40. The Novantes[567] dwell beyond the Deva, in the extreme part of the island, near the sea, and opposite Ireland. In their country was the famous Novantum Chersonesus,[568] distant twenty-eight miles from Ireland, and esteemed by the ancients the most northern promontory of Britain,[569] though without sufficient reason. Their metropolis was Lucophibia, or Casæ Candidæ;[570] their rivers Abrasuanus,[571] Jena,[572] and Deva,[573] which was the boundary towards the east.
41. The Damnii[574] dwelt to the north of the Novantes, the Selgovæ, and the Gadeni, and were separated from them by the chain of the Uxellan mountains.[575] They were a very powerful people, but lost a considerable portion of their territory when the wall was built, being subdued and spoiled by the Caledonians. Besides which, a Roman garrison occupied Vanduarium[576] to defend the wall.
42. In this part, Britain, as if again delighted with the embraces of the sea, becomes narrower than elsewhere, in consequence of the rapid influx of the two estuaries, Bodotria and Clotta.[577] Agricola first secured this isthmus with fortifications, and the emperor Antoninus[578] erected another wall celebrated in history, which extended nearly five and thirty miles, in order to check the incursions of the barbarians. It was repaired, and strengthened with eleven towers, by the general Ætius. These regions probably constituted that province, which, being recovered by the victorious arms of the Romans under Theodosius, was supposed to have been named Valentia, in honour of the family from whom the reigning emperor was descended.
43. Beyond the wall lay the province Vespasiana. This is the Caledonian region so much coveted by the Romans, and so bravely defended by the natives, facts which the Roman historians, generally too silent in regard to such things, have amply detailed. In these districts may be seen the river Tavus,[579] which appears to separate the country into two parts. There are also found the steep and horrid Grampian hills, which divide the province. In this region was fought that famous battle between Agricola and Galgacus, which was so decisive in favour of the Romans.[580] The magnitude of the works at this day displays the power of the Romans, and the ancient mode of castrametation; for, in the place where the battle was fought, certain persons of our order, who passed that way, affirmed that they saw immense camps, and other proofs which corroborated the relation of Tacitus.
44. The nations which were subject to the Romans shall now follow in their order. Beyond the Isthmus, as far as the Tavus, lived the Horestii.[581] Their cities, which before the building of the wall belonged to the Damnii, were Alauna,[582] Lindum,[583] and Victoria,[584] the last not less glorious in reality than in name. It was built by Agricola on the Tavus, twenty miles above its mouth.
45. Above these, beyond the Tavus, which formed the boundary, lived the Vecturones or Venricones,[585] whose chief city was Orrea,[586] and their rivers Æsica[587] and Tina.[588]
46. The Taixali[589] inhabited the coast beyond the boundaries of the Vecturones. Their principal city was Devana,[590] and their rivers the Deva[591] and Ituna.[592] A part of the Grampian hills, which extends like a promontory into the sea, as it were to meet Germany, borrows its name from them.[593]
47. To the west of these, beyond the Grampian hills, lived the Vacomagi,[594] who possessed an extensive tract of country. Their cities were Tuessis,[595] Tamea,[596] and Banatia.[597] Ptoroton,[598] situated at the mouth of the Varar,[599] on the coast, was at the same time a Roman station, and the chief city of the province. The most remarkable rivers of this region, after the Varar, which formed the boundary, were the Tuessis[600] and Celnius.[601]
48. Within the Vacomagi, and the Tavus, lived the Damnii Albani,[602] a people little known, being wholly secluded among lakes and mountains.
49. Lower down, to the banks of the Clotta, inhabited the Attacotti,[603] a people once formidable to all Britain. In this part is situated the great lake formerly called Lyncalidor,[604] at the mouth of which the city of Alcluith[605] was built by the Romans, and not long afterwards received its name from Theodosius, who recovered that province from the barbarians. These people deserved high praise for having sustained the attacks of the enemy after the subjugation of the neighbouring provinces.