The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

12 THE HIGHLANDERS [parti
Secondly,—No tolerable reason can be shewn why Claudian
should distinguish such a small portion of Scotland on this
occasion. Thirdly, — It does not appear that Strathern formed
at any time a part of the Scottish possessions ;
on
the contrary,
it appears to have been the very head quarters of the Picts.
And lastl)-, in this passage of Claudian, the Scots are described
as crossing Tethys in coming from lerne to the Roman province ;
but Tethys, it will appear from the following passage of the same
author, can onl\' apply to the sea, and not to either of the Firths
of Clyde or Forth.
" Domito quod Saxoni Tetliys
Mitior aut fracto secura Britannia Picto." ^
The subjugation of the Saxon could only render the sea more
safe, and therefore Tethys could not apply to a Firth in North
Britain.
The testimony of Gildas is equally distinct upon this point,
for he describes the Scots as coming " a circione," and the Picts
" ab aquilone."2 Now it appears from Vitruvius that circio
corresponds pretty nearly to our north-west and by west, while
aquilo is the same as our north-east, and consequently the Scots
could not have come from North Britain, but from Ireland. In
another passage, after describing an irruption of the Picts and
Scots, he says
"
Revertuntur ergcj impudentes grassatores
Hyberni domum, post non longum temporis reversuri. Picti in
extrema parte insula tunc primum et deinceps requieverunt."3
It is thus be}'ond a doubt that the Scots had no permanent
settlement in Britain, as late as the early part of the fifth century,
and that Ireland was the habitation of those Scots who joined
the Picts in their attacks upon the provincial Britons.
They appear however from Adomnan and Bede to have been
firmly established in the western part of Scotland in the days of
St. Columba, and even as late as the time of Bede to have
retained the tradition of their Irish origin, although like all
Monkish traditions,^n appellation for the leader of the colony
has been formed out of their generic name of Dalriads. The
accession of this colony must have taken place at some period
'
Claudian, 1. 1, V. 395. ''Gildas, c. 11.
'
Gildas, c. 19.
4