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 And peace was imposed all over Southern Britain; and the legions came to be stationed only on the frontier, and hardly ever moved. No doubt at first these legions were recruited from all the regions over which Rome ruled; and she ruled from Euphrates to Tyne, from Rhine to Africa. Soon, however, they must have been recruited in Britain itself and from Britons. Celtic mothers bore British sons to Roman fathers, and crooned Celtic songs over the cradles of babies, who would one day carry the Roman flag. The beautiful Latin tongue, which the Romans had brought with them, was enriched with many Celtic words.

It was, however, a misfortune for Britain that Rome never conquered the whole island. The great warrior, Agricola, did, between A.D. 79 and 85, penetrate far into Scotland; but he could leave no traces of civilization behind him, and Ireland he never touched at all. So Ireland never went to school, and has been a spoilt child ever since; the most charming of children, indeed, full of beautiful laughter and tender tears, full of poetry and valour, but incapable of ruling herself, and impatient of all rule by others. Then there was always a ‘Scottish frontier’ to be guarded, and along this frontier the Emperor Hadrian, early in the second century, began the famous Roman Wall. His successors improved on it until it became a mighty rampart of stone, eighty miles long, from Tyne to Solway, with ditches in front and behind and a strong garrison kept in its watch-towers.

To the north of the wall roamed, almost untouched, certainly unsubdued, the wilder Celts whom the Romans called ‘Picts’ or painted men; the screen of the wall seemed a perfectly sufficient defence against these. But prosperity and riches are often bad for men; they lead