200 
Notes on the Evidence bearing 
confined to the Brythons, the inhabitants of our island be¬ 
came known to foreigners as Britons. 
Roman Britain nearly coincided with Brythonic Britain. 
Its northern boundary was the Barrier of Antoninus Pius, 
which consisted of an earthern rampart having a deep ditch 
on its northern side and a military road on the south, and 
ranged from the Clyde, near Dumbarton, to Caeriden on the 
Forth. Much better known than the Barrier of Antoninus is 
the Wall of Hadrian, between Wallsend on the Tyne and 
Bowness on the Solway. From the Notitia Imperii we learn 
to what nations the troops that garrisoned the stations along 
this wall belonged towards the end of the fourth century. 
Each station was field by a cohort of infantry or an equiva¬ 
lent force of cavalry. The nations or tribes manning the 
stations when the Notitia was compiled w r ere Lingones, 
Cornovii, Astures, Frisii, Batavians, Tungri, Gauls, Dal¬ 
matians, Dacians, Moors, Lergi, Spaniards, Thracians, 
Morini, and Nervii. 19 The absence of Britons by no means 
implies a want of respect for their military qualities, but in 
accordance with Roman policy it was felt that British valour 
was more sure to be exerted in a way useful to Rome if em¬ 
ployed on the continent. It is evident also that fidelity to 
the Roman Standard, in a remote part of the empire like 
Hadrian’s Wall, was the more assured by the small numbers 
of each nationality, which would prevent dangerous combina¬ 
tions among the various cohorts. When it is remembered 
that the veteran soldiers were settled on the public lands, it 
is clear that a very considerable number of foreigners of the 
most diverse races must have been introduced into Britain 
during the Roman Occupation from this source alone. But 
in addition to these military settlements, it was a common 
Roman custom, after a war, to export a certain number of 
families belonging to some warlike and troublesome nation 
to another country under Roman rule, and thus convert 
people, likely to become enemies on the first opportunity, 
into peaceful citizens, powerless for evil, and loyal because 
owing their lands to the Roman government. Many families 
19 Bruce’s ‘ Handbook to the Roman Wall.' 
