578 



SCOTLAND. 



A. D. 211. 



Caracalla. 



Hutory. his two sons and a formidable army. Upon his ar- 

 s^py^ rival he repaired or rebuilt the Wall of Adrian, in or- 

 der to protect his retreat in case of accidents. He 

 speedily passed the Northern Wall, and penetrated 

 into the country of the Caledonians, without meeting 

 an enemy ; but the coldness of the climate, and the 

 Severity of a winter march across the hills and morasses 

 of North Britain, are reported to have cost the Romans 

 fifty thousand men. 



Unable to oppose the obstinate attack of the Ro- 

 mans, the fugitive Caledonians were compelled to sue 

 for peace, and to surrender a part of their arms and a 

 considerable portion of their territory. The Emperor 

 then retired beyond the Wall of Adrian, but the bar- 

 barians, regardless of the obligation of a treaty, renew- 

 ed hostilities, in consequence of which Severus sent 

 another army into their country under his son, Cara- 

 calla, with orders to extirpate them ; dying at York 

 shortly after, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. 



Upon the death of Severus, Caracalla concluded a 

 treaty with the Caledonians, by which he relinquished 

 the territories they had recently surrendered to his fa- 

 ther; and he abandoned the forts which had been erect- 

 ed to enforce their submission. The Wall of Antoni- 

 nus was fixed as the northern boundary of the Romans. 

 For about a century after this period, the Caledonian 

 tribes remained quiet ; and they appear to have pro- 

 fited by their intercourse with their late masters ; for, 

 during this long interval of peace, they cut down woods, 

 drained marshes, introduced agriculture, constructed, 

 or, more probably, repaired the Roman highways, and 

 built several towns. 



From the silence of the classic authors respecting the 

 affairs of Caledonia during the third century, it is pro- 

 bable that the native tribes had devoted their attention 

 to the pursuits of peace. The long residence of the 

 Romans in the island, had improved the rude manners 

 of the inhabitants, taught them to desire and raise the 

 conveniences of life, and reconciled them to their lan- 

 guage and manners. 



Of the twenty-one Caledonian tribes, sixteen lived 

 on the north side of Antoninus's Wall. The five 

 southern tribes, separated for a long period by an im- 

 passable barrier from the congenerous tribes of the 

 north, felt little interest in the revolutions of the Ro- 

 man world ; but, in the beginning of the fourth cen- 

 tury, they had become the objects of jealousy to the 

 northern tribes, who made irruptions into their terri- 

 tories. The convulsions of the empire had probably 

 rendered it necessary to withdraw the greater part of 

 the troops from the Roman Wall ; and thus leaving it 

 comparatively defenceless, to invite the hostile attacks 

 of the secluded Caledonians. 



In the year 306 Constans found it necessary to re- 

 pair to Britain in person, to repel the attacks of the 

 Caledonians. The Romans were successful, but their 

 general died at York. 



In the reign of the emperor Valentinian, the Scots 

 and Picts made a general attack upon the Roman pro- 

 vince, and advanced as far as London, which they 

 plundered, but being attacked by Theodosius, re- 

 treated. 



The remaining transactions of the Romans in Bri- 

 tain were few and unimportant. 



The Emperors had found it necessary to recruit their 

 legions from the frontier provinces, where the spirit of 

 war was not totally extinguished. These mercenary 

 forces, careless of laws, and indifferent to civil institu 

 tions, established a military government dangerous to 



Constans. 



Valenti- 



r.ian. 



the authority of the sovereign, and inimical to the li- History, 

 berty of the people. v sy-^ 



The barbarous nations in the north of Germany, 

 known by the name of the Goths and Vandals, assailed 

 the frontiers of the Roman empire ; and all the distant 

 legions in which the Emperors could confide, were re- 

 called for the defence of the capital and the centre of 

 the empire, which had become a prey to faction and 

 disorder. The legions in Britain revolted, and trans- 

 ferred the supreme power to Gratian ; and, after his 

 death, to Constantine, who conveyed the army that had 

 invested him with the purple, to Gaul, in order to 

 maintain their election. 



As the Roman power was weakened in Britain, the 

 Scots and PictS advanced, and harassed the provinces. 

 In this extremity, the latter made supplications to 

 Rome ; and a legion was sent to their assistance. This 

 force was an overmatch for the invaders, who were 

 overthrown in every engagement, and the Romans, for 

 the last time, repaired the fortifications that had long 

 overawed the British tribes. Having performed this 

 last office, the Romans informed their allies that they 

 must thenceforward depend upon their own valour to 

 preserve their independence ; and then took their final 

 leave of Britain, after being masters of the greatest 

 part of it for nearly four centuries. 



But no sooner had they evacuated the island, than Scot? and 

 the Scots and Picts, regarding the country as their Picts. 

 prey, attacked the northern wall and the adjacent 

 country with great fury. Subdued by their own fears, 

 the dispirited natives deserted their otation, and left 

 the country entirely open to the inroads of the victori- 

 ous enemy. They addressed a letter of supplication 

 to Rome, in which they pathetically deplored their 

 hapless condition. " The barbarians," said they, 

 "chase us into the sea; the sea throws us back on the 

 barbarians, and we have only the hard choice left us 

 of perishing by the sword or by the waves." 



To these complaints the Britons received a de- 

 sponding answer. Reduced to despair, they deserted 

 their habitations, abandoned tillage, and, fleeing for 

 shelter to their forests and mountains, suffered equally 

 from the sword and from hunger. The invaders 

 themselves began to feel the pressure of famine in a 

 country which they had ravaged, and being attacked 

 by the Saxons, whom the Britons had invited to their 

 assistance, they retreated beyond the wall of Anto- 

 ninus. 



Unawed by the Romans, the Picts became the most 

 potent people in the north of Caledonia. The five Ro- 

 manized tribes assumed the character of independence, 

 and established their own government and laws. 

 Their territory extended from the river Eden and the 

 Solway Frith, to the northern wall. It included Liddis- 

 dale, Tiviotdale, Dumfries, Galloway, Ayrshire, Ren- 

 frewshire, the middle and west parts of Stirlingshire, 

 and the greater part of Dumbartonshire. Aleluyd, 

 now Dumbarton, was the metropolis of this king- 

 dom. 



The Angles invaded it soon after the Saxons had 

 seized South Britain. Though the Britons opposed 

 their invaders with persevering bravery, the latter 

 overran the country as far as the northern wall, and 

 concluded a treaty with the Picts. The enfeebled 

 Britons soon sunk under the superior power of the 

 Angles ; and, in the beginning of the seventh century, 

 Ethelfrid a Northumbrian chief, entirely subdued them. 

 Edwin, a rival contemporary, succeeded Ethelfrid. 



The history of the Picts is obscure. The first Pict- 

 3 



