ZTbe IRoman Occupation of Berb^sbire. 



From tlie earliest days the Romans drew a sharp distinction 

 between the spheres of peace and of war. This distinction 

 was, in the first instance, local. Certain regions, the city 

 of Rome in particular, were dovii; others, outside the 

 sacred line, were Tnilitiae. The same distinction reappears 

 rather curiously under the Roman Empire in the provinces. 

 Technically, no doubt, the whole provincial area was 

 Tnilitiae. Practically it was divided into two portions, 

 one the region of peace and the other that of war, or at 

 least of military men. Thus we find in most provinces 

 two distinct areas. The troops, legions or auxiliaries are 

 massed on or near the frontiers. The peaceful population 

 lives behind the military lines and is free from the presence 

 of soldiers. In the Gallic provinces, for example, the 

 whole garrison, with one trifling exception, was massed 

 along the Rhine in the hiherna and castella which guarded 

 the frontier against German inroads. Similarly, in the 

 Danubian lands, as the frontier advanced under successive 

 rulers from Augustus to Trajan, the troops advanced too. 

 The land behind became a land of peace, and the fortresses 

 were turned into municipalities. 



This feature appears equally in Britain. So soon as 

 the conquest of the province was tolerably complete, we 

 can recognise two regions in it, the lands of the north 

 and west, confronting Hibernia and Caledonia, and the 

 lands of the south and east. The first was the district 

 in which troops were posted. The second was a peaceful 

 area, and saw no more of armed forces than occasional 



