Sunshine and England are words rarely paired. But two weeks ago, on a rare June day I could see the sweep of Hadrian’s wall climbing up a nearby escarpment. The clouds reflecting off a small lake at the bottom of the cliff.
Here, near the border of Scotland, the Romans built a stone wall with deep ditches in front and intermittent sentry towers to control the northern border of the empire. The construction began in 122 A.D. under Emperor Hadrian who valued peace and stability over expansion.
The wall runs across the entire width of the country, 84 miles, from the North Sea in the east to the Irish Sea in the west.
While it may not be as imposing as the massive Great Wall of China which was so wide chariots could race across it, the more modest Roman version still got the job done. In most places Hadrian’s wall was ten feet high. It took three legions of 15,000 soldiers to finish the project which helped secure the border for 300 years. Today only segments of it survive. The hostile tribes in the north didn’t dismantle it, local farmers did who used the sandstone to create pastures. Even the local clergy got it on the act, pilfering the stones to build churches that still stand today.
It amazes me that the Romans could secure the northern English border, but we can’t seem to take control of our southern border.
I can sense some readers perched over your keyboards about to launch Roman era catapults filled with accusations of racism but take a breath and keep reading.
Hadrian’s Wall was not only a barrier to control the always restive Pict population, but it was also a trade gateway. Scholars believe there were intermittent customs barriers, a way to foster commerce and more importantly collect taxes on imports. Coins found at the site were minted as far away as Greece which exported olive oil 1,600 miles to this distant frontier. Trade was at the heart of the empire’s prosperity and stability.
And there’s another lesson here. The walls were not staffed by elite legionnaires, but by auxiliary units recruited from around the Roman world. Belgians, Spanish and Romanians served here, often with their families living just outside the intermittent forts which spanned the length. At this point in their careers, these men were not Roman citizens, but through exemplary military service they could eventually earn that distinction which came with a pension and land. We know about those stories from troves of letters discovered buried near the walls.
Think about the immigrations deals Washington has walked away from in the last 20 years. A bi-partisan deal crafted during the Bush Administration was killed by Senator Chuck Schumer who wanted it as a campaign issue for Barrack Obama. This year at Trump’s bidding a similar Senate deal was cratered in the House by Republicans
When I sat on the wall earlier this month, I shook my head at the inability of Washington to solve this problem. Nearly 23 centuries ago the Romans figured out how to control the border, prosper from trade, and provide a pathway to citizenship. The Roman Senate meeting in the Forum could get it done, but our leaders in Washington can’t.
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Scott, good post but consider this, we do not need a wall or more border security -- we need a policy to allow potential immigrants to stay in Mexico and work for companies producing the goods and services we now get from less friendly nations like China. First Imagine large companies producing electronics, automobiles, textiles, machinery, toys, furniture, plastics, iron, medical goods, and more just south of the border. Shifting this trade from China to Mexico would both stimulate their economy and help secure our nation. Second, we could work with our new trade partners to eliminate or drastically reduce organized crime and the drug trade in both countries specifically targeting Fentanyl and other drugs that are killing our citizens. Third, we could bring the labor we actually need in the US from this new labor pool to the south. Imagine GE, Caterpillar, Ford, Apple, Nvidia, Samsung, and so many more rushing to establish mega factories. Imagine The development of housing, education, retail, healthcare, and infrastructure to support this new workforce. We do not need a Wall we need a Policy and the "Lost Middle" to lead the charge.