Transcribed from the 1911 William Blackwood and Sons edition by DavidPrice, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
If we could see in a magic mirror the country now called Scotlandas it was when the Romans under Agricola (81 A.D.) crossed the Border,we should recognise little but the familiar hills and mountains. The rivers, in the plains, overflowed their present banks; dense forestsof oak and pine, haunted by great red deer, elks, and boars, coveredland that has long been arable. There were lakes and lagoons wherefor centuries there have been fields of corn. On the oldest sitesof our towns were groups of huts made of clay and wattle, and dominated,perhaps, by the large stockaded house of the tribal prince. Inthe lochs, natural islands, or artificial islets made of piles (crannogs),afforded standing-ground and protection to villages, if indeed theselake-dwellings are earlier in Scotland than the age of war that followedthe withdrawal of the Romans.
The natives were far beyond the savage stage of culture. Theylived in an age of iron tools and weapons and of wheeled vehicles; andwere in what is called the Late Celtic condition of art and culture,familiar to us from beautiful objects in bronze work, more commonlyfound in Ireland than in Scotland, and from the oldest Irish romancesand poems.
In these “epics” the manners much resemble those describedby Homer. Like his heroes, the men in the Cuchullain sagas fightfrom light chariots, drawn by two ponies, and we know that so foughtthe tribes in Scotland encountered by Agricola the Roman General (81-85A.D.) It is even said in the Irish epics that Cuchullain learnedhis chariotry in Alba—that is, in our Scotland. {2} The warriors had “mighty limbs and flaming hair,” says Tacitus. Their weapons were heavy iron swords, in bronze sheaths beautifullydecorated, and iron-headed spears; they had large round bronze-studdedshields, and battle-axes. The dress consisted of two upper garments:first, the smock, of linen or other fabric—in battle, often oftanned hides of animals,—and the mantle, or plaid, with its brooch. Golden torques and heavy gold bracelets were worn by the chiefs; thewomen had bronze ornaments with brightly coloured enamelled decoration.
Agriculture was practised, and corn was ground in the circular quernsof stone, of which the use so long survived. The women span andwove the gay smocks and darker cloaks of the warriors.
Of the religion, we only know that it was a form of polytheism; thatsacrifices were made, and that Druids existed; they were soothsayers,magicians, perhaps priests, and were attendant on kings.
Such were the people in Alba whom we can dimly descry around Agricola’sfortified frontier between the firths of Forth and Clyde, about 81-82A.D. When Agricola pushed north of the Forth and Tay he stillmet men who had considerable knowledge of the art of war. In hisbattle at Mons Graupius (perhaps at the junction of Isla and Tay), hiscavalry had the better of the native chariotry in the plain; and thenative infantry, descending from their position on the heights, wereattacked by his horsemen in their attempt to assail his rear. But they were swift of foot, the woods sheltered and the hills defendedthem. He made no more effectual pursuit than Cumberland did atCulloden.
Agricola was recalled by Domitian after seven years’ warfare,and his garrisons did not long hold their forts on his lines or frontier,which stretched across the country from Forth to Clyde; roughly speaking,from Graham’s Dyke, east of Borrowstounnis on the Firth of Forth,to Old Kilpatrick on Clyde. The region is now full of coal-mines,foundries, and v