The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1908-09-25
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There is, indeed, a 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 Picts
and Scots, and how ceaseless the vigil
lance of the legionaries-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-British
soldier give voice to sentiments like
the following:
MY fathers father saw Il not
And l, belize. shall never come
To look on that so holy spot
The very Rome.
When we see 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
Bubduing, but in each case withdrew
his legions at the first approach of
winter. For nearly 100 years Britain
was little troubled by Rome. but in
A. ID. rs the Roman general, Agricola.
vas sent as governor to Britain The
Historian, Tacitus, sonin-law of Agri-
cola, writes much of his relatives con-
quests. Agricola's forts seem to have
suggested TO Hadrian at a later date
the value of such q barrier In a 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. ID. 120 drove back once again
these fierce neighbors and the tribes
of the Maetae, and, finding it impos-
slble 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, it followed an almost straight
line for 73 miles, no height proving
too inaccessible and no river or morass
too impracticable. In was so built
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 a stone foundation, and that the
stone wall was the work OF Severus.
Other writer's declare IL all to be the
work of one. Hadrian. who was we'll
known as a builder and architect. 1t
is supposed that about 10000 men
wore employed in building the entire
line OF defense. The earth vallum is
visible still, and on the south OF the
stone wall. and north OF the wall
again. may be traced the big ditch.
The wall apparently was about eight
feet thick, and the height has been
estimated at Is feet. 1t became a
still more formidable barrier from be-
ing, as it were, heightened and pro-
tected by the ditch, which can still
plainly be followed. Authorities sup
pose the ditch to have been some 40
feet wide and Is feet deep: Il accom-.
panied the wall its entire length. and
was excavated and built irrespective
OF rock, bog OF sand. Large blocks
OF stone tell still of the toll and labor
used in their removal, Over the wall
az a whole the chief in command was
he ~Dux Britanniarum" "a Roman Of