The Utah County Democrat. [volume] (Provo City, Utah) 1898-1909, 1908-10-03
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There u.s. indeed. great deal of ro-
nance in the tale Of the Roman wall
OF England. the remarkable piece OF
engineering. now nearly seventeen
centuries old; and the remains Of the
wall are well worth visiting. To see
them Is to realize how furious must
have been the onslaughts Of the Picta
and Scots. and how ceaseess the vigil
lance Of the gionaries-Gauls or
Brittons by birth. but by nature more
Roman than the Romans. The making
OF the wall is striking illustration OF
the pertinacity of the Roman charac.
ter and the strength OF the imperial
idea This pride OF empire is clearly
shown by Mr. Kipling In his story of
the old wall In Puck OF Pook's Hill.
where he makes his Roman-B British
soldier give voice to sentiments like
the following:
NV fathers father saw II not,
And I, belize. shall never come
To look on that so holy spot
The very Rome.
When we zee how the great ram
part was carried its appointed length
In spite OF every obstacle. over hill
and dale. through marsh and moor
land, we have no difficulty In under
standing that this spirit OF devotion to
what was even then 'the Holy City"
must have animated all who worked
at IT, Julius Caesar was. OF course,
the first Roman conqueror OF Britain.
and he came. It Is said to punish the
natives for having Joined the Gauls
In fighting against him. Caesar never
penetrated very far north. With his
overpowering army OF $4,000 men he
paid his flying visits. conQuering and
subdulng. but In each case withdrew
his legions Mt the nrst approach OF
winter, For nearly 100 years Britain
was little troubled by Rome, but In
A. ID. rs the Roman general, Agricola,
was sent as governor to Britain. The
historian. Tacitus, son-ln.law OF Agri
cola, writes much OF HIS relatives con.
quests. Agricola's forts seem to have
suggested TO Hadrian at n later date
the value OF such barrier in hostile
county, which. though completely sub
dued, was still liable to incursions
from the inhabitants OF the mountain
districts OF Caledonia. The emperor
in A. d. 1870 drove back once again
these fierce neighbors and the tribes
OF the Maetae, and, finding It impos
sible to keep possession OF valentia
gave up the attempt.
To keep the land south of the Tyne
he built the stone rampant from the
Tyne to the Solway. known as the
Picts or Roman wall. The wall
served not only as a barrier against
the foe, but AS base OF operation and
standing ground for the main army OF
Rome. Reaching from sea to sea
across the narrowest part OF the is
land, Il followed an almost straight
line for 70 miles. no height provinl
too inaccessible and no river or morass
too impracticable. In was so bull
that no foe could approach Within
dangerous distance without being seen
II is said that the rampant as raised
by Hadrian was an earthen vallum
on stone foundation, and that the
stone wall was the work of Severus
other writer's declare It all to be tn,
work Of one, Hadrian, who was wei
known as a builder and architect. Il
Is supposed that about 10000 mer
were employed In building the entir,
line of defense The earth vallum Il
visible still, and on the south OF the
stone wall and north of the wal
again. may be traced the big ditch
The wall apparently was about eigh