Fluctibus occiduis fessoque Hyperione Thulen
Intrarit mandata gerens....
Compare this with the line previously quoted.
[43]. The expression of Tacitus, ‘æstuaria ac silvas ipse prætentare,’ shows that this was the scene of his campaign. It is only with reference to the west coast, south of the Clyde, that such an expression is applicable, and the Solway could hardly have been excluded from it. It will be afterwards shown that the Selgovæ who occupied its northern shore were a Brigantian tribe.
[44]. The position of the Roman camps and forts illustrates in a remarkable manner the expression ‘præsidiis castellisque circumdatæ.’ It must be kept in view, in following Tacitus’ narrative, that from the peculiarity of his style every word is pregnant with meaning, and has a precision which has been much overlooked.
[45]. Paullatimque discessum ad delenimenta vitiorum, porticus et balnea et conviviorum elegantiam.—Tacit. in Vit. Ag., c. 21.
[46]. Novas gentes aperuit.
[47]. That in this campaign the Roman arms reached the Firth of Tay is distinctly asserted by Tacitus, and his clear statement cannot be explained away. Agricola could only reach it by two routes,—either entirely by land through Stirlingshire and Perthshire, or across the Firth of Forth through Fife. The former is most probable, as Tacitus usually mentions crossing estuaries where it takes place; and the latter route is moreover plainly excluded, as the nations on the north shore of the Firth of Forth were still new to him in the sixth campaign.
[48]. ‘Quod tum præsidiis firmabatur.’ These were obviously different from and farther south than the forts mentioned in the previous campaign. The expression ‘summotis velut in aliam insulam hostibus’ is the significant one used in fixing the barrier between the provincial Britons and the Barbarians (see chap. ii. note [70]), and implies that Agricola’s intention was to add the conquered country south of the firths to the province. ‘Summotis’ does not here or elsewhere mean the actual driving out of the natives, but that those within the line of separation had ceased to be ‘hostes.’
[49]. The operations of this year have much perplexed historians. The obvious inference from the passage is that Argyllshire was the region he visited, and the author has entered thus minutely into the consideration of what Agricola had to accomplish, and his evident policy, to show that this was the natural step he would take. It has generally been supposed that he turned back upon his steps, and that Galloway was the country ‘opposite to Ireland’ that he visited; but, as we have seen, its inhabitants could not have been said to be ‘ad id tempus ignoti,’ and the language of the early geographers rather characterises Kintyre and the Hebrides as what impressed them most as overhanging Ireland. Chalmers, in order to avoid the plain inference from the passage, is driven to suppose that the Tavaus of the third campaign was the Solway, and that Agricola had advanced no farther, but this is quite inadmissible. The only alternative, that he crossed the river Clyde from north to south and entered Ayrshire, is equally inconsistent with Tacitus’s brief but precise language. Early writers speak of the Clyde as fordable as far down as Dumbarton, and his natural course would be to return by the same route as he came. Tacitus clearly states that he crossed ‘navi in proxima,’ which shows that it was the estuary, and not the river. The Roman fleet was then probably in the Firth of Forth, and the expression seems to imply that he took the first native vessel he could get. There is on an elevated moor in Cowall, between the Holy Loch and Dunoon, the remains of a small square fort which has all the appearance of a Roman exploratory station. It commands an extensive view, in one range, of the entire Firth to its mouth, the river Clyde for many miles of its straight course, and Loch Long penetrating in another direction into what was known to the Romans as the Caledonian Forest, and, if it is a Roman work, adds strength to the natural reading of the passage, and the expression, ‘copiis instruxit,’ is singularly applicable.