DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22272#0033
THE ANTONINE WALL REPORT.
L5
generally, and, in particular, it is reasonable to draw from the
words of the contemporary historian, Ammianus Marcellinus,1
the inference that the Umites which he repaired and
strengthened were the frontier walls forming the limits of the
restored province.
The Picts and Scots, however, were irrepressible, and in the time
of the Emperor Honorius it became necessary to send another
expeditionary force to Britain. In the year 396, Stilicho, the
master-general of the Western empire, is said to have despatched
a legion to the rescue of the oppressed Britons, and fortified or
protected the province against both Pict and Scot. Claudian, the
authority for this statement,2 was a very rhetorical poet, but he
1 Ammianus Marcellinus (ed. Gard- He restored the cities and garrison
thausen, 1874), xxviii., cap 3. Mon. fortresses as we have said, and protected
Hist. Brit., I., lxxiv. the frontier lines with guards and
Instaurabat urbes et praesidiaria, ut frontier posts, and thus he restored to its
diximus, castra, limitesque vigiliis tue- pristine state the recovered province
batur et praetenturis, recuperatamque (which had surrendered to the enemj'),
provineiamquae in ditionem concesserat so that on the proposal of the same
hostium ita reddiderat statni pristine man it both gained a lawful ruler and
ut eodem referente et rectorem haberet was thenceforward called Valentia by
legitimum et Valentia deinde vocaretur decree of the prince who thus, as it
arbitrio principis velut ovantis. were, celebrated a triumph.
These events are alluded to by a panegyrist of Theodosius writing about 390 a.d.
(Latinus Pacatus Drepanius, Panegyric on Theodosius, cap. 5).
Mon. Hist. Brit., I., lxix. Shall I speak of the Scot driven back
Redactum ad paludes suas Scotum to his bogs ?
loquar ?
The poet Claudian also, who flourished about 400 a.d., writes to the same effect.
Claudian on the third consulship of He [i.e., Theodosius] subdued the
Honorius, v. 54 (ed. Birt, 1893). Mon. inconstant Moors and the Picts not
Hist. Brit., I., xcvii. untruly named, and he, following the
Hie leves Mauros nec falsonomine Pictos Scot with his wide-wandering sword,
Edomuit, Seottumque vago mucrone broke the Northern waves with his
secutus daring oars.
Fregit Hyperboreas remis audacibus
undas.
2 Claudian, De consulatu Stilichonis, Me also (says Britannia) perishing by
lib. ii. 250. Mon. Hist. Brit., I., the hands of neighbouring peoples
xcviii. Stilicho fortified when the Scot set all
Me quoque vicinis pereuntem gentibus Ireland in motion and the ocean foamed
(inquit) with hostile oarsmen. It is the result
Munivit Stilicho, totam cum Scottus of his care that I neither fear the
Ivernen weapons of the Scots nor dread the
Movit, et infesto spumavit remige Pict, nor look out from all along the
Tethys. shore for the Saxon coming with the
Illius effectum curis, ne tela timerem uncertain winds.
Scottica, ne Pictum tremerem, ne litore
toto
Prospicerem dubiis venturum Saxona
ventis.
L5
generally, and, in particular, it is reasonable to draw from the
words of the contemporary historian, Ammianus Marcellinus,1
the inference that the Umites which he repaired and
strengthened were the frontier walls forming the limits of the
restored province.
The Picts and Scots, however, were irrepressible, and in the time
of the Emperor Honorius it became necessary to send another
expeditionary force to Britain. In the year 396, Stilicho, the
master-general of the Western empire, is said to have despatched
a legion to the rescue of the oppressed Britons, and fortified or
protected the province against both Pict and Scot. Claudian, the
authority for this statement,2 was a very rhetorical poet, but he
1 Ammianus Marcellinus (ed. Gard- He restored the cities and garrison
thausen, 1874), xxviii., cap 3. Mon. fortresses as we have said, and protected
Hist. Brit., I., lxxiv. the frontier lines with guards and
Instaurabat urbes et praesidiaria, ut frontier posts, and thus he restored to its
diximus, castra, limitesque vigiliis tue- pristine state the recovered province
batur et praetenturis, recuperatamque (which had surrendered to the enemj'),
provineiamquae in ditionem concesserat so that on the proposal of the same
hostium ita reddiderat statni pristine man it both gained a lawful ruler and
ut eodem referente et rectorem haberet was thenceforward called Valentia by
legitimum et Valentia deinde vocaretur decree of the prince who thus, as it
arbitrio principis velut ovantis. were, celebrated a triumph.
These events are alluded to by a panegyrist of Theodosius writing about 390 a.d.
(Latinus Pacatus Drepanius, Panegyric on Theodosius, cap. 5).
Mon. Hist. Brit., I., lxix. Shall I speak of the Scot driven back
Redactum ad paludes suas Scotum to his bogs ?
loquar ?
The poet Claudian also, who flourished about 400 a.d., writes to the same effect.
Claudian on the third consulship of He [i.e., Theodosius] subdued the
Honorius, v. 54 (ed. Birt, 1893). Mon. inconstant Moors and the Picts not
Hist. Brit., I., xcvii. untruly named, and he, following the
Hie leves Mauros nec falsonomine Pictos Scot with his wide-wandering sword,
Edomuit, Seottumque vago mucrone broke the Northern waves with his
secutus daring oars.
Fregit Hyperboreas remis audacibus
undas.
2 Claudian, De consulatu Stilichonis, Me also (says Britannia) perishing by
lib. ii. 250. Mon. Hist. Brit., I., the hands of neighbouring peoples
xcviii. Stilicho fortified when the Scot set all
Me quoque vicinis pereuntem gentibus Ireland in motion and the ocean foamed
(inquit) with hostile oarsmen. It is the result
Munivit Stilicho, totam cum Scottus of his care that I neither fear the
Ivernen weapons of the Scots nor dread the
Movit, et infesto spumavit remige Pict, nor look out from all along the
Tethys. shore for the Saxon coming with the
Illius effectum curis, ne tela timerem uncertain winds.
Scottica, ne Pictum tremerem, ne litore
toto
Prospicerem dubiis venturum Saxona
ventis.