SEVERUS, Cornelius, an ancient Latin poet of the Augustan age, whose Aetna, together with a fragment De Morte Ciceronis, were published, with notes and a prose interpretation, by Le Clerc, Amsterdam, 1703, in 12mo. They were before inserted among the Caralecta l’irgilii, published by Scaliger, whose notes, with others, Le Clerc has received among his own.

Severus’s Wall, in British topography, the fourth and last barrier erected by the Romans against the incursions of the North Britons.

We learn from several hints in the Roman historians, that the country between the walls of Hadrian and Antoninus continued to be a scene of perpetual war and contention between the Romans and Britons, from the beginning of the reign of Commodus to the arrival of the Emperor Septimius Severus in Britain, in the year 206. This last emperor having subdued the Maentae, and repulsed the Caledonians, determined to erect a stronger and more impenetrable barrier than any of the former, against their future incursions.

Though neither Dio nor Herodian make any mention of a wall built by Severus in Britain for the protection of the Roman province, yet we have abundant evidence from other writers of equal authority that he really built such a wall. “He fortified Britain,” says Spartian, “with a wall drawn cross the island from sea to sea, which is the greatest glory of his reign. After the wall was finished, he retired to the next station (York), not only a conqueror, but the founder of an eternal peace.” To the same purpose Aurelius Victor and Orosius, to say nothing of Eutropius and Cassiodorus: “Having repelled the enemy in Britain, he-fortified the country, which was suited to that purpose, with a wall drawn cross the island from sea to sea.” “Severus drew a great ditch, and built a strong wall, fortified with several turrets, from sea to sea, to protect that part of the island which he had recovered from the yet unconquered nations.” As the residence of the Emperor Severus in Britain was not quite four years, it is probable that the two last of them were employed in building this wall; according to which account, it was begun in the year 209, and finished in the year 211.

This wall of Severus was built nearly on the same track with Hadrian’s rampart, at the distance only of a few paces north. The length of this wall, from Cousin’s House, near the mouth of the river Tyne on the east, to Boulness on the Solway Frith on the west, has been found, from two actual mensurations, to be a little more than sixty-eight English miles, and a little less than seventy-four Roman miles. To the north of the wall was a broad and deep ditch, the original dimensions of which cannot now be ascertained, only it seems to have been larger than that of Hadrian. The wall itself, which stood on the south brink of the ditch, was built of freestone; and where the foundation was not good, it is built on piles of oak. The interstices between the two faces of this wall arc filled with broad thin stones, placed not perpendicularly, but obliquely on their edges; and the running mortar or cement was then poured upon them, which, by its great strength and tenacity, bound the whole together, and made it firm as a rock. But though these materials are sufficiently known, it is not easy to guess where they were procured, for many parts of the wall are at a great distance from any quarry of freestone; and though stone of another kind was within reach, yet it does not appear to have been anywhere used. The height of this wall was twelve feet besides the parapet, and its breadth eight feet, according to Bede, who lived only at a small distance from the east end of it, and in whose time it was in many places almost quite entire. Such was the wall erected by the command and under the direction of the Emperor Se verus in the north of England; and, considering the length, breadth, height, and solidity, it was certainly a work of great magnificence and prodigious labour. But the wall itself was but a part, and not the most extraordinary part, of this work. The great number and different kinds of fortresses which were built along the line of it for its defence, and the military ways with which it was attended, are still more worthy of our admiration, and come now to be described.

The fortresses which were erected along the line of Severus’s wall for its defence were of three different kinds, and three different degrees of strength; and were called by three different Latin words, which may be translated stations, castles, and turrets. Of each of these in their order.

The stationes, stations, were so called from their stability, and the stated residence of garrisons. They were also called castra, which has been converted into chestres, a name which many of them still bear. These were by far the largest, strongest, and most magnificent of the fortresses which were built upon the wall, and were designed for the head-quarters of the cohorts of troops which were placed there in garrison, and whence detachments were sent into the adjoining castles and turrets. These stations, as appears from the vestiges of them which are still visible, were not all exactly of the same figure nor of the same dimensions; some of them being exactly squares, and others oblong, and some, again, a little larger than others. These variations were no doubt occasioned by the difference of situation, and other circumstances. The stations were for-tified with deep ditches and strong walls, the wall itself coin-[7:20:162] ciding with and forming the north wall of each station. Within the stations were lodgings for the officers and soldiers in garrison; the smallest of them being sufficient to contain a cohort, or six hundred men. Without the walls of each station was a town, inhabited by labourers, artificers, and others, both Romans and Britons, who chose to dwell under the protection of these fortresses. The number of the stations upon the wall was eighteen; and if they had been placed at equal distances, the interval between every two of them would have been four miles and a few paces. But the intervention of rivers, marshes, and mountains, the conveniency of situations for strength, prospect, and water, and many other circumstances to us unknown, determined them to place these stations at unequal distances. The situation which was always chosen by the Romans, both here and everywhere else in Britain where they could obtain it, was the gentle declivity of a hill, near a river, and facing the meridian sun. Such was the situation of the far greatest part of the stations on this wall. In general, we may observe, that the stations stood thickest near the two ends and in the middle, probably because the danger of invasion was greatest in these places. But the reader will form a clearer idea of the number of these stations, their Latin and English names, their situation and distance from one another, by inspecting the following table, than we can give with equal brevity in any other way. The first column contains the number of the station, reckoning from east to west; the second contains its Latin, and the third its English name; and the three last its distance from the next station to the west of it, in miles, furlongs, and chains.
[table]

The castella, or castles, were the second kind of fortifications which were built along the line of this wall for its defence. These castles were neither so large nor so strong as the stations, but much more numerous, being no fewer than eighty-one. The shape and dimensions of the castles, as appears from the foundations of many of them which are stiil visible, were exact squares of sixty-six feet every way. They were fortified on every side with thick and lofty walls, but without any ditch, except on the north side, on which the wall itself, raised much above its usual height, with the ditch attending it, formed the fortification. The castles were situated in the intervals between the stations, at the distance of about seven furlongs from each other, though particular circumstances sometimes occasioned a little variation. In these castles guards were constantly kept, by a competent number of men detached from the nearest stations.

The turres, or turrets, were the third and last kind of for tifications on the wall. These were still much smaller than the castles, and formed only a square of about twelve feet, standing out of the wall, on its south side. Being so small, they are more entirely ruined than the stations and castles, which makes it difficult to discover their exact number. They stood in the intervals between the castles; and from the faint vestiges of a few of them, it is conjectured that there were four of them between every two castles, at the distance of about three hundred yards from one another. According to this conjecture, the number of the turrets amounted to three hundred and twenty-four. They were designed for watch-towers and places for sentinels, who, being within hearing of one another, could convey an alarm or piece of intelligence to all parts of the wall in a very little time.

Such were the stations, castles, and turrets, on the wall of Severus; and a very considerable body of troops was constantly quartered in them for its defence. The usual complement allowed for this service was as follows:

1. Twelve cohorts of foot, consisting of 600 men each..7,200

2. One cohort of mariners in the station at Boulness... 600

3. One detachment of Moors, probably equal to a co hort 600

4. Four alae or wings of horse, consisting, at the lowest computation, of 400 each 1,600

10,000

For the conveniency of marching these troops from one part of the wall to another, with the greater ease and expedition, on any service, it was attended with two military ways, paved with square stones, in the most solid and beautiful manner. One of these ways was smaller, and the other larger. The smaller military way run close along the south side of the wall, from turret to turret, and castle to castle, for the use of the soldiers in relieving their guards and sentinels, and such services. The larger way did not keep so near the wall, nor touch at the turrets or castles, but pursued the most direct course from one station to another, and was designed for the convenience of marching larger bodies of troops.

It is to be regretted that we cannot gratify the reader’s curiosity, by informing him by what particular bodies of Roman troops the several parts of this great work were executed, as we were enabled to do from inscriptions with regard to the wall of Antoninus Pius. For though it is probable that there were stones with inscriptions of the same kind, mentioning the several bodies of troops, and the quantity of work performed by each of them, originally inserted in the face of this wall, yet none of them are now to be found. There have indeed been discovered, in or near the ruins of this wall, a great number of small square stones, with very short, and generally imperfect, inscriptions upon them, mentioning particular legions, cohorts, and centuries, but without directly asserting that they had built any part of the wall, or naming any number of paces. Of these inscriptions the reader may sec no fewer than twenty-nine among the Northumberland and Cumberland inscriptions in Horsley’s Britannia Romana. As the stones on which these inscriptions are cut are of the same shape and size with the other facing-stones of this wall, it is almost certain that they have been originally placed in the face of it. It is equally certain, from the uniformity of these inscriptions, that they were all intended to intimate some one thing, and nothing so probable as that the adjacent wall was built by the troops mentioned in them. This was perhaps so well understood, that it was not thought necessary to be expressed; and the distance of these inscriptions from one another showed the quantity of work performed. If this was really the case, we know in general that this great work was executed by the second and sixth legions, these being the only legions mentioned in these inscriptions.[7:20:163] Now, if this prodigious wall, with all its appendages of ditches, stations, castles, turrets, and military ways, was executed in the space of two years by two legions only, which, when most complete, required no less than 12,000 men, how greatly must we admire the skill, the industry, and excellent discipline of the Roman soldiers, who were not only the valiant guardians of the empire in times of war, but its most active and useful members in times of peace?

This wall of Severus, and its fortresses, proved an impenetrable barrier to the Roman territories for nearly two hundred years. But about the beginning of the fifth century, the Roman empire being assaulted on all sides, and the bulk of their forces withdrawn from Britain, the Maeatae and Caledonians, now called Scots and Picts, became more daring; and some of them breaking through the wall, and others sailing round the ends of it, they carried their ravages into the very heart of provincial Britain. These invaders were indeed several times repulsed after this, by the Roman legions sent to the relief of the Britons. The last of these legions, under the command of Gallio of Ravenna, having, with the assistance of the Britons, thoroughly repaired the breaches of Severus’s wall and its fortresses, and exhorted the Britons to make a brave defence, took their final farewell of Britain. It soon appeared that the strongest walls and ramparts are no security to an undisciplined and dastardly rabble, as the unhappy Britons then were. The Scots and Picts met with little resistance in breaking through the wall, while the towns and castles were tamely abandoned to their destructive rage. In many places they levelled it with the ground, that it might prove no obstruction to their future inroads. From this time no attempts were ever made to repair this noble work. Its beauty and grandeur procured it no respect in the dark and tasteless ages which succeeded. It became the common quarry, for more than a thousand years, out of which all the towns and villages around were built; and is now so entirely ruined, that the penetrating eyes of the most poring and patient antiquary can hardly trace its vanishing foundations.