north agger,
though sometimes the rubbish thrown out of the ditch may
raise the round near it a little and form somewhat like a
glacis [h].
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roman forts
mile castles
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In order to form a general idea of the wall and its original
state, it will necessary to have a knowledge of the castles.
All of them, except one near Harlow hill, which I suppose to
have been built before the wall, are 66 feet square, the
wall itself forming their north side. The intervals between
them are not always the same, but, except two or three at
the east end of the wall, always less than half a mile,
i.e. from six furlongs and an half to seven. They are
constantly called Castle steeds by the
country-people, and the castra stativa or
aestiva usually Chesters. These
Castella seem to have stood closest where the
stations are widest, and are by some modern authors called
mile castles or milliary castella. In the last
edition of Camden's Britannia they are by mistake said to be
of a very different shape and size: perhaps the remains of
two or three castle steeds they do not join to the wall, and
of one that does may have oc-
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[a]
lxxii. c.8. p.820. Horsl. 116.
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[b]
Horsl. 40. 98. Tac. v. Agr. c.23.
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[c]
MS. Gale.
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[d]
Ap. 19. 1739. Reliq. Galean. p.332.
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[e]
Horsl. 117.
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[f]
See p.203.
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[g]
Horsl. 61-67.
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[h]
Ib. 118.
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casioned
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