140 A N T A N T exact date at which the portion of the work connected with the pillar was executed. In addition to the annalist just mentioned, several other ancient historians are supposed to allude to Antonine s wall; but their brief statements are so vague that further refer ence to what they say is unnecessary. Of mediaeval writers Bede is almost the only one who notices it, but he errone ously ascribes its erection to the natives of the south acting according to advice given them by the Romans. Timothy Pont, who early in the 16th century personally surveyed a large portion of Scotland while gathering materials for his projected Scottish Atlas, drew the attention of antiquaries to this memorial of Eoman times, though to him, as well as to his successors in antiquarian research for nearly a century, it was known as " Agricola s vallurn, or Graham s Dike." It is to Gordon that the merit must be awarded of having been the first to give to the world a satisfactory account of the " wall of Antoninus Pius." A chapter of the Itine- rarium, Septentrionale is devoted to it, and plans are given of the principal forts, as well as engravings of the legionary tablets and other objects of interest that had, up to the author s day, been dug out of its ruins. Gordon was fol lowed by Horsley and Roy, the latter of whom made in 1755 a new survey of it, which enabled him to correct Gordon in some particulars. Lastly, in the Caledonia Romano, of Stuart, we have a complete and, on the whole, accurate description of the wall, with figures of all the sculptured stones found near its course up to the date at which he wrote. The nature and appearance of the wall when perfect have been described by all these writers in very similar terms, though they differ somewhat as to the measure ment of its several parts. " It consisted," says Stuart, " in the first place, of an immense fosse or ditch averag ing about 40 feet in width, by some 20 in depth which extended over hill and plain in one unbroken line from sea to sea. Behind this ditch on its southern side, and within a few feet of its edge, was raised a rampart of intermingled stone and earth, strengthened by sods of turf, which measured, it is supposed, about 20 feet in height, and 24 in thickness at the base. This rampart was surmounted by a parapet, behind which ran a level platform for the accommodation of its defenders. To the southward of the whole was situated the military way a regular causewayed road about 20 feet wide which kept by the course of the wall at irregular distances, approach ing in some places to within a few yards, and in others receding to a considerable extent." Along the entire line there were at least eighteen principal stations or forts, with smaller watchtowers in the intervening spaces. The rampart seems to have consisted for the most part of earth or turf, as stated by the annalist ; but stone was, no doubt, employed in the building of the forts and watchtowers as well as in certain portions of the rampart itself. Although in many parts of its course all traces of Antonine s wall have long been obliterated, the line along which it stretched has been mapped out by Gordon and others with sufficient accuracy. Commencing in the west on a height called Chapel Hill, near the village of Old Kilpatrick in Dumbartonshire, and now distant from the River Clyde about 150 yards, it ran eastwards, passing in succession Kirkintilloch, Croy, Castlecary, and Falkirk, and terminated at Bridgeness, a rocky promontory that projects into the Frith of Forth south of Borrowstounness in Linlithgowshire. Its eastern termination was long sup posed to have been near the kirk of Carriden. In IS 69, however, a sculptured legionary tablet, since deposited in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, was found at Bridgeness, in such a position that it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the wall actually terminated there. Its entire length may be set down at about 30 English miles. Of the sculptures found near or on the site ol this wall a considerable number are records of the different portions of the work executed by the legionaries employed on it, and who mainly belonged to the second, sixth, and twentieth legions. Some of these tablets are in the museum of the university of Glasgow, and are of much interest, but the finest of them all is the Bridgeness one already referred to. From the number of Roman paces mentioned on the inscriptions, Horsley and others have attempted to deter mine the exact length of the work. Unfortunately for their purpose, the paces on the stones already discovered considerably exceed its whole length, and as we cannot suppose that all the monuments of this kind that were erected by the legionaries have been preserved and brought to light, we must conclude with Stuart that they had raised more than one memorial of the same piece of work. How many years Antonine s wall continued to be tho boundary of the Roman territories in Britain it is impos sible to say, but there is every reason for believing that it was so for only a brief period. ANTONIO, NICOLAO, a Spanish bibliographer, was born at Seville in 1617. After finishing his studies at Salamanca, he returned to Seville, and shut himself up in the royal monastery of Benedictines, where he devoted several years to writing his Bibliotheca Hispanica, a work in four vols. folio, two of which he published at Rome in 1672. The work consists of two parts : the one containing the Spanish writers who flourished before the end of the 15th century; the other the part published by Antonio himself treating of later writers. He was recalled to Madrid by Charles II., and died in 1684, leaving nothing but a magnificent library of over 30,000 volumes. Tho earlier volumes of his Bibliotheca were published in 1606 at the expense of Cardinal d Aguirre, and under the super intendence of his librarian, Marti, who added notes in the name of the cardinal. An improved edition of the entire work, by F. P. Bayer, was published at Madrid in four vols. folio, in 1783 S. ANTONIUS, MARCUS, the Roman orator, was born 143 B.C. After having filled the office of quaestor (113), he was appointed p rector in 104, and propraetor in the fol lowing year, the province of Cilicia being assigned to him. Here he was so successful in the war against the pirates, that a naval triumph was awarded him in 102. He was consul along with A. Postumius Albinus in 99, when ho successfully opposed the agrarian law of the tribune Titius. He was censor 97, and held a command in the Marsic war in 90. Belonging as he did to the party of Sulla, ho was put to death by order of Marius and Cinna when they obtained possession of Rome (87 B.C.) Antony s reputa tion for eloquence rests on the authority of Cicero, none of his orations being extant. ANTONIUS, MARCUS [MARK ANTONY], grandson of Antonius the orator, and son of Antonius Creticus, seems to have been born about 83 B.C. While still a child he lost his father, whose example, however, had he been spared, would have done little for the improvement of his character. Brought up under the influence of the disre putable Cornelius Lentulus Sura, whom his mother had married, Antony spent his youth in profligacy and extra vagance. For a time he co-operated with the reprobate Clodius in his political plans, chiefly, it is supposed, through hostility to Cicero, who had caused Lentulus, his stepfather, to be put to death as one of the Catiline con spirators; but he soon withdrew from the connection, on account of a disagreement which, appropriately enough, arose in regard to his relations to his associate s wife,
Flavia. Not long after, in 58 B.C., he fled to Greece, toPage:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/154
This page needs to be proofread.
ABC—XYZ
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica%2C_Ninth_Edition%2C_v._2.djvu/page154-1024px-Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica%2C_Ninth_Edition%2C_v._2.djvu.jpg)