Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/178

CHAP. VI.
_____carried in a litter, he transported himself in person into that remote island, attended by his two sons, his whole court, and a formidable army. He immediately passed the walls of Hadrian and Antoninus, and entered the enemy's country, with a design of completing the long attempted conquest of Britain. He penettated to the northern extremity of the island, without meeting an enemy. But the concealed ambuscades of the Caledonians, who hung unseen on the rear and flanks of his army, the coldness of the climate, and the severity of a winter march across the hills and morasses of Scotland, are reported to have cost the Romans above fifty thousand men. The Caledonians at length yielded to the powerful and obstinate attack, sued for peace, and surrendered a part of their arms, and a large tract of territory. But their apparent submission lasted no longer than the present terror. As soon as the Roman legions had retired, they resumed their hostile independence. Their restless spirit provoked Severus to send a new army into Caledonia, with the most bloody orders, not to subdue but to extirpate the natives. They were saved by the death of their haughty enemy^[1].

Fingal and his heroesThis Caledonian war, neither marked by decisive events, nor attended with any important consequences, would ill deserve our attention ; but it is supposed, not without a considerable degree of probability, that the invasion of Severus is connected with the most shining period of the British history or fable. Fingal, whose fame, with that of his heroes and bards, has been revived in our language by a recent publication, is said to have commanded the Caledonians in that memorable juncture, to have eluded the power of Severus, and to have obtained a signal victory on the banks of the Carun, in which the son of " the king of the world," Caracul, fled from his arms along the fields of his pride^[2], Something of a doubtful mist still hangs over these highland traditions; nor can it be entirely dispelled

1. Dion, 1. Ixxvi. p. 1280, etc. ; Herodian, 1. iii. p. 132, etc.
2. Ossian's Poems, vol. i. p. 175.