in
whose territories Ardoch, Comrie, and Strageath lay--were more highly
civilised than the Caledonians beyond the Tay and the Grampian range.
They had towns, as we have seen; they probably engaged to some extent in
agriculture; their food did not altogether consist of fish, milk, and the
produce of the chase. But their towns were few and far between, and the
means of communication very imperfect. The native tribes were not
road-makers, and the Romans had not been long enough in possession, nor
had leisure been granted them to form the solid and straight lines of
communication upon which, everywhere, their power was based. We have
Roman roads in Strathearn, and I daresay a careful student of the
district could walk every foot of the way from Ardoch to Perth along
these roads--street-roads, they are called locally, as I discovered one
night to my surprise on making inquiries as to the shortest route between
the manses of Gask and Trinity-Gask. But these roads were not in
existence when the Battle of Mons Grampus was fought. Much rough
pioneering work had to be gone through ere it was possible to lay them
down. Meantime, the respective positions of the Romans and Caledonians
had changed somewhat. The tide of conquest did not remain at the
high-water mark of Agricola's advance. The Roman garrisons were
withdrawn from Strathearn and from Ardoch. The Wall of Hadrian, between
the Solway and the Tyne, was substituted for the frontier chain of forts
between the Forth and Clyde, and, in consequence, the native tribes kept
pressing ever southward. Hadrian's Wall checked their progress, but
their presence in ever-increasing numbers was a danger to the province.
They had now come to be known as the Caledonii and the Meatae--the men of
the hills and the men of the plains. At length the spirit of Rome
revived in the Emperor Severus, who determined to revisit the scene of
Agricola's early conquests. He came to Britain in 208 A.D., fully one
hundred and twenty years after the Battle of Mons Grampus had been fought
and won. He moved slowly, but did his work effectively. It was a costly
process both in treasure and human life; but, from the point of view of
permanent conquest, it was well done. Roads were formed, bridges built,
and the habits of civilisation introduced into the wilds of Strathearn,
and far away in the North. For, marching by way of Forfar, Kincardine,
and Aberdeen, Severus reached the Moray Firth, and got f