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 J. Collingwood Bruce

But we ought not to expect minute accuracy in a tradition transmitted through many generations. It is enough that the general impress of the truth remains. It is nothing surprising, that, after the lapse even of a century or two, the name of Severus should have been connected with every military stronghold in the northern section of the island. As having inflicted the last and heaviest blow upon it, his hated memory would be the longest retained.

In the absence of any decisive testimony from the historians of Rome, respecting the emperor who upreared the Murus, we may next examine the inscribed stones which have been found upon it.

COMMEMORATIVE SLABS.

In some instances, inscriptions attached to Roman buildings give their history with great particularity. This is the case with the Antonine Wall in Scotland. Slabs inserted at intervals, record the name of the reigning emperor, of his legate, of the troops engaged upon the work, and also the number of paces executed by each detachment. Unfortunately these commemorative slabs are of rare occurrence in the Lower Barrier, and the information given by such as do exist, is very scanty. This will appear the more surprising, if we bear in mind that the English Wall is not only twice as long as the other, but is built of stone throughout; the Scotch Wall is chiefly formed of earth. On the theory, that Hadrian reared all the members of the Barrier, the paucity of inscriptions admits of easy explanation. The custom of raising these memorials did not commence until his day, and at the time of the erection of the Wall was probably in its infancy; the practice was in vogue during the reigns of several of his successors, and was not discontinued until after the time of Caracalla. If, on the other hand, Severus built the Wall, it is a most unaccountable thing that his soldiers have left no record of the fact upon the line of the Wall itself, and but very scanty traces of his name even in the out-stations. This is |PAUCITY OF INSCRIPTIONS TO SEVERUS.| the more remarkable, when we remember that the Wall was built by the same legions as were employed upon the Vallum of the Upper Barrier. The Antonine Wall was constructed by the twentieth legion and by vexillations of the second, and sixth. On the mural line of the Lower Barrier we frequently meet with stones inscribed with the names and insignia of the second, and sixth, legion, and occasionally with those of the twentieth. If the English Wall was built in A.D. 210, as is generally stated, how is it that the troops disregarded a custom so natural and so laudable as that which was practised so extensively by their predecessors, in A.D. 140? Extensive repairs were made by Caracalla at Habitancum, Bremenium, and some other stations; of these we have distinct records in the inscriptions which remain. How is it, if the mind and hand of his father gave being to the magnificent fence of the English isthmus, that not one of the many stones which he upreared records the fact? Mural slabs and contemporary historians are alike silent upon the subject, and, probably, for the simple reason that Severus did not build it.

It will serve the purposes of truth to cite all the instances in which the name of either emperor has been found upon the line; wood-cuts of all to which I have had access, have been already presented to the reader.

INSCRIPTIONS NAMING HADRIAN.

The name of Hadrian occurs in many instances. At Jarrow a stone was found, and is figured in Brand, which was inscribed OMNIVM FIL. HADRIANI. In the foundations of the castellum at Milking-gap a stone was discovered (p. [234]), bearing in bold letters the name of the emperor, and of his legate Aulus Platorius Nepos. At Chesterholm a fragment of a precisely similar inscription was found (p. [241]). In the neighbourhood of Bradley, two fragments were discovered, which, when placed together, give us an accurate copy of the same inscription (p. [232]). In the ruins of the castellum near Cawfields, was a portion of another, with a precisely similar inscription (p. [251]); and near the eastern gateway of Æsica a large tablet was dug up, bearing the name of the same emperor (p. [256]). In an outhouse, which probably occupies the site of a castellum, at Chapel-house, in Cumberland, a stone was found, which mentions Hadrian and the twentieth legion (p. [274]). Horsley describes a slab which he saw at Bewcastle, bearing the following inscription—

IMP. CAES. TRAIANO

HADRIANO AVG.

LEG. II AVG. ET XX V.