Hadrian's wall (34 page)

The Scotti, incidentally, came-at the time of this story-from the isle that the Celts called Eiru and the Romans called Hibernia: modern-day Ireland. It was later that they gave their name to Scotland as part of that back-and-forth tide of conquest that ultimately made Great Britain the product of Celt, Viking, German, French, Irish, and Roman invaders, a melting pot of sword and blood. Thus a distant and ancient empire, Rome, helped seed a much later and even bigger one. Though Hadrian's Wall did not last forever, both the political boundaries it set and the elusive dream it represented- of permanent security, behind some kind of impregnable defense-remain with us to this day.