Severus’ restless pursuit after happiness was equally vain. His dying words are said to have been, '_Omnia fui et nihil expedit_'—I have tried everything, and found nothing of any avail. What a contrast to the language addressed to him by the Ethiopian soldier—'Thou hast been everything—conquered everything: now, conqueror, be a god!' [Illustration: Slab, Leg. II. and Leg. XX.] ----- Footnote 134: Pinkerton’s Inquiry into the History of Scotland, i. 55. Footnote 135: I do not, however, find that the Antonine Wall is now known in the district by the name of Severus’ Wall. Footnote 136: See chronological tables of Roman History in Smith’s Dictionary of Biography and Mythology. ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration] ~The Roman Barrier of the Lower Isthmus.~ PART VI. MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES FOUND ON THE LINE OF THE WALL. Most apposite is the remark of Dr. Johnson, that ‘Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings.’ Few things are so well calculated to produce this effect, as the altars and lettered tablets that have been left on our soil by the Romans. When we but glance at them, who is not moved at the reflection, that they were chiselled by hands which for so many centuries have mouldered nerveless in the dust! Still on its march, unnoticed and unfelt Moves on our being. We do live and breathe, And we are gone! The spoiler heeds us not; We have our spring-time and our rottenness; And as we fall, another race succeeds To perish likewise. _Kirke White._ On proceeding to decipher the antique records, our emotions are more varied and more intense. The old Roman seems to arise from the tomb, and to reveal his modes of thought and principles of action. His breast heaves; his heart is laid bare. In lines which his own fingers have carved, the gods before whom he trembled are declared. Looking on the very altar at which he knelt, we almost seem to see ‘the mean man bowing down, and the great man humbling himself.’ [Sidenote: LETTERED STONES.] The region of the Wall has yielded more inscribed stones of the Roman period than any other portion of the kingdom. Many of them have already been presented to the reader; a few others will here be described. The lettered stones of the mural line may be divided into three classes—altars, funereal slabs, and centurial stones. ALTARS. [Sidenote: PARTS OF AN ALTAR.]