The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. I] OF SCOTLAND ii
ently strong to justify the assertion. And in the same way the
argument applies, that wherever different origins are given b}'
them to different nations, it is to be inferred that there was a
considerable dissimilarity between them, and that no tradition
of a common origin could have existed among them. These
writers, however, agree in giving totally different origins to the
Picts and Scots. For these reasons, then, we may conclude that
A.. , J*, the Scots could not have been descended of the
Attacked the
Pro^fnce from Caledonians, but must have been merely a part of the
Ireland.
Scots of Ireland, who were at that time in temporary
connection onh' with the Picts, but who afterwards,
appear, obtained a permanent settlement among them. This
it would
conclusion is strongly corroborated by the language constantly
used regarding them by Claudian, thus :—
" I lie leves Mauros nee falso nomine Pictos
Edomuit, Scotiiinque vago mucrone, secutus
Fregit Hyperboreas
remis audacibus imdas" ^
The Picts mentioned in this passage it will be remarked are
only subdued, while the Scots alone are followed across the
Hyperborean waves, which can only apply to the Irish sea ;
because, if it applied to either of the Firths, there would be no
reason for the distinction made between the Picts and Scots.
Again he says :—
And,-
'' Maduerunt Saxone fuso
Orcades, incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule
Scotorum cuinulos flevit glacialis I erne." '"
" Totam quum Scotus lemen
^
Movit et infesto spumavit remige Tethys.'"
It has been said that lerne here does not mean Ireland, but
Stratherne,— the glaring improbability of this however must
appear, when we consider, First,—That while Ireland was well
known under that name,
part of Scotland appearing
in no other instance do we find an\'
in the works of the Roman writers
under any such appellation ; even in Ptol^y's Geography of
Scotland, which is so very minute, no such place appears.
^
Claudian, de HI. cons. Honorii. ^ Claudian, 1. 2, in prin. con Stilichonis.
-
Claudian, de IT. cons. Honorii.