Pauli Iovii Novocomensis opera quotquot extant omnia

and the Cheviot hill, which runs across the landscape with an oblong ridge into the southern Ocean, and is divided from the rest of Britain by two estuaries. To these natural limits, the Roman emperors added perpetual fortifications, which works, finally broken by the labor and force of the enemy and consumed by time, are shown by the natives with the remains still existing. It is said that Hadrian contributed the labors of many legions to this work, but finally Severus Caesar, and some time later Aetius, famous for his victory over the Huns, placed walls and also opportune towers at certain intervals upon the rampart. And so, what was excluded by barriers, being deserted by the natives, fell to the foreign conqueror. Hence, finally, it was brought about by various successes in wars that the province took its name from the arrival of the new nation, and being adopted into the kingdom, it was called Scotland. Ireland declares that the Scots originated from it. The Picts, however, their allies, terrible due to the painting of their bodies and horrid ferocity, are reported to have sailed across from Norway. We see that these were known to C. Caesar, who, going into battle with the juice of the herb woad, would paint his face and limbs; but nothing has been discovered by us yet concerning their lineage; it appears clearly, however, that they were once the Picts, who today are called the Sylvestres meaning: "the men of the woods", perhaps from those peoples of Scythia whom antiquity called the Agathyrsi. That kind of man, fierce in war and harsh in diet and dress, different in language, does not seem so barbaric that it does not acknowledge the highest virtues, piety, justice, and probity; since indeed the Sylvestres concede nothing at all either to the Scots, their allies, or to the English, their enemies, if all their customs and actions are recalled to equity and greatness of spirit; for they easily call both these and those deceitful, wicked, and robbers by way of insult, while they themselves, marvelous in Irish simplicity and a certain Roman gravity, are of proven frugality and for this reason lead a harmless life, and they disdain the enticements of foreign fruit, for indeed their garment is a toga, very much white, thrown over the shoulder in a manner very similar to the Roman; otherwise, in the same habit, they have erect necks, proud chests, constant faces, hair even cut around, nor do they have enormous beards, their legs are naked, and their feet are shod with raw leather boots. Furthermore, they worship Christ as the true God, but without the mysteries of the sacraments, because, being without learning, they think themselves pious enough if they have brought a pure and whole mind to the heavens. They are near in language, just as they are in the site of their lands, to the peoples of Ireland, especially the Ulstermen, whom they mix with through trade as if they were kinsmen. For the region of the Sylvestres, Caithness (as the Scots call it), is turned toward the Ulstermen along the whole shore of the western Ocean, above the island of Mona. They obey the kings of the Scots, who command them nothing at all as if they were most ancient allies and friends in the name of tribute, except for auxiliary forces, and those indeed sparingly, unless an external and grave war has broken out. Otherwise, the Scots, having driven out the Britons (as we said) and confirmed in the possession of that region occupied by arms, since they thought it sweet to plunder, ignoble to plow, and most decorous to seek things by arms in condemned peace, they began to vex Britain with brigandage and sudden incursions; but the Briton resisting bravely and guarding his borders, that contention, protracted by small skirmishes and dispersed forces, erupted into a just and very atrocious war. For the Scots, having gathered a stronger band, and having disrupted the wall of Severus (which we mentioned) and having opened the Roman ramparts, invaded the borders of the enemies in a popular uprising, devastating everything in their path with fire and sword. And so the Britons, moved by the previous injuries and the present calamity, gathered into one and immediately engaged the enemy with standards, but after immense slaughter was dealt on both sides, the Scot departed the victor in the battle. For among the Britons, due to the continuous levies of the Roman Caesars, both the abundance and strength, and the very progeny of true soldiers, had almost vanished, since their youth, by the opinion of virtue