. England, from earliest times to the Great Charter . Mn,E-CASTi,E ON Hadrians Wai,i, frontiers was beginning to make her careful of her soldierslives. Men were now far more valuable than much money, andRome was wealthy. This wall of Hadrian, which extends fromWallsend, near Newcastle, to Bowness, on the Solway Firth,is certainly a remarkable piece of work. Dr Bruce describesfor us how it pursues its straight course over moor and hill,looking like a white ribbon on a green ground, departing onlyto right or left to scale some high point, sinking with thevalleys, however sharp the incline, and c
. England, from earliest times to the Great Charter . Mn,E-CASTi,E ON Hadrians Wai,i, frontiers was beginning to make her careful of her soldierslives. Men were now far more valuable than much money, andRome was wealthy. This wall of Hadrian, which extends fromWallsend, near Newcastle, to Bowness, on the Solway Firth,is certainly a remarkable piece of work. Dr Bruce describesfor us how it pursues its straight course over moor and hill,looking like a white ribbon on a green ground, departing onlyto right or left to scale some high point, sinking with thevalleys, however sharp the incline, and cUmbing the hill-sides,however steep. Its steady, continuous course, unconscious,apparently, of natural obstacles and natural advantages, seemsto symbolize Romes history. Not only is one struck by its length and continuity, but alsoby the size and thickness of the wall. Bedes measurementsare probably too small; Dr Bruce suggests that it was 18 feet 1 73J English miles. 70 Ante, p. Plate XIII. Iron Visor-mask and Helmet 70 THE ROMAN OCCUPATION high and 8 feet wide. It was also frequently strengthened bybuttresses. Bruce tells us that the wall usually seizes thosepositions which give it the greatest advantage on its northernside ; the vallum [earthen wall], on the other hand, has appa-rently been drawn with the view of occupying ground that isstrongest toward the south. It is curious that its buildersappear to have accepted no help from nature. As Dr Hodgkinsays: The line of the wall once fixed, its builders seem tohave pursued a nearly uniform plan, regardless of the helpwhich they might have derived from natural defences. Thusin one place it crowns the heights of some steep basaltic cliffsat whose feet lies a small Northumbrian lake. No desperationof bravery would ever have caused a Brigantian chief to dashacross that lake and climb those pinnacles of columnar basalt;still, even here the wall pursues its undeviating course. Itmay be, however, that the wall had
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