Observations on the Origin of the Duni Pacis

Abstract

Boys no sooner arrive at the use of reason, than they begin to be instructed in the language of ancient Rome. And the actions of the Romans is the first history they are taught. From thence it comes, that every monument of antiquity is almost always believed to have been made by these conquerors; especially if the name of the monument, or of any place in its neighbourhood, can be wrested to a Latin word, or even to a Latin termination. Such must have been the case with regard to the two great tumuli near the river Carron, in the shire of Stirling, from which the place is called Dunipace; which is supposed to signify the Hills of Peace; and it is commonly thought that the true name is Duni Pacis.