132 Essay Introductory to the Archceology of the JVest of England. 



After this defeat the Silures coufined themselves more carefully to their 

 mountains^ by the aid of which they have still preserved their existence as 

 a people, whilst the other tribes of Britain have long since been swept 

 away. 



The RoraanSjill-contented with the possession of the southern and eastern 

 sides of the island, pushed on their forces towards the west and north. 

 Suetonius Paulinus, a. d. 60, established garrisons in North Wales among 

 the Ordovices, and planted his victorious eagles in Mona, whence he ex- 

 tirpated Druidism, and drove forth its priests into Ireland and the isles. 

 The consequences of this act, rash and impolitic, and executed with unneces- 

 sary severity, were the insurrection of the Britons under Boadicea, and the 

 destruction, with great slaughter, of the rising colonies at Verulam and 

 Maiden. 



Agricola, whose merits were worthy of the historian with which his 

 fortune provided him, upon his arrival in Britain, found the Romans pos- 

 sessed of the country as far as the Silurian boundary on the west, and that 

 of the Brigantes, or Yorkshire men, on the north, but subject to continual 

 invasion : he introduced a more equitable system of government, permitted 

 Mona again to flourish, and did much towards civilising the nations, by 

 inducing them to adopt Roman manners and habits, and to live peaceably 

 under the Roman sway. 



It was during the generalship of Agricola that the first invasion of Cale- 

 donia took place, when the natives were signally defeated at the foot of 

 the Grampian chain ; but these fierce and hardy mountaineers not unfre- 

 quently broke in upon the Roman province, and these invasions at a later 

 period were of importance enough to array against them Hadrian himself, 

 whose rampart, erected a. d. 120, was sixty miles in length, and extended 

 across the country from the mouth of the Tay to the Solway Frith. 



The renewed invasions of the Caledonians, notwithstanding the rampart 

 of Hadrian, led Severus, a. d. 208, to construct a second defence, not like 

 the former of turf, but of stone. The line of Hadrian had followed the 

 windings of the level ground, that of Severus, more Romano, was carried 

 across hills and valleys, in nearly a straight line ; its centre ran only a 

 few yards north of the ancient rampart. 



The Romans divided Britain into five provinces, Britannia prima and 

 secunda, Flavia Ctesariensis and Maxima, and Valentia, and a sixth was 

 subsequently added on the north by Vespasian, Vespasiana. The capitals 

 of these provinces, most of which still present traces of Roman work, were 

 Richborough, Caerleon, London, York, \Vhittern,and Inverness, and besides 

 these were stations scattered thickly over the country, and connected by 

 regular roads, most of which are still apparent. It would be tedious now 

 to enter more minutely into the enumeration of these stations and ways, 

 they may be seen in the map of ancient Britain, published by the Society 

 for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, which is on the whole tolerably 

 correct, and may be purchased for a few pence. 



