Celtic Scotland : $b A history of ancient Alban. Volume 1 (of 3), History and ethnologySkene, W. F. (William Forbes)
History
Celtic Scotland : $b A history of ancient Alban. Volume 1 (of 3), History and ethnology
Skene, W. F. (William Forbes)
Celts -- Scotland; Civilization, Celtic; Scotland -- Antiquities, Celtic; Scotland -- History -- To 1603
Of the four bodies of Attecotti in the Roman army, the first two were
those probably enrolled by Theodosius, and seen by St. Jerome in Gaul.
The two last, which are termed Honoriani, must, from their name, have
been enrolled by Stilicho, the minister of Honorius. Orosius called
the latter ‘Barbari ... qui quondam in fœdus recepti atque in militiam
adlecti Honoriaci vocabantur’ (Oros. vii. 40). Thus, on the two
occasions in which the territory between the walls was recovered,
Attecotti were enrolled in the Roman army. They were Barbari who
ravaged Britain, when the Barbarians occupied this part of the
province. They were ‘in fœdus recepti et in militiam adlecti’ when the
Romans recovered it—a combination only applicable to the
half-provincial half-independent tribes between the walls; and they
were probably the same people whom Ptolemy called the Ottedeni and
Gadeni, who extended from the southern wall to the Firth of Forth. The
same word seems to enter into the composition of the names Ottedeni
and Attecotti.
Footnote 99:
The army is mentioned in Britain in 406. Stilicho was consul the
preceding year. The Notitia Imperii refers to a state of matters after
Theodosius, for the province of Valentia is mentioned, and the army
there described must have been in Britain at this time.
Footnote 100:
Adversus hos Constantinus Constantem filium suum, proh dolor! ex
monacho Cæsarem factum, cum barbaris quibusdam, qui quondam in fœdus
recepti atque in militiam adlecti, Honoriaci vocabantur, in Hespanias
misit.—Orosius, vii. 40.
Footnote 101:
This account of the usurpation of Constantine, and its consequences,
is taken from Zosimus and Olympiodorus, two contemporary historians.
The opinion generally entertained that the Roman troops returned to
Britain after the year 410 rests upon no direct authority, and is
opposed to the testimony of those contemporary historians. Mr. Bruce,
in his _Roman Wall_, makes the pertinent remark (43): ‘The series of
coins found in the stations of the north of England, and in the camps
and Roman cities of the south, extends from the earlier reigns of the
Empire down to the times of Arcadius and Honorius, and then ceases.
Any legion coming later must have been destitute of treasure.’
The mistake has arisen from the false chronology of the invasions of
the Scots and Picts, and of the assistance of the Romans in repelling
them, applied to the narrative of Gildas. No dates are given in the
work of Gildas; but if the mind is disabused of preconceived
conceptions in this respect, it is impossible to compare Gildas’s
narrative with the notices of the legion sent by Stilicho, and of the
army which elected Constantine, the attack which followed, and the
repelling of the invaders by the provincial Britons, without seeing
the absolute identity of the events.
The following comparison will show this more clearly:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account