We have in what precedes mainly followed only one thread in the very
intricate web formed by the early history of the Highlands, which,
to a certain extent at this period, is the history of Scotland; but,
as will have been seen, there are various other threads which join
in from time to time, and which, after giving a short account of the
traces of the Roman invasion still existing in the Highlands, we
shall endeavour to catch up and follow out as far as possible.
It is not necessary in a history of the Highlands of Scotland, as
we have defined that term, that much space should be given to an
account of Roman remains; for, as we have already said, these Italian
invaders appear never to have obtained anything like a firm footing
in that rugged district, or made any definite or characteristic
impression on its inhabitants. “The vestiges whence it is inferred
that the Empire for a time had so far established itself in Scotland
as to bring the natives over to the habits of peaceful citizens,
belong almost exclusively to the country south of Antonine’s wall,
between the Forth and Clyde. Coins and weapons have been found
farther north, but scarcely any vestige of regular settlement. None
of the pieces of Roman sculpture found in Scotland belong to the
districts north of the wall. It is almost more significant still,
that of the very considerable number of Scottish Roman inscriptions
in the various collections, only one was found north of the wall,
and that in the strongly-fortified station of Ardoch, where it
commemorated that it was dedicated to the memory of a certain
Ammonius Damionis.[19] On the other hand, it is in that unsubdued
district that the memorials of Roman conquest chiefly abound.”[20]
The whole of Britain was intersected by Roman ways, and as,
wherever a Roman army went, it was preceded by pioneers who cleared
and made a durable road to facilitate its march, there can be no
doubt that the north of Scotland was to a considerable extent
intersected by highways during the invasion of Agricola, Lollius
Urbicus, and Severus. One road at least can be traced as far north
as Aberdeenshire, and is popularly known in some districts as the
_Lang Causeway_. This road appears to have issued from the wall of
Antonine, passed through Camelon, the Roman port on the Carron, and
pushing straight forward, according to the Roman custom, across the
Carron, it pursued its course in a general north-east direction
through Stirling, Perth, by Ardoch, through Forfar and Kincardine, to
about Stonehaven.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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