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THE CELT, THE ROMAN, AND 
 
 THE SAXON: 
 
 A HISTOEY OF THE EAELY INHABITANTS OF 
 
 BEITAIN, 
 
 
 DOWN TO THE CONVERSION OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS 
 TO CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY THE ANCIENT REMAINS BROUGHT TO LIGHT BY 
 RECENT RESEARCH. 
 
 By THOMAS WEIGHT, Esq. 
 
 M.A. F.S.A. M.R.S.L. 
 
 Corresponding Member of the Institute of France {Academie des Inscriptions 
 et Belles Lettres). 
 
 LONDON : 
 AETHUE HALL, VIRTUE, & CO., PATEENOSTEE EOW. 
 
 1852. 
 
LONDON : 
 BRADBURV AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WBUTEFRIARS. 
 
THE VISCOUNT MAHON, 
 
 President of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 Gtfjfe Uofome is JBcfcicatefc, 
 
 AS A TESTIMONY OF SINCERE RESPECT EOR HIS DEVOTION 
 TO LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 These is hardly a corner in our island in which the spade or 
 the plough does not, from time to time, turn up relics of its 
 earlier inhabitants, to astonish and to excite the curiosity of the 
 observer, who, when he looks to an ordinary history of England, 
 finds that the period to which such remains belong is passed 
 over with so little notice, that he is left with no more informa- 
 tion on the subject of his research, than he possessed before he 
 opened the book. There is, in fact, no popular history of what 
 is termed by antiquaries the Primeval Period, and those who 
 are placed in the position just mentioned, if they happen not to 
 possess a library of expensive publications, or to have the 
 opportunity of consulting with those who have made archaeology 
 their study, are at present obliged to remain satisfied with 
 uncertain conjectures, and are thus led, in the absence of the 
 requisite elementary knowledge, to form theories of their own 
 which are far removed from the truth. It was in the wish to 
 supply a want thus very extensively felt that the following little 
 volume originated. Its object is to give a sketch of that part 
 of our history which is not generally treated, of the period, 
 before Britain became Christian England — the period, indeed 
 which, in the absence of much documentary evidence, it is the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 peculiar province of the antiquary to illustrate. Every article 
 which, as just stated, is turned up by the spade or the plough, 
 is a record of that history, and it is by comparing them together, 
 and subjecting them to the assay of science, that we make them 
 tell their story. I have attempted in the following pages to 
 show what light the still imperfect discoveries of the antiquary 
 have thrown upon the condition of this island, during centuries 
 which present little more than a blank in our ordinary annals. 
 
 The studies of the antiquary are not so dry or so useless as 
 many have been led to suppose, and it is clear that this is 
 beginning to be generally understood by the widely increased 
 popularity which they have gained during the last few years. 
 His science, however, is yet but very imperfectly developed, 
 but the difficulties which stood in the way of its advance are 
 now in a great measure cleared away, and we may hope that it 
 is making a steady and satisfactory progress. The great obstacle 
 with which the student has had to contend was, the want of 
 examples brought together for comparison, which led him 
 continually to make assumptions that had no foundation, and 
 to appropriate incorrectly, the consequences of which are visible 
 in almost every work touching on the primeval antiquities of 
 Britain that has appeared until the last few years. This 
 obstacle is now rapidly giving way before the increasing facility 
 of communicating knowledge, the formation of local museums, 
 and the greater number of good books on the subject. But 
 there is another danger against which the student in British 
 archaeology is to be especially warned ; the old scholars failed 
 in not following a sufficiently strict course of comparison and 
 deduction ; but some of the new ones run into the opposite 
 extreme of generalising too hastily, and they thus form systems 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 specious and attractive in appearance, but without foundation 
 in truth. Such I am convinced is the system of archaeological 
 periods which has been adopted by the antiquaries of the north, 
 and which a vain attempt has been made to introduce into this 
 country. There is something we may perhaps say poetical, 
 certainly imaginative, in talking of an age of stone, or an age 
 of bronze, or an age of iron, but such divisions have no meaning 
 in history, which cannot be treated as a physical science, 
 and its objects arranged in genera and species. "We have 
 to do with races of mankind, and we can only arrange the 
 objects which come under our examination according to the 
 peoples to whom they belonged, and as they illustrate their 
 manners and history. In fact, the divisions alluded to are in 
 themselves incorrect, and so far is the discovery of implements 
 of stone, or of bronze, or of iron, in themselves proofs of any 
 particular age, that we often find them together. It is true 
 that there may have been a period when society was in so 
 barbarous a state, that sticks or stones were the only imple- 
 ments with which men knew how to furnish themselves ; but I 
 doubt if the antiquary has yet found any evidence of such a 
 period. Stone implements are certainly found with articles of 
 metal, and it may fairly be doubted if the stone implements in 
 general, found either in these islands or in the north, belong to 
 a period antecedent to that in which metals were in common 
 use. In the early period to which the present volume refers, 
 intercommunication was slow and difficult, and an individual in 
 any obscure village could not, as at present, send off by post to 
 any distant town and get immediately the material he wanted 
 in any given quantity. It was thus necessary to use such 
 materials as came to hand, and there is no possible reason 
 why one man should not possess a weapon or a tool formed of 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 stone, while his richer or more fortunate contemporary had 
 one of iron or of bronze. This latter is the metal found almost 
 exclusively in what seem to be the earliest sepulchral inter- 
 ments ; but we are not sufficiently acquainted with the manners 
 and sentiments of the people to whom they belonged, to say 
 that there was not some particular reasons why the deceased 
 preferred articles of bronze rather than other metals. Perhaps 
 it was looked upon as more precious. What was the origin of 
 bronze but the attempt to harden copper in countries where 
 iron was not known, or could not be procured ; it is a mixed 
 metal, and it is absurd to suppose that its use could have 
 preceded that of iron in countries where the latter metal was 
 abundant. We must also bear in mind that iron undergoes 
 much more rapid decomposition ; and if even in interments 
 of the Anglo-Saxon period we very often find scarcely a trace 
 remaining of what we know were articles composed of that 
 metal, what must be the case with regard to similar interments 
 made six or seven hundred years earlier, or possibly at a still 
 more remote period? 
 
 I have thought it necessary to make these observations, 
 because it will be seen, that in the following manual I have 
 altogether discarded this vague system of metallic periods. I 
 have treated antiquities simply according to the races to which 
 they belonged. In fact, I have attempted to make archaeology 
 walk hand-in-hand with history. 
 
 I feel conscious, at the same time, that my attempt must be, 
 in many respects, an imperfect one, and that I have good reason 
 for appealing to the indulgence of my readers. My object was 
 to supply the want of a manual of British archaeology, where 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 there was really no such work existing, and it has been the 
 occupation of leisure moments under many disadvantages. If 
 it help to render the science more popular, and to call the 
 attention of Englishmen more generally to the memorials of the 
 past history of their country, my object will be fully accomplished. 
 Those who wish to pursue the subject further must study the 
 objects themselves, and refer to some of the larger and more 
 expensive works which may be found in public libraries. To 
 place such objects and works within the reach of people in 
 general is the chief purpose of local museums and societies. A 
 great mass of valuable material for the illustration of the 
 antiquities of the period under our present consideration, will 
 be found scattered through the volumes of the Archseologia of 
 the Society of Antiquaries of London ; but the unexperienced 
 antiquary must pay more attention to the plates than to the 
 descriptions. The best collection of antiquarian materials we 
 possess at present is the Collectanea Antiqua by Mr. Roach 
 Smith, which, however, is already becoming rare. Many good 
 papers on primeval antiquities, by Mr. Roach Smith and others, 
 will also be found in the earlier volumes of the Journal of the 
 Eritish Archaeological Association ; but the recent volumes of 
 that publication are entirely degenerated in archaeological 
 character. The Journal of the Archaeological Institute has 
 always run chiefly upon medieval antiquities. Other valuable 
 works for reference, but of a less general character, will be 
 pointed out in the notes to the following pages. 
 
 The value of a work on antiquities depends much on its 
 pictorial illustrations, for it is evident that descriptions of the 
 objects without engravings would be very vague and unsatis- 
 factory. I have endeavoured in the present work to give 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 engravings of all such objects as represent the classes, or 
 peculiar types, with which it is necessary that the student in 
 archaeology should make himself acquainted. In doing this, I 
 have to acknowledge the kind and ready assistance of one or two 
 friends, to whom the antiquarianism of this country owes much 
 of its progress at the present day ; and, although by far the 
 greater part of the illustrations were engraved expressly for 
 this work, and are due to the skilful pencil of Mr. Fairholt, I 
 have availed myself of the offers of Mr. Bruce of Newcastle, to 
 lend me some of the cuts from his excellent work on the Eoman 
 Wall, and of Mr. Eoach Smith, who similarly placed at my 
 disposal the cuts of his Collectanea, and of his recent work on 
 the antiquities of Eichborough, Eeculver, and Lymne. 
 
 THOMAS WEIGHT. 
 
 Brompton, May, 1852. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ethnological Views — Political Movements in Gaul — Caesar's first and second 
 Invasions — Cassivellaunus — The Britons, as described by Csesar, Strabo, and 
 Diodorus — Cunobeline and his Sons — Expedition of Claudius — Conquests of the 
 earlier Proprietors — Caractacus — Cartismandua and Yenusius — Invasion of Mona 
 — Insurrection of Boadicea — War with the Brigantes — Campaigns of Agricola — 
 Total Subjection of the Island to Eome — Enumeration of the British Tribes 
 — Hibernia — Manners of the Britons, as described by Ancient Writers — The 
 Druids . . ... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 British Antiquities — Barrows — Cromlechs, and Sepulchral Chambers — Circles; 
 Stonehenge — Other Monuments of Stone — Various descriptions of British 
 Barrows — Their contents — Pottery — Instruments of Stone — Instruments of 
 Metal — Other articles — Their value as illustrative of Histoiy — The British 
 Coinage — Earthworks, and supposed sites of Towns and Villages . . . .49 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Britain at the beginning of the Second Century — Towns enumerated by Ptolemy — 
 Hadrian — The Wall — Lollius Urbicus ; the Wall of Antoninus — Rebellion of the 
 Soldiery in Britain — Albinus contends for the Purple— Campaigns of Severus, 
 who dies at Eburacum (York) — The Caledonians — Carausius usurps the Purple — 
 Allectus — Britain restored to the Empire by Constantius — Constantine the 
 Great — Revolt of Magnentius — The Picts and Scots 94 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 A Journey through Roman Britain — Londinium — Great Road from Londinium to 
 Segontium— Verulamium; Uriconium, &c. — Direct Northern Road from Lon- 
 dinium ; Durobrivse, Lindum, Danum, Eburacum, Isurium — Passage of the two 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Walls — Stations on the Wall — Branch to Luguballium and Blatum Bulgium — 
 Eastern Road ; Camulodunum, Camboricum — From Londinium to Calleva — 
 Branch to Corinium and Glevum; Iscu and Maridunum— From Glevum by 
 Magna to Deva, and thence through Coccium to the North— Cross Roads — 
 Salinse and other Towns — The Western Road, from Calleva to Sorbiodunum, 
 Durnovaria, and Isca Dumnoniorum — Aquse Solis — The trajectus to Wales, and 
 the Sarn Helen— The Road on the Southern Coast; Venta Belgarum, 
 Clausentum, Portus Magnus, Regnum, Anderida, Portus Lemanis. . . . 120 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A Roman Town in Britain — Its Walls, Towers, and Gates —Materials, and Modes of 
 Construction — The Houses — Their Plan, and Arrangement — The Tesselated 
 Pavements and Frescoed Walls— Method of Warming the Houses ; the 
 Hypocausts — The Baths — Windows and Roofs — Distribution of the Houses in 
 Streets— Public Buildings; Temples, Basilicse, Theatres, Amphitheatres — The 
 Suburbs and Burial-places — Sanitary Arrangements ; Sewers, Rubbish-pits. . 146 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Country — Roman Roads, and their Construction— Milliaria; the Roman Mile — 
 Bridges — Roman Villas ; Woodchester, Bignor, &c— Tesselated Pavements, and 
 the Subjects represented on them — Rustic Villages— Agriculture and Farming — 
 Country Life ; the Chase — British Dogs ... 180 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Manufactures of the Romans in Britain — Pottery — The Upchurch Ware — Dym- 
 church— The Potteries at Durobrivae— The Samian Ware — Other Varieties — 
 Terra-cottas — Roman Glass — Kimmeridge Coal Manufacture — Mineral Coal — 
 Metal — The Roman Iron- works in Britain; Sussex, the Forest of Dean, &c. — 
 Tin and Lead— Other Metals — Bronze— The Arts ; Sculpture — Medicine ; the 
 Oculists' Stamps — Trades ; a Goldsmith's Sign 209 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Ethnological Character of the Roman Population of Britain — Countries from which 
 it was derived — The Auxiliary Troops— Names and Birthplaces of Individuals — 
 Traces of Languages ; Inscribed Pottery ; the Roundels found at Colchester- 
 Debased Latinity — Remains of the British Population ...... 249 
 
 CHAPTER IX, 
 
 Religious Worship of the Romans in Britain— Roman Chief Deities ; Jupiter, Mars, 
 Apollo, Minerva, Ceres, &c— The eight Deities— Lesser Deities; Silvanus, 
 ^Esculapius— Grecian and Eastern Deities; the Tyrian Hercules, Mythras, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Serapis — The Nymphs and Genii, Fortune, and Deified Personifications — Deities 
 of the Auxiliary Eaces ; the Dese Matres, Viteres or Vitris, Belatucadrus, 
 Cocidius, Mogontis, &c. — Did Christianity prevail or exist in Roman Britain? . 256 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Modes of Sepulture ^n Roman Britain — Cremation, and Urn-Burial — Modes of 
 Interment— Burial of the Body entire — Sarcophagi — Coffins of Baked Clay, Lead, 
 and Wood — Barrows — Sepulchral Chambers — Inscriptions, and their Sentiments 
 —Various articles deposited with the Dead— Fulgor Divom 300 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Domestic Life among the Romans in Britain as Illustrated by their Remains- 
 Dress and Personal Ornaments — the Toilette — the Household; Furniture and 
 Utensils — Female Occupations — Cutlery — Styli — Scales — Ornamental Articles — 
 Weapons, &c 326 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Romcn Province — Its Divisions and Officers — the Military Force— Centurial 
 and other Inscriptions — Towns and their Municipal Constitution — the Coinage 
 — Roman Coins relating to Britain — Spurious Coinage — Different methods of 
 Hoarding Money . 349 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Declining State of the Roman Empire after the age of Julian— Theodosius sent 
 to Britain — Revolt and Career of Maximus — Stilichio — Marcus and Gratian 
 Revolt in Britain — The Usurper Constantine — Honorius — Britain independent 
 of the Empire and harassed by the Northern Barbarians— The Britons receive 
 assistance from Rome — The last Roman Legion withdrawn— The Angles and 
 Saxons come in— The Angles settle in Northumbria — The Jutes in Kent — 
 Hengest and Horsa— iElla in Sussex — Cerdic arrives in Hampshire— Essex and 
 the Angles— Mission of St. Augustine and Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons 
 to Christianity 374 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Antiquities— Barrows, or Graves, and the general Character of their 
 Contents— Arms — Personal Ornaments ; Fibulse, &c. — Anglo-Saxon Jewellery — 
 Pottery— Glass— Other Articles found in the Barrows ; Bowls, Buckets, (fee- 
 Coins — Early Anglo Saxon Coinage . . ; 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Settlement — Division of the Land — Population of the Country and of 
 the Towns— Continuance of the Koman Municipalities — Traces of Municipal 
 Privileges in the Anglo-Saxon Towns ; Canterbury, Rochester, Dover, Exeter, 
 London 432 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Celtic Establishments — Cumbria, Cornwall, Wales — Early Sepulchral Inscriptions 
 found in the two latter countries 452 
 
 Appendix I. — The Itineraries and Lists of Towns : 
 
 Itinerary of Antoninus 457 
 
 Itinerary of Richard of Cirencester 459 
 
 The Ravenna List of Towns 463 
 
 Appendix IL— Roman Potters' Marks 467 
 
LIST OP PLATES. 
 
 V MAP OF BRITAIN UNDER THE ROMANS .... 
 
 I STONEHENGE, FROM THE W.N.W. . . . .to 
 
 V RUINS OF THE GATE AT LTMNE ... 
 
 VPART OF THE WALLS OF A TOWN 
 
 Y FOUNDATIONS OF HOUSES AT ALDBOROUGH . 
 
 V HYPOCAUST IN THE ROMAN VILLA AT WOODCHESTER 
 
 ', CORNER OF THE CRYPTOPORTICUS, ROMAN VILLA AT 
 BIGNOR 
 
 /ROMAN POTTERY FROM CASTOR AND THE UPCHURCH 
 MARSHES 
 
 ROMAN POTTER'S KILN AT CASTOR 
 
 I GROUP OF SAMIAN WARE 
 
 ROMAN TOMBS ... 
 
 V ANGLO-SAXON WEAPONS, ETC 
 
 V ANGLO-SAXON FIBULA 
 
 to face Title. 
 
 face page 09 
 
 „ 149 
 
 „ 153 
 
 „ 163 
 
 „ 196 
 
 „ 199 
 
 „ 210 
 
 „ 212 
 
 „ 218 
 
 „ 304 
 
 „ 404 
 
 „ 411 
 
THE BRITONS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Ethnological Views — Political Movements in Gaul — Caesar's first and second 
 Invasions — Cassivellaunus — The Britons, as described by Csesar, Strabo, and 
 Diodorus — Cunobeline and his Sons — Expedition of Claudius — Conquests of 
 the earlier Propraetors — Caractaeus — Cartismaudua and Venusius — Invasion 
 of Mona — Insurrection of Boadicea — War with the Brigantes — Campaigns of 
 Agricola — Total Subjection of the Island to Rome — Enumeration of the 
 British Tribes — Hibernia — Manners of the Britons, as described by Ancient 
 Writers — The Druids. 
 
 According to the system now generally adopted by ethnologists, 
 Europe was peopled by several successive migrations, or, as they 
 have been technically named, waves of population, all flowing 
 from one point in the east. Of these the two principal were the 
 Celts and the Germans, both branches of the same great race, 
 which has been popularly termed the Japhetan, because, accord- 
 ing to the scriptural account, the various peoples which belonged 
 to it were all descended from Japhet. The Celts came first in 
 point of time, and, making their way apparently through the dis- 
 tricts bordering on the Mediterranean, they spread over all Western 
 Europe. The German nations, entering Europe from the shores 
 of the Bla,ck Sea, advanced through its central parts, till, coming 
 in contact with the Celts, they gradually drove them forwards to 
 the west and south-west. The Germans themselves were urged 
 westward by a new migration which was pressing upon them from 
 behind, that of the Sclavonic or Sarmatian race, which, as early 
 as the time of the Greek historian Herodotus, that is, in the 
 middle of the fifth century before Christ, had already established 
 itself on the eastern borders of Europe. 
 
 Of the successive movements of these nations, and the mutual 
 
 B 
 
THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 struggles which ended in their location in the positions they 
 occupied when we first become acquainted with them, history has 
 preserved no record. The early Greek writers knew little of 
 Western Europe, and Herodotus could only inform us that the 
 western extremity was occupied by a people whom he terms the 
 Cynetse, and that all the countries next to them were said to be 
 inhabited by the Celtae or Celts ; and he had an indistinct notion 
 of the British isles, under the general term of Cassiterides, or the 
 tin islands, as the grand source from which the Phoenicians derived 
 their supply of that metal. The philosopher Aristotle, who lived 
 a hundred years later, or about three centuries and a half before 
 Christ, speaks more definitely and distinctly of the ocean without 
 the Pillars of Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar), in which he tells 
 us there were "two islands, which are very large, Albion and 
 Ierne, called the Britannic, which lie beyond the Celtae." This 
 is the earliest mention of our islands by their names. Another 
 Greek historian, Polybius, who wrote very little more than a 
 hundred and fifty years before the Christian era, adds nothing to 
 our knowledge on this subject, but he speaks of the method in 
 which the tin was obtained and prepared in the " Britannic isles," 
 as of a matter with which he was well acquainted, and which was 
 then a subject of so much interest that he wrote a separate treatise 
 upon it, now unfortunately lost. All that we learn from these few 
 and scanty notices is, that from a very early period of the history 
 of the world, the merchants of Phoenicia obtained their supply of 
 tin (an article in use as far back as the time of Homer) from Britain. 
 As this metal is found chiefly in Cornwall and the Scilly islands, 
 the parts of Britain which would first present themselves to navi- 
 gators from the Phoenician port on the coast of Spain, Gadeira or 
 Gades (the modern Cadiz), we are justified in believing that these 
 and the south of Ireland were the only districts visited by that 
 people, who, as we are further assured, kept their knowledge a 
 profound secret, in order that they might with greater ease mono- 
 polise a lucrative branch of commerce. The geographer Strabo 
 tells us that the Komans long attempted in vain to discover the 
 place from whence the Phoenicians obtained their tin, to which at 
 this time were added lead and perhaps copper, and that on one 
 occasion a Phoenician captain, perceiving that he was folio wc 1 and 
 watched by Koman vessels, run his own ship intentionally on the 
 rocks rather than let the secret be discovered, and, escaping with 
 
chap, l] THE TIN ISLANDS. 3 
 
 his crew on a raft, was rewarded by his own government for his 
 patriotism. It was not till a Roman named Publius Crassus, who 
 is supposed to be the commander sent by Csesar at the end of his 
 first campaign in Gaul to reduce the Gallic tribes on the shores 
 of the British Channel, discovered the trade of the Phoenicians 
 with Britain, that the Romans became acquainted with the route 
 by which their merchants reached Britain by sea, and with the 
 ease with which the tin was dug up, it being then found at a very 
 small depth under the surface of the ground. Previous to this, 
 however, two other commercial states had established an intercourse 
 with the tin district of Britain. The Carthaginian Himilco, sent 
 by his government on a voyage of discovery between the years 362 
 and 350 before the Christian era, visited the tin islands, which he 
 calls CEstrymnides, near Albion, and two days' sail from Ierne, by 
 which he is supposed to mean some of the isles on the Cornish 
 coast ; and the Phocean colonies of Massilia and Narbona carried 
 on the same commerce overland. We are informed by another 
 Greek writer, Diodorus Siculus, that the tin was carried from the 
 district in which it was found to an island " in front of Britain," 
 named Ictis, apparently the Isle of Wight, where it was purchased 
 by native merchants, who transported it to Gaul, and it was then 
 carried overland on pack-horses a journey of thirty days to the 
 mouth of the Rhone. Everything, however, relating to this dis- 
 tant region, almost unconnected with the world as then known, was 
 wrapped in mystery ; and Scipio could obtain no satisfactory answer 
 to the anxious inquiries concerning Britain which he made among 
 the merchants of the great cities of Massilia, Narbona, and Corbelo. 
 The veil was at length drawn aside by the ambition of Julius 
 Caesar. 
 
 At this time the movement of the German race towards the west 
 was proceeding rapidly, and the Celtic populations of Gaul and 
 Britain would probably have been soon crushed beneath the 
 invasion, had not the Romans stepped in to arrest its progress. 
 Perhaps the northern parts of Gaul were already extensively 
 peopled by tribes of German extraction, and there are reasons 
 for believing that the Belgae were themselves a Teutonic race,* a 
 
 * C tear tells us distinctly, that the Belgse differed in language, customs, and 
 laws, from the Celtee, equally with the Aquitani : " Gallia est omnis divisa in 
 partes tres ; quarum imam incolimt Belgse, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum 
 lingua Celtae nostra Galli adpellantur. Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se 
 
 B2 
 
THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 circumstance which would explain some difficulties in the history 
 of Western Europe at this period. 
 
 The mass of the Celtic population, as we learn from Caesar, 
 were serfs, without civil influence or even civil rights ; the mere 
 slaves of the superior orders. The latter were divided into two 
 very distinct classes — the Druids and the knights (milites) ; or, 
 in other words, the priests and the chiefs of clans or military 
 leaders. The former, who resembled the Brahminical class in 
 India, combined with the sacerdotal profession the functions of 
 judges and legislators, and during the course of ages they seem 
 gradually to have usurped the supreme powers in the state, and 
 to have reduced the military chiefs to a state of political subjection. 
 These, however, had not entirely forgotten their ancient inde- 
 pendence, and the spirit of resistance appears to have been stirred 
 up and encouraged by the example of the Teutonic tribes who 
 were now mixing with them, and who were far less priest-ridden, 
 for Caesar tells us that they had no Druids. The whole of Gaul 
 became thus divided into two great political factions, some of the 
 tribes uniting in support of the Druidical influence, while others 
 took part with the military chiefs. The western Celtse — among 
 whom were the Carnutes, in whose territory (the modern Chartres) 
 stood the sacred grove, the head seat of Druidic worship in Gaul, 
 with the people of Brittany, of whose devotion to the religion of 
 their race so many rude monuments still remain — all supported 
 the Druidic faction, of which the Hedui, who inhabited the 
 modern Burgundy, took the lead. The Belgae, as might be 
 expected, with the northern tribes, supported the other faction, 
 at the head of which were the Sequani, whose capital was Vesontio 
 (the modern Besancon). Hard pressed by the Druid faction, the 
 tribes who supported the military chiefs had called to their assist- 
 ance the Germans under Ariovistus, while to resist these terrible 
 invaders, the Hedui appealed for protection to Rome. To Caesar 
 this was a welcome proposal ; he came with his legions, drove 
 the Germans back over the Rhine, and then, taking advantage of 
 the political divisions among the nations of Gaul, proceeded to 
 reduce it to a Roman province. The Gauls, too late, threw aside 
 their mutual animosities in order to resist their common enemy, 
 
 difFerunt." This statement, combined with various circumstances of their history, 
 lead me to believe that they were of German origin; and I confess that the 
 arguments of Dr. Prichard and others, to the contrary, seem to me unsatisfactory. 
 
chap, i.] OESAR'S INVASION OF BRITAIN. 5 
 
 and when Caesar thought that they were cut off from all foreign 
 aid by the ocean behind them, he found that they were drawing 
 powerful reinforcements from Britain. The Belgae, who surpassed 
 all the other nations of Gaul in valour and conduct, were the last 
 to yield to the military genius of the Roman commander and the 
 steady discipline of his cohorts. When he at length reached their 
 coast, and saw from the heights between Boulogne and Calais the 
 white cliffs of Albion, he resolved to carry his arms into the 
 island which had so long been an object of curiosity to his country- 
 men, and ascertain the resources which might be used to assist 
 those whom he had made their foes. 
 
 Britain contained at this time nearly the same political elements 
 as Gaul. The basis of its population was the same Celtic race 
 which there held with the Druidic faction ; and the supremacy of 
 the Druids or priestly order seems to have been established more 
 firmly in Britain even than in Gaul. We are not able to say with 
 any certainty if any, or how much, of the population of the western 
 parts of our island derived its origin from the Aquitanian or 
 Basque race, but we know that the Belgae had taken possession 
 of the richest parts of South Britain, and that these settlers were 
 in close alliance with their brethren on the other side of the 
 Straits, while the Celtic Veneti of Gaul, a seafaring tribe, main- 
 tained their old commercial intercourse with the Celts of Britain. 
 We are ignorant of the extent to which the division between the 
 Druids and the military chiefs had been introduced into this island, 
 but we know that the British tribes in the time of Caesar were no 
 strangers to civil strife. 
 
 As the season was far advanced, the Roman commander saw that 
 no time was to be lost, and he called together the merchants from 
 different parts of the coast, in the hopes of obtaining from them 
 the necessary information relating to the country which he was 
 about to invade. But they seem to have conspired together to 
 deceive him, and, when he questioned them, they could tell him 
 neither the extent of the island, nor the number or character of 
 the natives who inhabited it, nor even the harbours in which a 
 fleet might anchor. Nevertheless, they sent intelligence to the 
 Britons of the designs of invasion and conquest which Caesar had 
 not concealed. Several of the British states, thus warned, 
 dispatched messengers to Caesar, offering to submit to the govern- 
 ment of the Roman people and to give hostages for their fidelity. 
 
THE BRITONS. [char i. 
 
 These he sent back with liberal promises, and they were accom- 
 panied by Commius, whom the Roman commander had made king 
 over the vanquished Attrebates of Gaul, and who was directed to 
 visit as many of the states as he could, and to exhort them to 
 submit to the Romans. The real object of the British envoys was 
 perhaps to gain information, and Caesar was still as ignorant as 
 ever of the country and its coasts. He, therefore, sent one of his 
 officers, Caius Volusenus, with a war-galley, to survey the British 
 coasts, while he assembled his troops in the country of the Morini 
 (the Pas-de-Calais), and ordered the ships which had been employed 
 in the preceding year against the Veneti to repair to the Portus 
 Iccius, a naval station afterwards called Gessoriacum (Boulogne). 
 
 Satisfied with the imperfect survey of Volusenus, Caesar 
 embarked at the Portus Iccius before daybreak in an autumn 
 morning, carrying with him, in about eighty vessels of burden, his 
 favourite legion, the tenth, in the courage and devotion of which 
 he placed the utmost confidence, and the seventh. His cavalry 
 was directed to follow in eighteen vessels which were stationed in 
 a port about eight miles from that in which Csesar embarked. 
 About ten o'clock in the forenoon the Roman fleet arrived on the 
 coast of Britain, here formed of low cliffs, which were covered 
 with British warriors prepared for battle. After waiting in vain 
 for the arrival of his cavalry until three o'clock in the afternoon, 
 Caesar took advantage of a favourable wind and tide, and running 
 on about seven miles further, brought his ships up on an open 
 and level strand, which was more favourable for the landing of his 
 troops. The latter were seized with alarm at the novel and 
 formidable appearance of the multitude of warriors who had hurried 
 forwards to meet them and were now drawn up in hostile array 
 on the shore, and, unacquainted with the depth of the water, they 
 were unwilling to leave their ships. At length, after much hesi- 
 tation, the standard-bearer of the tenth legion, calling on his fellow 
 soldiers to follow, jumped into the sea. It was some time before 
 the Roman soldiers could reach firm ground ; for the depth of 
 their ships had obliged them to anchor at a considerable distance 
 from the shore, and they had to struggle through deep water, in 
 which they were impeded by the weight of their arms and 
 accoutrements ; while their enemies, lighter and more agile, rode 
 into the water with their horses, and attacked them, as they 
 attempted to form, in small parties, or overwhelmed them with a 
 
chap, l] FIRST PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROMANS. 7 
 
 shower of missiles from the beach. As soon, however, as the 
 soldiers obtained a firm footing, the Britons, who had shown no 
 want of courage in the previous confused engagement, yielded to 
 superior discipline, and fled, making their escape with the less 
 loss because the invaders were destitute of cavalry. 
 
 Thus did the Romans, for the first time, place their feet on that 
 distant island whose name had hitherto belonged rather to the 
 poet than to the historian. It is not easy to explain the subse- 
 quent conduct of the Britons, except by the entire want of union 
 among the various tribes which were scattered over the island. 
 Their chiefs, instead of making any further attempt to retrieve 
 their first defeat, or appealing to the other tribes to join them in 
 resisting the invaders, sent messengers to Caesar with excuses for 
 the resistance they had already made, promising obedience in 
 future, and offering hostages. Commius, the chief of the Attrebates, 
 came with these messengers ; he had been seized on his arrival in 
 Britain, and thrown into chains ; but the chiefs now gave him his 
 liberty, throwing the blame of his detention on the multitude, and 
 promising to make amends for their imprudent hostility. Caesar 
 readily granted them peace, demanding a certain number of 
 hostages, part of whom were immediately delivered ; and the 
 chiefs dismissed their followers, and repaired, in considerable 
 numbers, to Caesar's camp. The insincerity of their submission 
 w r as, however, soon proved. Caesar had been four days in Britain 
 before his cavalry could put to sea from the coast of Gaul, and 
 then, although a favourable wind brought them within sight of 
 the camp, the weather became so stormy that they were driven 
 back to the ports they had left. The storm increased during 
 the night, dragged the transports from their anchors, and drove 
 the whole fleet on the shore, where most of the Roman ships were 
 destroyed, or more or less damaged. This accident, and the 
 dismay into which it threw Caesar's army, encouraged the British 
 chiefs to form a new confederacy, with the design of attacking the 
 camp, from which, under various pretences, they gradually 
 withdrew. The Romans busied themselves with refitting their 
 fleet, and were not aware of the designs of the Britons, till one 
 day when the seventh legion went out, as usual, to forage. They 
 had not been long absent, when the guards at the gate of the 
 camp reported that there was an unusual cloud of dust in the 
 direction which they had taken ; and Caesar, hurrying with other 
 
THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 troops to the assistance of his foragers, found that the latter were 
 surrounded by a multitude of armed Britons, who had rushed 
 upon them from the woods, and that they were defending them- 
 selves with difficulty against the attacks of the horsemen and 
 charioteers. The assailants were now repulsed; but Caesar found 
 it necessary to draw off his men, and make good his retreat to the 
 camp, where the Britons, who considered this engagement as a 
 victory, determined to attack him ; and they sent messengers in 
 all directions, to call the neighbouring chiefs to their standard. 
 A continuance of stormy weather prevented the attack during 
 several days, during which Caesar, warned of their design, made 
 every preparation for defence, the result of which was a new and 
 severe defeat of the Britons, who were pursued with slaughter by 
 a small body of cavalry which attended upon the Attrebatian 
 Commius. The same day, the chiefs sent again to demand peace, 
 which Caesar, anxious to return to Gaul before the setting-in of 
 the equinoctial gales, granted, after exacting double the number 
 of hostages which he had previously required. He then embarked 
 his troops, and reached the country of the Morini in safety, from 
 whence the intelligence sent him by his friends recalled him to 
 Italy. But, before his departure, he gave directions for fitting 
 out a great number of ships, of a shape better adapted for landing 
 his troops on the shores of Britain, announcing that it was his 
 intention to return to the island in the ensuing spring. 
 
 The officers and troops left in Gaul showed their zeal in the 
 completeness with which they executed the orders of their great 
 commander ; and when Caesar returned to them, in the year 
 64 b.c, he found everything ready for the transport of his troops, 
 his horses, and his provisions. The former consisted of five 
 legions, with two thousand foot. These were embarked . in 
 upwards of eight hundred ships, and the appearance of this 
 numerous fleet so alarmed the Britons, that they deserted the 
 coast, and retired to the less accessible parts of the country. The 
 Romans, on this occasion, landed in or near the same spot as in 
 the year preceding ; and Caesar chose a place for his camp on the 
 shore. Some prisoners, taken in the course of the same afternoon, 
 having given information of the spot where the Britons were 
 assembled, he marched against them at night, leaving ten cohorts 
 and three hundred horse to guard the ships. He found the 
 Britons posted in a woody district, about twelve Roman (perhaps 
 
chap, l] CESAR'S SECOND INVASION. 9 
 
 sixteen English) miles from his camp, on the banks of a river 
 supposed to be the Stour ; and as he approached (I now use his 
 own words), they " came down to the river to meet him, with their 
 horsemen and chariots, and attempted, from elevated ground, to 
 begin the battle, and repel our troops. But our horse soon drove 
 them back, and they took refuge in the woods, where they had a 
 place singularly strong both by nature and art, and which, to all 
 appearances, had been constructed by them as a stronghold during 
 their civil wars ; for every approach to it was effectually blocked 
 up with felled trees. Some few of their troops, however, con- 
 tinued to skirmish from the woods, and prevented our men from 
 entering their fortress. But the soldiers of the seventh legion 
 locked their shields together, so as to form what is called the 
 testudo, and, mounting over a mound thrown up against the 
 defences, took the place, and expelled the Britons from the woods, 
 without experiencing much loss themselves." 
 
 Caesar was prevented from following up this success by the 
 intelligence of another disaster which had befallen his fleet, by a 
 violent storm on the second night after his arrival. He returned 
 in haste to his camp, found that the damage done to his fleet had 
 not been exaggerated by the messengers who brought him intelli- 
 gence of it, and gave immediate directions for repairing the shat- 
 tered ships. " He now resolved, notwithstanding the difficulty of 
 the task, to haul up all his ships, and inclose them in one line of 
 fortification with the camp. This labour occupied about ten days ; 
 and the work was not intermitted during the night. The vessels 
 were thus drawn up, and a camp strongly fortified ; after which, 
 leaving the same force as before to guard the fleet, he recom- 
 menced his march in the same direction as before." Caesar found 
 that the Britons had employed the time which he had lost, by the 
 disaster of his fleet, in composing their differences and uniting 
 against him ; for when he landed in Britain, the different tribes 
 were engaged in mutual hostilities : perhaps it was a struggle 
 between the Belgian settler and the aboriginal Celt : # and the chief 
 of the last is named by Caesar, Cassivellaunus or Cassibellaunus. 
 This chief, who seems to have been of the British race, and whose 
 territory is supposed to have been the present county of Hertford, 
 
 * It may perhaps "be considered, in favour of this supposition, that the chiefs 
 who were oppressed hy Cassivellaunus fled to the continent to seek assistance, 
 instead of applying to the native tribes of the interior. 
 
10 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 had been gradually reducing under his sway the tribes around 
 him. We learn, incidentally, that some of the chiefs, whose 
 rights he had usurped, had fled to Gaul, and there made their 
 complaint to Caesar, and implored his protection. This was the 
 case with Mandubratius, the young chief of the Trinovantes, a 
 people occupying the modern county of Essex, and considered, at 
 the time of Caesar's invasion, as the principal tribe of this part of 
 the island. The kingdom of the Trinobantes had been seized by 
 Cassivellaunus, who murdered its king, Imanuentius, the father 
 of Mandubratius, and the latter only escaped a similar fate by 
 flight. 
 
 The different tribes of the south-eastern parts of the island, as 
 we have just said, now joined in a temporary league against the 
 invaders : and it is a proof of the general estimation of the talents 
 of Cassivellaunus, that they agreed in selecting him for their 
 leader. In consequence of this confederacy, when Caesar marched 
 back to the position from which he had been called by the disaster 
 of his fleet, he found the enemy collected in much greater numbers 
 than before, to oppose his further progress. The Roman legions 
 and their auxiliaries were now exposed to constant attacks, in the 
 course of which they lost many men ; for the woods, which appear 
 to have covered or skirted the country through which Caesar 
 marched, gave a secure shelter to the Britons, and they were thus 
 enabled to harass the Romans by sudden and unexpected attacks, 
 and, when repulsed, to retreat without loss, as the heavy-armed 
 legionaries would seldom overtake them in their flight. " In all 
 these skirmishes," Caesar tells us, " so immediately under our 
 eyes, and close to the camp, it was evident that the weight of our 
 men's armour prevented them from pursuing the enemy when 
 they retreated, or advancing far from their own colours. In 
 short, their accoutrements were ill-adapted for contending with 
 such an enemy as they had now to deal with ; and the cavalry, in 
 particular, were much exposed on the field of battle ; for the 
 Britons would often make a feigned retreat, and allure them to 
 separate from the legions, after which they would leap from their 
 chariots, and take the cavalry at a disadvantage. . . . Moreover, 
 the Britons never advanced in one body, but fought in small 
 parties, stationed at intervals, so that one squadron relieved 
 another, and our men, who had been contending against those 
 who were exhausted, suddenly found themselves engaged with a 
 
chap, l] defeat OF CASSIVELLAUNUS. 11 
 
 fresh body, who had taken their places. The next day, the 
 enemy posted themselves on the hills, at some distance from the 
 camp, and only appeared a few at a time ; and they were also 
 less disposed to attack our cavalry than they had been the day 
 before. About noon, Caesar sent out Caius Trebonius, the 
 lieutenant, with three legions and all the cavalry, to forage ; 
 upon which the enemy assembled from all sides, and surrounded 
 the foragers, who were unable to leave their colours, or separate 
 from the legions. Our men now made a general attack upon 
 them, and put them to flight and pursued them without inter- 
 cession, as long as the legions kept in sight to give the cavalry 
 confidence of support whilst they drove the Britons before them. 
 In this manner, they did not allow them time to rally, or halt, or 
 leap from their chariots, according to their usual custom. In 
 consequence of this defeat, the British reinforcements, which 
 were arriving from all sides, again disbanded, and from that time 
 the enemy never again came to a general engagement. Caesar 
 now knowing their intentions, led his army towards the Thames, 
 in order to invade the territories of Cassivellaunus. The river 
 could only be passed, on foot, in one place, and that with difficulty. 
 When he arrived on its banks, he perceived a large force drawn 
 up on the other side to oppose him ; the bank, moreover, was 
 planted with sharp stakes, and others of the same kind were fixed 
 in the bed of the river beneath the water. Caesar gained intel- 
 ligence of this from prisoners and deserters. He accordingly 
 sent the cavalry in advance, and brought up the infantry imme- 
 diately in their rear. So great were the ardour and impetuosity 
 of the soldiers, that, whilst their heads alone appeared above the 
 water, the enemy, unable to sustain their attack, abandoned the 
 bank and fled precipitately. Cassivellaunus, as we have before 
 observed, abandoned all idea of fighting, and dismissed the greater 
 part of his forces, retaining only about four thousand men in 
 chariots. With these he watched our march, and, retiring out of 
 our way, lay in wait for us among the woods and difficult passes. 
 Meanwhile, he cleared the whole country through which our road 
 lay, both of men and cattle ; and when our foragers went out to 
 get provisions and waste the country, his knowledge of the ways 
 enabled him to assail them with all his chariots ; this caused 
 much danger to our cavalry, and prevented them from going far 
 from the main body." 
 
12 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 One defeat was sufficient to break the ill-consorted alliance 
 -which Cassivellaunus had formed against the Romans ; and the 
 superiority of the latter once demonstrated, the different tribes 
 who had been oppressed by that chieftain seem to have thrown the 
 blame of their resistance on his influence, making a merit of their 
 personal hostility towards him, and seeking an alliance with the 
 invaders. First came messengers from the Trinobantes of 
 Middlesex and Essex, who offered to submit to the Romans on 
 condition that they should espouse the cause of their young chief 
 Mandubratius, and restore him to the sovereignty of their tribe, 
 which Cassivellaunus had usurped. The treaty w T as soon arranged ; 
 Mandubratius, who happened to be in Caesar's camp, was sent 
 back to rule his tribe as a Roman tributary ; and the Trinobantes, 
 according to agreement, gave forty hostages, and supplied the 
 Roman army with corn. The example of the Trinobantes was 
 immediately followed by the Cenimagni, the Segontiaci, the 
 Ancalites, the Bibroci, and the Cassi. The first of these tribes 
 lay to the north of the Trinobantes, in the present county of 
 Suffolk ; the Segontiaci occupied the greater part of the present 
 counties of Hampshire and Berkshire ; the Bibroci inhabited a 
 thickly- wooded country, containing the celebrated forest of Anderida 
 — including a small part of Hampshire and Berkshire, and stretch- 
 ing through the modern counties of Sussex and Surrey into the 
 eastern parts of Kent ; the position of the Ancalites is less certain, 
 but they, perhaps, lay on the north of Berkshire and on the 
 western borders of Middlesex ; and if the Cassi were the same tribe 
 that was called by Ptolemy the Catyeuchlani, as is supposed, they 
 formed the link between these other tribes and the Trinobantes, 
 stretching through the modern counties of Hertford, Bedford, 
 and Buckingham. The envoys of these tribes informed Caesar, 
 " that the town of Cassivellaunus was not far off, surrounded by 
 woods and marshes, and occupied by a large number of men and 
 cattle. The Britons call by the name of town a place in the 
 fastnesses of the woods surrounded by a mound and trench, and 
 calculated to afford them a retreat and protection from hostile 
 invasion. Csesar immediately marched to this place, which he 
 found extremely strong, both by nature and art; nevertheless, he 
 assailed it at once in two different quarters. The enemy stood 
 their ground for a time, but at length gave way before the onset 
 of our men, and abandoned the town by the opposite side. A 
 
chap, l] SUBMISSION OF THE BRITONS. 13 
 
 great number of cattle were found there, and many of the enemy 
 were slain or taken prisoners in the pursuit." 
 
 It will be seen by reference to a map that Caesar had now 
 received the submission of a very large tract of country, extending 
 from sea to sea, and completely surrounding the country of the 
 Cantii, in which he had first landed. All these tribes seem to 
 have bargained for protection against Cassivellaunus, and it is 
 probable that they had been all more or less brought under his 
 rule. This had been the case also with Cantium, or Kent, which 
 was then ruled by four kings, or chiefs, named by Caesar, 
 Cingetorix, Carvilius, Taximagulus, and Segonax. When Caesar 
 marched across the Thames, Cassivellaunus, driven from his own 
 country, seems to have formed the project of cutting him off from 
 the coast, and, marching into Kent, he sent to the four Kentish 
 chiefs just mentioned his orders to assemble their forces immedi- 
 ately, and join him in surprising the naval camp of the Romans. 
 This attack was, like so many others, unsuccessful ; the assailants 
 were beaten from the camp with considerable slaughter, and a 
 young chief of consideration, named Lugotorix, was taken prisoner. 
 This action convinced Cassivellaunus that it was in vain to contend 
 with his irregular warriors against the discipline of the Roman 
 veterans ; and now, finding that even his own subjects were 
 disaffected to him and had made their peace with the invaders, he 
 also, through the intermediation of the Attrebatian Commius, 
 offered to submit. His proposals were accepted, for Caesar was 
 now anxious, for various reasons, to return to Gaul ; and having 
 agreed upon a tribute which the Britons were to pay annually to 
 the Roman people, and given his injunction to Cassivellaunus not 
 to make war upon M andubratius or the Trinobantes, who were 
 naturally supposed to have incurred his hatred by their being the 
 first to submit, Caesar led his legions back to Gaul, carrying with 
 him the hostages which he had taken from the British chiefs as 
 pledges for their fulfilment of the terms of the treaty. 
 
 Such is Caesar's account of his exploits in Britain, which have 
 every appearance of being truthful, although we have no other 
 authority to test them by. His descriptions are much too indefinite 
 to enable us to trace with any certainty the line of his march, and 
 it is but a waste of time with so few data to attempt to fix the sites 
 of his camps or battle-fields. There can be little doubt that the 
 Romans landed somewhere on the line of coast between Folkestone 
 
14 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 and Sandwich, but as that coast is known to have undergone great 
 changes since that period, it would be unsafe to rely on his 
 description at the present day. The river on the banks of which 
 he found the Britons posted is supposed to have been the Stour. 
 We can hardly doubt that his subsequent march lay along the 
 edge of the Weald, perhaps along the vale of Maidstone. The 
 place at which the Romans crossed the Thames was fixed by a 
 tradition which existed in the time of Bede, when the stakes, said 
 to have been those which defended the river, remained,* at a place 
 now called Cowey Stakes, near Chertsey, in Surrey. The strong- 
 hold of Cassivellaunus, which the Roman soldiers carried by storm, 
 has been conjectured with much less probability to have stood on 
 the spot afterwards occupied by the Roman city of Yerulaniium 
 (near St. Alban's). Other sites have been suggested, but we 
 willingly pass over such vague and useless conjectures to confine 
 ourselves as much as possible to facts. 
 
 Caesar's expedition to Britain was looked upon as one of the 
 most remarkable events of the time, and from this moment the 
 distant western island was a common theme for poetry and 
 declamation. The victorious commander w 7 as looked upon as one 
 who had carried the Roman arms into a new world — penitus toto 
 divisos orbe Britannos — and his countrymen listened eagerly to the 
 account brought home by their armies of these hitherto unknown 
 peoples. Caesar evidently gained the best information he could 
 on the manners of the Britons, and his brief description of the 
 island and its inhabitants is apparently given at least with good 
 faith. He knew that the island was in its general form triangular, 
 
 * Tradition?, even of the time of Bede, are not of much value, unless well supported 
 "by other circumstances. The words of this writer, after giving the account from 
 Caesar of the fortifying of the river with stakes, are, " the remains of which stakes 
 are to he seen there to this day ; and it appears to the observer as though the 
 several stakes — each ahout the thickness of a man's thigh, and cased with lead — 
 were fixed immoveahly in the bed of the river," — (quarum vestigia sudium 
 ibidem usque hodie visuntur, et mdetur inspectantibus quod singula*, earum ad- 
 modum, humani femoris grosses et circumfusai plumbo immobiliter kcereant in 
 profundum fluminis infixce. Bedae Hist. Eecl. i. 3.) Bede's account of these 
 stakes is probably correct ; but, as it is not likely that in the hurry of a sudden 
 defence, like that against Caesar's march, the Britons would have the time to erect 
 posts of this magnitude, and case them with lead, we are justified in supposing that 
 the stakes existing in Bede's time were a Roman work of a later period connected 
 in some way with the navigation or fishery of the Thames, which we cannot now 
 explain, and that they had nothing to do with Caesar's passage of the river. 
 
chap, i.] CESAR'S DESCRIPTION OF BRITAIN. 15 
 
 and he was sufficiently well informed of the comparative propor- 
 tions of its different sides. He knew that another island, which 
 he reckoned to be half the size of Britain, and which he called 
 Hibernia (Ireland), lay to the west of Britain, and he placed 
 between these an isle named Mona (Anglesea or Man). He 
 speaks more doubtfully of other islands, of smaller dimensions, 
 with a more northerly position. The inhabitants of the interior 
 of Britain, according to the traditionary information gained by 
 Caesar, were the original inhabitants of the island, while the south- 
 eastern coasts were inhabited by Belgic colonies, who, as he 
 informs us, had given to the different petty states (civitates) of 
 Britain, the name of those from which they came. This state- 
 ment is corroborated by the list of British tribes given by subse- 
 quent writers, in which the Hedui of Somersetshire, the Morini 
 of Dorset, the Senones of Hampshire, the Rhemi (another name 
 of the Bibroci) of Berkshire and Surrey, the Attrebates, stretching 
 from the former county into Hampshire, the Cimbri of the borders 
 of Devon, the Parisii on the eastern coast of the island, had all their 
 representatives in Gaul. The people of Cantium (Kent) were the 
 most civilised of all the British tribes, and in their manners bore a 
 strong resemblance to their Gallic neighbours. The maritime 
 districts were essentially corn countries, for it was the Belgic settlers 
 who introduced agriculture ; the wild tribes of the interior did not 
 cultivate the earth, but they lived on milk and flesh, and clothed 
 themselves with skins. All the Britons, we are assured by Caesar, 
 stained themselves with a blue dye made from woad, to give them 
 a more terrible appearance in battle ; and they wore their hair 
 long, and shaved every part of the body but the head and upper 
 lip. A sentiment of national pride has led many writers to doubt 
 the truth of Caesar's account of the prevalence of polygamy among 
 the Britons, and he was probably speaking only of the maritime 
 districts when he tells us with a tone of wonder of their numerous 
 population, and of the frequency of buildings, which resembled 
 those of the Gauls. Cattle were very abundant. But they had 
 no money, using in place of it pieces of brass or iron, reduced to cer- 
 tain standard weight. * White lead was procured in the midland 
 districts, and iron was found, though not very abundant, in the 
 
 * "Utuntur ant aere aut taleis ferreis ad cerium pondus examinatis pro nurnrno." 
 — Csesar, Bell. Gall. lib. v. c. 10. 
 
16 THE BRITONS. [chap i. 
 
 districts bordering on the sea. Brass, Caesar tells us, was imported 
 from abroad. The island produced timber of every kind, except 
 beech and fir. 
 
 Such was Britain as known to Julius Caesar. Two nearly con- 
 temporary writers, Strabo the geographer, and the historian 
 Diodorus Siculus, have supplied us with some information omitted 
 by him, and probably obtained from subsequent communications 
 with the island. These authors describe the island as being for 
 the most part flat and woody, having however " many strong places 
 on hills." The produce, they tell us, consisted of corn and cattle, 
 gold, silver, and iron, with skins, slaves, and dogs of a superior 
 breed for the chase. The British dogs were widely celebrated, 
 and so strong and fierce that the Gauls are said to have used them 
 in war. The aboriginal Britons are described as being tall of 
 stature, and corpulent, but not well made. According to Strabo, 
 although they used milk in great abundance, they were not ac- 
 quainted with the art of making cheese, and they were total \ 
 strangers to gardening and agriculture. Diodorus describes them 
 as practising agriculture, gathering the corn and storing it up 
 in the stalk in thatched houses, out of which " they plucked the 
 old ears from day to day, and used them to make their food." 
 Their houses, we are told, were mere temporary establishments, 
 formed in the forests, by inclosing a space with felled trees, within 
 which they made huts of reeds and logs, and sheds for their cattle, 
 " not intended to remain long," (ov irpbs ttoXvv yjpovov). Caesar 
 makes no allusion to the tin, which appears to have been the 
 principal export of Britain in those remote ages ; but Strabo tells 
 us that " the inhabitants of Britain who live near the Belerian 
 promontory (the Land's End, Cornwall), are peculiarly hospitable, 
 and, from the great resort of foreigners, more polished in manners. 
 They prepare the tin, and show much skill in working the earth 
 which produces it. This being of a stony nature and having 
 earthy veins in every direction, they work their way into these 
 veins, and so by means of water separate the fragments. These 
 they bruise into small pieces, and convey to an island which lies 
 in front of Britain, called Ictis [Wight? or perhaps an island on the 
 Cornish coast] ; for at the great ebb of the tide the channel 
 becomes dry, and they carry over the tin in large quantities on 
 waggons. From Ictis the tin is purchased by^ native merchants, 
 and transported to Gaul." The same writer -iells us that ivory 
 
chap, i.] ROMAN ACCOUNTS OF THE BRITONS.- 17 
 
 bracelets, necklaces, vessels of glass, and such like small wares, 
 were usually imported from Gaul into Britain. 
 
 In comparing these writers, we have some difficulty in separating 
 the characteristics of the maritime states from those which applied 
 only to the tribes of the interior ; but it seems clear that the island 
 was then inhabited by two very distinct races, differing no doubt 
 in language as well as in manners. The country extending along 
 the coast from the mouth of the Humber to Devonshire, and 
 stretching inwardly perhaps through the modern counties of 
 Hertford, Buckingham, and Berkshire, was possessed by tribes who 
 had passed over from the Continent, and driven the aboriginal 
 inhabitants into the interior. They were distinguished by a much 
 higher civilisation, especially in Kent, which had probably been 
 settled more recently than the others, and, although they had no 
 towns properly so called, they had permanent dwellings, and were 
 extensively employed in cultivating the land, The primitive 
 Britons wandered over the interior of the island, driving their 
 herds and flocks from pasture to pasture, having no fixed habita- 
 tion, but throwing up temporary dwelling-places for security for 
 themselves and their cattle — in fact, living precisely in the same 
 manner as the wild Irish three centuries ago. In a few places 
 accidental circumstances led the natives to adopt a more settled 
 mode of life, and to become less barbarous. This was especially 
 the case in Cornwall, where, from a remote period, the trade in 
 the metals produced so abundantly in that district had, as Strabo 
 says, brought them into a continued intercourse with merchants 
 from foreign lands, but chiefly, it would appear, from Gaul. 
 
 During the long period of a century, from the time of Caesar to 
 that of Claudius, we have scarcely any information relating to the 
 island of Britain. We have seen that, before Caesar left its shores, 
 all the tribes in the south-east, from the Iceni or Cenimagni of 
 Suffolk to the inhabitants of Hampshire, had agreed to acknow- 
 ledge the supremacy of Borne. Among the chiefs of these tribes 
 there appears to have arisen a sudden emulation of imitating 
 Roman forms and manners — a sort of pride, as we might say, of 
 wearing the livery of their masters. Britons now were seen not 
 unfrequently in Rome, and travellers from Italy probably made 
 their way through Gaul to visit the distant home of the strangers 
 whose appearance in the south must always have excited curiosity. 
 The feeling of eagerness for what was called friendship with Roma 
 
18 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 aeems to have soon spread into other parts of the island, and when 
 Strabo was writing his Geography, British ambassadors were in 
 Eome, bowing to the throne of Augustus. " At present," he says, 
 " some of their princes have sent ambassadors to cultivate the 
 friendship of Augustus Caesar, and have deposited offerings in 
 the Capitol, thus bringing the whole island to be in friendly con- 
 nection with the Romans." 
 
 Among the various arts now imported from Rome was that of 
 coining money. No evidence has yet been discovered to make us 
 suspect the truth of Caesar's statement that when he visited the 
 island, the Britons had no coinage ; but soon after that event 
 mints were established in Britain, and we find numerous coins, 
 many of which bear inscriptions in Roman characters. Most of 
 these inscriptions evidently give us the names of British chiefs 
 who, since their "friendship" with Rome, assume the title of reges, 
 and they adopted the formula of the coinage of Augustus, CjEsar 
 divi filius. The history of this coinage is still very obscure, but 
 the earlier examples seem to make us acquainted with two distinct 
 families of chiefs, both of which are connected with the different 
 tribes who submitted to Caesar. The power which in Caesars 
 time had been held by Cassivellaunus, appears to have descended 
 to a prince named Tasciovanus, who was father of the (we may 
 say) celebrated Cunobelinus or Cunobeline.* The latter, we 
 know, had three sons, Adminius, Caratacus or Caractacus, and 
 Togodumnus. Another, and apparently, contemporary (or nearly 
 contemporary) family of British kings, named Eppillus (or Ippillus) 
 Veric (Viric, or Beric), and a name of which only the first syllable 
 Tine is known, are described on a number of coins as sons of a 
 British chief named Comius. f There is no necessity for believing 
 that the latter was the Commius whose name occurs in Caesar's 
 
 * The legend on the coins of Cunoheline is cunobeltnus tasciovani f rex, in 
 one or two instances complete, hut in general more or less abbreviated. I believe 
 that it was Mr. Birch who pointed out the simple and natural explanation that f 
 stood for the Latin filius. Mr. Beale Poste has given, in a series of papers in the 
 Journal of the British Archaeological Association, a very different explanation of 
 this and the whole series of the British coinage, supported by an ingenious train 
 of argument, which, however, appears to me neither convincing nor satisfactory, as 
 being founded too much on assumptions and suppositions. Like every other branch 
 of antiquarianism or historical inquiry that is very imperfectly known, the coins of 
 the ancient Britons furnish a wide field for speculative theory. 
 
 + The legends on the most perfect specimens are, eppillus comi f, veric com 
 
 F REX, and TING COM F REX. 
 
chap, l] CUNOBELINUS. 19 
 
 transactions with the British chiefs. The coinage of Tasciovanus 
 and of Cunobeline was very numerous, and it furnishes us with 
 another piece of very important information, for it appears from 
 their inscriptions that after the Britons had become more inti- 
 mately acquainted with their Roman allies they began to imitate 
 them in building stationary towns. The coins of Tasciovanus 
 were struck at Verlamium, as it is spelt on the coins, which was 
 no doubt the capital of that prince ; his son Cunobeline fixed his 
 chief residence at Camulodunum (Colchester, in Essex), on the 
 borders of the Iceni, who acknowledged his power, the name 
 of which also is impressed on his money.* The coins of the sons 
 of Comius bear no indication of the place where they were minted, 
 but it seems probable from the localities in which they have been 
 found, that Eppillus ruled in Kent, and that Veric and Tine. . . 
 were joint or rival chiefs for perhaps one succeeded the other] in 
 Sussex and Hampshire. 
 
 During the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, making together 
 a period of nearly eighty years, the British states which had 
 submitted to Julius Caesar were left in that position of friendship 
 or alliance with Rome which we have already described, and 
 history tells us nothing of their condition or of the actions of 
 their chiefs. We know that Cunobelinus, who has been made 
 familiar to every English ear by Shakespeare under the name of 
 Cymbeline, was living in the time of the latter of the two 
 emperors just mentioned, but the stories of that chiefs inter- 
 course with Augustus, resting on no early authority, are evidently 
 monkish fables. The very numerous coinage of Cunobeline, and 
 its superior execution, show that he was a powerful and distin- 
 guished prince ; yet war and sedition prevailed among the tribes 
 under his command, and in his latter years, the rivalry among 
 his own sons arose to such a height that he was obliged to banish 
 one of them, iVdminius, from his court. Adminius, with a few of 
 
 * It has been conjectured, that one or two legends, not vet understood, may he 
 names of towns. A coin hearing the name tascio (for Tasciovanus or Tasciovani) 
 has sego on the reverse, which some interpret as Segontinm, the name of a town, 
 while others make it Segonax, the name of a chief, perhaps a son of Tasciovanus. 
 It has, in a similar manner, been suggested that calle, vricon, solido, and cun, 
 found on coins most of which appear to have belonged to Tasciovanus and Cunobelin, 
 indicate towns named Calleva, Uriconium, Solidunum, and Cunetio. In the first 
 of these, the word rex, joined with calle, seems to prove that it is the name of an 
 individual; and the others are far from certain. 
 
 c2 
 
20 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 his adherents, hurried to Eome, and claimed the protection of 
 Caligula, who had now succeeded to the imperial throne. The 
 British refugees were received as vassals of the Empire, and 
 were exhibited in triumph to the Romans, and Caligula having 
 placed himself at the head of an army, marched to the coast of 
 Gaul with the declared intention of restoring Adminius and 
 reducing Britain to a province. But this vaunted expedition 
 ^nded ingloriously ; instead of passing over into Britain, the 
 Roman soldiers were ordered to gather shells on the beach, and 
 they were then led back to Rome to triumph in what were called 
 the " spoils of the ocean." 
 
 In the meanwhile, Britain seems to have been more and more 
 disturbed with civil strife. As far as we can understand by a 
 comparison of the slight notices preserved by the Roman 
 annalists, with the yet imperfectly explained British coins, the 
 sons of Cunobeline, who was now dead, were oppressing the sons 
 of Comius. One of the latter, called by Dio Cassius, Bericus, 
 probably the Veric of the coins, was compelled to fly from the 
 island, and took refuge at the court of Claudius, to whom he 
 explained the state of Britain and the facility with which, at that 
 moment, it might be conquered. We are told that the Britons 
 sent to Rome to demand that the fugitives should be delivered 
 up, and that the refusal was accompanied with recriminations on 
 the irregularity with which the islanders had of late paid their 
 tribute. Claudius, anxious to deserve a triumph by some military 
 exploit, listened willingly to the representatives of the fugitive 
 chief, and found an excuse for hostilities in the complaints of the 
 Britons. An army was collected in the spring of the year 43, 
 under the command of a senator of distinction, named Aulus 
 Plautius ; but the legions mutinied at the prospect of an expedi- 
 tion which seemed to expose them to the perils of the unknown 
 ocean, and it was not until after much labour and anxiety that their 
 fears were calmed, and they were persuaded at length to embark. 
 They landed on the shores of Britain in the autumn of the same 
 year. The Britains, who seem to have formed no combined plan 
 of resistance, retired to the woods and marshes, and it was some 
 time before the Romans could discover their retreat, and bring 
 them to battle. At length, however, the Britons ventured to 
 tight, not collectively, but in divisions, and Plautius defeated first 
 Caractacus (who is named by Dio Cassius, our authority for these 
 
chap, l] THE EXPEDITION OF CLAUDIUS. 21 
 
 events, Cataracus), and then his brother Togodumnus. In 
 pursuing these chiefs, the Eoman commander had overrun the 
 south of England as far as Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, the 
 country of the Dobuni, who were at this time under the dominion 
 of the Catuellani, the hereditary tribe of Cassivellaunus, and pro- 
 bably of Cunobeline. The Dobuni submitted, and Plautius 
 raised a fortress and left a garrison to hold them in subjection, 
 and then pursued the sons of Cunobeline. Among the distin- 
 guished officers who served in Britain under Plautius were two future 
 emperors, Vespasian, and his son Titus. In one of the obstinate 
 engagements with the Britons, which occurred after the advance 
 of the Romans from the country of the Dobuni, the life of the 
 father was saved only by the bravery of his son. It was thus in 
 our island, as it has been well observed, that the arms were 
 trained, which were destined to be the instrument of God's 
 vengeance against the stubborn people of Israel. The sons of 
 Cunobeline, after having retreated before the Romans towards the 
 west, seem to have doubled upon their pursuers, and to have 
 sought refuge in the marshes which covered the lower part of 
 Essex towards the mouth of the Thames. Here also they were 
 pursued and attacked, and Togodumnus, one of the brothers, was 
 slain in battle. The death of their chief seems to have provoked 
 the Britons to a more obstinate resistance, and the Roman com 
 mander found himself obliged to act upon the defensive. He 
 sent information of his position to the emperor, who hastened to 
 command in person his legions in Britain. On the arrival of 
 Claudius, they again crossed the Thames, defeated the Britons in 
 battle, and took possession of Camulodunum, the royal seat of 
 Cunobeline. The Britains now submitted, and the emperor 
 hastened back to Rome to celebrate his triumph, leaving Aulus 
 Plautius in command of the army. The emperor and his son 
 were both honoured by the senate with the title of Britannicus, 
 and a coin was subsequently struck to commemorate the conquest 
 of the Britons. 
 
 That conquest, however, was as yet very imperfect, and 
 included only the south-eastern district of the island. But a 
 foreign power, like that of Rome, established in a hostile manner 
 in one district of Britain, could not long remain without excuses 
 for attacking the others. The south-west division of the island, 
 extending from Hampshire to the extremity of Cornwall, was 
 
22 THE BRITONS. [chap. r. 
 
 held by two powerful tribes, the Belgse and the Damnonii or 
 Dumnonii. Both appear to have been late settlers from the 
 opposite continent, and to have been able to resist successfully 
 the influence of Cunobeline. In retaliation for assistance, which 
 they had probably given against the Romans in the war with 
 Caractacus and Togodumnus, their country was now invaded by 
 Vespasian with the second legion, and after an obstinate and 
 apparently a long struggle, in which Vespasian fought nearly thirty 
 battles and captured twenty of the British oppida, or fortified posts, 
 these two tribes, with the adjacent island of Vectis (Wight), were 
 reduced to submission."* 
 
 Previous to the year 50, Aulus Plautius was recalled, and he 
 seems to have left the Roman legions engaged in war with the 
 Britons. It was now the tribes of the interior who had taken up 
 arms against the invaders, and were making inroads upon the 
 tribes who had submitted to them, considering their submission 
 as a just cause for attacking and plundering them. They had 
 chosen for this attack the moment when the Roman army in 
 Britain was without a commander-in-chief, and when the imme- 
 diate approach of winter promised them a sufficient period of 
 impunity to enable them to secure their booty. In the midst of 
 this confusion, a new governor or proprcetor of Britain arrived 
 from Rome. His name was Ostorius Scapula, a good soldier, 
 and a man of eminent abilities. He had no sooner landed than he 
 collected such troops as were at hand, and, falling upon the 
 Britons unexpectedly, defeated them with great slaughter, and 
 drove them out of the Roman province. He then proceeded to 
 inclose and protect the latter with a line of forts from the Avon 
 to the Severn, f from which it appears that the whole country 
 within these rivers, from the farthest coast of Norfolk to the 
 
 * Our knowledge of this war is taken chiefly from Suetonius, who says of 
 Vespasian, " Inde in Britanniam translatus, tricies cum hoste conflixit, duas vali- 
 dissimas gentes, superque xx. oppida, et insulam Vectem Britanniae proximam, in 
 deditionem redegit." From the mention of the Island of Vectis, and other 
 circumstances, there seems little reason to doubt that the duce gentes were the 
 Belgse and the Damnonii, although it is not go clear whether the thirty (or, 
 according to Eutropius, thirty-two) battles did not include four or five battles 
 Vespasian is known to have fought in the previous war. 
 
 •f* ** Cinctosque castris Antonam et Sabrinam fluvios cohibere parat." — Tacitus, 
 The Antona is usually considered to be the Nen, but it seems more probable that 
 it here signifies the Avon. I understand that some editions or MSS. read Aufona. 
 
chap, l] PROPRIETORSHIP OF OSTORIUS SCAPULA. 23 
 
 Land's-End, and thence to the extreme point of Kent, had at this 
 time, voluntarily or by compulsion, submitted to the power of 
 Home. 
 
 Among those who had submitted voluntarily was the extensive 
 and powerful tribe of the Iceni, who occupied the modem counties 
 of Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, and Huntingdon. The Iceni 
 were jealous of the attempt of the Romans to establish their power 
 by these forts, and, confident in their own strength, which had 
 not yet been tried with the Romans, they put themselves at the 
 head of a confederacy, with some of the neighbouring tribes, and 
 when Ostorius marched against them, they prepared for battle in 
 a place which they had enclosed with ramparts of earth, with a 
 narrow entrance to hinder the approach of cavalry. * But this was 
 of little avail against the discipline of their opponents, and 
 Ostorius, with only a few cohorts of auxiliaries, attacked them in 
 their entrenchments, made a breach for the entrance of his 
 cavalry, and defeated them with great slaughter. The Iceni now 
 returned to their obedience, and other tribes, which had before 
 hesitated, submitted. 
 
 Beyond the boundary which Ostorius had formed by his line of 
 forts, the interior of the island was inhabited by tribes who were 
 fiercer and less civilised than the southern nations. The chief of 
 these was the great tribe of the Brigantes, extending through the 
 mountainous and wooded districts from the borders of Lincoln- 
 shire, through Yorkshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, 
 and Northumberland. The lesser tribes, such as the Cornavii and 
 Coritavi, which were intermediate between the tribes subject to 
 the Romans and the Brigantes, probably acknowledged the supe- 
 riority of the latter. The Brigantes seem to have been so much 
 discouraged by the defeat of the Iceni, that they sought the 
 alliance of, or rather bought their peace with, the Romans. 
 Ostorius, relieved from the hostilities of the various tribes just 
 mentioned, carried his army into Shropshire and North Wales, 
 and had proceeded as far as the tribe of the Cangii on the shores 
 of the Irish sea, when he was recalled by a revolt of the Brigantes, 
 which was apparently partial and easily subdued. The only 
 formidable enemy now in arms on the borders of the Roman 
 
 * " Locum pugnae delegere, septum agresti aggere, et aditu angusto ne pervius 
 equiti foret." — Tacitus, Annal., lib. xii., c. 31. 
 
24 THE BRITONS. [chap. t. 
 
 possessions, was the tribe of the Silures, which had rallied under 
 Caractacus, the defeated son of Cunobeline, who, after various 
 turns of fortune, had been elected the chief of this tribe, and 
 entered into a confederacy with the Ordovices of North Wales. 
 
 After the defeat of the Brigantes, Ostorius gave his attention to 
 the interior arrangement of the province committed to his charge. 
 He made Camulodunum, which was raised to the rank of a colonial 
 the head-quarters of the Roman power, and established there a 
 numerous body of veterans, among whom the conquered lands were 
 distributed. The city was adorned with public buildings, and 
 more especially with a temple dedicated to Claudius, and was 
 increased in size and importance. Having settled these things: 
 to his satisfaction, Ostorius marched against Caractacus. That 
 chief, leaving the more open country of the Silures to be overrun 
 by the enemy, had withdrawn into the wilder country of the 
 Ordovices, where he chose a strong position, difficult of access 
 even without the assistance of artificial defences. On the more 
 accessible parts of the high hills he threw up a kind of rampart 
 of stone, while below and in front was a river difficult to ford.* 
 Here the British chief awaited the attack of his enemies, or, 
 perhaps, amused himself with the belief that his stronghold was 
 too formidable to be attempted, for he had with him his family, 
 consisting of a wife and daughter. The Britons, thus posted, and 
 excited by the example and exhortations of their leader, presented 
 a formidable appearance to the Eoman legionaries, protected as 
 they were by the river which ran before them, and the steep 
 declivity which rose in their way. " But the soldiers," to use the 
 words of Tacitus, " were clamorous for the attack, crying out that 
 their valour would overcome all opposition ; and the inferior 
 officers, breathing the same sentiments, gave additional courage, 
 to the troops. Ostorius, after reconnoitering the ground to see 
 which parts were impenetrable and which accessible, led on the 
 eager soldiers, and with much difficulty crossed the river. When 
 
 * cs Tunc montibus arduis, et si qua clementer accedi poterant in modum valli 
 saxa praestruit ; et praefluebat amnis vado incerto, catervaque majorum pro muni- 
 mentis eonsisterant." — Tacitus. A lofty hill on the river Ony, near the confluence 
 of the Clun and the Teme, in the south-western part of Shropshire, still called 
 Caer Caradoc, has been supposed to be the scene of the final defeat of Caractacus, 
 but this is very uncertain. From the account of Tacitus, the position of the 
 Britons on this occasion would seem to have been part of a mountain range. 
 
chap, l] FIXAL DEFEAT OF CAEACTACUS. 25 
 
 they came to the rampart, while the enemy threw their javelins at 
 a distance, our soldiers suffered most, and many were slain ; but 
 when ours closed their ranks and placed their shields over them, 
 they soon tore down the rough irregular piles of stones, and 
 attacking the enemy on level ground obliged them to fly to the 
 hills. Thither also both the light and heavy armed soldiers fol- 
 lowed, the former attacking them with their spears, the latter in 
 a dense body, till the Britons, who had neither armour nor 
 helmets to protect their persons, were thrown into disorder, and 
 if they made my resistance to the auxiliaries, they were cut in 
 pieces by the swords and spears of the legionaries, and when they 
 turned upon the latter, the auxiliaries destroyed them with their 
 sabres and javelins." * 
 
 This victory w T as a decisive one. The wife and daughter of 
 Caractacus fell into the hands of the conquerors, and two brothers 
 who had shared his fortunes submitted. Caractacus himself 
 escaped from the battle, and fled to the tribe of the Brigantes, 
 from whose queen, Cartismandua, he sought protection ; but this 
 princess, anxious to remain in friendship with the Bomans, threw 
 him into chains and delivered him to his enemies. The dignified 
 appearance of Caractacus and his family at the court of Borne, as 
 related by the historian Tacitus, is the theme of every schoolboy. 
 The loss of the leader did not discourage the brave Silures, who, 
 trusting to their woods, continued to carry on a fierce warfare 
 against the Bomans, cutting off their stragglers, and in more 
 than one instance nearly overwhelming the legions which were 
 left to erect fortresses in their country. " After this," says Tacitus, 
 " there was incessant fighting, generally of a predatory character; 
 sometimes the armies would meet in the woods, at other times in 
 the midst of marshes, according as chance or their own headlong 
 valour directed ; many an engagement took place by accident, 
 while others were the result of stratagem and military manoeuvre ; 
 many an expedition was undertaken to revenge some previous 
 defeat, while others had plunder for their object; and they were 
 sometimes undertaken by order of the generals, and at other times 
 without their knowledge. The Silures were the most obstinate 
 in their resistance, and their obstinacy was increased by the threat 
 
 * " Et si anxiliaribus resisterent, gladiis ac pilis legionariorurn, sihac vertercnt^ 
 spatbis et hastis auxiliariuin sternebantur." 
 
26 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 of the Boman commander, that he would root the very name of 
 the Silures out of Britain, as had been done with the Sigambri, 
 who had been transported to Gaul. These words enraged the 
 Silures, who assailed and cut off two cohorts of the auxiliaries, and 
 stirred up the other tribes to revolt by giving them a large share 
 of their booty, and thus exciting their love of plunder. In the 
 midst of these disorders, Ostorius, overcome by the troubles with 
 which he was surrounded, departed this life ; and the Britons 
 rejoiced at his death, not merely as if they had gained a battle, but 
 rather as if the war was entirely at an end." 
 
 An old officer, Avitus Didius G alius, was appointed to succeed 
 Ostorius as propraetor, and hastened to Britain to take the com- 
 mand. Before he arrived, a Roman legion had been defeated by 
 the Silures, but he immediately marched against them, and gave 
 them in their turn a severe defeat. Then, unequal to the arduous 
 character of this war, Didius left it to be conducted by his sub- 
 ordinate officers, and relapsed into the inactivity which was more 
 in accordance with his advanced age. It was probably in this 
 war that the second legion, which had had Vespasian for its 
 commander, was established at Isca (Caerleon, on the Usk). 
 
 At the time of the arrival of Didius in Britain, a civil war arose 
 among the Brigantes, which threatened to add to the embarrass- 
 ments of the Romans. I have already mentioned that this 
 powerful tribe was now governed by a queen, named Cartismandua, 
 who proved a woman of high spirit and some abilities. Her 
 conduct with regard to Caractacus had naturally drawn upon her 
 the hatred of those who were most hostile to the Romans, and 
 this included many of her own subjects. She had married one of 
 her chiefs, named Venusius, who, as far as we can gather by the 
 brief account of Tacitus, quarrelled with his wife because she 
 would not surrender to him the supreme power over her tribe, and 
 he then placed himself at the head of a party in the state who cried 
 out against the indignity of men living under the rule of a woman. 
 Cartismandua, whose party appears, at first, to have been the 
 strongest, claimed the protection of the Romans, and her husband, 
 who seems to have been driven from among the Brigantes, endea- 
 voured to make himself popular among the other tribes, by now 
 placing himself at the head of the party who were in arms against the 
 invaders. It was this man who, commanding the Silures and their 
 allies, had defeated the Roman legion commanded by Manlius 
 
chap, l] SUETONIUS PAULLINUS. 27 
 
 Yalens before the arrival of the new propraetor Didius. After this 
 success, Venusius, collecting his allies, and joined by the party of 
 the Brigantes who were opposed to the Roman influence, pro- 
 ceeded to make war on his wife Cartismandua, who had crushed 
 the first attempt against her government, and captured and put 
 to death a brother and other relatives of Venusius. A Eoman army 
 was immediately sent to assist the queen of the Brigantes, and 
 in a well-contested battle overcame the Britons who were in arms 
 against her. About the same time another Roman legion, com- 
 manded by Csesius Nasica, obtained a decisive victory over an 
 army of Britons. 
 
 Thus the administration of Didius had not been entirely with- 
 out credit, when, towards the end of the year 58, he was replaced 
 by Veranius, who made one or two successful expeditions against 
 the Silures ; but he died before he had been a year in Britain, 
 at a moment when the greatest expectations were formed from his 
 military talents. He was immediately succeeded by Caius Suetonius 
 Paullinus, one of the most warlike and skilful of the imperial 
 generals. The Roman arms had experienced a reverse (gravis 
 clades), before the arrival of Suetonius, and he found the districts 
 from the Silures to the Brigantes in great disorder. 
 
 It seems that in Britain, as in Gaul, as foreign intercourse and 
 consequent civilisation advanced, the head seat of the old Druidi- 
 cal religion was removed more and more into the remoter districts, 
 until in the latter country it established itself on the Armorican 
 coast and in the Channel Islands, and in the former it retreated 
 into the distant island of Mona (Anglesea), equally arrested in its 
 further advances by the waves of the ocean. We gather from the 
 Roman historians that it was the Druids of Mona who excited the 
 Ordovices and the Silures and their other allies to obstinate re- 
 sistance, and it was in that island that were collected together 
 the bravest and bitterest enemies of the foreign invaders, ever 
 ready to issue forth and incite their countrymen to insurrection. 
 Suetonius Paullinus soon discovered the influence which Mona 
 exercised against him, and he determined to reduce it to obedi- 
 ence to Rome. For this purpose he marched his forces to the 
 coast of Caernarvon, and having caused a number of flat-bottomed 
 vessels to be constructed, he placed the foot soldiers in them, and 
 ordered the cavalry to try to ford the strait which divided the 
 island from the main land ; or, if they found this impossible, to go 
 
28 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 in the boats and tow their horses after them. When they ap- 
 proached the island, an unusual scene presented itself to their 
 view. " The shore of the island was lined with the hostile army, 
 in which were women dressed in dark and dismal garments, with 
 their hair streaming to the wind, hearing torches in their hands, 
 and running like furies up and down the ranks. Around stood 
 the Druids, with hands spread to heaven, and uttering dreadful 
 prayers and imprecations. The novelty of the sight struck our 
 soldiers with dismay, so that they stood as if petrified, a mark 
 for the enemy's javelins. At length, animated by the exhortations 
 of their general, and encouraging one another not to fear an army 
 of women and fanatics, they rushed upon the enemy, bore down all 
 before them, and involved them in their own fires. The troops 
 of the enemy were completely defeated, a garrison placed in the 
 island, and the groves which had been the consecrated scenes of 
 the most barbarous superstitions, were levelled with the ground. 
 It had been their practice to sacrifice on the altars prisoners taken 
 in war, and to divine the pleasure of their gods by inspecting 
 human entrails." Suetonius w 7 as called off from this expedition 
 by the most alarming revolt of the Britons in the Roman province 
 that had hitherto occurred. 
 
 The Romans were seldom conciliatory or generous towards the 
 provinces they had conquered, and the empire was now ruled by 
 Nero, under whom those provinces were delivered to the worst of 
 tyranny, by governors whose only principle of action was to grind 
 the unfortunate people under their charge in order to contribute to 
 the avarice and luxury of Rome. The more distant the province, the 
 more cruelly was it oppressed, and Tacitus, in the account he gives 
 us of the consultations among the tributary chiefs in Britain on their 
 wrongs, affords a sufficient view of the manner in which this island 
 was treated. " They reflected," he says, " on the miseries at- 
 tendant on servitude, and when they came to compare their 
 several injuries, they were heightened tenfold by putting them 
 together. It was clear that passive submission would but encou- 
 rage their oppressors to proceed to still greater lengths. Instead 
 of one king, as formerly, they had now two, the lieutenant and 
 his procurator ; the former exercising his tyranny over their per- 
 sons, the latter over their goods. Whether their governors were 
 at harmony together or at variance, it was alike fatal to their un- 
 happy subjects ; the one oppressed them by his troops and his 
 
chap, i.] KING COGIDUNUS. 29 
 
 centurions, the other by his insolence and extortion. Nothing 
 was now safe from their avarice, or from their licentiousness. In 
 battle it was the bravest or strongest man who carried of the 
 spoil ; but here the meanest spirited and most contemptible of 
 men entered and pillaged their houses, carried away their children, 
 and made them enlist in the Roman armies as if they were ready 
 to die for anything but their country. If the Britons would but 
 consider their own numbers, they would find that the Roman 
 troops who were among them were but a paltry and inconsiderable 
 force. . . . Their country, with their wives and parents, should 
 be so many motives for them to support a war, to which their 
 enemies were urged only by avarice and luxury, and the armies 
 of Rome would no doubt retire as Caesar had done, if the Britons 
 would but imitate the bravery of their ancestors, and not be dis- 
 couraged by the issue of one or two battles," 
 
 It was usual, during the earlier period of the Roman conquest, 
 to leave the British chiefs in nominal command of their tribes, 
 with more or less power and wealth, according to their tried obe- 
 dience and devotion to their imperial masters. In Cogidunus 
 or Cogidubnus, a chief of the Regni of Sussex, we have an instance 
 of a British prince who was so faithful to the Romans, that he 
 was allowed to enjoy his dignity and title of rex or king from the 
 reign of Claudius to that of Trajan, and whose name appeared 
 down to the latest period of Roman rule on an inscription as one 
 of those who embellished the city of Regnum (Chichester) with 
 public buildings.* Others, who, although they acknowledged the 
 
 * In the earlier part of the last century, as some workmen were digging a cellar 
 in a house at the corner of St. Martin's -lane and North-street, in Chichester, they 
 came to the massive walls of a building, near which lay, with the inscribed face 
 downwards, a mutilated stone, with the following inscription : — 
 . EPTVNO . ET . MINERVAE 
 TEMPLVM 
 . . . SALVTE . DO . . . DIVINAE 
 AVCTORITA . . . CLAVD. 
 . . . GIDVBNI . R . LEGA . AVG . IN . BRIT. 
 . . . GIVM . FABROR . . . QVI . IN . EO 
 . . . D . S . D . DONANTE . ABEAM 
 . . . ENTE . PVDENTTNI . FIL. 
 
 which has been read thus: "Neptuno et Minervse templum pro salute domus 
 divinae ex auctoritate Tiberii Claudii Cogidubni regis legati augusti in Britannia 
 collegium fabrorum et qui in eo sunt de suo dedicaverunt donante aream 
 Pudente Pudentini filio/ 1 This inscription refers, no doubt, to the same British 
 
30 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 supremacy of the Romans, had not shown the same submissive 
 spirit, were treated more oppressively. The Iceni, as we have 
 seen, were kept in obedience only by fear, and their chief, or 
 king (as he was called), Prasutagus, who had hoarded up immense 
 wealth, dying in the reign of Nero, when the licence of the impe- 
 rial officers in the provinces was at its height, attempted to secure 
 protection for his family by leaving one half of his riches to the 
 emperor, and the other half to his two daughters. But he was 
 no sooner dead, than the Roman officers took possession of his 
 kingdom, and treated it as a conquered province. His queen, 
 Boadicea, a woman of high spirit, resisted or expostulated, which 
 only provoked the haughty Romans to act with greater brutality. 
 The queen was publicly scourged ; her two daughters were vio- 
 lated ; and other members of the royal family, or relatives of the 
 deceased chief, were thrown into prison, and even sold as slaves. 
 It is not to be wondered at if the Iceni rose in arms to avenge 
 their wrongs, and the Trinobantes of Essex immediately joined 
 in the revolt. The latter seem to have been goaded into rebel- 
 lion by the insolence of their Roman masters in Camulodunum. 
 According to Tacitus, " they looked upon the temple which the 
 Romans had built and dedicated to Claudius, as a kind of citadel 
 to hold them in perpetual bondage, and the priests who celebrated 
 religious worship in it as so many harpies who lived upon the 
 substance of the natives. It would be no difficult task, they 
 thought, to destroy the Roman colony, for it had no fortifications 
 to protect it, an omission into which the Romans were led by 
 paying more attention to the gratification of their luxury than to 
 provide for their public safety." 
 
 Before the insurrection broke out, the Romans appear to have 
 been alarmed by unequivocal indications of an approaching storm, 
 and we are told that there were not wanting prodigies to warn 
 them of their danger. The account which Tacitus gives of these 
 is curious, as throwing some light on the condition of the town 
 and country. " At Camulodunum," he tells us, " the statue of 
 Nero fell to the ground, and turned its back where the face had 
 
 prince mentioned by Tacitus as receiving favours from Claudius, and who appears 
 by it to have taken the name of the emperor in addition to his own. " Qusedam 
 civitates Cogiduno regi erant donatse ; is ad nostram usque memoriam fidissimus 
 remansit, vetere ac jam pridem recepta populi Romani consuetudine ut haberet 
 instrumenta servitutis et reges." — Taciti Agric, c. 14. 
 
chap, l] REVOLT OF BOADICEA. 31 
 
 been, as if it fled before the enemy. Women were seen as if 
 mad, singing wild songs, in which they foretold the destruction of 
 the colony [perhaps they were native women, aware of the conspi- 
 racy, and employed to create alarm]. Strange noises were heard 
 in the house of assembly, and loud howlings in the theatre. In 
 the estuary of the Thames there was an appearance like that of a 
 sunken town. The sea assumed the colour of blood, and human 
 forms appeared to be left on the shore by the ebbing tide . All these 
 things were of a nature to encourage the Britons, whilst they 
 overwhelmed the veterans with terror." The inhabitants of Camu- 
 lodunum, in their alarm, applied for assistance to the procurator 
 Catus Decianus, who commanded in the absence of Suetonius, but 
 who appears to have slighted the warning. " He sent them only two 
 hundred men, very imperfectly armed, and to these were added a 
 small body of soldiers belonging to the town. The temple of 
 Claudius was taken possession of by these troops, as a citadel, 
 but their measures of defence were thwarted by those around 
 them who were in the secret of the conspiracy ; so that they had 
 neither dug a fosse nor cast up an earth rampart for protection, 
 and the precaution, usual in such cases, of sending away the old 
 men and the women, and retaining only the young and active, 
 had been entirely neglected. They were, indeed, taken by sur- 
 prise in time of profound peace, and found themselves suddenly 
 surrounded by the barbarians. Everything but the temple was 
 plundered and burnt at the first attack, and the temple itself, in 
 which the soldiers had taken refuge, was captured after a siege of 
 two days." 
 
 The success of the attack on Camulodunum gave courage and force 
 to the insurgents. It appears that the ninth legion, commanded by 
 its lieutenant, Petilius Cerealis, had its stationary camp within 
 the territory of the Trinobantes. Cerealis hurried to the relief 
 of Camulodunum, but he arrived too late, and, rashly engaging 
 the insurgents, he was entirely defeated, his infantry, comprising 
 the great mass of the legion, was utterly destroyed, and the 
 cavalry, with Cerealis himself, fled to their camp and shut them- 
 selves up in their entrenchments. The alarm of the Romans was 
 now so great, that the procurator Catus, fearing to expose himself 
 to the resentment of the natives whom his own avarice had 
 excited to revolt, deserted his post and fled ijato Gaul. 
 
 Suetonius, engaged in the reduction of the distant island of 
 
32 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 Mona, heard of these alarming disorders, and hastened back. 
 As he approached towards the head seat of the Eoman power in 
 Britain, he found the whole country in arms and in possession of 
 the insurgents. Nevertheless, " he marched through the midst 
 of the enemy to Londinium (London), which was not yet honoured 
 with the name of a colony, but considerable from the resort of 
 merchants, and from its trade. Here, hesitating whether he 
 should make that town the seat of war, he considered how weak 
 the garrision was, and warned by the check which Petilius had 
 incurred by his rashness, he determined to preserve the whole by 
 sacrificing one town. Nor did the tears and lamentations of the 
 people imploring his assistance prevent him from giving the 
 signal for marching, though he received into his army all who 
 chose to follow him. But all those whom the weakness of sex, 
 or the infirmities of age, or attachment to the place, induced to 
 stay behind, fell into the hands of the enemy. The same 
 calamity befel the municipal town of Verulamium ; for the bar- 
 barians, neglecting the fortified stations (castella) and garrisons, 
 plundered the richer and more defenceless places, their principal 
 object being booty. Seventy thousand citizens and allies are 
 said to have perished in these places ; for they made no prisoners 
 to sell or exchange them, according to the usual practice in war, 
 but thought of nothing but slaughter, hanging, burning, and 
 crucifying, as if to retaliate for former sufferings, and eager to 
 quench their thirst for vengeance." 
 
 The Eoman commander had now collected about ten thousand 
 regular troops, consisting of the fourteenth legion, with the 
 vexillarii of the twentieth, and the auxiliaries from the nearest 
 military posts, and he determined to give battle to the numerous* 
 but tumultuous hordes who followed the standard of Boadicea. 
 " He made choice of a spot defended by defiles, and closed in the 
 rear by a torest, as the safest position to receive an enemy who 
 would make their attack in front, while the open plain before him 
 relieved him from all fear of ambuscades. The legionaries were 
 drawn up in many deep ranks, the light armed troops disposed 
 around in companies, and the flanks covered with the cavalry. The 
 British forces bounded about (exsultabant) in companies and troops, 
 an innumerable multitude, and with so much confidence that they 
 brought their women* to be witnesses of their victory, and placed 
 them in waggons on the outer circuit of the plain. Boadicea, who 
 
chap, l] DEFEAT OF BOADICEA. 33 
 
 rode with her daughters in a chariot, as she came to the several 
 clans, with whom it was not unusual for a woman to command an 
 army, told them that she considered herself not as the descendant 
 of noble ancestors, possessed of sovereignty and great riches, but 
 as one of the community, prepared to avenge the loss of liberty, 
 the stripes inflicted upon her body, and the dishonour done to her 
 daughters ; for the lusts of the Romans were risen to such a 
 height, that neither their persons, their age, nor their chastity 
 was safe. The gods, however, she said, favoured their just 
 revenge ; the legion which had attempted an engagement was cut 
 off; those who had escaped concealed themselves within their 
 fortresses (castris) or were preparing for flight. The Roman army 
 now opposed to them would never stand the shouts and clamour of 
 so many thousands, much less their shock and fury. If they con- 
 sidered the number of forces, or the causes of the war, they would 
 resolve that day to conquer or die ; this was the last resource for 
 her, a woman ; let the men, if they pleased, live and be slaves." 
 
 This address of the British queen contains, at least, the senti- 
 ments that actuated the Britons in this revolt, as they were well 
 known to the contemporary Roman historian, who has placed it in 
 her mouth. Suetonius also addressed his troops, urging them 
 not to fear the immense numbers of their enemies, or to be 
 alarmed at the dreadful shouts with which they were accustomed 
 to march into battle. The legion at first acted on the defensive, 
 protected by its position, until the fury of the first attack was 
 exhausted. It then formed in a wedge, and marched steadily on 
 the Britons, while the auxiliaries made the same movement, 
 and the cavalry rushing down with their spears levelled, bore 
 all before them. The Britons were soon routed with terrible 
 slaughter, for the circle of waggons impeded their flight, and the 
 Roman soldiers spared none, but massacred the women, and even 
 the beasts. Eighty thousand Britains are said to have been slain 
 on this fatal day, and then queen Boadicea, unwilling to survive 
 the destruction of her country, put an end to her own life by 
 taking poison.* 
 
 The Iceni were utterly crushed in this revolt. The numbers 
 
 * Our numismatists have ascribed to Boadicea certain British coins which hear 
 the inscription bodvoc. I think too hastily ; for the history of the British queen 
 is that of a hurried insurrection, suppressed immediately, and scarcely affording 
 time for a distinctive coinage. Previous to the rising, she had no authority or 
 
 D 
 
34 THE BRITONS. [chap, l 
 
 assembled in the last disastrous battle, and the fact of their 
 being accompanied with their women, shows that the tribes 
 engaged in it had risen en masse, and their country was now left 
 without defenders, and probably almost without inhabitants. 
 Their lands were overrun and plundered by the Roman troops, 
 and all the other tribes whose inclinations were known to be 
 hostile or wavering, were ravaged by fire and sword. The troops 
 were augmented by the arrival of two thousand legionaries, eight 
 cohorts of auxiliaries, and a thousand horse from Germany; and 
 out of these, the ninth legion, which had suffered so much, was 
 recruited. Although the war lingered on for a time, the defeat 
 of this insurrection had fixed so firmly the Roman yoke, that we 
 hear no more of serious revolts in the conquered provinces, 
 although from time to time an outbreak among the oppressed 
 natives, furnished the excuse for destroying the families of their 
 chiefs and reducing the natives to a more degrading state of slavery. 
 The reduction of the rebellion of the Iceni led, however, to 
 at least a temporary change of policy towards the Britons, 
 and even the Roman soldiers seem to have been satiated with 
 the wholesale slaughter. Suetonius Paullinus appears to have 
 been a harsh and rigorous ruler, and his disinclination to show 
 any lenity towards the conquered Britons is said to have been 
 a subject of disputes between the general and the new procu- 
 rator, Julius Classicianus, who had been sent as the successor of 
 the fugitive Catus Decianus. Polycletus, an imperial agent, 
 repaired to Britain to inquire into the state of the province, and 
 it was probably his report that led soon after to the recal of 
 Suetonius. He was succeeded by Petronius Turpilianus, a man 
 who had just laid down the consulship, and whose only qualifi- 
 cation mentioned by the historian, was a spirit of forbearance 
 and lenity, which the commanders who had been accustomed to 
 tyrannise over conquered nations, looked upon with contempt. 
 The mild administration of this propraetor, however, soothed the 
 wounds with which this distant province was bleeding, and seems 
 to have wiped away the last traces of the ferocious struggle which 
 had taken place under his predecessor. A short time before the 
 
 power, and the miserable woman who was subject to the lash at the pleasure of 
 her Roman masters, is not likely to have possessed a mint. Boduoc may have 
 been some one of the British chiefs whose existence has not been recorded by 
 history. 
 
chap, l] REVOLT OP THE BKIGANTES. 35 
 
 death of Nero, Petronius resigned his office and was succeeded by 
 Trebellius Maximus, who governed the province with equal 
 moderation and affability. While the rest of the empire was 
 torn by civil commotion, the province of Britain enjoyed unusual 
 tranquillity, and was disturbed only by a quarrel between the pro- 
 praetor and Roscius Ccelius, the lieutenant of the twentieth 
 legion. As the soldiers seem in general to have taken part with 
 Ccelius, this feud ended in the flight of Trebellius, who went 
 alone and without followers to join the standard of. Vitellius, 
 leaving Britain to be governed nominally by the lieutenants of the 
 different legions, but really by Roscius Ccelius. Vitellius had 
 already drawn from Britain a body of eight thousand troops, while 
 Suetonius Paullinus had carried over the whole of the fourteenth 
 legion to fight under the standard of Otho. 
 
 When Vitellius had rid himself of his competitors, and secured 
 the people, he sent to Britain, as propraetor, one of his imme- 
 diate attendants, Vettius Bolanus, who carried back with him 
 the fourteenth legion, which was in disfavour, because it had 
 fought for one of the unsuccessful pretenders to the throne. 
 Tacitus tells us that the government of Bolanus " was too mild 
 for so fierce a province ; and that Agricola, who was still serving 
 in Britain, checked the ardour of his own martial disposition, 
 lest he should be suspected of disobedience or disaffection towards 
 his commander-in-chief." The insecurity of the province was 
 increased by the number of troops which were now draughted off 
 to join in the new struggle for the empire between Vitellius and 
 Vespasian. It was at this moment that symptoms of insubordi- 
 nation again began to show themselves among the Britons. 
 The insurrection began with the extensive tribe of the Brigantes, 
 where the authority of Cartismandua appears to have been still 
 supported by the Romans.* This imperious lady remained 
 separated from her husband, and in contempt of him, she had 
 taken to her bed his armour-bearer, Vellocatus, and deputed to 
 him a part of her power. Many of her subjects were shocked by 
 this scandalous proceeding, and Venusius soon raised a powerful 
 party, and pursued the queen with so much vigour, that she was 
 
 * From the way in which Tacitus introduces the history of Cartismandua and 
 her husband in the Histories and the Annals, it appears somewhat confused, and it 
 has been usual to regard the two notices as relating to one event. I think, 
 however, that they are distinct, and I have treated them so in this sketch. 
 
 D2 
 
THE BRITONS. [chap. 
 
 only rescued with difficulty by a body of Roman troops after 
 several battles. The revolt of the Brigantes had become so 
 general, that the Romans were obliged for a moment to leave 
 them in a state of independence with Venusius at their head. 
 
 On the accession of Vespasian, various changes were made in 
 the establishment in Britain. Petilius Cerealis, the commander 
 of the ninth legion, who had incurred the signal disaster in the 
 war against Boadicea, was sent to succeed Vettius Bolanus as 
 propraetor, while an officer of great talents, both as a soldier and 
 as a statesman, Julius Agricola, was appointed to the command of 
 the twentieth legion, which had shown some unwillingness to 
 acknowledge the new emperor. An affectionate friendship had 
 long subsisted between Agricola and Cerealis, and they joined 
 heartily in carrying on the war which had now broken out 
 in Britain. But after several successful engagements with the 
 Brigantes, by which a large portion of that tribe was reduced to 
 obedience, Cerealis was recalled, and Julius Frontinus appointed 
 in his place. Under this proprsetor the Silures, who had hitherto 
 remained independent in the fastnesses of the mountains, and 
 had, perhaps, taken part with the Brigantes, were conquered. 
 But the spirit of disaffection was now spreading widely, and when 
 in the year 78, Julius Frontinus was recalled, the Ordovices of 
 North Wales rose and destroyed a troop of cavalry which was 
 stationed in their country, and various other tribes were preparing 
 to rise in a general revolt. 
 
 At this moment the man of all others most capable of wrestling 
 with the dangers which seemed on all sides to threaten the pro- 
 vince, was appointed as a successor to Frontinus. It was towards 
 the close of the summer of the year 78, when Julius Agricola 
 returned from Rome to assume the government of Britain. In 
 spite of the advanced period of the year, he immediately assembled 
 the legions and a small number of the auxiliaries, and marching 
 into the mountains of the Ordovices, he caused nearly the whole 
 tribe to be put to the sword. He then passed over to Mona 
 (Anglesea), and reduced that island entirely under the Roman 
 power. As the time of the year was now past for further military 
 operations, and the slaughter of the Ordovices had struck terror 
 through most of the other tribes, Agrieola spent the winter in 
 regulating and reforming the government of the province, and 
 correcting the innumerable abuses which had crept into the 
 
chap, l] CAMPAIGNS OF AGRICOLA. 37 
 
 administration. As the summer of the year 79 approached, the 
 legions were again in motion, and by a mixture of rigour towards 
 those who resisted, and extraordinary lenity towards those who 
 submitted, he succeeded in establishing the Roman power through- 
 out the island, almost to the borders of Scotland. In the midst 
 of these successes, the emperor Vespasian died, and left the 
 purple to his son Titus. Agricola, who was continued in the 
 government of Britain, spent the remainder of the year in securing 
 his conquests. He now, as Tacitus tells us, saw the necessity of 
 weaning the fierce passions of the Britons from the unsettled state 
 of war and tumult to which they were habituated, and of leading 
 them to adopt the pursuits of peace and the refinements of civili- 
 sation. He saw that this could only be effected by giving them 
 a relish for the arts and a taste for elegant pleasure. To this he 
 excited them by his conversations in private and by his public 
 measures. He encouraged them to erect temples, forums, and 
 houses. He caused the sons of the British chiefs to be instructed 
 in the language and knowledge of their conquerers. Such mea- 
 sures produced rapid effects. The Britons soon began to adopt 
 the Roman dress, and they exchanged the rude garb of their 
 ancestors for the dignified toga. The manners of the Romans 
 also gradually took root among them, and they gained a taste for 
 erecting porticos and baths, and indulging in other luxuries. 
 
 In the spring of the year 80, Agricola placed himself again at 
 the head of the army, and, proceeding to invade and reduce the 
 lowlands of Scotland, extended the Roman territory as far as 
 the estuary of the river Taus (the Tay). When this campaign was 
 over, the Roman troops were employed under the eye of their 
 leader in erecting fortresses over the newly-acquired territory, and 
 the sites were chosen with so much judgment that it was a comV 
 mon remark that no castellum built by Agricola was ever taken 
 by the enemy, and they were placed near enough together to 
 communicate easily with each other. Agricola's fourth summer 
 (a.d. 81) was employed in the erection of a chain of forts between 
 the two estuaries known to the Romans by the name of Clota and 
 Bodotria (the Clyde and Forth), as a check upon the incursions of 
 the northern highlanders ; and in the following spring he brought 
 his fleet into the Solway firth, and carried his troops over to the 
 country where it approached nearest to Ireland, which also he 
 secured with fortresses and troops. The exact locality of these 
 
38 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 operations has been a matter of some dispute, but the opinion 
 which seems to carry most weight places it in the country known 
 in more modern times by the name of Galloway. It was under- 
 stood that the Roman general already projected an invasion of 
 Ireland. One of its petty princes, driven into exile by a domestic 
 sedition, had repaired to Agricola to ask for assistance from the 
 Romans, and Agricola was ready to seize the occasion of carrying 
 over a Roman legion, had his intention not been drawn away by 
 other events. 
 
 Early in the year 83, which was Agricola's sixth campaign, the 
 Roman general marched with his army into the country beyond 
 the line of fortress erected two years before, to reduce the northern 
 tribes, who appear to have harassed his borders by their inroads. 
 Having assembled his fleet in the Firth of Forth, he ordered it 
 to accompany the march of his army, which proceeded through the 
 districts bordering on the eastern coast. The Caledonian tribes 
 harassed the Roman legions on their march ; and when they had 
 reached a position supposed to be a little to the south of the Ochil 
 mountains, the ninth legion, which was in advance and obliged to 
 encamp in an unfavourable position, was so vigorously attacked 
 that, had it not been soon relieved by the arrival of the rest of 
 the Roman forces, it might have experienced a disaster more 
 serious even than that which fell upon it in its march to Camalo- 
 dunum. The object of this campaign appears to have been to take 
 possession of the districts of Fife and Kinross, preparatory to the 
 entire reduction of the northern parts of the island in the following 
 year. Accordingly, in the summer of the year 84, having ordered 
 his ileet to sail round Scotland and alarm the enemy by making 
 descents on the coast, he advanced with the army, in which the 
 southern Britons now served as Roman auxiliaries, and reached 
 the foot of the Grampian mountains, on the declivity of which he 
 found thirty thousand of the bravest warriors of the north, under 
 a celebrated chief named Galgacus, assembled to resist his 
 further advance. As the Romans advanced to the attack, they 
 suffered much from the arrows of the enemy, while the north 
 Britons, who were armed with long pointless swords and small 
 round shields, used them so skilfully that they parried off the 
 Roman missiles. Agricola, observing the inequality of this mode 
 of combating, chose three troops of Batavians and two of Tun- 
 grians, and ordered them to hurry forward and attack the Britons 
 
chap. L] BATTLE OF THE GRAMPIANS. 39 
 
 with their swords. These where short and pointed, and there- 
 fore much better calculated for close action than the long swords of 
 their opponents. The attack was made with courage and success ; 
 the Britons, crowded together too closely in their ranks, were de- 
 prived of the free use of their arms to strike with their swords in 
 their usual manner, while their faces and bodies were exposed to 
 the deadly thrusts of their opponents, and they soon began to 
 give way. The rest of the Roman troops had now come up, and 
 the main body of the Caledonians, which had remained in their 
 position on the hill, rushed down to the assistance of their com- 
 panions, so that the battle became general. The Roman disci- 
 pline, however, soon overcame the bravery of their opponents, and 
 the north Britons were routed with terrible slaughter. About ten 
 thousand are said to have been killed, and those who escaped fled 
 with their families into the more remote and inaccessible parts of 
 the country. 
 
 This last great battle of Agricola is believed to have been fought 
 on the moor of Ardoch, in Perthshire. It made the Romans 
 masters of the whole island. Agricola left his army to winter in 
 the district of the Horestii, and returned to his seat of government 
 in the south. His fleet made the circuit of north Britain, and, 
 while they took a survey of its coasts and obtained information 
 relating to the interior, they filled the inhabitants with terror and 
 alarm. The} 7 " took possession of the Orkney Islands. The merits 
 of Agricola were, however, too bright for the worthless ruler who 
 then sat on the imperial throne ; and this distinguished pro- 
 praetor, with an empty triumph, was deprived of his command in 
 Britain, to experience at home the ingratitude of Domitian. He 
 left the province of Britain in perfect tranquillity ; and, though 
 history has told us nothing of the events of the next few years, 
 it seems probable that the Roman troops in Britain, finding no 
 employment at home, passed over to Ireland, and reduced that 
 island to nominal subjection. The poet Juvenal, who is said to 
 have written his satire in a.d. 96, just twelve years after Agri- 
 cola's last campaign, speaks of Ireland as one of the most recent 
 acquisitions of the Roman arms, — 
 
 (i Anna quidera ultra 
 Litora Juvernse promovimus, et modo captas 
 Orcadas, ac minima contentos nocte Bntanno9." 
 
 Britain was now entirely subjected to the power of imperial 
 
40 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 Eome. Its people had irrecoverably lost their independence, and 
 they soon lost their nationality, when their new rulers began to 
 divide the province of Britain into departments. The very 
 nations, many of whom had so bravely fought for their freedom, 
 lost their names, and gradually merged into Roman subjects, 
 or rather Roman slaves. A little more than thirty years after 
 the recall of Agricola, the celebrated geographer, Claudius 
 Ptolomaeus, published his survey of the world as then known, in 
 which he has given us a very exact survey of the coasts of Britain 
 and Ireland, with an enumeration of the native tribes. From 
 this account, compared with the allusions of other writers, it 
 appears that the south-eastern part of the island, or the district 
 now occupied by the county of Kent, was occupied by the Cantii, 
 a large and influential tribe, which, in Caesar's time, was divided 
 among four chiefs or kings. To the west, the Regni held the 
 modern counties of Sussex and Surrey, from the sea-coast to the 
 Thames. Still farther west, the Belgae occupied the country from 
 the southern coast to the Bristol Channel, including nearly the 
 whole of Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somersetshire. The whole of 
 the extensive district extending from the Belgae to the extreme 
 western point of the island, then called Antivestaeum or Bolerium 
 (now the Lands-End), including Devonshire and Cornwall, was 
 occupied by the Dumnonii, or Damnonii. On the coast, between 
 the Dumnonii and the Belgae, the smaller tribe of the Durotriges 
 held the modern county of Dorset. On the other side of the 
 Thames, extending northwards to the Stour, and including the 
 greater part of Middlesex as well as Essex, lay the Trinobantes. 
 To the north of the Stour, dwelt the Ieeni, extending over the 
 counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, and Huntingdon. The 
 Coritavi possessed the present counties of Northampton, Leicester, 
 Rutland, Derby, Nottingham, and Lincoln ; and the south-eastern 
 part of Yorkshire was held by the Parish. Between the tribes 
 last enumerated, in the counties of Buckingham, Bedford, and 
 Hertford, lay the tribe called by Ptolemy the Catyeuchlani 
 {Karvev\kavoi\ and by others Catuvellani. Another name appa- 
 rently for this tribe, or for a division of it, was the Cassii. West 
 of these were the Attrebates, in Berkshire; and still further west 
 were the Dobuni, in the counties of Oxford and Gloucester. All 
 these tribes are supposed to have been later settlers than the 
 tribes of the interior, those nearer the coast being always, of 
 
chap, i.] BRITISH TRIBES. 41 
 
 course, the more recent colonies, and it is far from improbable that 
 some of them were of German origin. 
 
 The interior of the island northward was occupied by the 
 Brigantes, who held the extensive districts, difficult of approach 
 on account of their mountains and woods, extending from the 
 Humber and the Mersey to the present borders of Scotland. 
 This extensive tribe appears to have included several smaller ones. 
 Two of these are called by Richard of Cirencester, the Voluntii 
 and the Sestuntii, the former in the west of Lancashire, the latter 
 in Westmoreland and Cumberland. The Jugantes and the 
 Cangi of Tacitus, on the borders of the Irish sea, are also under- 
 stood to have belonged to, or been dependent upon, this tribe. 
 The Brigantes are believed to have been the original inhabitants 
 of the island, who had been driven northward by successive inva- 
 sions and settlements, and they appear to have been the least 
 civilised tribe of South Britain ; their wild independence was 
 encouraged and protected by the nature of the country they 
 inhabited. Wales also was inhabited by a primitive population. 
 The northern counties, Flint, Denbigh, Montgomery, Merioneth, 
 and Caernarvon, with the island of Anglesea, (then, as we have 
 said before, called Mona,) was the territory of the Ordo vices. 
 The south-eastern counties of Cardigan, Caermarthen, and 
 Pembroke, were held by the Demetse. The still more celebrated 
 tribe of the Silures inhabited the modern counties of Hereford, 
 Radnor, Brecknock, Monmouth, and Glamorgan. Between these 
 and the Brigantes lay the Cornabii, or Carnabii, who occupied 
 the present counties of Warwick, Worcester, Stafford, Salop, and 
 Chester, and perhaps the adjoining part of Flintshire. 
 
 The wilder parts of the island of Britain, to the north of the 
 Brigantes, were inhabited by a great number of smaller tribes, 
 some of whom seem to have been raised in the scale of civilisation 
 little above savages. Of these we have the names of no less 
 than twenty-one. Bordering on the Brigautes, were the Otadeni, 
 inhabiting the coast from the Tyne to the Firth of Forth, including 
 a large portion of Northumberland, with the modern counties of 
 Berwick and East Lothian, and part of Roxburghshire. Next to 
 them were the Gadeni, occupying the western part of North- 
 umberland, the small part of Cumberland north of the Irthing, 
 the western part of Roxburghshire, the whole of the county of 
 Selkirk, with Tweedale, a great part of Mid-Lothian, and nearly 
 
42 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 all West-Lothian. The Selgovae inhabited Annan dale, Nithsdale, 
 and Eskdale, in Dumfrieshire, with the east of Galloway. The 
 Novantes inhabited the remainder of Galloway. The Damnii, 
 a larger tribe, held the country from the chain of hills separating 
 Galloway from Carrick, northward to the river Ern. These tribes 
 lay to the south of the Forth and Clyde. Beyond the narrow 
 boundary formed by these rivers lay, first, the Horestii, who 
 occupied the modern counties of Clackmannan, Kinross, and Fife, 
 with the eastern part of Strathern, and the country to the west of 
 the Tay. The Venricones occupied a part of Perthshire, the 
 whole of Angus, and a large part of Kincardineshire. The 
 northern part of the Mearns, and the greater part of Aberdeen- 
 shire, were inhabited by the Taixali. The Vacomagi possessed 
 the country forming the modern shires of Bamff, Elgin, and Nairn, 
 with the east part of Inverness and Brasmar, in Aberdeenshire. 
 The Albani held the districts of Braidalban and Athol, with parts 
 of Lochaber and Upper Lorn. The ferocious tribe of the Attacotti 
 inhabited part of Argyleshire, and the greater part of Dumbarton- 
 shire. The wild forest country of the interior, known as the 
 Caledonia Sylva, (or forest of Celyddon), extending from the 
 ridge of mountains between Inverness and Perth northward to 
 the forest of Balnagowan, including the middle parts of Inverness 
 and Ross, was held by the Caledonii, which appears to have been 
 at this time the most important and powerful of all the tribes 
 north of the Brigantes. The eastern part of Ross was inhabited 
 by the Cantas. On the south-eastern coast of Sutherland were 
 the Logi. Beyond them, the Carnabii occupied the greater part 
 of Caithness, leaving only the north-west corner, which, with a 
 part of Sutherlandshire, belonged to the Catini. The interior of 
 Sutherlandshire was peopled by the Mertee ; while the north and 
 west coasts, and a small part of the western coast of Ross were 
 inhabited by the Carnonacse. A tribe named the Creones dwelt 
 on the west coast of Ross ; the Cerones held the western coast of 
 Inverness and part of Argyleshire ; and the neck of land, now 
 known by the name of Cantyre, was the seat of the Epidii. We 
 have no information on the ethnological character of these tribes ; 
 some of them are supposed to have come from Scandinavia and 
 t]|e opposite coast of Germany ; others no doubt originated in 
 migrations from the south; while others again probably came 
 from Ireland. 
 
chap. I.] THE POPULATION OF IRELAND. 43 
 
 This island, known to the Romans by the names of Hibernia 
 and Juverna, appears to have been tolerably well known in the 
 age of Ptolemy, who gives us a description of its coasts, and 
 enumerates the tribes and towns both in the maritime districts and 
 in the interior. On the northern coast dwelt the Veniconii, in 
 the modern county of Donegal, and the Eobogdii, in Londonderry 
 and Antrim. Adjoining to the Veniconii, westward, were the Erdini 
 or Erpeditani, and next to them the MagnataB, all in Donegal. 
 Farther south were the Auteri, in Sligo ; the Gangani, in Mayo ; 
 and the Yelibori, or Ellebri, in the district between Galway and 
 the Shannon. The south-west part of the island, with a great 
 portion of the interior, was inhabited by the Iverni, who gave 
 name not only to the great river, but to the whole island, and 
 who may, perhaps, be considered as the aboriginal inhabitants. 
 The south-eastern promontory, now called Carnsore Point, was 
 then known by the title of the Holy Promontory (Upbv aKpov), to 
 the north-west of which, in the modern counties of Waterford and 
 Tipperary, Ptolemy places a tribe called the Usdiee or Vodiae, 
 according to the variations of the manuscripts. In the modern 
 county of Wexford dwelt the Brigantes ; and northward from 
 them, were the Coriondi, in Wicklow ; the Menapii, in Dublin ; 
 the Cauci, on the banks of the Boyne; the Blanii, or Eblan}, on 
 the bay of Dundalk ; the Voluntii, in Down ; and the Darini, 
 bordering on the Robogdii, in Antrim. 
 
 Three, at least, of the tribes who held the eastern coast of 
 Ireland, the Brigantes, the Menapii, and the Voluntii, were, no 
 doubt, colonies from the opposite shores of Britain. This circum- 
 stance gives additional force to the conjecture that the Brigantes, 
 with their dependent tribe, the Voluntii, are to be considered as 
 the remains of the earlier Celtic population of the latter island. 
 Driven inward by the later settlers, whether Celtic or Teutonic, 
 they were obliged also to seek new settlements in the neighbouring 
 island. 
 
 It is evident that these various tribes, not only governed by 
 different chiefs, but belonging to different races, must have differed 
 also in their manners and in their comparative civilisation, and 
 that we should be wrong in applying to them all the various 
 notices on this subject found in ancient writers, and much more 
 so in transferring to the inhabitants of Britain, without reserve, 
 the description which the old geographers and historians have 
 
44 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 left us of the people of Gaul. Most of the descriptions found in 
 subsequent writers are little more than a repetition of the scanty 
 information given by Caesar who was himself acquainted only with 
 the south-eastern part of the island. 
 
 We should probably form the best appreciation of the con- 
 dition of our Celtic forefathers before their conquest by the 
 Romans, by comparing them with the septs or clans in Ireland 
 and the highlands of Scotland in the twelfth and thirteenth 
 centuries. Each chief exercised the same independent and 
 unrestrained authority over his clan, and the disunion of the 
 whole was probably increased by difference of language and race. 
 There seems to be no reason for assuming that the different tribes 
 were accustomed to unite under one head (or, as he had been 
 termed, Pendragon) in cases of emergency. On the contrary, we 
 observe, as far as their history is known, that they never acted 
 together, unless when their union was caused by conquest, or by the 
 alliance of one or two neighbouring and, perhaps, kindred tribes.* 
 The statement that they went naked, and that they painted their 
 bodies, can only have been true of some of the most barbarous 
 tribes. We have no very distinct information on the clothes of 
 the Britons, except that we know from the earlier Roman writers 
 that they wore breeches (braccce), like the Gauls and Germans. 
 They are described as being in person taller than the average height 
 of the Romans. The brief account of Tacitus confirms the views 
 already stated, as to the difference of races which peopled the 
 island. He imagined that the red hair and masculine forms of 
 the Caledonians bespoke a German origin; that the Silures, by 
 their complexions (color ati vultus), and curly hair, were a 
 colony of the Iberi of Spain ; and that the tribes who inhabited 
 the coasts came from Gaul ; and one of the arguments he adduces 
 for believing that the maritime tribes were of Gallic origin, the 
 similarity of language, (sermo liaud multum diversus), leads us 
 to believe that the language of these tribes was totally different 
 from that of the Silures, or that of the Caledonians, and of the 
 tribes of the interior. 
 
 In one particular, we are justified in considering the description 
 
 * Tacitus, speaking of the British tribes, says " Nee aliud adversus validissimas 
 gentes pro nobis utilius, quam quod in commune non consulunt. Rarus duabus 
 tribusve civitatibus ad propulsandum commune periculum conventus; ita, duni 
 singuli pugnant, universi vincuntur." — Tacitus, Agric. c. 12. 
 
chap, l] THE DRUIDS. 45 
 
 of the manners of the people of Gaul as applicable to those of 
 Britain, I mean their religion. All the ancient writers agree 
 that the druidic system was the same in both countries. All 
 that we really know of it is given by Caesar, and may be best 
 repeated in his own words. " The druids," he says, " act in all 
 sacred matters ; they attend to the sacrifices, which are offered 
 either by the tribe in general, or by individuals, and answer all 
 questions concerning their religion. They always have a large 
 number of young men as pupils, who treat them with the 
 greatest respect. For it is they who decide in all controversies, 
 whether public or private, and they judge all causes, whether of 
 murder, of a disputed inheritance, or of the boundaries of estates. 
 They assign both rewards and punishments, and whoever refuses 
 to abide by their sentence, whether he be in a public or private 
 station, is forbidden to be present at the sacrifices to the gods. 
 This is in fact their most severe mode of punishment, and those 
 who have been thus excommunicated are held as impious and 
 profane ; all avoid them, no one will either meet them or speak 
 to them, lest they should be injured by their contagion ; every 
 species of honour is withheld from them, and if they are plaintiffs 
 in a lawsuit, justice is denied them. All the druids are subject 
 to one chief, who enjoys the greatest authority among them. 
 Upon the death of the chief druid, the next in dignity is appointed 
 to succeed him ; and if there are two whose merits are equal, the 
 election is made by the votes of the whole body, though sometimes 
 they dispute for pre-eminence with the sword. . . . The druidic 
 system is thought to have had its origin in Britain, from whence 
 it was introduced into Gaul ; and it is still customary for those 
 who wish to study it more thoroughly, to pass over into Britain 
 for that purpose. The druids enjoy peculiar privileges ; they 
 are exempted from service in war, and from the payment of 
 taxes ; they have also many other immunities, which cause their 
 order to become so numerous and influential, and young men are 
 gladly placed with them to learn their doctrines by their parents 
 and relations. In their schools the pupils are said to learn by 
 heart a large number of verses, and in this way some of their 
 scholars pass twenty years in completing their education ; for it is 
 unlawful to commit their doctrines to writing, though they are 
 not ignorant of the art of writing ; and for all other purposes, 
 both in their public and private reckonings, they make use of the 
 
46 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 Greek characters. It seems to me that they have two motives 
 for this conduct : in the first place, they are unwilling that their 
 tenets should become known to the vulgar ; and, secondly, they 
 are afraid that their pupils will be less apt to cultivate their 
 memories, if they trust to written characters, which often have 
 the effect of checking diligent study. Among their most important 
 tenets is that of the immortality of the soul, which they believe 
 passes after death into other bodies ; they hold this to be a great 
 inducement to the practice of virtue, as the mind becomes 
 relieved from the fear of death. Their other doctrines concern 
 the motions of the heavenly bodies, the magnitude of the earth 
 and the universe, the nature of things, and the power and 
 attributes of the immortal gods." " All the Gallic nations,'* 
 Caesar adds, " are much given to superstition; for which reason, 
 when they are seriously ill, or are in danger from their wars or 
 other causes, they either offer up men as victims to the gods, or 
 make a vow to sacrifice themselves. The ministers in these 
 offerings are the druids ; and they hold that the wrath of the 
 immortal gods can only be appeased, and man's life be redeemed, 
 by offering up human sacrifice, and it is part of their national 
 institutions to hold fixed solemnities for this purpose. Some of 
 them make immense images of wicker-work, which they fill with 
 men, who are thus burned alive in offering to their deities. 
 These victims are generally selected from among those who have 
 been convicted of theft, robbery, or other crimes, in whose 
 punishment they think the immortal gods take the greatest 
 pleasure ; but if there be a scarcity of such victims, they do not 
 hesitate to sacrifice innocent men in their place." 
 
 " Their principal deity," continues Caesar, " is Mercury, in 
 whose honour they have erected numerous statues ; they hold 
 him to be the inventor of all the arts, and the god who protects 
 men on a journey, and leads them on their way ; moreover, they 
 ascribe to him the power of granting success and prosperity in 
 affairs of gain and commerce. Next to Mercury come Apollo, 
 Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva, to whom they ascribe attributes 
 similar to those which are attributed to the same deities among 
 nations. Apollo is believed to heal diseases, Minerva to initiate 
 mankind in the arts and sciences, Jupiter to be the king of 
 heaven, and Mars to be the. god of war. When the Gauls are 
 about to fight a battle, they often make a vow to dedicate to Mars 
 
chap, l] THE DRUIDS. 47 
 
 the spoils which they may take from their enemies. If there be 
 a superabundance of cattle taken in war, the surplus is offered up 
 in sacrifice. The rest of the spoil is collected into one mass. In 
 many of their tribes, large heaps of these things may be seen in 
 their consecrated places ; and it is a rare occurrence for any 
 individual sacrilegiously to conceal part of the booty, or to turn it 
 to his own use ; the severest punishment, together with bodily 
 torture, is inflicted on those who are guilty of such an offence. 
 The Gauls boast that they sprung from father Dis (Pluto) ; and 
 say that they derive their information from the druids. This is 
 the reason why they measure time by nights and not by days, 
 and their birth-days, together with the commencement of their 
 months and years, are so arranged, that the days are reckoned as 
 parts of the preceding nights." 
 
 Caesar had an interest in collecting all the information he 
 could relating to the druids and their religion, but we are almost 
 led to suspect that he obtained it from different races, German 
 and Celtic, and that he mixed it together without due discrimina- 
 tion. The five deities which he gives to the Gauls seem to be 
 Teutonic, the same whose names have been preserved in our 
 modern days of the week. The great god of the Germans was 
 Woden, who is always identified with the Roman Mercury ; 
 Jupiter was Thor ; Mars was Tuisco ; Minerva was, no doubt, 
 Frigga ; and Caesar's Apollo was perhaps intended for Saeter, the 
 god whose name has been preserved in our Saturday. It has 
 always been the custom of the Germans to reckon time by nights 
 — we still say sennight, fortnight, &c, for what the French call 
 huit jours, quinze jours, but we know so little of the Celts, that 
 we cannot venture to assert that they did not reckon time in the 
 same way. 
 
 An edict of the emperor Claudius proscribed the druidic 
 caste, with its superstitions, and they quickly disappeared from 
 Gaul. A curious passage of Tacitus, where he compares the 
 tribes on the south and south-eastern coast of Britain with the 
 Gauls on the Continent, and points out as a point of similarity in 
 which the other British tribes did not partake, the resemblance 
 of their religious rites,* would lead us to imagine that druidism 
 
 * "Proximi Gallis, et similes sunt .... eorum sacra deprehendas, 
 superstirionum persuasione." — Taciti Agric, c. 11. We must bear in mind that 
 
48 THE BRITONS. [chap. i. 
 
 prevailed only among those maritime people. As the Eomans 
 advanced, their "ban still fell upon the druids, who made their 
 last stand in Mona, and were destroyed there hy the arms of 
 Suetonius Paullinus. Subsequent writers only speak of them as 
 a race who belonged to past ages, and they add nothing to our 
 knowledge, at least nothing in which we can place any trust. 
 It is Pliny who tells us of their respect for the mistletoe. " The 
 druids," he says, " who are the magi of Gaul, esteem nothing 
 more sacred than the mistletoe, and the tree on which it grows, 
 if only it be an oak. Indeed they select groves of oaks, and use 
 their leaves in all their sacred rites, so that their very name of 
 druids may seem to be derived from the Greek name for oak (bpvs). 
 Every thing which grows upon these trees is considered by them 
 as sent from heaven, and a sign that the tree is chosen by the 
 deity himself. But the mistletoe is very rare to find, and where 
 it occurs is sought with great avidity ; particularly on the sixth 
 moon, which, among these nations, makes the beginnings of their 
 months and years, and of a generation after thirty years, because 
 it then has abundance of strength, though not yet half of its full 
 size. They call it in their language by a name which signifies all- 
 heal {omnia sanantem). and when they have made ready their 
 sacrifices and banquets under the tree, they bring up two white 
 bulls, whose horns are then bound for the first time. A priest 
 clothed in a white robe ascends the tree, and with a golden 
 pruning-knife lops off the bough, which is caught in a white 
 towel. Then they immolate the victims, praying that God may 
 prosper the gift to all who shall partake of it ; for they believe 
 that by using it as a drink barren animals are rendered fruitful, 
 and all kinds of poisons are deprived of their noxious power." * 
 
 Pruidism was abolished when Tacitus wrote, so lie could only speak of the traces 
 of it which remained among the people; yet we know by many instances how long 
 such traces endure. 
 
 * Plinii Hist. Nat., lib. xvi., c. 95. 
 
chap, ii.] BRITISH REMAINS. 49 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 British Antiquities — Barrows — Cromlechs, and Sepulchral Chambers — Circles ; 
 Stonehenge — Other Monuments of Stone — Various descriptions of British 
 Barrows — Their contents — Pottery — Instruments of Stone — Instruments of 
 Metal — Other articles — Their value as illustrative of History — The British 
 Coinage — Earthworks, and supposed sites of towns and villages. 
 
 Such is all we know from record of the history and condition of 
 the inhabitants of Britain before it was finally reduced to a Boman 
 province. We are able to add little to this knowledge from the 
 discoveries of the antiquary, for the monuments of the British 
 period are few, and uncertain, on account of the difficulty of 
 appropriating them in a satisfactory manner. It has been the 
 custom to consider all articles of rude make, which appeared not to 
 be Boman, as belonging to a period antecedent to the Boman 
 invasion ; but later experience, and more careful investigation, 
 have shown that this view was altogether erroneous. Much which 
 used to be called British, is now known to be Saxon, and it is 
 impossible to say how much of the rest belongs to the period of 
 the Boman occupation. 
 
 The only monuments to which people in a rude state of civili- 
 sation seem to have been anxious to give durability, were their 
 graves, and to the contents of these we must look for any traces 
 of the character and manuers of those who built them. From the 
 remotest ages it was customary to mark to future generations tho 
 last resting-place of the honoured dead, by raising mounds, more 
 or less elevated according to circumstances connected with the 
 locality, or according to the power and influence of the deceased. 
 To these sepulchral mounds our Anglo-Saxon forefathers gave the 
 names of low (lilceiv), and barrow (beorh, beariv) ; of which the 
 former is chiefly preserved in names of places, such as Bartlow, 
 
 E 
 
50 THE BRITONS. [chap. n. 
 
 Houndslow, Lowesby, &c, while the latter has been generally 
 used by English writers on archaeology as the technical term 
 for all ancient sepulchral mounds. Both are equivalent to the 
 Latin tumulus. The form of the barrow was in its original state 
 more or less conical, especially when it was of large dimensions, 
 hut ages of exposure to the elements and to other actions, which 
 have swept so many of them entirely from the soil, have no doubt 
 greatly modified the forms of those which are left, and, whatever 
 may once have been the distinction of form, we can now only 
 judge of the people to whom they belonged by their contents. 
 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, an earnest and diligent antiquary, if not 
 always a correct one, opened a great number of barrows in the 
 south of England, and hastily undertook to classify them according 
 to their outward forms, inventing a nomenclature which has been 
 too blindly followed by antiquaries of later times.* He thus 
 not only distinguished by their outward forms what were British 
 barrows, but he subdivided the British barrows themselves. Yet 
 his own errors show how little truth there was in this system, for 
 he confounds British with Saxon, and sometimes either or both 
 with what may have been Roman. 
 
 It is only by probability, greater or less, that we can attribute 
 any of these barrows to the British period, for unfortunately we 
 have no known and undoubted monuments of British manufac- 
 ture with which to compare them, as is the case with the Roman 
 and with other later periods. The very fact that great errors have 
 been made, obliges us to proceed with the more caution in forming 
 our judgment. 
 
 There is one class of barrows, and those usually large ones, 
 which, when found in this island, all antiquaries seem to agree 
 in ascribing to the Britons— mounds which contain a rude chamber 
 of rough stones, often of colossal dimensions. In the greater 
 number of instances, the superincumbent mound has been 
 removed, either for the sake of the earth, or in the belief, preva- 
 lent during the middle ages, that treasure was contained under 
 
 * The chief varieties in the classification alluded to, have received the names of 
 conical barrows, bell barrows, bowl barrows, druid barrows, broad barrows, twin 
 barrows, long barrows, and pond barrows. No doubt barrows with the forms 
 indicated by these names are found, but it is most probable that they frequently 
 owe them to accidental circumstances, among which we must not omit the caprice 
 of the makers. 
 
chap, il] CROMLECHS. 51 
 
 it, and the massive chamber of rough stones alone has been left 
 standing. Groups of large stones arranged in this manner have 
 been found scattered over various parts of the British islands, as 
 well as in other countries. Our antiquaries have applied to them 
 the name of cromlechs, and have given to them every sort of 
 absurd explanation, the most general of which was that which 
 made them druid's altars. But recent researches have left no 
 room for doubt that they are all sepulchral chambers denuded of 
 their mounds. In fact they have been found with their original 
 coverings in the Channel Islands, in Britany, in Ireland, and in 
 England. One instance occurred about the year 1800, at Lanyon, 
 in the parish of Maddern, or Madron, near Penzance in Cornwall, 
 which has been more carefully recorded than other similar 
 discoveries in England, and it furnishes us with an example 
 of the motives which have led to the removal of the original 
 mounds. The farmer to whom the ground belonged had often 
 cast a longing eye to what appeared to be an immense heap of rich 
 mould, and at length he resolved to clear it away and spread it 
 over his field. As these large barrows are generally raised in 
 localities where the soil is not very deep, the earth of which they 
 are formed is the more attractive When they had carried away 
 about a hundred cart loads, the labourers came to a great stone, 
 and not knowing what this might be, they removed the sur- 
 rounding earth more carefully, and thus brought to light a large 
 cromlech, formed, like many known examples, by three upright 
 stones, making the three sides of the sepulchral chamber, covered 
 with a massive cap-stone. Within were found a heap of broken 
 urns and human bones, but it was evident that it had been 
 disturbed at some former period, probably by treasure-seekers. 
 
 The word cromlech is said to be Celtic, and to have a meaning 
 not differing much from that of the name dolmen given to 
 them in France, which signifies a stone table.* Indeed, their 
 appearance in an uncovered state readily suggests the idea of 
 a table, and the peasantry in France often call them fairies' 
 tables and devils' tables. These chambers are usually closed in 
 only on three sides, and consist of four stones, three of which 
 raised on their ends form the sides of a square, while the fourth 
 serves as the covering. Such is the very remarkable cromlech 
 
 * Some of our Celtic antiquaries, not satisfied with the name of "cromlech," had 
 named them Jcist-vaens, or, as they interpret it, " stone-chests. 1 ' 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE BRITONS. 
 
 [CHAP. II. 
 
 on the hill between Maidstone and Rochester, in Kent, known 
 by the name of Kits-Cotty House. In the annexed view of the 
 
 Cromlech of Chun-Quoit, in Cornwall. 
 
 cromlech of Chun-Quoit, in the parish of Morvan, in the western 
 part of Cornwall, only the lower corner of the stone forming the 
 transverse side, is seen. These monuments vary in size, though 
 they are often very large. The covering stone of the cromlech 
 of Chun, just described, is calculated to weigh about twenty tons ; 
 the covering stone of one at Lanyon, in the parish of Madron, in 
 Cornwall, weighs about fifteen tons ; that of Kits-Cotty House, 
 in Kent, has been estimated at ten tons and a half. Others 
 are much smaller. Three upright stones, with a covering, 
 constitute the cromlech in its simplest form. The stones are 
 usually joined as close together as their shape will permit, for 
 they seldom present any traces of having been squared with a 
 tool; sometimes they are left with interstices between them, 
 which gives the chamber a still more rude appearance ; and they 
 are sometimes not arranged in a regular square. In some 
 instances, as they now stand, the back stone has been carried 
 away, and the cromlech consists only of three stones, two standing 
 like the portals of a door, to support the transverse cap-stone or 
 lintel ; in others, where the cromlech has fallen, only two stones 
 are left, one upright, and the other leaning upon it with one edge 
 
chap, ii.] SEPULCHRAL CHAMBERS. 53 
 
 on the ground ; and in many instances all that remains of the 
 original cromlech is a single stone, standing upright or lying 
 flat. We owe these forms doubtless to the dilapidations of time, 
 and examples are known of the destruction of whole cromlechs to 
 break up the stones for roads, or other purposes. But the old 
 antiquaries had made different classes of all these imperfect 
 monuments, and in France they gave them distinctive names. 
 They termed the first lichavens, w T hich is interpreted also as 
 meaning stone-tables, but later French antiquaries have given 
 them the Greek name of triliths, on account of the three stones of 
 which they are composed ; the second are called by the French 
 antiquaries demi-dolmens ; and the third class they have termed 
 indiscriminately menhirs, or peulvans, Celtic terms signifying 
 long stones, or stone jnllcirs. 
 
 This, as we have said, was the simplest form of the British 
 sepulchral chamber, but it was sometimes much more complicated 
 in its structure. In some instances it presents the form of a 
 ponderous cap-stone, supported at its corners by four stones, and 
 leaving the sides of the chamber more or less open. In other 
 instances the chamber is made more complete, its sides being 
 formed by a number of stones joined side by side, with one or 
 more very large cap-stones above. Cromlechs thus constructed 
 are found in different parts of England, and especially in the 
 Channel Islands. Sometimes more than one cromlech is found 
 under the same mound. On the hills between Gloucester and 
 Cheltenham a rather low, but very extensive oblong mound, 
 overgrown with fir-trees, was a few years ago accidentally dug 
 into at one end, and a small cromlech was brought to light. 
 From the appearance of the mound, we are justified in supposing 
 that one or more similar cromlechs still remain uncovered in 
 the part which has not been touched. There is a remarkable 
 monument of this kind at Plas Newydd, in the isle of Anglesea ; 
 it consists of two cromlechs close together, (the French 
 antiquaries call it a double dolmen,) one considerably larger 
 than the other.* The cap-stone of the largest, which measures 
 
 * It may be mentioned, as a sample of the absurdities which have been 
 published on the subject of these monuments, that a writer of the earlier part of 
 the present century, describing this monument, "had no doubt" that the greater 
 cromlech was appropriated to the sacrifice, and the lesser to the priest while he 
 attended it ! 
 
54 THE BKITONS. [chap. n. 
 
 about twelve feet in length, by ten in breadth, and from four and 
 a half to three and a half feet in thickness, rests on five upright 
 stones ; it is said to have had originally seven supports. These 
 two cromlechs were no doubt included in one mound. 
 
 Cromlech at Plas Newydd, Isle of Anglesea. 
 
 A glance at the monument last described, shows us how readily 
 the idea would present itself of building galleries, or a series of 
 chambers, in these large sepulchral mounds, probably to serve 
 as family tombs. Vast works of this kind are found in Botany, 
 as well as in Ireland. The chambered monument of New 
 Grange, in Meath, is celebrated among Celtic antiquaries ; it 
 contains a chamber twenty feet high by thirty feet in circum- 
 ference, approached by a narrow passage from the side of the 
 mound, the entrance to which was closed by a large slab of stone. 
 The researches of Mr. Lukis among the Celtic sepulchres of the 
 Channel Islands, show that these stone chambers had been there 
 used by generation after generation, through several ages. As far 
 as antiquarian researches have yet been carried, extensive monu- 
 ments of this kind are of rare occurrence in England. They are 
 found, however, in Wiltshire. When denuded of their covering of 
 earth, they have been more easily thrown down than the simple 
 cromlech, or perhaps they have afforded greater temptation to 
 those who were in want of stone for other purposes. The monu- 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 SEPULCHRAL CHAMBERS. 
 
 55 
 
 ment at Ashbury, in Berkshire, to which the Saxons attached the 
 name of Welandes Smiththcm (WelancVs Smithy — Weland was 
 the Saxon Vulcan), a name which has been corrupted to that of 
 Wayland Smith's cave, appears to have been originally a gallery 
 with chambers of this description. A very curious monument of 
 the same kind, near Wellow, in Somersetshire, was opened by 
 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in the May of 1816, and an account of 
 it published in the nineteenth volume of the Archseologia. The 
 barrow, composed of stones instead of earth, and of a very 
 irregular form, stood on the side of a sloping field called Round 
 Hill Tyning, at a place called Stoney Littleton, about three 
 quarters of a mile west of Wellow church. The barrow was a 
 hundred and seven feet long, fifty-four feet in its extreme width, 
 and thirteen feet high in its most elevated part. When opened 
 it was found to contain a long gallery with chambers on each 
 side. The annexed cut represents a section of the barrow in the 
 
 Barrow at Stoney Littleton, in Somerset. 
 
 length of the gallery, and a plan. The entrance was on the 
 north-west side, where a stone upwards of seven feet long, and 
 three and a half wide, supported by two others, left a square 
 aperture of about four feet high, which had been closed by another 
 large stone. This entrance led to a long passage or avenue, 
 extending in the direction from north-west to south-east forty- 
 
56 THE BRITONS. [chap. n. 
 
 seven feet six inches, and varying in breadth. There were three 
 transepts, or recesses on each side. The side-walls were formed 
 of thin laminae of stone piled closely together without cement, 
 and a rude kind of arched roof, made by stones so placed as to 
 overlap each other. Where the large stones in the side-walls did 
 not join, the interstices were filled up with layers of small ones. 
 This, like so many of the larger barrows, had been disturbed, and 
 the deposits removed or scattered about. In one of the recesses, 
 fragments of an earthen vessel with burnt bones were found ; but 
 in general the deposits had been taken out of the recesses and 
 scattered over the avenue, which was strewed with fragments of 
 bones, mostly unburn t. In one place, just before the second 
 transept, a stone had been placed across the avenue, which closed 
 the access to the further part, but with what object it is not easy 
 to guess. 
 
 The mound or barrow, which, as we have stated, originally 
 covered these cromlechs and stone structures, was generally 
 formed of fine mould, and the value of the earth as soil has 
 doubtless been the principal cause of their removal. Sometimes, 
 however, the mound is composed of small loose stones, or of 
 stones and earth mixed. That at Stoney Littleton, in Somerset- 
 shire, appears to have been peculiar in its construction, built, as 
 it were, of small stones. The reason of the use of stones instead 
 of earth may generally be traced to the natural character of the 
 locality, as such barrows are found most frequently on spots 
 where stone was much more easily obtained than earth. A few 
 instances have occurred in Wiltshire, but they are seldom found 
 in the interior or the south of England, except in Cornwall, 
 where they are not uncommon. They are common in Wales, 
 and are found also in the north of England. In Scotland, 
 where they are known by the name of cairns, they abound. The 
 Welsh call them carnydd. In France they call the mounds of 
 stones galgals. 
 
 The base of the larger sepulchral mounds, and very often of 
 the smaller ones, was usually defined either by a shallow foss, or 
 by a circle of stones, and sometimes the two were combined. In 
 some instances, especially in Cornwall, instead of the circle of 
 stones, the base of the barrow was supported by a sort of low wall. 
 These circles have often disappeared with the mound, as the 
 stones of which they were composed were smaller and more 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 BRITISH CIRCLES. 
 
 57 
 
 portable than those which constituted the cromlech. But they 
 as often remain encircling the cromlech. At Molfra, in Cornwall, 
 on a bare hill, with a commanding view of Mount's Bay, a fine 
 cromlech is surrounded by a circular base of stonework, thirty- 
 seven feet in diameter, and two feet high. A cromlech at Zennor, 
 or Sennor, in Cornwall, is surrounded by a similar base. Our 
 cut of the cromlech at Chun shows the circle of stones round that 
 monument. The circles of stones are frequently found with the 
 cromlechs in various parts of England. They are also often found 
 without any cromlech in the centre. One of these, called Dance 
 Maine, at Bolleit, in the parish of St. Burian, near the Land's 
 
 Circle called Dance Maine, near the Land's End, Cornwall. 
 
 End, is represented in the accompanying sketch. This circle is 
 about eighty feet in diameter. There are several other good 
 examples in Cornwall, nearly of the same magnitude, such as the 
 circle at Boscawen-un, in the parish of Sancred, near the Land's 
 End, about the same size as that of Dance Maine ; one in the 
 parish of Madron, seventy feet in diameter ; and two adjoining 
 circles in St. Just, each between sixty and seventy feet in 
 diameter. The last stands on an eminence commanding a view 
 of the Scilly islands. There is a similar circle on the summit of the 
 lofty Pen- maen- ma wr, in North Wales. There are remains of others 
 
58 THE BRITONS. [chap. ii. 
 
 at Salkeld, near Carlisle, at Rollrich, near Banbury in Oxfordshire, 
 and in several other places in England. One, called Arbor-low, in 
 the peak of Derby, nearly one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, 
 is surrounded by a deep intrenchment. Sometimes the stones 
 forming the circle are nearly equal in size, while in other cases 
 they are very irregular. The latter is especially the case in 
 a circle near Winterburn in Dorsetshire. It does not necessarily 
 follow that the mounds raised on all these circles contained each 
 a cromlech — the interments may, in some cases, have been made 
 without a chamber, as it has been found to be the case in some 
 larger barrows. 
 
 Antiquaries observed these circles before they noticed how often 
 they accompanied cromlechs, or were aware that cromlechs are 
 sepulchral monuments, and they gave them the name of draids' 
 circles, imagined that they were temples, or courts of justice, or 
 places of assembly, and even built extravagant speculations on 
 the number of stones which formed each circle. It is now quite 
 certain that the majority of such circles were originally made to 
 support or inclose sepulchral mounds, and even the circle at 
 Arbor-low, which has been set down so positively as being the 
 great druidical temple of the Peak of Derby, would seem, by its 
 name of loiv, to have had another object, and when that name 
 was given, to have presented a different appearance. Yet we 
 should be rash in asserting, with our scanty knowledge of the 
 subject, that some few of the circles of stones still remaining on 
 our own soil may not have been erected for other purposes, 
 though it is difficult to make the distinction. The greater 
 number of these circles are not larger than the basis of ordinary 
 large barrows, and there are sepulchral mounds known, whose 
 bases are equal to the largest ; yet I am not aware that any 
 barrow so large has yet been discovered in this country resting 
 on such a circle of stones. Moreover, as we pursue these circles 
 through the ascending scale of magnitude, we become still more 
 embarrassed when we reach the gigantic monuments of Avebury 
 and Stonehenge. 
 
 The extraordinary monument called Stonehenge, an Anglo- 
 Saxon term, meaning the hanging stones, is situated on a gentle 
 knoll in the midst of a wide and barren tract, only distinguished 
 from a plain by slight elevations. It consisted originally of an 
 outer circle of thirty upright stones, sustaining as many others 
 

chap, il] STONEHENGE. 59 
 
 placed horizontally, so as to form a continuous impost. These 
 upright stones were about fourteen feet high above the ground, 
 and seven feet broad, by three in thickness. They differ from 
 other Celtic stone monuments in the circumstance that the stones 
 have been hewn and squared with tools, and that each of the 
 upright stones had two tenons or projections on the top, which 
 fitted into mortices or hollows in the superincumbent slabs. 
 Within this first circle, which was about a hundred feet in 
 diameter, was another circle, eighty-three feet in diameter, con- 
 taining about the same number of perpendicular stones, but much 
 smaller, and without imposts. This again inclosed two elliptical 
 arrangements of large and small stones, the former arranged in 
 what the French archaeologists term triliths, or groups of 
 three stones, two upright ones and an impost, and the other 
 formed by a series of small upright stones, three of which stood 
 before each trilith. The triliths were from sixteen to 
 twenty-one feet in height. In the central space, in front of the 
 principal trilith, is a large flat stone, which those who look 
 upon the whole as a primeval temple, call the altar. Such is 
 the arrangement of this monument as nearly as we can judge 
 from its present condition, which presents to the eye at first sight 
 an apparently confused mass of upright and fallen stones, the 
 appearance of which, as seen from the W. N.W., is exhibited in 
 our engraving, taken from a sketch by Mr. Fairholt. The form 
 of the tenon on the uprights of the outer circle is shown on the 
 leaning stone in front, somewhat more prominently than it is 
 really seen, in order to make it more intelligible to the reader. 
 This structure of stones occupies the centre of an area, inclosed 
 by a circular entrenchment, consisting of a ditch and bank, 
 three hundred feet in diameter. It was approached by a wide 
 entrenched avenue from the north east, which, at the distance of a 
 few hundred feet, branched off in two ways, running north and east. 
 The ground around Stonehenge is covered with barrows, and 
 was evidently the cemetery of a very extensive tribe, but nothing 
 has yet been discovered to throw any light upon the object or 
 date of the structure itself. The earliest existing legends relating 
 to it describe it as a monument raised to the memory of the dead, 
 a notion which may easily have arisen from the number of 
 sepulchral monuments surrounding it.* The earliest writer who 
 
 * Geoffrey of Monmouth, and the host of writers who translated and paraphrased 
 
60 THE BRITONS. [chap. ii. 
 
 mentions it, Henry of Huntingdon,* looked upon it as involved 
 in the same impenetrable mystery which still envelopes it, and 
 which will probably never be cleared. From the arrangement of 
 the stones, the most probable conjecture seems to be that which 
 makes it a temple for some kind of worship ; but the wild 
 speculations to which this and other suppositions have given rise 
 should be deprecated by all who are sincerely desirous of arriving 
 at truth, f It has been observed with regard to the stones of 
 which this monument is constructed, that the outer circles of^ 
 large stones, as well as the inner triliths, are of the sandstone 
 found plentifully in the neighbourhood, whereas the inner circle 
 of small stones, as well as the small stones within the triliths, 
 are of a different sort of stone, which appears to have been 
 brought from Devonshire. This has led to a conjecture that 
 Stonehenge was built at two different periods, but those who have 
 adopted this opinion differ as to which was the earliest and which 
 the latest part. 
 
 A series of circles more remarkable even than those of Stone- 
 henge, is found at the village of Avebury, distant from Stonehenge 
 about twenty miles. It consisted originally of an area, about 
 fourteen hundred feet in diameter, inclosed by a deep ditch and 
 bank, immediately within which was a first circle of a hundred 
 stones. Within the area were two double circles, which have 
 been designated as temples, one having three stones in the centre, 
 and the other one only. The stones with which these various 
 circles were composed, were no less massive than those at Stone- 
 henge, varying from five to twenty feet in height. Two entrances 
 were approached by two winding avenues, each consisting of a 
 
 his fabulous History of the Britons, pretended that these stones were brought from 
 Ireland, and that they were raised to the memory of the British princes fabled to 
 have been murdered by Hengist and his Saxons. 
 
 * In the list of the wonders of Britain, written in the earlier half of the 
 twelfth century, and given by Henry of Huntingdon, Stonehenge is the second 
 wonder. u Apud Stanhenges lapides mirse magnitudinis in modum portarum 
 elevati sunt, ut portse portis superpositse videantur, nee potest excogitare qua arte 
 elevati sunt, vel qualiter constructi. 11 — " At Stanhenges stones of wonderful 
 magnitude are raised in the manner of doors, so that they seem like doors placed over 
 doors, nor can any one imagine by what art they were raised, or how constructed." 
 
 "j^LThe young antiquary is particularly to be warned against such speculations 
 as have recently been published in a book entitled " The Druidical Temples of the 
 County of Wilts," by the Rev. E. Duke, as more calculated to throw ridicule upon 
 science than to promote it. Very good accounts of these monuments are given by 
 Mr. Britton, in his articles on Stonehenge and Avebury in the " Penny Cyclopaedia." 
 
chap, il] SINGLE STONES. 61 
 
 double row of upright stones, branching off to the extent of 
 about a mile and a half to the west and south. These avenues 
 of approach, from their form, have been a fertile subject of 
 speculation, and have been imagined to have some connexion 
 with the worship of the serpent. At no great distance from the 
 outer circle of Aveburj is a fine cromlech with its attendant circle 
 of stones. The remains at Avebury are much less known than 
 those of Stonehenge ; and they are not easily observed, on 
 account of the extent of ground they cover, and its subdivision by 
 hedges and other inclosures. The space inclosed by the earthen 
 embankment contains a village, with various fields and buildings, 
 over which the stones that remain are scattered in apparent 
 confusion. 
 
 Stones which have been classed by our antiquaries under the 
 indiscriminate title of druidic, but which come under the head 
 of none of the monuments already described, are found in groups, 
 or singly scattered over many parts of our island. Some of these 
 appear to be natural formations, others have been set up at 
 different periods for various purposes, and others are probably the 
 remains of cromlechs and circles. Geologists and antiquaries 
 seem now generally agreed that the rocking-stones are not works 
 of art, but that they are the result of natural causes, and that 
 they have been classed erroneously among druidic remains. In the 
 neighbourhood of Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire, there are masses of 
 scattered rocks which in the same manner have been erroneously 
 supposed to be druidical. In some cases a few scattered stones are 
 the remains of circles or avenues. Single stones belonging to a long 
 avenue of this kind are still traced here and there in a line from 
 the foot of the hill on which Kits-Cotty House stands, across 
 the valley to the opposite chalk-hills, a distance of five miles. 
 Celtic antiquaries have given to these single stones the names of 
 peulvan, (i. e. stone pillar), and menhir, (long stone). They have 
 no doubt been erected at different periods, and for different 
 purposes. Some, as I have just observed, are the last remains of 
 cromlechs. Others are sepulchral monuments, often of the 
 Roman or post-Roman period, which is proved sometimes by 
 inscriptions. Several such inscribed stones have been found in 
 Wales and Cornwall ; and there is a celebrated one near Join ville, 
 in France, with the inscription in Roman characters, viromarys 
 istatili f (Viromarus the son of Istatilius). Two, found in 
 
62 THE BRITONS. [chap. n. 
 
 the neighbourhood of Neath, in Glamorganshire, (the Boman 
 Nidum) have severally the inscriptions imp. c. fla. val. maximino 
 invicto augus [to], and imp. m. c. piavonio victorino augusto, 
 and were perhaps boundary-stones or mile-stones. There is a rough 
 uninscribed stone of this description, perhaps a boundary-stone, 
 standing on the common at Harrowgate, in Yorkshire, concerning 
 which the inhabitants can only tell you, that " the oldest man 
 that ever lived there knows nothing about it." A single stone, 
 or peulvan, in the department of the Haute-Marne in France, is 
 said to bear a Latin inscription,, stating that it marked the ancient 
 limits of the Leuci. That such stones marked the sites of battles, 
 or were memorials of celebrated events, is a mere assumption. 
 Although the stones of the so-called druidic monuments are in 
 general rough and untouched with a tool, some instances are known, 
 as in the extraordinary sepulture of Gavr'inis in the Morbihan, 
 (Britany), and at New Grange, in Ireland, where they have been 
 sculptured with rude ornaments. In some instances in England, 
 one of the stones of a cromlech is pierced with a round hole, 
 perhaps accidental, or the result of caprice. 
 
 Long after the people who raised them had passed away, 
 and when their meaning, or the object for which they were erected, 
 were alike forgotten, these monuments of stone continued to be 
 regarded by the peasantry with reverence, which, combined with 
 a certain degree of mysterious fear, degenerated into a sort of 
 superstitious worship. In this feeling originated legends 
 connected with them, and the popular names which are often 
 found attached to them. Stonehenge was called the Giant's 
 Dance (chorea gigantwn), a name no doubt once connected with 
 a legend which has been superseded by the story attached to it by 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth. A circle in Cornwall, of which we have 
 given a sketch on a former page, is called Dance Maine, or the 
 dance of stones, and is said to be the representation of a party of 
 young damsels who were turned into stones because they danced 
 on the sabbath day. According to a somewhat similar legend, a 
 party of soldiers, who came to destroy Long Compton, were changed 
 into the Kollrich stones in Oxfordshire. The people of Britany 
 declare that the extraordinary multitude of stones arranged 
 upright in lines at Carnac, was an army of pagans changed into 
 stones by St. Cornilly. As we have seen, the Saxons believed 
 that a cromlech in Berkshire was a workshop of their mythic 
 
chap, h.] SUPERSTITIONS. 63 
 
 smith Weland. A cromlech on Marlborough Downs is called the 
 Devil's Den. Legends like these, which are found in every part 
 of our island, are generally good evidence of the great antiquity 
 of the monuments to which they relate. In France, as in 
 England, and indeed in most countries, they are usually con- 
 nected in the popular belief with fairies or with demons — and in 
 England, with Eobin Hood. In France this latter personage is 
 replaced by Gargantua, a name made generally celebrated by the 
 extraordinary romance of Rabelais. A cromlech near the village 
 of Toury, in Britany, is called Gargantua's stone ; a not uncom- 
 mon name for the single stone or menhir is palet de Gargantua 
 (Gargantua's quoit). A very common name for cromlechs among 
 the peasantry of France is fairies' tables, or devils' tables, and in 
 one or two instances they have obtained the name of Caesar's 
 table ; the covered alleys, or more complicated cromlechs, are 
 similarly named fairies' grottos, or fairy rocks. The single 
 stones are sometimes called fairies' or devils' seats. The prohi- 
 bition to worship stones occurring so frequently in the earlier 
 Christian ecclesiastical laws and ordinances, relates no doubt to 
 these druidical monuments, and was often the cause of their 
 destruction. Traces of this worship still remain. In some 
 instances people passed through the druidical monuments for 
 trial, or for purification, or as a mode of defensive charm. It is 
 still a practice among the peasantry at Columbiers, in France, for 
 young girls who want husbands, to climb upon the cromlech called 
 the Pierre-levee, place there a piece of money, and then jump 
 down. At Guerande, with the same object, they depose in the 
 crevices of a Celtic monument bits of rose-coloured wool tied with 
 tinsel. The women of Croisic dance round a menhir. It is the 
 popular belief in Anjou, that the fairies, as they descended the 
 mountains spinning by the way, brought down the druidical 
 stones in their aprons, and placed them as they are now found. 
 
 In a great number of cases, the British cromlechs, like the 
 barrows of other periods, are placed on lofty hills, commanding 
 extensive views of the sea, if on the coast, or, when inland, of the 
 surrounding country. It seems always to have been the desire of 
 the chiefs to be buried in such commanding positions. A cromlech 
 at Molfra, in Cornwall, is thus situated on a bare hill, which com- 
 mands a wide range of view over Mount's Bay. The mound of 
 some Celtic chief has once been raised on the elevated summit of 
 
64 
 
 THE BRITONS. 
 
 [chap. ti. 
 
 Pen-maen-mawr, in Wales, of which the circle of stones that con- 
 fined its base alone remains at the present day. It would be 
 difficult to select in this respect a finer position than that occupied 
 by Kits-Cotty House, in Kent, of which a slight sketch is given 
 
 Kits-Cotty House, in Kent, from the hill above. 
 
 in the accompanying cut. This large cromlech stands on the 
 summit of a lofty knoll, a little in advance of the chalk-hill which 
 rises behind. Below, the Medway winds in its course from 
 Maidstone to Eochester. Further on extends a wide valley, 
 bounded on the north by another range of chalk hills. Under 
 these latter hills, at the spot indicated in the cut by three crows, 
 lies the parish of Addington, in which are several circles, crom- 
 lechs, and other early sepulchral monuments, and from this spot, 
 proceeding in a direct line eastward, large upright stones are 
 found at intervals, which seem to have belonged to an avenue 
 extending from the group of monuments at Addington to the foot 
 of the hill on which Kits-Cotty House stands, a distance of not 
 less than five miles. The hill behind Kits-Cotty House is also 
 covered with sepulchral monuments, consisting of smaller crom- 
 lechs and circles, either thrown down or partly buried ; and there 
 are several remarkable cromlechs and circles in the fields below ; 
 all seeming to indicate that this valley was the burial-place of a 
 British tribe. Another class of monuments are found on the hill 
 
chap, il] OPENING OF BARKOWS. 65 
 
 above Kits-Cotty House. Large stones, resembling the men-hirs, 
 are found lying flat on the ground, and, on excavating, it is dis- 
 covered that they are placed over round pits cut in the chalk, and 
 filled up with flints. None of these have yet been carefully 
 investigated, but, on the opposite hills, and in other parts in the 
 neighbourhood, are found similar pits open, communicating with 
 chambers cut in the chalk, regarding the purpose of which many 
 conjectures have been hazarded, but it is not improbable that 
 they were sepulchral. 
 
 Very few of the cromlechs and stone chambers in Britain had 
 been uncovered from their mounds of earth in recent times, 
 under proper examination. This deficiency has been compen- 
 sated, in some measure, by the extensive and careful researches 
 among the cromlechs of the Channel Islands, by Mr. Lukis,* 
 although there would, no doubt, be found a marked difference 
 between their contents, which belong to Gaul, and those of the 
 British monuments of a similar character. But there is another 
 numerous class of barrows which are generally considered to be 
 British, but which do not contain the sepulchral chamber or 
 cromlech. Numerous examples of this class of barrows have 
 been opened in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Derbyshire, and a few 
 in other parts. f These are the only barrows in this country 
 which have furnished us, to any extent, with articles which, from 
 a chain of indirect evidence, are believed to be British. These 
 barrows differ very much in form and size. The interment is 
 sometimes placed on the level of the ground, and sometimes in a 
 shallow grave dug below the surface, with variations in the manner 
 of burial which can only have arisen from individual caprice. 
 
 * Mr. Lukis's different accounts of his researches in the Channel Islands, will 
 be found in the first volume of the " Archaeological Journal," pp. 142, 222; and 
 in the "Journal of the Archaeological Association/' vol. i., pp. 25, 305, 311 ; 
 vol. iii., pp. 4, 269, 342 ; vol. iv., p. 323. 
 
 i* Numerous barrows in Wiltshire were opened by Mr. W. Cunnington and 
 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, the latter of whom has given copious descriptions of them 
 in his " Ancient Wiltshire ; " those of Derbyshire have been largely examined by 
 Mr. Thomas Bateman, and described in a very useful volume, the " Vestiges of 
 the Antiquities of Derbyshire. " Some of the British barrows in eastern York- 
 shire have been opened by Lord Londesborough ; many of those of Dorsetshire 
 were opened by the late Mr. Sydenham, by Mr. Warne, Mr. C. Hall, and other 
 local antiquaries, whose reports of their discoveries are found scattered over the 
 volumes of the M Archaeologia," and of the i( Journal of the Archaeological 
 Association." 
 
66 THE BRITONS. [chap. n. 
 
 The body is sometimes found to have been buried entire, while, 
 perhaps, in a majority of cases, it had been burnt, and the ashes 
 deposited in rude urns. When the body was interred without 
 cremation or burning, it was sometimes stretched at full length, 
 and at others doubled up and laid on one side, or sometimes 
 placed in a sitting position. The urns containing the burnt bones 
 are sometimes found in their natural position, and sometimes 
 inverted, with the mouth downwards. When upwards, the urn is 
 often covered with a flat stone. There is no evidence to support 
 the conjectures of some writers, that these different modes of 
 burial belong to different dates ; it seems more probable that they 
 were fashions adopted by different families, or by subdivisions of 
 tribes or septs, but it would be a vain speculation to attempt to 
 give a decided opinion on such questions, with the little we know 
 of the manners and history of the ancient inhabitants of the 
 island. It is certain, however, that all these different modes of 
 interment are often found in the same barrow, for some of the 
 barrows seem to have been family graves, and it is rare to find 
 only one interment, while the larger barrows contain usually a 
 considerable number of urns and bodies. In many cases these 
 are distinguishable into primary and secondary interments, and 
 so on, and in opening these barrows the excavator is never sure 
 in what part of the mound he will find a deposit. A very large 
 barrow near Dorchester, was found to consist of a low primary 
 barrow, on which subsequently a second interment had been 
 placed, and then a new mound raised over it. Sometimes the 
 different interments are arranged in regular order. In the 
 Deverill barrow, between Whitechurch and Milbourne St. Andrew, 
 in Dorsetshire, opened in 1825, and described in a little volume 
 by W. Augustus Miles, the urns were found arranged in a 
 circle under protecting stones. Throughout these early barrows 
 we find much irregularity, and evidently a good deal of caprice 
 in the mode of burial. 
 
 To judge by the barrows hitherto opened, it was not the custom 
 of the Britons to inter with their dead many articles of value. 
 By much the greater number of barrows, whether large or small, 
 are found to contain nothing but urns and burnt bones. In some 
 cases we find a few implements of stone or bronze, and, in much 
 rarer instances, beads and fragments apparently of other personal 
 ornaments occur. As these articles furnish the only evidence of 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 BRITISH POTTERY. 
 
 67 
 
 the age of the barrow, and as they admit of easy classification, they 
 deserve particular attention. The pottery, as being of more 
 universal occurrence, demands our first consideration. It is in 
 general, though not always, very rudely made, not baked, but 
 merely dried in the sun. Its forms are peculiar, and havo none 
 of the elegance of the Roman urns. They are ornamented more 
 or less with parallel lines, zigzags, crosses, dots, and other marks, 
 which appear usually to have been made by the hand, with some 
 instrument like a stick sharpened to a point, though they are 
 sometimes more elaborately and skilfully worked. Many, how- 
 ever, have no ornament at all, which are usually those containing 
 burnt bones. 
 
 A few examples are here given of the more ordinary forms of 
 of what are believed, and apparently with good reason, to be 
 British urns. The most remarkable, and in general the most 
 
 British Pottery. 
 
 carefully ornamented, class of British earthen vessels is that of 
 which specimens are here given, marked 1, 2, 3, 4. They vary 
 much in size, and in general have nothing in them. Some have 
 called them incense cups, while others have believed them to be 
 
 f2 
 
THE BRITONS. [chap. ii. 
 
 drinking cups. No. 1 was found by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, at 
 the side of a skeleton in a barrow near Stonehenge ; the original 
 is about nine inches and a half high. No. 4, found by Mr. Cun- 
 nington, also in a barrow in Wiltshire, was about the same height, 
 and six inches and a half in diameter over the brim, holding 
 about two quarts. This was a red ware, not bright like the 
 Roman pottery called Samian ware ; and Mr. Cunnington found, 
 at the same time, a much smaller vessel, of the same form, but 
 of a darker coloured pottery. Nos. 2 and 3 were found by 
 Mr. Bateman : the first in a barrow called Green Lowe, on Alsop 
 Moor, in Derbyshire, with a skeleton ; and the other in a large 
 barrow at Castern, near Wetton, in Staffordshire, also with a 
 skeleton. In the latter instance, Mr. Bateman says, that the 
 vase had internally an incrustation, as though it had contained 
 some liquid when deposited in the grave. Urns of this descrip- 
 tion, which are baked, and not sun-dried, are found more frequently 
 in the south of England than elsewhere. One found by Sir 
 Richard Colt Hoare, in a barrow at Stonehenge, was not above 
 three inches high. These cups are usually found with skeletons. 
 The urns, Nos. 5 and 6, are from barrows in the neighbourhood 
 of Dorchester, opened by Mr. Sydenham, and described in the 
 thirtieth volume of the Archaeologia. The first was seven inches 
 and a half, the other nine inches in height, and both had con- 
 tained burnt bones. Urns of the form No. 6, are frequently 
 found in an inverted position. Nos. 7, 8, 9, and 10, are urns 
 found with a great many others, more or less similar in form, in 
 the Deverill barrow. The loops found in Nos. 7 and 9 occur not 
 unfrequently in these British urns, but it is uncertain if they 
 were intended for fixing cords for suspension, or if they were 
 merely ornamental. An urn closely resembling No. 7, and found 
 in a cromlech in the Channel Islands, has been engraved by 
 Mr. Lukis. The other three, and especially No. 10, bear a 
 rather striking resemblance in form to a class of burial urns, which 
 recent researches have proved to be Saxon, although they were 
 formerly considered British. Specimens of these will be given 
 further on ; but one, taken from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery near 
 Derby, is given here, No. 12, for the sake of comparison. The 
 Anglo-Saxon urns are generally harder baked than the British ; 
 they are distinguished by some peculiarities in the form, and on 
 closer examination the ornament will be seen to be of a different 
 
chap, il] IMPLEMENTS OF STONE. 69 
 
 character, and made in a different manner. No. 11, in our 
 cut, is an urn containing burnt bones, taken from a barrow in 
 Cornwall. Similar urns are found in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and 
 other parts, and especially in Yorkshire. 
 
 The foregoing are the more usual forms of British pottery, and 
 will serve to give a general notion of its character. Many other 
 varieties, and some much more rude in form and construction, 
 occur, but they will generally be recognised by the similarity of 
 ornament to those given here. 
 
 As we have already observed, the other articles found in the 
 British barrows are not much diversified, and are of rare occur- 
 rence. They consist chiefly of implements of stone and implements 
 of bronze. Those made of the former materials are usually the 
 heads of axes or hammers, chisels, and arrow-heads. 
 
 Implements made of stone are found abundantly in all parts of 
 the British Islands, and we might add, all over the world ; and 
 nothing seems more natural, not only in a very rude state of 
 society, but also in much more civilised times, when communica- 
 tion between different parts of the country was slow, and metal was 
 not always to be had, than to form rough tools or weapons, especially 
 for the chase, of hard stones. Stones of a siliceous character, which 
 were chipped into the required forms without much difficulty, were 
 used most generally for this purpose. But other kinds of stone 
 were also used.* Our cut on the next page represents a few 
 of the more usual types of the implements of stone found in this 
 country, chiefly taken from originals preserved in the museum 
 of the Society of Antiquaries. Nos. 1 and 2 are different samples 
 of axe-heads, the first, which is elaborately cut, found by 
 Mr. Bateman in a barrow in Derbyshire, the other from the bed 
 of the Severn at Ribbeeford in Worcestershire ; 3 and 4 appear to 
 have been used as chisels, and are very sharp at the broad end. 
 No. 8 is a spear head ; 9 is an instrument apparently intended 
 for stabbing or boring ; 7 is a chisel of a different form from the 
 others; and 10 is a piece of flint notched at the edge, so as to 
 serve as a saw. Several of these stone saws have been found in 
 
 * Mr.Lukis (Journal of the Br. Arch. Ass., vol. iii., p. 127) gives the following list 
 of the substances from which stone weapons in his possession, chiefly found in the 
 Channel Islands, are made : serpentine, greenstone, granular greenstone, indurated 
 claystone, trap greenstone, claystone. quartz, syenite, schistus, yellow hornstone or 
 chert, granular porphyry, siliceous schist, serpentine or jade. 
 
70 
 
 THE BRITONS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 different parts of England. Nos. 5 and 6 are arrow-heads, taken 
 by Sir Richard Colt Hoare from barrows in Wiltshire, where, as 
 well as in Derbyshire, they are frequently found. 
 
 Implements of Stone. 
 
 Stone knives are mentioned in the Old Testament (Joshua v. 2.), 
 in a way which shows that implements of this material may have 
 been employed at times for special purposes. It has been 
 assumed rather hastily that where we find these implements of 
 stone, the people to whom they belonged were not acquainted 
 with the art of working metals. That stone and metal were in 
 use for such implements at the same time is quite evident from 
 the manner in which they occur together. In the tumuli in 
 Wiltshire, the stone arrow-heads are usually found with bronze 
 daggers. In Derbyshire stone implements are found not only 
 with bronze, but with iron. Thus, in a barrow opened at Minning- 
 lowe by Mr. Bateman, an upper deposit of two skeletons was 
 accompanied with an urn, a flint arrow-head, a small piece of 
 iron, and part of a horse's bit ; and lower down in the same 
 barrow, an earlier interment, in a stone cist or cromlech, was 
 accompanied with an iron knife or dagger in a sheath of the same 
 metal. Another interment in the same barrow was accompanied 
 
chap, n.] IMPLEMENTS OF STONE. 71 
 
 _ 
 
 with an ornamented urn of the same description as the four first 
 figures in the preceding group of British pottery, a small brass 
 pin, and an arrow-head of grey flint. In a small harrow at 
 Middle ton-by-Yolgrave, a flint arrow-head was found with one of 
 the small bronze chisels or axes, which will be described further 
 on. In a barrow called Carder-lowe, along with a great number 
 of implements of flint, were found a bronze dagger and an iron 
 knife ; there had been several interments, no doubt at different 
 periods, but the bronze dagger was found in a lower, and therefore 
 older, deposit than one which contained nothing but flint imple- 
 ments. A large barrow opened by Mr. Bat em an in 1846, was 
 supported at the base by a regular circle of large stones, and had 
 in the interior a cromlech. Within the latter was found a 
 skeleton, which was accompained with " a brass dagger of the 
 usual type, measuring six inches and a quarter in length, and in 
 the highest preservation ; it has the appearance of having been 
 silvered, and still retains a brilliant polish. . . . near it were 
 two instruments of flint, and two more were found during the 
 progress of the examination of the tumulus." A barrow with a 
 cromlech cist opened by the same gentleman in 1847, contained 
 a skeleton, with a flint spear-head and a bronze pin or bodkin, 
 which had been inserted in a wooden handle. 
 
 The stone chisels or axes are less frequently found in tumuli, 
 than in accidental localities where there is nothing to fix their 
 date or to indicate the people to whom they belonged. They 
 are sometimes met with in a very rough condition, and sometimes 
 more or less finished, and, in one or two instances, bundles of 
 finished and rough stone implements have been found, as though 
 they belonged to the stores of a manufacturer. This is most fre- 
 quently the case with the arrow-heads. In other instances, espe- 
 cially in Scotland, bundles of flint chippings, or, as they have 
 been termed, flint flakes, have been found, which appear to have 
 been struck off from a solid mass, and, as these generally occur 
 in districts where flint is not found naturally, we are justified in 
 regarding them as importations of the rough article, merely 
 formed to the size required by the manufacturer. In examining 
 these implements in the different stages of their manufacture, as 
 thus presented to us, we become convinced that not only must im- 
 plements of metal have been used in making them, but that some 
 machine like a lathe must have been used in boring and finishing 
 
72 
 
 THE BRITONS. 
 
 [chap n. 
 
 them. Besides the fact just stated of their having been depo- 
 sited in the same interments with instruments of metal, insulated 
 facts have occurred corroborating the conclusions which we should 
 naturally draw from this circumstance. In France some of the 
 stone implements are said to have been found with handles of 
 bone, but we are assured of a circumstance more interesting, that 
 at old Toulouse one of these stone implements was found, in the 
 place of its original deposit, surrounded with a circle or ferret of 
 iron that had evidently fixed it to its handle.* Instances might 
 be adduced of the continuation of the use of implements of stone 
 down to a much more recent date. According to the recital of 
 William of Poitiers, some of the Anglo-Saxons fought with 
 weapons of stone at the battle of Hastings ; f and they are said 
 to have been employed by the Scots as late as the wars of 
 Wallace. 
 
 8 2 
 
 Implements of bronze. 
 
 The older implements of metal found in this island are 
 generally of bronze. I here give a group of the more usual forms 
 
 * See a paper in the Memoires de la Societe Archceologique du Midi de la 
 France, torn, i., p. 78. 
 
 f Jactant cuspides ac diversorum generum tela, ssevissimas quasque secures, et 
 ligriis imposita saxa; p. 201, ap. Duchesne. These stones, fixed on pieces of 
 wood, appear to have been for striking, as with clubs. 
 
chap, il] BRONZE " CELTS." 73 
 
 of those attributed generally to the British period, all, except 
 No. 8, taken from specimens in the museum of the Society of 
 Antiquaries. No. 1 is the usual form of the bronze axe-head or 
 chisel, to which the name of celt has been given, not because it was 
 conceived to be characteristic of the Celtic race, but because our 
 earlier antiquaries supposed it to be the instrument to which the 
 Romans gave the name of celtis (a chisel) ..* It has a socket for 
 receiving the handle. Nos. 2 and 3, the latter found in the Isle 
 of Thanet, and now in the museum of Mr. Crofton Croker, are 
 also common forms, with a different contrivance for fixing the 
 handle. No. 4 is another variety, exhibiting a much rarer form. 
 There can be no doubt that these were tools in very common 
 use by workmen in England at some period, for they are found 
 very frequently, though very rarely in sepulchral interments, all 
 over the island ; and rather numerous instances have occurred of 
 the discovery of considerable quantities of them, whole or broken, 
 under circumstances that can leave no doubt of their having 
 been the stock in trade of some maker of such instruments. 
 They are found in great abundance in the county of Norfolk; 
 and they generally occur along with chisels of different forms, 
 and sometimes with spear-heads and daggers. In a meadow at 
 Stibbard, in the county of Norfolk, no less than seventy of the 
 so-called celts, and ten spear-heads of bronze, were found in a 
 single lot. In 1845, a quantity of such instruments, including 
 the chisels, or axe-heads of the usual forms, with punches, 
 gouges, and other similar instruments, as well as several pieces of 
 unused metal, one of which appeared to have been the residuum 
 left in the melting-pot, were found at a village near Attleborough, 
 
 * The earliest dissertation on these instruments I know, is one by the well-known 
 antiquary, Thomas Hearne, to whom the historian Thoresby communicated some 
 examples in his possession, found in Yorkshire Hearne wrote a long and learned 
 epistle to Thoresby, in the December of 1709, which he printed as an appendix to 
 the first volume of his edition of Leland's Itinerary, under the title of " A 
 Discourse concerning some Antiquities found in Yorkshire," and in which he 
 stated his opinion that these instruments were the Roman celtes or chisels. This 
 opinion seems to have been generally acquiesced in by Hearne's contemporaries, 
 and this particular tool obtained the name of a celtis or celt. Subsequent writers, 
 ascribing these instruments to the Britons, have retained the name, forgetting its 
 origin, and have applied it indiscriminately not only to other implements of bronze, 
 but even to the analogous instruments of stone. It is not good as a technical 
 term, because it is mistaken too generally as implying that things to which it is 
 applied are Celtic, and it would therefore be better to lay it aside. 
 
74 THE BRITONS. [chap. ii. 
 
 in the same county. A similar discovery of bronze chisels, 
 gouges, &c, with portions of a bronze sword, was made at Sitting- 
 bourne, in Kent. More recently, at Westow, about twelve miles 
 from York, a collection of sixty similar instruments, presenting 
 the same varieties, with the addition of a piece of dagger or 
 sword, and a similar piece of bronze, which appeared to be the 
 residuum from melting, were found in an earthern jar or vase. A 
 very similar hoard was found in the parish of Lanant, in Corn- 
 wall, in the year 1802 ; and Leland has recorded the discovery 
 of a similar hoard in the parish of St. Hilary, in the same county, 
 in the time of Henry VIII.* A parcel of the so-called celts, 
 spear-heads, and fragments of swords, of bronze, were found by 
 Mr. Lukis in the Isle of Alderney, under similar circumstances. 
 
 No. 7, in our cut, represents a bronze chisel, from a specimen 
 in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries, and will serve to 
 give a general idea of the forms of these instruments, as found 
 with the " celts." We are convinced at once that all these 
 instruments have been cast in moulds, and accordingly several 
 examples of these moulds have been found, both in England and 
 other countries. I have given examples, Nos. 6 and 7, from 
 casts in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries, of two such 
 moulds, found in Normandy ; they represent the two varieties of 
 which we have examples in the cut, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. No. 8, in 
 our cut, is a fragment of a bronze saw. 
 
 I have stated that antiquarian writers have been in the habit of 
 calling these bronze tools British, but I am inclined to believe 
 that Hearne was nearer the truth when he pronounced them to be 
 Roman. The localities in which they have been usually found, 
 especially when they have occurred in any quantities, have gene- 
 rally been Roman sites. One of the moulds engraved above, is said 
 to have been found by the side of a Roman road, and the other at a 
 place well known for its Roman antiquities. The discovery at 
 Sittingbourne, in Kent, was made also near a Roman road, in the 
 immediate vicinity of an extensive Saxon cemetery, and, perhaps, 
 
 * " There was found of late yeres syns, spere heddes, axis for warre, and.swerdes, 
 of coper, wrappid up in lynin scant perishid, nere the mount in St. Hilaries paroch 
 in the tynne works." — Leland's Itin., ed. Hearne, vol. iii., p. 7. The discoveries 
 alluded to in the text will be found more fully described in the " Archaeologia," 
 vol. xv., p. 118 ; in the "Journal of the British Archaeological Association," vols, 
 i., pp. 51, 59, and ii., pp. 9, 58 ; and in Mr. Roach Smith's Collectanea Antiqua, 
 vol. i., pp. 101, 105. 
 
CHAP, n.] 
 
 BRONZE SWORDS. 
 
 75 
 
 further researches will lay open Koman remains. The general 
 shape and character of these instruments seem to be much more 
 like Roman than anything we know of Celtic make ; and I believe 
 they are found in Italy. The question here raised is, however, 
 one of considerable obscurity, until further discoveries, and a 
 more careful observation of the circumstances under which they 
 are found, shall enable us to clear it away. 
 
 2 3 
 
 Bronze swords. 
 
 The fragments of swords found in one or two instances with 
 these parcels of bronze instruments, were apparently placed 
 
76 THE BRITONS. [chap. ii. 
 
 there as old metal. They belong to a class which have usually 
 been considered as Celtic by English antiquaries, but which I 
 have been always inclined to regard as unmistakeably Roman. 
 They are found in England and Scotland, in Ireland, in Denmark 
 (less frequently), in Germany, in France, and, I believe, in Italy. 
 Four specimens are given in the accompanying cut. The first 
 is preserved in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of 
 England, but it is uncertain where it was found. The second was 
 found at Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh, and is now preserved in 
 the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. The 
 third was found in the bed of the Thames, near Vauxhall, and 
 the fourth at Tiverton, near Bath. The two last are engraved in 
 the Journal of the Archaeological Association. They are short, 
 usually from sixteen to eighteen inches in length, and were 
 evidently used for thrusting rather than for cutting. 
 
 These swords, in whatever country we find them, are so uniform 
 in shape, that we can hardly doubt their being all the workmanship 
 of one people. They do not answer the ancient descriptions of the 
 swords used by the Celts and Germans, who, from the time when 
 Marius encountered the Cimbrians and Teutons, to the great 
 battle in which Agricola defeated the Britons under Galgacus, 
 are described as using long pointless swords.* Indeed, I believe, 
 all people in a rude state, whose soldiers are not highly disciplined, 
 are more apt to use swords for striking than thrusting. We 
 know that the Romans had an advantage over their British foes in 
 close combat, from the very circumstance, that they used their short 
 and pointed swords in thrusting, while the Britons were unable 
 to use with the same effect their long pointless ones. The swords 
 of the form figured above have, I think, been generally found 
 on or near Roman sites. Many are taken up from the Thames, 
 where such multitudes of Roman antiquities are found, but no 
 other swords that can be accounted Roman. The question, 
 however, seems to be set at rest by discoveries in France. One 
 of these swords was found at Heilly, in the department of the 
 Somme, with other articles, among which were four brass coins of 
 Caracalla ; and another was found in another locality along with 
 
 * Besides the mention of these long swords in the accounts of the battles 
 mentioned in the text, Dion Cassius, lib. xxxviii, c. 49, in his account of Caesar's 
 battle with Ariovistus, in Gaul, mentions the large long swords of the barbarians. 
 
chap, n.] INSTRUMENTS OF..BRONZE. 77 
 
 skeletons and coins, some of which belonged to the emperor 
 Maxentius, so that they could not have been deposited there 
 before the beginning of the fourth century after Christ.* Jt may 
 be added, that in the museum of the Louvre, in Paris, there is 
 one of these bronze leaf-shaped swords, (as they are usually 
 termed,) with its sheath, the latter undoubtedly Roman ; and 
 I am informed that there is another similar sword and sheath in 
 the Musee de l'Artillerie, also in Paris. 
 
 It is well known that the use of copper and bronze for weapons 
 and other instruments preceded that of iron. Copper weapons 
 are supposed to have preceded those of bronze. The alloy of tin 
 in the latter metal gave it a hardness and brittleness not possessed 
 by the pure copper, and the ancients are said, though on late and 
 doubtful authority, to have employed a method of tempering it as 
 we do steel. The weapons of the Homeric age were of these 
 materials, which appear to have been regarded almost with a 
 superstitious veneration by the Romans. In the treaty between 
 Porsena and the Roman people, about four hundred years before 
 the Christian era, it was expressly stipulated that the Romans 
 should not use iron except for implements of agriculture.! It was 
 not till three hundred years later, that is, after the second Punic 
 war, that the Romans began to use iron in the fabrication of arms ; 
 and it is a very remarkable circumstance, that in the battle in 
 which the Gauls were defeated by the consul iEmilius, when the 
 Romans used swords of bronze, those of the Gauls, as we are 
 told by Polybius, were long and so badly tempered, that they bent 
 when the Gallic warriors struck a hard blow against the Roman 
 armour. It would appear, from their being tempered, that they 
 were made of iron.]; 
 
 Among the most curious of the instruments of bronze found in 
 this country, are the daggers or knives, which are not unfrequently 
 found in the barrows, supposed to be British, and were no doubt 
 peculiar to the people who were buried in them. The usual forms 
 
 * These are described in the fifth volume of the Memoires of the Institute of 
 France, class of Litter uture et beaux arts, pp. 193 and 501. I give the reference 
 from the work of M. Mauduit, mentioned below. 
 
 + In foedere quod repulsis regibus populo Romano dedit Porsena, nominative 
 comprehensum invenimus, ne ferro nisi in agricultura uterentur. — Plinii Hist. 
 Nat. lib. xxxiv., c. 14. 
 
 % Much information on the early use of bronze will be found m the De'couvertes 
 dans la Troade, by M. Mauduit, Paris, 1840. 
 
73 
 
 THE BRITONS. 
 
 [chap. n. 
 
 of these instruments will be best understood by the accompanying 
 cut. They are found frequently without handles, but with the 
 rivets which fixed them on, and the blade generally bears marks of 
 
 or knives. 
 
 having been placed in a shank of wood. The handle appears to 
 have been generally of the same material, and has only been 
 preserved where, in particular instances, it has been made of ivory 
 or bone. The blades are from six to ten inches long; sometimes 
 they are much smaller. At first, until one was found with a 
 handle, they were supposed to be spear-heads. In a barrow at 
 Norman ton, in Wiltshire, Sir Eichard Colt Hoare found the 
 handle of one of these daggers, of wood, richly ornamented with 
 zig-zags and lines, resembling those found on the pottery, formed by 
 innumerable diminutive points or pins of gold driven into the wood. 
 It is in the barrows of Wiltshire and Dorset that these bronze 
 daggers are found most abundantly. A few have been met with 
 in Derbyshire, and they occur more rarely in Scotland ; they are, 
 however, not uncommon in Ireland ; they are also found in Gaul. 
 The figure No. 2, in our cut, represents one of these dagger or 
 knife blades of the more usual form, which was found in a barrow 
 called Dowe-lowe, near Church- Stern dale in Derbyshire, opened 
 
chap, n.] THE GOLD CORSET. 79 
 
 by Mr. Bateman : it accompanied a skeleton. No. 5, is a dagger 
 of the same form, with a handle, found by Sir Richard Colt Hoare 
 in a barrow at Brigmilson in Wiltshire, accompanying an urn 
 with ashes ; and No. 3 is a blade of exactly the same form, found 
 in Ireland, and now in the possession of Mr. Crofton Croker. 
 No. 1 is a somewhat similar bronze blade, found at Pitcaitthly, in 
 Perthshire ; while the other, No. 4, with the same shaped blade, 
 but with its handle of ivory, came from a barrow near Blandford, 
 in Dorsetshire. This latter is in a perfect state of preservation ; 
 it was found with two bronze spear-heads, lying beside an urn with 
 burnt bones. 
 
 There are very few other articles found under circumstances 
 which could lead us to ascribe them to the Celtic population of 
 our island. Bronze spear-heads, often with loops at the side, are 
 found under the same circumstances as the swords, and no doubt 
 belonged to the same people. A few personal ornaments, chiefly 
 beads, with now and then a piece of bone or metal, are found in 
 some of the barrows of Derbyshire, Wiltshire, and Dorset. 
 Several discoveries have also been made of circular shields, 
 generally of bronze, and of rather small dimensions, which have 
 been considered to be British, though the justice of this appro- 
 priation is perhaps doubtful. Traces of a metal covering for the 
 breast, very thin, and therefore more for ornament than protection, 
 have also been found with skeletons, apparently of this early date. 
 The most remarkable discovery of this kind was made in the 
 October of 1833, at Mold, in Flintshire. A mound, composed of 
 pebbles and stones, had long stood at the corner of a field, and it 
 was then cleared away for agricultural purposes. It was found to 
 contain interments of urns and burnt bones, and also, in another 
 part of the mound, a skeleton, round the breast of which was a 
 corset of thin gold, embossed with an ornamentation resembling 
 nail heads and lines. This interesting article is now in the 
 British Museum. This barrow was called by the Welsh peasantry 
 bryn-yr-ellyllon, or the hill of fairies or goblins ; and it was 
 believed to be haunted. But the most curious circumstance 
 connected with it was the declaration, made before it was opened, 
 of a woman of the neighbourhood, that, as she was going home late 
 one night and had to pass by it, she saw moving over the barrow, 
 a spectre " clothed in a coat of gold, which shone like the sun." 
 
 It is the business of the antiquary, by comparing and dis- 
 
80 THE BRITONS. [chap. ii. 
 
 criminating the objects of each period, to make them throw new 
 light on the manners and condition of the people to whom they 
 belong, and also to endeavour to trace, by their peculiarities, the 
 movements of the different tribes, and the positions they occupied. 
 Unfortunately, the antiquities of the British period have as yet 
 proved but of little use in either of these points of view. The 
 solitary dagger, with the few fragments of pottery, and two or 
 three beads or pins, can give us no satisfactory notion of the dress 
 or riches of the person who wore them. If, as Caesar says was the 
 practice among the Gauls, the Britons buried with their dead all 
 the articles of value they possessed, they must indeed have been 
 poor. But it is hardly probable that the contents of the graves, 
 as we now find them, are any fair measure of the wealth of those 
 who were buried in them. We can feel no doubt, after a com- 
 parison of their contents, that the cromlechs and the other 
 barrows of which we have been speaking, belong to the same 
 people, and that they are of about the same date. They occur in 
 large groups. The Kits-Cotty House group belongs to Kent; 
 there was another group in the valley of the White Horse, in 
 Berkshire ; another lay in Oxfordshire ; a larger group lay in 
 Dorsetshire ; then came the vast group about Stonehenge ; and 
 finally, a tolerably numerous one in Cornwall. The only large group 
 of the interior is that of Derbyshire. There is a group towards 
 the south-east of Yorkshire, and they are scattered over Wales, 
 and in the Isle of Anglesea. This distribution would certainly 
 lead us to imagine that the barrows and other monuments of this 
 island, which we are accustomed to attribute to the Druids, belong, 
 not to the earlier Celtic population, but to the later settlers. If 
 this be the case, we might perhaps go further, and assume that 
 the British population of the earlier mining districts, Cornwall, 
 Wales, and Derbyshire, was also composed of later settlers, who 
 knew how to work the metals, of which the earlier aboriginal 
 tribes were perhaps ignorant. But these are obscure questions, 
 which we are, from want of accurate knowledge, unable to solve ; 
 and it must not be forgotten that the cromlechs are numerous in 
 Ireland. 
 
 The next question that presents itself, with relation to these 
 monuments, is their date, which I am inclined to believe less 
 remote than is usually imagined. It has often been a fault 
 among antiquaries to be too eager in fixing great antiquity on 
 
chap, il] THE AGE OF CROMLECHS. 81 
 
 everything about which they were uncertain. The comparison of 
 these barrows with one another, while it shows that some of them 
 had served apparently for family sepulchres during a length of time, 
 would lead us to think that they may in general be placed within 
 no very wide limits. In times like these of which we are now 
 treating, individuals possessed but a small quantity of personal 
 property; the communication between one place and another 
 was slow and uncertain; and while one man, by accident or 
 through his superior wealth and power, had weapons and other 
 implements of bronze or iron, or even of silver and gold, his 
 neighbour might be obliged to remain content with a chisel or 
 axe of stone, or, if a hunter, he might be satisfied with a few 
 flint-headed arrows to his bow. In the same way, one man might 
 be rich or ostentatious enough to depose in the grave elegant 
 vessels of superior manufacture, while another at the same time 
 would use only the rude urn of clay and gravel baked hastily in 
 the sun. Nothing indeed is more unsafe than the rule that mere 
 rudeness of construction is a proof of antiquity. One or two 
 circumstances have been discovered that are certainly rather 
 startling. In Belgium, on the borders of the Ardennes, a cromlech 
 with a Roman interment in it has been recently found in the 
 middle of a Roman cemetery.* A discovery of a somewhat 
 similar kind was made by Mr. Bateman, in his researches among 
 the barrows of Derbyshire, which he describes as follows : "In 
 a plantation on the summit of Minninglowe Hill," he says, "are 
 two tumuli of large size, one being nearly fifteen feet high from the 
 level of the ground. In the centre, and in four places in the area of 
 the circle, are large cists, or, as they now appear, from the soil 
 being removed from them, large cromlechs, exactly of the same con- 
 struction as that well-known druidical structure, Kits-Cotty House. 
 They are formed of the large limestones of the country, and 
 have all had covers of the same, only two of which now remain 
 in their places. . . . The soil in the interior of the cists of the 
 
 * " Le seul tombeau qui, dans ce cimetiere Romain meritait ce nom, consistait 
 en cinq enormes pierres en quartiers de roches. Trois de ces pierces formaient un 
 triangle dont les deux autres etaient la base et le couvercle. Dans ce tombeau, 
 ainsi que pres des assiettes mortuaires, j'ai trouve des ferrements et des clous, qui 
 indiqueraient que ces restes de Romains auraient ete enfermes dans une sorte de 
 cercueil en bois, dont il ne reste plus trace." — Bulletin de la Societe Historique et 
 Archeologique de Soissons, torn, iii., p. 187. 
 
 Q 
 
82 THE BRITONS. [chap. n. 
 
 large barrow was removed down to the surface of the rock on the 
 5th of July, 1843, when it was found that all the interments had 
 been before removed, with the exception of one, which was a 
 skeleton, laid at full length on the outside of the cist, unaccom- 
 panied by any weapon or ornaments. In the cell near which this 
 body lay, were found fragments of five urns, some animal bones, 
 and six third brass Roman coins, namely, one of Claudius 
 Gothicus, two of Constantine the Great, two of Constantine 
 Junior, and one of Valentinian. An attempt to penetrate the 
 substance of the mound was then made, which from want of time 
 proved ineffectual. A few human teeth, and a third brass coin 
 of Constantine, were the only relics found in this part of the 
 excavation." Sir Richard Colt Hoare also found Roman coins in 
 one of the supposed British barrows in Wiltshire. 
 
 These facts might perhaps be considered to be accidental; 
 but it is very remarkable that the only excavation within the area 
 of Stonehenge of which we possess any account, brought to light 
 Roman remains. We are informed by Aubrey that the Duke of 
 Buckingham, in 1620, " did cause the middle of Stonehenge to 
 be digged, and this under digging was the cause of the falling 
 downe or recumbencie of the great stone there." He tells us that 
 in the course of this " digging " they found " a great many horns 
 of stags and oxen, charcoal, batter-dashes (?), heads of arrows, 
 some pieces of armour eaten out with rust, and rotten bones." 
 An inscribed tablet of tin is pretended to have been found at 
 Stonehenge, in the reign of Henry VIII. ; and, according to 
 Inigo Jones, the cover of a thuribulum., or incense-cup, was found 
 within the area at a later period. " In more modern times," adds 
 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, whose description is more to be depended 
 upon, " we have found, on digging, several fragments of Roman 
 as well as of coarse British pottery, parts of the head and 
 horns of deer and other animals, and a large barbed arrow-head 
 of iron. Dr. Stukeley says that he dug close to the altar, and at 
 the depth of one foot came to solid chalk. Mr. Cunnington also 
 dug about the same place to the depth of nearly six feet, and 
 found that chalk had been moved to that depth; and, at the 
 depth of three feet, he found some Roman pottery, and at the 
 depth of six feet some pieces of sarsen stones, three fragments of 
 eoarse half-baked pottery, and some charred wood. ... In digging 
 into the ditch that surrounds the area, Mr. Cunnington found 
 
chap, il] BRITISH COINS. 
 
 similar remnants of antiquity ; and in the waggon tracks, near 
 Stonehenge, you frequently meet with chippings of the stones of 
 which the temple was constructed. Soon after the fall of the great 
 trilithon in 1797, Mr. Cunnington dug out some of the earth 
 that had fallen into the excavation, and found a fragment of fine 
 black Eoman pottery, and since that another piece in the same 
 spot ; hut I have no idea that this pottery ever lay beneath the 
 stones, but probably in the earth adjoining the trilithon, and, 
 after the downfal of the latter, it fell with the mouldering earth 
 into the excavation." 
 
 Although some of the remains of antiquity which are from time 
 to time dug up in our island may belong to an age more remote, 
 the most probable view of the case seems to be, that the mass of 
 our British antiquities belong to the age immediately preceding 
 the arrival of the Eomans, and to the period which followed. 
 
 The date of one class of British antiquities, the coins, are more 
 easily fixed, and they will, perhaps, eventually throw some light 
 on one period of British history. These coins have been found 
 in considerable quantities in most parts of England, often in 
 hoards, and they are remarkable for the large proportion in gold 
 and silver. Many of them have inscriptions, always in Boman 
 characters, which, as far as we can judge from discoveries hitherto 
 made, express the names of the chiefs for whom they were 
 minted. In form they resemble the Greek coinage, being 
 thicker in proportion to their size than Boman coins, and usually 
 slightly convex on one side and concave on the other. Some of 
 these British coins show a considerable degree of artistic skill, 
 and bear distinct representations of human heads, animals, and 
 other figures, while a still greater number are extremely rude, 
 and some of them bear confused marks and attempts at devices 
 which appear totally inexplicable. These, like everything that is 
 mysterious, have furnished ground for many theories, founded 
 on the supposition that they had some connection with the 
 mythology or history of the British tribes. But a more careful 
 study and comparison has shown us that the British, like the 
 Gallic, coinage consisted merely of imitations from Greek and, 
 subsequently, from Boman coins. It appears that when the 
 chiefs began to mint money, they adorned it with mere copies of 
 the figures on foreign coins brought as models by their coiners, 
 and that, while their relations with Borne induced them to adopt 
 
 g2 
 
84 
 
 THE BRITONS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 Eoman inscriptions, they chose in preference the forms and pic- 
 torial devices of the money of Greece, selecting especially those of 
 the Macedonian kings. The first minters were probably brought 
 over from Gaul, and they made tolerably good copies of the origi- 
 nals, as we find to be the case in many of the coins of Cunobe- 
 line. Subsequently these copies served again as models to British 
 and very unskilful artists, and in their hands they gradually 
 degenerated into forms which can only be understood when we 
 place them beside the more perfect copies from which they were 
 imitated. Sometimes we only trace the British imitation of the 
 Greek coin through an intermediate Gallic copy. To explain 
 better this gradual degeneration, and give at the same time an 
 example of one of the ruder types of the British coins, we subjoin 
 a cut representing three gold coins, in their obverses and reverses. 
 
 Greek and British Coins. 
 
 The uppermost is a gold stater of Philip of Macedon. The 
 second is a gold coin of one of the Gaulish chiefs, in which the 
 head of the king is copied in a very rude manner, with the wreath 
 round the Head ; but the charioteer and horses are given in a 
 
chap, ii.] BRITISH COINS. 85 
 
 manner much more rude, though still distinguishable. The name 
 of Philip has been transformed into a rude ornament. The 
 lowermost coin is a rude British copy of the same type — one 
 of a hoard of British gold coins found in Whaddon Chace. 
 Until compared with the two previous coins, we cannot even 
 guess at what the coiners intended to represent, but on laying 
 the three coins thus side by side, we trace distinctly on the 
 obverse the wreath and ears of the head of Philip of Macedon, 
 while it is equally evident that the reverse was intended as a copy 
 of the charioteer. In this, as in many cases of the British 
 coinage, the die was cut clumsily and much larger than the piece 
 of metal which was to receive the impression. Henee the coin 
 only represents a part of the subject, and as the metal sometimes 
 fell on one side of the field, and sometimes on another, we have 
 often to compare several examples of a British coin before we get 
 the design complete ; and the accidental discovery of one which 
 contains a portion of the design not previously found often ex- 
 plains what was before unintelligible. Our next cut repre- 
 sents another palpable copy of a Greek coin. The large figure is 
 
 Greek and British Coins. 
 
 the obverse of a silver tetradrachm of Alexander the Great, 
 in which that monarch is represented under the character of 
 Hercules, with the head and mane of the lion's skin over his head, 
 and the claws tied in a knot under his neck and chin. The 
 smaller coin beside it is a silver coin of a British chief, whose 
 name is represented by the Roman letters epat. Mr. Beale 
 Poste has, I think, mistaken part of what was intended to 
 represent the lion's claws for a Greek K, and he proposes to read 
 
86 THE BRITONS. [chap, il 
 
 the inscription in Greek characters, KEPAT (kerat), which he 
 interprets as referring to Caractacus. But, in general, the 
 British coins seem rather to have been struck by chiefs who were 
 friendly or submissive to the Romans, than by those who were 
 warring against them. The eagle on the reverse of the coin just 
 described was probably also copied from a Greek or Roman 
 model. Among the Roman coins copied by the Britons is one 
 of Augustus, with a figure of Victory seated on the reverse. 
 Future examinations and discoveries will, no doubt, lead to the 
 identification of them all. A figure of an animal, on some 
 British brass coins found in Kent, is evidently the rude copy of 
 an elephant, from one of the consular coins. The charioteer 
 of the coin of Philip, copied more or less rudely, is rather a 
 common reverse of the British coins. Many of the figures, 
 still unintelligible, will probably be explained by future dis- 
 coveries. One of the reverses of the coins of Tasciovanus, 
 which has been described as "an unknown ornament," seems to 
 have been intended for the prow of a Roman galley. 
 
 The knowledge of British coins is as yet in its infancy, and 
 comparatively little has been done towards classifying them in a 
 satisfactory manner. From the process of degeneration shown 
 above, and other circumstances, it appears that the ruder coins 
 are often to be considered, in point of date, as the latest, and not as 
 the earliest. The best in point of workmanship, and the most 
 numerous, are those of Tasciovanus and Cunobeline : of the 
 latter nearly fifty varieties are already known. Of the names 
 inscribed on these coins, the varieties are not numerous, and it 
 seems most probable that they all represent chiefs. The greater 
 number are, unfortunately, without inscriptions, and, therefore, it 
 is impossible from the coins themselves to determine the tribes or 
 chiefs to which they belonged. By careful observations of the 
 places where they were discovered, certain types have been found 
 to be peculiar to certain districts, and it is not unreasonable to 
 suppose that they belonged to the British tribes there located. 
 But we must wait till further discoveries throw light on this 
 subject. It is impossible to say how long the British coinage 
 remained in circulation ; but it has been found mixed with 
 Roman money, though I believe the latter was of the consular 
 period or of the earlier emperors. 
 
 Among the monuments of a remote period which it is most 
 
chap, il] BRITISH VILLAGES. 87 
 
 difficult to class, are the earthworks and entrenchments which 
 are found in considerable numbers in every part of our island. 
 In some parts there is scarcely a hill-top which is not crowned 
 with a circle of ditches and embankments, and in some cases they 
 are of colossal magnitude. These have been ascribed, too indis- 
 criminately and too hastily, to the British period, and have been 
 called British camps and British towns. In some cases, it will 
 be found, on examination, that these entrenchments were merely 
 intended to inclose a barrow or a cemetery. Some of them were, 
 probably, medieval. They may, in some instances, have inclosed 
 a primitive town or village ; and we know that the early Anglo- 
 Saxon mansion was a mere structure of wood inclosed by an earthen 
 entrenchment. It has been also rather too hastily assumed that 
 the Romans never, under any circumstances, departed from the 
 rectangular system of eastrametation, which is not justified by a 
 careful examination of facts. 
 
 Nevertheless, if there is a difficulty in fixing the date of what 
 are usually called British camps, there is one very interesting 
 class of earthworks which, doubtless, belong to an early period, and 
 which are scattered over many parts of our island. They are 
 generally found at some distance from the Roman towns, but 
 they are usually not far from Roman roads. These are groups of 
 shallow pits, or rather of bowl-shaped excavations, on the surface 
 of the ground. These curious works have been observed with most 
 care by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in Wiltshire, who calls them 
 British villages; but they occur in Leicestershire, Derbyshire, 
 Yorkshire, and, probably, in most other parts of the country, 
 where the traces of them have not been obliterated by cultiva- 
 tion ; but some of the most perfect specimens are met with on 
 the Wiltshire downs. Two such traces of settlements are found 
 on Knook Down, near Heytesbury, which seem to have been pro- 
 tected by an ancient fortress, now called Knook Castle. Sir 
 Richard Colt Hoare states that " the site of these villages is de- 
 cidedly marked by great cavities and irregularities of ground, and 
 by a black soil. When the moles were more abundant, numerous 
 coins were constantly thrown up by them, as well as fragments of 
 pottery of different species. On digging in these excavations, we 
 find the coarse British pottery, and almost every species of what 
 has been called Roman pottery ; also fibula, and rings of brass 
 worn as armillce or bracelets; flat-headed iron nails, hinges of 
 
88 THE BRITONS. [chap. n. 
 
 doors, locks and keys, and a variety of Roman coins, of which the 
 small brass of the lower empire are the most numerous, and par- 
 ticularly those of the Constantine family. Of the larger and first 
 brass, we have coins of Vespasian, Nerva, Antoninus, Trajan, 
 Julia Mammsea, and Postumus ; of the denarii, we have 
 Caligula, the elder Faustina, Julia Mammaea, the elder Philip, 
 Gallienus, and Gratianus : the small brass are too numerous to 
 particularise, but some of the smallest are remarkable, having 
 only a radiated head (often very rude), and one or two Roman 
 letters, which, perhaps, may have been struck during the latest 
 struggles between the Britons and Saxons. In digging within 
 these British villages, we have but rarely discovered any signs of 
 building with stone or flint ; but we have several times found 
 very thin stones laid as floors to a room. The fire-places were 
 small excavations in the ground, in which we have frequently 
 found a large flat hearthstone ; and in two parts of this extensive 
 village we have discovered hypocausts similar to those in the 
 Roman villa at Pitmead, near Warminster. These are regular 
 works of masonry, made in the form of a cross, and covered with 
 large flat stones, well cemented by mortar. We have also, during 
 our investigations of this spot, repeatedly found pieces of painted 
 stucco, and of brick flues ; also pit-coal, and some fragments of 
 glass, or crystal, rings, beads, &c. In one of the banks raised 
 for the old habitations, we discovered a skeleton with its head laid 
 towards the north ; at its feet was a fine black celt [of stone], and 
 at the distance of a few feet was a bead. In this, as well as in 
 the generality of other British villages, the attentive eye may 
 easily trace out the lines of houses, and the streets, or rather 
 hollow ways conducting to them ; these are particularly visible in 
 the upper village on these downs, as well as the entrance to it. 
 The whole adjoining country is also strongly marked by the 
 intersection of slight banks along the sides of the hills, which 
 point to us the limits of ancient British cultivation, and in many 
 instances the smallness of them will show the contracted scale on 
 which agriculture was at that time carried on." 
 
 Several groups of similar works are described by the same 
 writer in different parts of his great work on ancient Wiltshire. 
 Of these not the least remarkable is the very extensive group 
 called the Pen Pits, near Stourton, the character of which appears 
 somewhat doubtful. Another group, of a more definite character, 
 
chap, n.] BRITISH VILLAGES. 
 
 runs along the brow of a slight eminence in the neighbourhood of 
 Wily, known by the popular name of Stockton Works. " Stockton 
 Works," says Sir Richard Colt Hoare, " appear to have been 
 originally surrounded by a ditch, and a single rampart of earth, 
 of which a considerable part towards the east still remains ; but 
 the western boundary, and many of the interior works, have been 
 much defaced by a great waggon track, which for many ages has 
 passed through the works. The original entrance was on the 
 eastern side, near the head of a steep valley ; but many other adits, 
 of a more modern date, have been made for the accommodation 
 of waggons frequenting the wood. At one point there is also an 
 entrance to an inner work, where we see numerous excavations, 
 &c, and near the centre is a singular little work of a pentagonal 
 form ; and beyond it the irregularities and cavities continue deep 
 and numerous for a considerable distance to the westward. These 
 works cover the space of sixty-two acres, and extended, probably, 
 much further towards the west, and into the wood on the south, 
 but they are so defaced in many places, and in others so very 
 doubtful, that what now remains can only be considered as a very 
 imperfect specimen of the original works. We have dug in 
 various places within the area, and found both large and small 
 Roman coins, pieces of brass, iron nails, fragments of millstones, 
 brick flues, tiles, and both British and Roman pottery ; also the 
 neck of a glass bottle, of a sea-green colour ; in short, all the 
 vestiges of a numerous population." The writer from whom we 
 are quoting adds : — " A series of coins, from the first Claudius to 
 Theodosius, mark also their continued residence on this spot for 
 a long period ; they are so numerous and common, that the 
 labourers employed to dig flints throw them up and leave them 
 amongst the stones : twice, on visiting these works, I found coins 
 in this situation." 
 
 There can be little doubt that the excavations described by Sir 
 Richard Colt Hoare are the floors of dwellings, the super- 
 structure of which consisted of perishable materials, and we 
 should be justified in considering them as the remains of the 
 villages occupied by the pastoral and agricultural population 
 during the Roman occupation of the island. What he calls 
 British pottery was no doubt the commoner and rougher descrip- 
 tion of Roman ware; and the coins, which he could not appropriate, 
 seem to have been the small rude Roman coins, or possibly the 
 
90 THE BRITONS. [chap. ii. 
 
 imitations of the Koman money made after the Saxon invasion. 
 This may be remarked as a very curious circumstance, because, 
 though it has nothing to do with the antiquities of the British 
 period, it seems to show, that in some parts of the island, even in 
 the country villages, the Saxons succeeded peaceably to the Romans, 
 or rather, perhaps, that the peasantry were not driven from their 
 habitations. In other parts of the country, we have not always 
 the same certain indications of the people who inhabited the 
 settlements indicated by their excavations, as were found in 
 Wiltshire, and in some places perhaps they only mark the sites of 
 villages of a much later date, destroyed amid the turbulence 
 of the middle ages.* 
 
 We rind the habitations of the early inhabitants of these islands 
 under circumstances which seem to denote a still lower scale of 
 civilisation. These are the caves on the sea coast, such as Kent's 
 Hole, near Torquay, in Devonshire, and other caves on that and 
 the Cornish coast, which interest the geologist as well as the 
 antiquary. The cave just mentioned was explored by a local 
 geologist, who has given the following account of the appearances 
 which presented themselves when it was first examined : " The 
 floor of the entrance, except that it had the appearance of being 
 broken up, offered nothing remarkable to detain us. We shall 
 
 * A careful antiquary makes the following remarks, in the Leicester Chronicle, 
 on the " Deserted Villages" of Leicestershire : — " On the north-eastern side of the 
 county of Leicester may be found, apart from human habitations, sites of ancient 
 villages, of which not a fragment is now visible above ground. One of these lies 
 near Ingarsby, a second near Cold Newton, and a third near Humberstone. An 
 ordinary passer-by would not notice these curious sites, and the peasant may 
 daily pass over their broken surfaces without experiencing any emotion of curiosity 
 or interest ; but it is not so with the intelligent man and the reader of history. In 
 their minds these spots excite inquiry and reflection. They know that the face of 
 the country has witnessed many a 'bloody broil,' and that populous hamlets have 
 been razed to the ground in the times of civil war or feudal contest. One of the 
 sites well calculated to elicit observation lies, as we have hinted, near to Humber- 
 stone. About two miles to the north-east of it, midway between Barkby and 
 Scraptoft, may be found a. field presenting numerous irregularities of surface, which 
 is known as the ' Town field.' On paying a visit to this a few days ago, we were 
 struck with the evidence it afforded of former occupancy, and of having been covered 
 with buildings and fortified works. It slopes in a northerly direction, a brook 
 running along the lower ground. On the upper part may be traced very clearly 
 three sides of an encamptment or enclosure, defended by a mound and trench. In 
 the part bordering on the brook, but higher up in the field, traces of the existence 
 of buildings are obvious. There can be little doubt this is the site of the town of 
 Hamilton, which is marked in maps as being in this quarter." 
 
chap, n.] HABITATIONS IN CAVES. 91 
 
 have occasion to return to it presently. Not so the lateral branch 
 by which it communicates with the body of the cavern on the 
 left. Under a ledge on the left was found the usual sprinkling 
 of modern bones, and, in the mould beneath, which had acquired 
 the consistence of hard clay, were fragments of pottery, calcined 
 bones, charcoal, and ashes ; in the midst of all were dispersed 
 arrow-heads of flint and chert. The ashes furnish a large pro- 
 portion of the mould. In the same heap were discovered round 
 slabs of roofing slate, of a plate-like form, some crushed, others 
 entire. The pottery is of the rudest description, made of coarse 
 gritty earth, not turned on a lathe, and sun-baked; on its external 
 margin it bears zigzag indentations, not unlike those represented 
 on the urns found by Sir Kichard Colt Hoare in the barrows of 
 Wiltshire. These fragments, there seems no reason for doubting, 
 are the remains of cinerary urns, which once contained the 
 substances scattered around, and to which the slates served for 
 covers. At a short distance, nearer the entrance, were found, in 
 a continuation of the same mould, articles of bone of three sorts ; 
 some of an inch long, and pointed at one end, or arrow-heads ; 
 others about three inches long, rounded, slender, and likewise 
 pointed. Conjecture was long busy as to their destination. They 
 were thought by some to be bodkins, by others, for confining the 
 hair, like those ornaments used by the women in Italy ; lastly, 
 they were supposed, with more probability, to be a species of pin 
 for fastening the skin in front, which served savages for garments. 
 The third article does not seem so easy to explain ; it is of a 
 different shape, quite flat, broad at one end, pointed at the other ; 
 the broad part retains the truncated form of a comb, the teeth of 
 which were broken off near their root ; whether it was used for 
 a comb, or for making nets for fishing, is not clear. There was 
 only this solitary one found, and two of the former, but several of 
 the first, with a quantity of bone chips. All three bore marks 
 of polish. Nearer the mouth we collected a good number of 
 shells of the mussel, limpet, and oyster, with a palate of the 
 scarus. This, as well as the nacre of oysters, which was thickly 
 disseminated through the mould, served, as they do at the present 
 day among the savages, most probably for ornament. The shell- 
 fish may have furnished bait for fishing. The presence of these 
 rude articles renders it probable that they were collected here by 
 the ancient aborigines, who divided their time between the chase 
 
92 THE BRITONS. [chap. n. 
 
 and fishing in the adjacent sea. Close to the opposite wall, in 
 the same passage, buried in black mould, I found a stone hatchet, 
 or celt, of sienite, the only one found in the cavern. Another of 
 the same material, but of a different shape, I found shortly after, 
 not far from tbe cavern, near Anstis Cove, which labourers 
 engaged in making the new cut had just thrown up with the 
 mould. As we advanced towards the second mouth, on the same 
 level, were found, though sparingly, pieces of pottery. The most 
 remarkable product of this gallery were round pieces of blue slate, 
 about an inch and a half in diameter, and a quarter thick. In the 
 same quarter were likewise found several round pieces of sandstone 
 grit, about the form and size of a dollar, but thicker and rounder 
 at the edge, and in the centre pierced with a hole, by means of 
 which they seem to have been strung together like beads. 
 Clusters of small pipes or icicles of spar, such as depended from 
 the roof at our first visit, we saw collected here in heaps, buried 
 in the mud. Similar collections we had occasion to observe 
 accompanied by charcoal, throughout the entire range of the 
 cavern, sometimes in pits excavated in the stalagmite. Copper 
 ore, with these various articles in the same stuff, was picked up ; 
 a lump much oxydised, which the late Mr. Phillips analysed, was 
 found to be pure virgin ore. 
 
 " Having taken a general survey of the surface of the floor we 
 returned to the point from which we set out, viz., the common 
 passage, for the purpose of piercing into the materials below the 
 mould. Here, in sinking a foot into the soil, (for of stalagmite 
 there remained only the broken edges adhering to the sides of 
 the passage, and which appeared to be repeated at intervals), we 
 came upon flints in all forms, confusedly disseminated through 
 the earth, and intermixed with fossil and human bones, the whole 
 slightly agglutinated together by calcareous matter derived from 
 the roof. My collection possesses an example of this aggregation 
 in a mass, consisting of pebbles, clay, and bone, in the midst of 
 which is imbedded a fine blade of flint, all united together by 
 sparry cement. The flints were in all conditions, from the 
 rounded pebble as it came out of the chalk, to the instruments 
 fabricated from them, as arrow and spear-heads, and hatchets. 
 Some of the flint blocks were chipped only on one side, such as 
 had probably furnished the axes ; others on several faces, pre- 
 senting planes corresponding exactly to the long blades found by 
 
chap, n.] HABITATIONS IN CAVES. 93 
 
 their side, and from which they had been evidently sliced off; other 
 pebbles still more angular and chipped at all points, were no doubt 
 those which yielded the small arrow-heads. Tbese abounded in 
 by far the greatest number. Small irregular splinters, not 
 referable to any of the above divisions, and which seem to have been 
 struck off in the operation of detaching the latter, not unlike the 
 small chips in a sculptor's shop, were thickly scattered throughout 
 the stuff, indicating that this spot was the workshop where the 
 savage prepared his weapons of the chase. . . . With the ex- 
 ception of a boar-spear (of iron) and a blade of the same metal not 
 far from it, very much rusted, all the articles in the mould or in 
 the disturbed soil consisted of flint, chert, sienite, and bone." # 
 
 These caves, like the remains of the villages already described, 
 were probably inhabited in the times of the Roman rule, but by 
 that portion of the population who lived by fishing. We need only 
 look to the condition of the fishers and wreckers on the wilder 
 parts of the Cornish coast not a hundred years ago, to form a 
 notion of what must have been the savage mode of life of a similar 
 class in the same localities long after the Roman occupation. 
 Caves of a very similar character have been discovered more 
 recently in King's Scar, near Settle, in Yorkshire,! in which the 
 remains are mostly Roman, and they were here mixed with coins, 
 some of which were Roman, while the greater proportion belonged 
 to that class of rude copies of Roman coins, struck when the 
 island was losing its dependence on Rome. The fisher population 
 is thus traced in these rude habitations, uninterrupted in their 
 vocation, and probably unchanged in their condition and manners, 
 through the revolutions of empires. 
 
 * " Cavern Researches ; or, Discoveries of Organic Remains, and of British 
 and Roman Reliques, in the Caves of Kent's Hole, Anstis Cove, &c. By the 
 Rev. J. MacEnery. 
 
 *T A description of these singular caves, with a numher of engravings, will he 
 found in Mr. Roach Smith's " Collectanea Antiqua," vol. i., p. 69, 
 
THE ROMANS. [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Britain at the Beginning of the Second Century — Towns enumerated by Ptolemy 
 — Hadrian — The Wall — Lollius Urbicus ; the Wall of Antoninus — Rebellion 
 of the Soldiery in Britain — Albinus contends for the Purple — Campaigns of 
 Severus, who dies at Eburacum ( York) — The Caledonians — Carausius usurps 
 the Purple — Allectus — Britain restored to the Empire by Constantius — Con- 
 stantine the Great — Revolt of Magnentius — The Picts and Scots. 
 
 Before the end of the first century, Britain was reduced to a 
 Roman province ; it began to receive an influx of population from 
 foreign lands, and there appears to have been a frequent and 
 general intercourse between this island and Eome. Its exports, 
 and even its peculiarities, were already well known in Italy. The 
 oysters of Rutupise {TLicliborough) were favourites at the tables 
 of the rich — 
 
 — Rutupinove edita fundo 
 
 Ostrea ; 
 
 and the whales which were seen in the British seas were proverbial 
 for their magnitude — - 
 
 Quanto delphinis balsena Britannica major. 
 
 The same poet, Juvenal, tells us that the learning and eloquence 
 of Greece and Rome had established themselves in the far west — 
 
 Nunc totus Graias nostrasque habet orbis Athenas ; 
 Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos ; 
 De conducendo loquitur jam rhetore Thule. 
 
 A boast of his contemporary, Martial, leaves no doubt of the 
 rapid progress which civilisation had made in this land after the 
 Boman legions had taken possession of it — 
 
 Dicitur et nostros cantare Britannia versus. 
 
 Indeed, various circumstances in subsequent history show that 
 
chap, in.] EARLIER ROMAN TOWNS. 95 
 
 whatever was new at Rome was quickly communicated to this 
 distant province of the empire. 
 
 The Roman troops had now, indeed, been long engaged in 
 building towns and in making roads ; and under their influence 
 the face of the country was undergoing a rapid and extraordinary 
 change. We have seen that, after some of the British chiefs 
 entered into relations with the Romans, a town or two were built, 
 such as Verulamium and Camulodunum, in imitation, probably, 
 of those on the Continent, and differing entirely from what had 
 been called towns in the time of Caesar. We have no means of 
 ascertaining how many such towns were built, and it is by an 
 assumption without authority that writers have been accustomed 
 to say that this or that Roman town was built on the site of a 
 previous town of the Britons. But under the influence of Roman 
 manners and refinements, cities and towns soon rose up on all 
 .sides, and were joined together by an immense system of military 
 and other roads. The first indication of these towns on any 
 considerable extent is found in the pages of Ptolemy, who has 
 merely enumerated those which were then of most account. We 
 find that when he wrote, (about a.d. 120), Rutupiae was already 
 the principal port of Kent, and the usual point of debarkation for 
 visitors from the Continent, Not very far from it was another 
 principal town of Kent, called Darvernum (Aapovepvov), no doubt 
 a corruption of Durovernum (Canterbury). Londinium, which 
 Ptolemy places in Cantium, was already, in the time of Tacitus, 
 known as a great trading town. Within the district of the Regni 
 of Surrey was Noviomagus, which seems to have stood in the 
 neighbourhood of Bromley, on the borders of Kent. In the 
 ancient district of the Belgae were three important towns, Yenta 
 (Winchester), Aquae Calidae (Bath), and Ischalis (Ilchester). The 
 small district of the Durotriges, in Dorset, possessed but one 
 town which Ptolemy thought worthy of notice, and of that his 
 copyists seem to have corrupted the name ; for it is probable that 
 what he calls Dunium, was the same place called by later 
 writers Durnovaria (Dorchester). Further west, in the territory 
 of the Dumnonii, four towns are enumerated, one of which, Isca, 
 is known to have occupied the site of the present Exeter, but the 
 other three, Yoliba, Uzela or Uxela, and Tamare, are less certain, 
 though they are supposed to have stood respectively, the first on 
 the river Fowey, the second in the neighbourhood of Bridgewater, 
 
THE KOMANS. [chap. in. 
 
 and the third on the Tamar. The two districts to the north of 
 the Belgaa, those of the Attrebates and the Dobuni, had each an 
 important city, the first called Caleva (Silchester), the other, 
 Corinium (Cirencester). 
 
 North of the Thames were the towns of Camulodunum (Col- 
 chester), in Essex, and another Venta (Caistor), in the country of 
 the Iceni, in Norfolk. More westward lay Verulamium (St. Albans), 
 and, to the north of this town, another called Salinae (^aXrjvat), 
 the site of which is doubtful, though it seems to be placed in the 
 south of Lincolnshire. In the country of the Coritavi were 
 Lindum (Lincoln), and Ragse, or, according to the more correct 
 reading, Ratae (Leicester). In the small coast district to the north 
 of the Humber, which had been the territory of the Parisii, there 
 was a town called by Ptolemy, Petuaria, the site of which is 
 not certain. Some of the most important Roman towns in the 
 island were now scattered over the once wild haunts of the 
 fierce Brigantes. First of these was Eburacum^ToWc), the 
 head quarters of the sixth legion. The others were Isurium 
 (Aldborongh), Caturactonium (Catteric), Olicana (Llkley), all in 
 Yorkshire ; Galagum or Galacum, an uncertain site, but supposed 
 to be near Kendal, in Westmoreland ; Epiacum (Lanchester), in 
 Durham, Vinnovium (Binchester), in the same county, Rigo- 
 dunum, believed to be the place subsequently called Coccium 
 (Ribchester), inLancashire, and Camunlodunum, or, as later writers 
 call it, Cambodunum (Slack), in Yorkshire. Deva, the garrison 
 of the twentieth legion, occupied the site of the present city of 
 Chester. Below it stood Viroconium or Uriconium (JVroxeter), 
 in Shropshire; Brannogenium (Leintwardine), on the northern 
 borders of Herefordshire ; and, more westwardly, Mediolanium, 
 a town on the banks of the Tanad, in North Wales. Far down 
 in the western part of Wales, in a part of Cardiganshire still 
 rich in antiquities, was a town named Luentinum (Llanio) ; 
 further south was Maridunum (Caermarthen) ; and eastward again, 
 in the borders of the Silures, was Bullasum, supposed to be the 
 same town which is mentioned at a later period under the name 
 of Burrium (Usk). By confounding two names, Ptolemy has 
 omitted the Silurian Isca (Caerleon), which was the head-quarters 
 of the second legion. 
 
 Since the campaigns of Agricola, the conquerors had covered 
 the lowlands of Scotland, up to the borders of the great 
 
chap. m.J THE EOMAN LEGIONS. 97 
 
 Caledonian forest, with an extraordinary number of towns and 
 stations on the sites of most of which the spade still brings to 
 light traces of Roman civilisation. Ptolemy enumerates no less 
 than twenty towns (iroAeis) to the north of the Brigantes, the 
 names of which were Lucopibia (Whithern), and Retigonium 
 (Stranraer), in the district of the Novantse, on the extreme coasts 
 of Galloway ; Carbantorigum (Kirkcudbright), Uxelum, Corda, and 
 Trimontium, the three last of uncertain site, but believed to have 
 ranged across the district north of the head of the Solway Firth, as 
 they were in the district of the Selgovae. The first two have been 
 supposed by some to be represented by entrenchments found at 
 Raeburnfoot, in Eskdale, and Birrenswork Hill, in Annandale. The 
 Roman Trimontium is supposed to be Eildon, in Lauderdale. The 
 Roman towns in the extensive district of the Damnii, who occupied 
 the larger portion of the low lands, were Colania (Carstairs), 
 Vanduara (Paisley), Coria (uncertain), Alauna (Kier), Lindum 
 (Ardoch), and Victoria (Bealgin Ross). In the district of the 
 Otadeni were built Curia (Currie), and Bremenium (Rochester) ; 
 in that of the Vacomagi, bordering on the district of the Cale- 
 donians, Banatia (Bonness), Tamia (Braemar Castle), Pteroton 
 Castrum (Burghhead), and Tuesis, a town on the Spey, perhaps 
 at Cromdale ; in that of the Venicontes, Orrea (Bertha, at the 
 head of the Tay) ; and among the Texali, Devana (Old Aberdeen). 
 The strength which was thus permanently established in the 
 north shows us to what a state of dependence the Romans had 
 now reduced all the southern parts of the island. Further 
 evidence of this is seen in the distribution of the Roman legions, 
 which had now been placed in the permanent quarters which they 
 held until nearly the moment of their final withdrawal. The 
 fourteenth legion, the one which had crushed the insurrection 
 of Boadicea, had been drawn from Britain by Vitellius in the 
 year 70, and had never returned. Several of the others had left 
 at a still earlier period. Four only remained — the second, sixth, 
 niuth, and twentieth. Of these, the second was posted at Isca 
 (Caerleon), and the twentieth at Deva (Chester), whence they held 
 in restraint the mountaineers of Wales, and of Cumberland and 
 Westmoreland, the retreat of such of the Brigantes as still 
 retained their wild independence, and protected the country from 
 the Irish pirates, who landed usually in the Severn and the Dee. 
 The sixth legion was established at York, from which it could be 
 
THE ROMANS. [chap, in. 
 
 marched quickly into Scotland. After the last campaign of 
 Agricola, the ninth legion suddenly disappears, and is no more 
 heard of in history ; but as we find it commemorated in inscrip- 
 tions found at York, it is supposed to have been combined with, 
 or incorporated into, the sixth. The north of England and the 
 lowlands of Scotland were thickly covered with posts of auxiliaries ; 
 and we trace other bodies of auxiliaries scattered in the towns of 
 the south, but not in such numbers as to lead us to believe that 
 they were placed there as a curb on the population. 
 
 The Roman writers have, unfortunately, left us very few 
 notices of the internal affairs of our island after it was reduced to 
 a province ; and for many years subsequent to the departure of 
 Agricola, Britain is hardly noticed. We are, probably, to suppose 
 from this that it remained without any serious disturbances, and 
 that the progress of Romanising and civilising went on without 
 interruption. We do not even know who succeeded Agricola in 
 the proprsetorship, and we only learn incidentally that the 
 governor of this province, towards the end of the reign of 
 Domitian, was an officer named Sallustius Lucullus, whom that 
 tyrant caused to be put to death for having allowed a new-formed 
 spear he had invented to be called, after his own name, Lucullian. 
 But the frequent weakness of the central power, and the various 
 struggles for the empire, gradually discouraged the distant pro- 
 vinces, and threw them into disorder. This was especially the 
 case in Britain. During the reduction and conquest of the low- 
 land tribes, the fierce Caledonians had risen into so much im- 
 portance, that their name began not only to be used for the col- 
 lective tribes to the north of the Brigantes, but it was adopted 
 very often as a common term for the Britons in general — that is, 
 for all those who had not acknowledged themselves Roman sub- 
 jects. They probably carried on the same plan of warfare which 
 was continued by their descendants to a comparatively recent 
 period. Rushing unexpectedly from their strongholds in the 
 mountains and forests, they swept over the open country, plun- 
 dered, slaughtered, and burnt, and disappeared with their booty, 
 before a sufficient force could be brought together to encounter 
 them. In such warfare, wild tribes, who used to move about 
 rapidly, with no permanent residences or possessions, had great 
 advantages over a rich and civilised country, which it required 
 a steady government and active and skilful commanders to 
 
chap, in.] HADEIAN'S WALL. 99 
 
 protect. These seem to Lave been wanting during that period 
 which preceded the accession of Hadrian, and it is probable that 
 the successes of the Caledonians had encouraged some other 
 British tribes to revolt. The emperor Hadrian visited Britain 
 in person, in the year 120, and he is said to have found many 
 things that required reformation. We have no account of his 
 proceedings, but it appears that he restored the island to 
 order, and that he drove back the Caledonians into their fast- 
 nesses. We are justified in believing that he marched in person 
 into the northern wilds, from the satirical verses of a contemporary 
 poet,* and we learn from direct testimony that he caused that 
 formidable barrier to be built across the island from the Solway 
 to the Tyne, of which we still trace the stupendous remains. 
 A massive wall, nearly seventy miles in extent, extending over 
 plain and mountain, from Bowness on the Solway Firth to the 
 now celebrated locality of Wall's-End on the Tyne, accompanied 
 on its southern side by an earthen vallum and a deep ditch, and 
 fortified with a formidable series of twenty-three stationary towns, 
 with intermediate mile-castles, and watchtowers. It has been the 
 custom to consider the wall only as the structure raised by Hadrian, 
 while the earthen vallum or rampart was ascribed to Severus ; 
 but I entirely agree with Mr. Collingwood Bruce, who has recently 
 published a most interesting volume on " The Roman Wall," that 
 both are parts of one work, erected by the former emperor. 
 
 This immense work seems to have been part of a system of 
 circumvallation adopted by the emperor Hadrian, for it appears 
 that remains of similar walls are found on the distant frontiers in 
 Germany. I suspect it has been rather hastily supposed that it 
 implies that this emperor relinquished the territory between 
 it and the more northerly line of forts erected by Agricola ; 
 for the towns and forts to the north of the wall seem still to 
 
 * The historian Spartianus has preserved the epigram written on Hadrian by the 
 poet Florus, as well as the emperor's reply. The first was contained in the three 
 lines : — 
 
 Ego nolo Cassar esse, 
 
 Ambulare per Britannos, 
 
 Scythicas pati pruinas. 
 To which the emperor replied as follows : — 
 
 Ego nolo Florus esse, 
 
 Ambulare per tabernas, 
 
 Latitare per popinas, 
 
 Calices pati rotundos. 
 
 h2 
 
100 THE ROMANS. [chap. hi. 
 
 have been kept up, and to have been continued till the decline 
 of the empire. Perhaps it was intended to protect the richer 
 and more highly cultivated country to the south of the " lower 
 isthmus " from the sudden and destructive inroads to which it 
 had previously been exposed. We know from the history of the 
 border, at a later period, how far, without a barrier of this kind, 
 the ravages of the Scots might be carried, and what damage might 
 be effected before a sufficient force could be gathered on any 
 particular point to drive them back. 
 
 The expedition of Hadrian seems to have been followed by a 
 period of profound tranquillity,*" and we learn from the historian 
 Xiphilinus, that, about twelve years afterwards, the propraetor, or, 
 as he was then called, the legate of Britain, named Julius 
 Sever us, was able to carry away some of his best officers and 
 troops to assist in the war against the revolted Jews. The name 
 of another proprsetor under Hadrian, perhaps the successor of 
 Julius Severus, Priscus Licinius, has been found in inscriptions, 
 but nothing further is known of him. 
 
 Hadrian was succeeded, in the year 138, by the emperor 
 Antoninus Pius. His propraetor in Britain, Lollius Urbicus, was 
 a man of energy and talent, which he was soon called to exercise 
 in withstanding a new irruption of the northern barbarians. We 
 learn, quite incidentally, of an insurrection to the south of 
 Hadrian s wall, at this period. f The remains of the Brigantes 
 seem to have preserved a precarious independence, perhaps in the 
 rugged country extending from the wilds of Lancashire over the 
 lake district, in the same manner as wild Irish clans occupied the 
 Wicklow mountains for ages after the surrounding plains had 
 acknowledged the domination of the Anglo-Normans, and these 
 probably imitated the northern Caledonians in making occasional 
 predatory outbreaks. On the present occasion they had attacked 
 a small tribe living under Roman subjection, called the Genuni, 
 to which they had perhaps been encouraged by the invasion of 
 the Caledonians beyond the wall. The Brigantes were quickly 
 
 * The expedition of Hadrian to Britain was commemorated by several coins in 
 large and middle brass, which are interesting, because some of them give on the 
 reverse a figure seated with a spear and shield, which, as it is surrounded by 
 the word Britannia, is supposed to have been intended for a personification of 
 Britain. These coins, especially the large brass, are rare. 
 
 | •+ This insurrection and destruction of the Brigantes is mentioned by Pausanias, 
 Arcad. lib. viii. cap. 43. 
 
chap, m.] THE WALL OF ANTONINUS. 101 
 
 overwhelmed, and we are told that the greater part of the tribe 
 was destroyed. The Roman arms were equally successful against 
 the Caledonians, who were driven into their mountains, and 
 Lollius Urbicus caused a new barrier to be raised for their 
 restraint. We have seen how, when Agricola had reduced the 
 lowland districts to subjection, he erected a line of forts across 
 what has been termed the upper isthmus, from the Forth to the 
 Clyde. Lollius Urbicus raised, on the same site, a new line of 
 forts, and joined them together by an immense continuous ram- 
 part of earth and turf, which, from the name of the emperor 
 under whom it was built, is usually called the wall of Antoninus. 
 It is now called popularly Graham's Dike, and along its course 
 are frequently found inscribed tablets commemorating the portion 
 built by the different troops and cohorts of the Roman army.* 
 We learn from these inscriptions that, besides the numerous 
 bodies of foreign auxiliaries which were permanently stationed in 
 the north, the three legions in Britain, the second, the sixth, and 
 the twentieth, were all drawn from their quarters to take part in 
 the campaign of Lollius Urbicus. His successes threw splendour 
 on the reign of Antoninus, and coins were struck bearing on the 
 reverse a figure of victory surrounded by the letters of the word 
 
 BRITANNIA. 
 
 In spite of the energetic measures of Urbicus, the Caledonians 
 soon reappeared in arms, and the circumstance that they seem 
 almost always to have risen. on the death of the emperor, shows 
 that the barbarians must have had intelligence among their 
 enemies. They calculated, no doubt, that, amid the hesitating 
 inactivity which naturally followed such an event, they might make 
 an extensive raid with less danger of interruption. The Roman 
 province was thus invaded on the accession of Marcus Aurelius, in 
 161, but the invaders were checked by a new propraetor, Aufidius 
 Victorinus. An invasion of a still more formidable character 
 followed the accession of Commodus ; a Roman commander, who 
 
 * The following, from a richly sculptured stone found at West Kilpatrick, is the 
 usual formula of these inscriptions : — 
 
 IMP. C. T. AE. HADRIANO ANT0NIN0 AUG. PIO P.P. VEX. LEG. XX. V. V. 
 F. P. P. Ell CDXI. 
 
 To the emperor Ccesar Titus JElius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, the 
 father of his country. A vexillation of the twentieth legion, (surnamed) the 
 valiant and victorious, executed four thousand four hundred and eleven spaces. 
 
102 THE ROMANS. [chap, m 
 
 attempted to arrest their progress, was killed, and his army cut to 
 pieces ; and the emperor was obliged to send an officer who was 
 remarkable for his extraordinary perseverance and capability of 
 sustaining the hardships of war, named Ulpius Marcellus, to sup- 
 port the authority of Rome in this distant province. From this 
 man the Caledonians met with terrible reverses, and the island 
 was again restored to peace. Ulpius Marcellus was, however, 
 soon recalled, for, in the eyes of a tyrant like Commodus, merit 
 itself was a crime. His departure was followed by a mutiny 
 among the troops in Britain, arising from dissatisfaction at the 
 proceedings of the imperial favourite Perennis, who displaced the 
 men of senatorial rank from the commands which they had always 
 held, and appointed in their stead younger men taken from the 
 equestrian order. The officers in Britain met and consulted, and 
 they finally sent an armed deputation of fifteen hundred men to 
 lay their grievances at the foot of the throne. When they arrived 
 at the gates of Rome, Commodus went out to meet them, and, 
 aware that there was discontent among his other troops, and that 
 it might be dangerous to provoke them, he abandoned his 
 minister to his accusers, and they put him to death. Still the 
 troops in Britain remained unsatisfied, and the mutiny continued, 
 on which Publius Helvius Pertinax, a commander of great military 
 talent, was sent to appease them ; but instead of returning to their 
 obedience, they disclaimed the authority of Commodus, and in- 
 vited their new commander to be their emperor. This he 
 prudently declined, and he succeeded in restoring order in the 
 province, though not without considerable personal risk, for, in 
 opposing himself to the fury of one of the mutinous legions, he 
 was struck down, and left for dead. 
 
 At length Pertinax obtained his recall, and was succeeded in the 
 proprsetorship by Decimus Clodius Albinus, This governor soon 
 made himself popular in his government, especially among the 
 troops, and he seems even to have retained the favour of the 
 emperor Commodus, who conferred upon him the title of Csesar. 
 At length an unfortunate accident had nearly proved his ruin. 
 It was reported that Commodus was dead, and this rumour quickly 
 reaching Britain, Albinus assembled his troops, and addressed 
 them on the event. He used some expressions in his speech 
 which, being repeated, before the emperor, gave so much dis- 
 pleasure, that an order was immediately dispatched for the recall 
 
chap, m.] THE EaTPEROR SEVERUS. 103 
 
 of the propraetor, and a creature of Cornmodus, named Junius 
 Severus, was appointed to succeed him. But the murder of 
 Cornmodus, before the order could be carried into execution, 
 saved Albinus for a more glorious, if not for a happier fate. 
 
 The imperial throne was now occupied for a moment by the 
 same Pertinax who had preceded Albinus in the government of 
 Britain. He was raised to the purple by the praetorian guards, 
 who, three months after, rebelled and cut off his head, and then 
 offered the empire for sale. The disgraceful purchase was made 
 by a rich but worthless merchant, named Didius Julianus. Three 
 commanders, in different parts of the empire, stepped forward at 
 this moment to resist the tyranny of the praetorian soldiery, and 
 expel the emperor of their choice ; these were, Severus in 
 Pannonia, Pescennius Niger in Syria, and Albinus in Britain. 
 Severus, with his characteristic activity, was the first in the field, 
 and, marching upon Borne, put to death the usurper, degraded 
 the praetorian guards from their privileges, and assumed the 
 purple. Severus was a man possessing extraordinary talents for 
 empire, indefatigable in pursuing the object of his ambition, un- 
 scrupulous in attaining the object of it, and merciless towards 
 those who stood in his way. He had gained possession of the 
 empire, but he had still two competitors in the field, against 
 whose united forces he would perhaps have been unable to struggle. 
 It was his policy therefore to separate his rivals, and while he 
 prepared to march against Niger, he pacified Albinus with profes- 
 sions of the warmest friendship, conferred upon him the title of 
 Caesar, and, making him nominally his associate in the empire, 
 caused money to be coined in his name, and statues to be erected 
 in his honour. Albinus thus gained over, Severus proceeded to 
 the east to encounter Pescennius Niger. 
 
 This occurred in the year 193. Niger was defeated in battle 
 near Antioch, and slain, and after a protracted struggle, Severus 
 returned victorious to Borne in 196, and prepared to rid himself 
 of his other rival Albinus. The governor of Britain was a formi- 
 dable antagonist ; he also was a man of great military talents ; he 
 was popular in his province as well as in Gaul, and he was closely 
 allied by blood and friendship with some of the greatest and 
 oldest families in Borne. He was ambitious, too, and, though his 
 vanity had been flattered by the honours showered on him by 
 Severus, he seems to have let it be known that he was not yet 
 
104 THE BOMANS. [chap, nx 
 
 satisfied, and that he aimed at securing for himself the imperial 
 dignity. We are told that, during the absence of Severus in the 
 east, Albinus had been invited to Rome to assume the purple, 
 and that it was the knowledge of these intrigues which determined 
 the emperor Severus to destroy him. This was not, however, an 
 easy task. It is evident that the Roman province of Britain had 
 become at this time extremely populous, and rich. Multitudes 
 of auxiliary troop3 had been gradually transplanted into it, and 
 had no doubt taken with them or been followed by colonies of 
 their countrymen. Merchants, tradesmen, artisans, even probably 
 artists, and men of letters, had sought their fortune where the 
 increase of commerce and civilisation opened a field for their 
 exertions. The strength of the native Britons had been drawn 
 off to serve in foreign countries ;* and that part of the original 
 population which remained at home had probably been greatly 
 diminished in numbers, and reduced to the condition of serfs. In 
 fact, from this time forward, when the Roman writers speak of 
 the Britons existing in the island as a people, they included under 
 that name only the Caledonian tribes of the north. Britain was 
 thus looked upon as one of the most powerful and important 
 provinces of the empire ; and its propraetor, surrounded by troops 
 devoted to his person, with a population which seems to have been 
 always ambitious of an independent emperor of its own, might 
 easily set the court of Rome at defiance. Severus, therefore, 
 aware of all these circumstances, determined to destroy his oppo- 
 nent by treachery, and he wrote him a letter in terms of the most 
 affectionate friendship, which was entrusted to messengers in 
 
 * It was the constant policy of the Romans to draught off the rising population 
 of the conquered provinces, and send them to occupy stations, and, in fact, to form 
 colonies in other countries. It was, indeed, the most effectual manner of destroy- 
 ing the nationality of the people they had subjected to their power; for, holding 
 no natural sympathy with the land in which they were settled, and regarded only 
 as Roman soldiers, they gradually came to consider themselves as a part of Rome. 
 We find, mentioned in old writers and in inscriptions, numerous alee and cohorts 
 of Britons in various parts of the Roman empire. According to the Notitia, the 
 fourth ala of Britons was stationed in Egypt. The twenty-sixth cohort of Britons 
 occurs in Armenia. A body of the " Invincible Younger Britons " were stationed 
 in Spain ; and one of the " Elder Britons " in Illyricum. The " Younger British 
 Slingers {exculcatoresy are found among the Palatine auxiliaries. Other bodies of 
 Britons are found in Gaul, Italy, and other countries. Britons of the tribe of the 
 Horesti (in Scotland) have been traced by Mr. Roach Smith on the banks of the 
 Rhine. See his u Collectanea Antiqua, 1 ' vol. ii. p. 134. 
 
chap, iil] DEATH OF ALBINUS. 105 
 
 whom he could confide for the execution of his secret orders. 
 These were, that they should endeavour to obtain a private inter- 
 view with Albinus, and if they succeeded they were instantly to 
 slay him ; if they were not admitted to a private interview, they 
 were to insinuate themselves among his cooks and with the ser- 
 vants who waited at his table, and by bribing them, convey a deadly 
 poison which the emperor had given them for that purpose into 
 his food. It happened that Albinus and his officers were well 
 aware of the treacherous character of Severus, and that they 
 were on their guard. His messengers were no sooner arrived in 
 Britain, than they were seized, and so strictly examined, that 
 they made a full confession. They were at once ordered for 
 execution, and Albinus, conscious that now his only chance of 
 safety was immediate action, caused himself to be proclaimed 
 emperor, and declared war against Severus. He marched into 
 Gaul, and took possession of the city of Lyons, near which was 
 fought the decisive battle which secured the empire to Severus, 
 and put an end to the ambitious projects of Albinus by his death. 
 The power of the province of Britain was exhibited in the 
 numerous and excellent army which its governor led into the 
 field. The ancient historian from whoni we gain the most 
 detailed account of these events, Xiphilinus, estimates his force 
 at a hundred and fifty thousand men, part of whom probably were 
 Gauls ; and, if we suppose this to be exaggerated, it is certain 
 that his soldiers were sufficiently numerous and brave, to leave 
 the event long doubtful in a contest with the military force of the 
 empire under the command of the emperor himself. 
 
 The great battle of Lyons was fought on the 19th of February* 
 197. It appears probable that the victor immediately appointed 
 to the government of Britain one of his commanders who had 
 served in the campaign against Albinus, named Virius Lupus, 
 who perhaps led back the shattered remains of the British legions. 
 At all events, we find this officer established there as propraetor 
 very soon afterwards. At this period some great change was 
 taking place in the population of North Britain, which we have a 
 difficulty in explaining, though it is supposed to have arisen from 
 a large immigration of foreign tribes, perhaps from the north of 
 Europe. The slight notices of events in Britain given by the 
 Roman writers throw no light upon the subject, further than 
 showing hs that the Caledonian tribes had suddenly become much 
 
106 THE ROMANS. [chap. hi. 
 
 more numerous and formidable, and that apparently a new tribe 
 under the name of Mseatae had established themselves imme- 
 diately to the north of the barrier of Antoninus. Dion Cassius, 
 the historian of these events, informs us that " the two greatest 
 tribes among the Britons are the Caledonii and the Moeataa, for 
 even the names of all the other tribes have in a manner merged 
 in these two. The Maeatae dwell close to the wall which divides 
 the island into two parts, and the Caledonii live beyond them. 
 Each of these people inhabit wild mountains, where there is no 
 water, and desert plains and marshes, where they live without 
 walls or cities ; neither do they practise husbandry, but live by 
 pasturage, or the chace, and on berries which grow in the woods ; 
 for they never taste fish, although their lakes and rivers furnish 
 an inexhaustible supply.* They live in tents, naked and bare- 
 footed, having their wives in common, and they rear all the 
 children which are born to them. The government of these 
 tribes is democratical, and they delight above a]l things in pillage. 
 They fight from chariots, which are drawn by small swift horses ; 
 they fight also on foot, run with great speed, and are most reso- 
 lute when compelled to stand. Their arms consist of a shield 
 and a short spear, which has a brazen knob at the extremity of 
 the shaft, that when shaken it may terrify the enemy by its 
 noise. They use daggers also. They are capable of enduring 
 hunger, thirst, and hardships of every description ; for they will 
 plunge into the marshes, and remain there several days, with 
 only their heads above the water. When they are in the woods 
 they subsist on bark and roots; and they prepare for all emer- 
 gencies a certain kind of food, of which if they eat only so much 
 as the size of a bean, they neither hunger nor thirst." 
 
 Such were the northern tribes, as report, probably applying 
 the description of those who were in the lowest state of 
 civilisation to the whole, pictured them at Home. We have 
 before had occasion to observe that the Caledonians appear to have 
 had quick intelligence of the condition of the southern province, 
 and they seem, according to the same policy which led their 
 descendants at a much more recent period to select the moment 
 when the Edwards and Henries were absent in their French 
 
 * It is a curious circumstance, that the probably superstitious aversion to the 
 eating of fish was preserved in Scotland to a very recent period ; and I am not 
 sure if it does not still to some degree exist in the Highlands. 
 
chap, in.] THE CALEDONIANS AND MMA.TM. 107 
 
 wars, to make their most formidable inroads into England, to 
 have chosen the moment of the insurrection of Albinus and of the 
 troubles and weakness which followed, to invade the B,oman 
 province. The history of these invasions is extremely obscure. 
 It appears to have been the Maeatse who conducted them, and the 
 sudden turbulence of this people, their strength and their position, 
 certainly give force to the opinion that they were a new colony 
 from Scandinavia or from the north of Germany. Virius Lupus 
 was at length induced to adopt the dangerous expedient of pur- 
 chasing peace with the Mseatae, who received the money, and then, 
 entering into an alliance with the Caledonians, renewed their 
 hostilites. The propraetor gave them more gold, and they 
 remained quiet during two years, and then in conjunction with 
 their allies recommenced their predatory excursions with more 
 ferocity than ever. At length, in the year 208, Virius Lupus 
 was so much embarrassed by the attacks of these northern enemies, 
 that he sent an urgent message to the emperor Severus, praying 
 for a considerable reinforcement of troops, and representing the 
 advantage which would arise from the presence of the emperor 
 himself. 
 
 Severus had found little happiness in the gratification of his 
 ambition ; the severity of his rule on one hand, and the weak 
 indulgence he showed towards his own family, had raised him 
 troubles both abroad, where he was annoyed by frequent insurrec- 
 tions, and in his own household, where his domestic hours were 
 embittered by the undutiful and even cruel conduct of his sons Cara- 
 calla and Geta. He was not unwilling, therefore, to change his 
 domestic torments even for the hardships of a campaign in the incle- 
 ment north, although age, now advancing upon him, was rendered 
 more burthensome by the attacks of a cruel disease. When the letter 
 of Virius Lupus arrived, announcing that the Roman province 
 was overrun by the northern plunderers, the sound of war seemed 
 to stir up the spirit of the old veteran, as if he had suddenly 
 recovered his youthful energies. He instantly assembled his 
 army and placed himself at its head, and, ordering his sons to 
 accompany him, he made a forced march through Gaul, stopping 
 nowhere, although the painful disease of his joints, with which he 
 was habitually afflicted, was at this time so severe, that he was 
 obliged to be carried on a litter. He thus reached the shores of 
 Britain in an incredibly short space of time. It was late in the 
 
108 THE ROMANS. [chap. in. 
 
 year 208, yet, without a moment's delay, be drew together the 
 armies from different parts, and, with those he had brought with 
 him, concentrated a vast force, and marched at once to meet the 
 enemy. The latter were astonished at the rapidity of his move- 
 ments, and quickly ceasing their hostilities, they sent envoys, who 
 met him perhaps at Eburacum (York), begging for peace, and 
 offering to make amends for their previous offences. But Severus 
 had come too far to be so easily satisfied, and he was resolved to 
 deprive them of the power of further hostility. He detained their 
 ambassadors for some time, and then sent them away without any 
 answer to their demands. 
 
 The emperor established his court at Eburacum, the second city 
 of the island, and the station of the sixth legion. He then made 
 extensive preparations for the war, and at the beginning of the 
 year 209 he put his forces in motion. He found it necessary to 
 separate his two sons, who not only treated their father with 
 insolent disrespect, but quarrelled with each other. Geta was left 
 to command the southern province, assisted with a council of the 
 oldest and most experienced of the emperor's friends, while Cara- 
 calla accompanied him into the wilds of Caledonia. They had no 
 sooner passed the boundary formed by the Forth and Clyde, and 
 the wall of Antoninus, (ra TrpofiefiXriixzva pevfiard re koX y&iAara 
 Trjs c PcojucuW apxjjs), than they were involved in daily skirmishes 
 with the barbarians, who only showed themselves in small bodies, 
 and manifested a resolution to avoid a general engagement. The 
 Eomans had to undergo extraordinary hardships, for as they drove 
 the enemy before them they were obliged to force their way 
 through thick forests and immense morasses, with a climate to the 
 asperity of which they were unaccustomed. But everything 
 seemed to yield to the stern will of their extraordinary leader, who, 
 in the midst of the most incredible difficulties and hardships, 
 caused bridges and roads to be thrown over the marshy places, 
 actually filling some of them up, so as to give his troops a solid 
 footing ; while he cut down forests, and made roads over the 
 mountains. In the course of these labours the Roman soldiers 
 frequently fell into ambuscades of the natives, who exposed sheep 
 and oxen a little way out of the line of their march, and then fell 
 upon them suddenly when they went to carry away the booty. 
 So certain were they that all stragglers would be killed without 
 mercy, and probably subjected to horrible indignities, that when- 
 
chap, in.] CAMPAIGN OF SEVERUS. 109 
 
 ever a soldier was rendered unable to keep up with the march of 
 his comrades, we are told that they put him to death, rather than 
 let him fall alive into the hands of their enemies. We are 
 assured by the old writers, that the Komans lost not less 
 than fifty thousand men in this invasion. Yet neither marsh 
 nor forest, rain nor storm, of which there seems to have been 
 no lack, averted the inflexible will of the aged emperor, who, 
 sometimes on horseback, but more frequently stretched on his 
 litter, which he was not able to leave for days together, continued 
 to advance until he reached the extreme northern coast of Britain. 
 He there observed the parallax of the sun, and the comparative 
 length of the days and nights, and he ascertained beyond a doubt 
 that Britain was an island. Severus was now willing to treat 
 with the Caledonians, against whom his operations had often been 
 hindered and embarrassed by the unfilial behaviour of Caracalla. 
 At times when the old man was unable to leave his bed, he tried 
 to persuade his son to take the command of the troops, and march 
 against the barbarians. But Caracalla only occupied himself in 
 corrupting the soldiers, in order that, in case of his father's death, 
 he might use them against his brother Geta, and obtain the 
 empire entirely for himself. He was even impatient of the 
 lingering duration of his father's life, and is said to have 
 attempted to bribe his physicians and servants to hasten his death. 
 When he found the old king's attendants too faithful to listen to 
 his proposals, he resolved to slay him himself. One day Severus, 
 having had the soles of his feet punctured, had thus obtained so 
 much relief from his complaint, that he was enabled to ride on 
 horseback. He left the camp with his son and a detachment of 
 his forces, to receive a surrender of arms from the Caledonians, 
 and to confer with them on terms of peace. The emperor rode 
 forward towards the enemy, with his son behind him, and the 
 troops following in the rear. At this moment Caracalla suddenly 
 checked his horse, and, drawing his sword, prepared to stab his 
 father in the back ; but the troops, who saw the treacherous 
 movement, set up a shout, which made the emperor turn 
 round, and thus saved his life. Severus had seen the drawn 
 sword, but, without appearing to take any further notice, he 
 proceeded in his negotiation with the Caledonians. When this 
 was concluded, he retired to his tent, and sending for his son, 
 reproached him with his murderous intentions in the presence of 
 
110 THE ROMANS. [chap. hi. 
 
 two of his confidential friends, Papinian, the celebrated lawyer, 
 and Castor. Provoked at the conduct of his children, Severus 
 hastened the treaty with the Caledonians, and it was agreed that 
 they should give up a considerable portion of their territory to 
 the Romans, on condition that he should retire with his army into 
 the Roman province. He accordingly returned to York, it is 
 supposed towards the end of the year 209. It has been popularly 
 supposed that the following year was employed in the construction 
 of that immense line of fortification which recent examinations 
 and a careful consideration of ancient testimonies have left little 
 doubt was the sole work of the emperor Hadrian. It is not, 
 indeed, probable that, after having added to the Roman territory 
 towards the north, a man like Severus would raise a barrier on 
 the limits to which the Roman power had been confined, when 
 almost at its lowest ebb.* 
 
 It is possible, however, that Severus may have repaired the 
 wall, and it seems that, during his stay at Eburacum, he not unfre- 
 quently visited its towns and garrisons. We are told that on one 
 of these visits to the wall, he was returning to the nearest station, 
 (niansio), when he was accosted by an " Ethiopian " soldier, 
 celebrated among his comrades for his wit,f who bore a crown of 
 cypress, and who, when the emperor seemed offended by what 
 he looked upon as an ill omen, addressed him in a tone of vulgar 
 adulation, "You have been everything, and conquered everything; 
 now then be a god." j Other fatal omens accompanied the em- 
 peror's progress, one of which occurred at Eburacum, when on his 
 return thither he went to offer sacrifice in the temple of Bellona. 
 While he was there, confiding in the solemn promises of the 
 northern barbarians to preserve the peace, news suddenly arrived 
 that the Mseatee had again united with the Caledonians, and that 
 they had recommenced their predatory inroads. The emperor 
 was furious at the faithlessness of the barbarians, and raising 
 
 * We owe the account of the Caledonian campaigns of Severus chiefly to the 
 historian Herodian, who wrote about thirty years after they took place. Some 
 particulars are added by a later writer, Xiphilinus. 
 
 f iEthiops quidam e numero militari, claise inter scurras famse, et celebratorum 
 semper jocorum. — JElius Spartianus, de Vit. Sever, c, 22. 
 
 J We have not much difficulty in fixing the scene of this anecdote. A detach- 
 ment of Moors was, as we learn from the " Notitia Imperii," stationed at Aballaba 
 {Watch-cross ?), which was no doubt the town where the emperor on this 
 occasion sought a lodging. 
 
chap. in. DEATH OF SEVERUS AT YORK. Ill 
 
 himself up, to order his officers to prepare for a new campaign, 
 he addressed them in the words of Homer — 
 
 Toov /JL7] tls virempvyoL alirvv okeOpov 
 
 XeTpas & v/JLSTepas' ^5' ovtlvol yaarepi [atjttjp 
 Kovpov ioura <p<=poi } ^5' ts (pvyoi alirvi/ o\zdpo:'* 
 
 which is translated by Cowper — 
 
 Die the race ! 
 May none escape us ! Neither he who flies 5 
 Nor even the infant in the mother's womb 
 Unconscious. 
 
 But Severus was sinking rapidly under his bodily infirmities, and 
 he was at this moment suffering under so severe an attack of his 
 disease, that he was unable to walk or ride. The troops, mur- 
 muring at his absence, and agitated by the intrigues of his 
 worthless son, saluted Caracalla with the imperial title of 
 Augustus- When this was told to Severus, all the energies of 
 the warrior were roused, and, causing himself to be placed on 
 the tribunal, he commanded the new emperor, Caracalla, with all 
 who had joined in the act of insubordination, whether tribunes, 
 centurions, or private soldiers, to appear before him. Then sud- 
 denly addressing them, he said, " Soldiers, it is not the feet, but 
 the head, which discharges the duties of a general ; " and in the 
 same breath he gave the order to march against the enemy. 
 But the old man's effort was fatal to him. He relapsed into a 
 state of helpless weakness, was carried back to his palace, and 
 died in Eburacum, or York, on the 4th of February, 211. By 
 his will, his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, were to share between 
 them his enormous treasures and the Roman empire. 
 
 Caracalla, eager to secure the grand object of his ambition, and 
 to possess alone his father's empire and his treasures, seems to 
 have kept the real state of the health of Severus from the know- 
 ledge of his mother and brother until his death. He then first 
 caused to be put to death most of the officers of his father's 
 household, and tried to corrupt the army ; but they remained 
 faithful, and insisted on acknowledging the two brothers as 
 equal, according to their father's will. Failing in his attempt 
 upon the soldiery, Caracalla made a hasty peace with the bar- 
 barians, and, pretending to acquiesce in the will of Severus, he 
 hastened to the south to join his brother and mother. The body 
 
112 THE ROMANS. [chap. in. 
 
 of the late emperor was consumed on a funeral pile at York, and 
 the ashes having been placed in an urn of alabaster, they carried 
 it with them to Rome. 
 
 Such were the events which have given a classic celebrity to 
 the city of York. A long period passed over, and many emperors 
 sat on the throne, before Britain is again mentioned in the 
 ancient historians. The government seems to have been carried 
 on with a silent tranquillity, which leaves us to suppose that the 
 island prospered, and that it was visited by no great dangers or 
 troubles to excite attention at Rome. In fact, the next great 
 events that we shall have to contemplate are not overwhelming 
 attacks of the barbarians, but revolts of the island against the 
 imperial government. Two or three inscriptions found in dif- 
 ferent parts of England refer distinctly to this period, and as 
 they belong principally to dedications and restorations of buildings 
 they seem to confirm the supposition that the island remained 
 in peace. One of these, raised by the troop of Asturians 
 stationed at Cilurnum on the wall [Clusters) relates to the re- 
 building of a temple, and shows us not only that in 221, under 
 the reign of Heliogabalus, Marius Valerianus was propraetor of 
 Britain, but that the troops and people in this distant province 
 took so much interest in the revolutions at Rome, that no sooner 
 had Heliogabalus been deposed and assassinated, than his name 
 was erased from the inscription in this remote and comparatively 
 obscure town. Another inscription, found in Cumberland, shows 
 that the propraetor of the emperor Gordian, in the year 243, 
 was Nonnius Philippus. 
 
 Amid the disorder and anarchy of the reign of Gallienus (260 
 to 268), a number of usurpers arose in different parts of the 
 empire, who were popularly called the thirty tyrants, of whom 
 Lollianus, Victorinus, Postumus, the two Tetrici, and Marius, 
 are believed on good grounds to have assumed the sovereignty in 
 Britain. Perhaps some of these rose up as rivals at the same 
 time, and from the monuments bearing the name of Tetricus, 
 found at Bittern, near Southampton, we are perhaps justified in 
 supposing that the head quarters of that commander lay at the 
 station of Clausen turn and along the neighbouring coasts. We 
 have no information of the state of Britain at this time, but 
 it must have been profoundly agitated by these conflicting 
 claimants to empire. Yet, though so ready to rise in support of 
 
chap, in.] THE PICTS AND SCOTS. 113 
 
 their own leaders, the troops in Britain seem to have turned a 
 deaf ear to all solicitations from without. When an officer in the 
 Roman army, named Bonosus, horn in Spain, but descended of 
 a family in Britain, proclaimed himself emperor, in the reign of 
 Aurelian, and appealed for support to the western provinces, he 
 found no sympathy among the British troops. Another usurper, 
 whose name has not been recorded, had taken advantage of his 
 appointment to the government of the island by the emperor 
 Probus to assume the purple. The frequency of such usurpations 
 within the island seem to show a desire among the inhabitants to 
 erect themselves into an independent sovereignty. We are told 
 that a favourite courtier of Probus, named Victorinus Maurusius, 
 had recommended this usurper to the propraetorship, and that, 
 when reproached on this account by the emperor, Victorinus 
 demanded permission to visit Britain. When he arrived there, 
 he hastened to the propraetor, and sought his protection as a 
 victim who had narrowly escaped from the tyranny of the emperor. 
 The new sovereign of Britain received him with the greatest 
 kindness, and in return was murdered in the night by his guest. 
 Victorinus returned to Rome to give the emperor this convincing 
 proof of his " loyalty." Probus was succeeded in the empire by 
 Carus, and he was followed by Dioclesian, who began his reign in 
 the year 284, and who soon associated with himself in the empire 
 the joint emperor Maximian. Their reign, as far as regards 
 Britain, was rendered remarkable chiefly by the successful usur- 
 pation of Carausius. 
 
 About this time another great change was taking place among 
 the independent tribes in the north, the particulars of which are 
 lost in the obscurity of history. It is supposed that the Dalreadic 
 colony, under a leader whom tradition in the time of Bede named 
 Reuda, now passed over from Ireland into the wilds of Lorn and 
 Kintire, and laid the foundation of that people who ultimately 
 gave to the whole of North Britain the name of Scotland. It is 
 certain that, after the period of which we are now speaking, we 
 lose sight of the old name of Caledonians, and even of the more 
 recent one of Maeatae, and in their place appear those of Picts and 
 Scots, with a tribe which was apparently of older date, and which 
 now gained notoriety for its savage ferocity, the Attacotti. At the 
 same time the eastern and south-eastern coasts of Britain began 
 to be infested with the predatory incursions of the Saxon seafarers 
 
114 THE ROMANS. [chap. hi. 
 
 from the mouth of the Elbe. To oppose these it was found 
 necessary not only to erect a series of fortresses along the 
 coast, but to establish and keep up a strong fleet in the channel, 
 which had its places of rendezvous at Gessoriacum (Boulogne), 
 and in the ports on the coasts of Kent, Sussex, and Hamp- 
 shire. Among the officers of this fleet who distinguished 
 themselves most against the enemy, was a Menapian of low birth, 
 probably of the Batavian tribe of the Menapii, named Carausius, 
 whose talents soon caused him to be singled out from his fellow- 
 soldiers, and he was eventually appointed to the command of the 
 whole fleet. His ambition seems now to have been fixed on a higher 
 aim, and he appears to have formed leagues and alliances, the 
 object of which could hardly be misunderstood. He showed his 
 military and naval skill in his frequent victories over the German 
 pirates ; but information was carried to the emperors that the 
 plunder which he recaptured from the barbarians was seldom 
 restored to those from whom it had been first taken, and it was even 
 intimated, that instead of preventing the attacks of the enemy, 
 he always contrived to let them first load themselves with 
 plunder, and then attacked them and deprived them of their 
 prey. By these or other means Carausius collected enormous 
 wealth, which also was reported to Maximian, who sent orders to 
 put the admiral of the British fleet to death. Carausius was 
 soon informed of the emperor's intentions, and became aw T are 
 that he had only one chance of safety. He seems to have been 
 extremely popular among the soldiery both on land and in the 
 fleet ; his great wealth gave him the means of attaching the 
 mercenary to his fortunes ; and, making use of both these advan- 
 tages, he entered into an alliance with the Franks, on whose 
 borders he seems to have been born, and with other German 
 tribes, seized the great naval station of Gessoriacum, and pro- 
 claimed himself one of the emperors of Borne. Embarrassing 
 revolts in other parts of the empire encouraged him in his design. 
 Having thus proclaimed himself the equal and colleague of 
 Dioclesian and Maximian, the talents of Carausius enabled him 
 to retain his usurped sovereignty during a period of seven years. 
 History has left us no account of the manner in which his govern- 
 ment was carried on, but he was evidently a man of very extra- 
 ordinary abilities, for it is said that, during this period, he not 
 only set the power of Borne at defiance, but that he protected his 
 
chap, in.] COINS OF CARAUSIUS. 115 
 
 subjects from the Saxons, and that he compelled the barbarians 
 of the north to keep within the limits of their woods and marshes. 
 One of the most extraordinary characteristics of the short reign 
 of Carausius is the number and variety of his coinage. Upwards 
 of three hundred different types are known, and there can be 
 littje doubt that there are many others yet unknown. These 
 authentic monuments throw some light on his character and 
 history, and we have every reason to hope, that, in the hands of 
 a skilful antiquary, they will some day be rendered still more 
 available.- Of the great variety of reverses found on these coins, 
 many, no doubt, refer to historical events. One of these, with 
 the legend expectate veni, is supposed to have been struck 
 on his arrival in Britain, after having assumed the imperial 
 title at Gessoriacum ; the figure beneath the inscription 
 represents the genius of Britain, with a trident in her hand, 
 welcoming the new emperor. A number of coins having 
 such inscriptions as adventvs caravsi, adventvs avgvsti, &c, 
 with others inscribed victoria avgvstt, and virtvs avgvsti, 
 seem to have been struck on his return from successful 
 expeditions against his enemies. One, with a figure of a trophy 
 between two captives, and the inscription victokia gee, perhaps 
 commemorated some exploit on the coast of Germany. His 
 care to conciliate the troops is shown not only in coins with 
 the inscriptions concordia militvm and fides militvm, but in 
 others struck in honour of each particular legion. The second 
 legion, with its badge the Capricorn, and the twentieth, with its 
 badge the boar, are thus commemorated, as well as several legions 
 or parts of legions stationed in Gaul, which no doubt took part 
 with the usurper. Other inscriptions, such as vbertas avg, 
 aeqvitas avg, fortvna avg, felicitas avg, hilaritas avg, 
 laetitia avg, pax avg, providentja avg, restitvt saecvli, 
 saecvli felicitas, temporvm felicitas, no doubt were intended 
 to proclaim the prosperity and happiness of the province 
 under the rule of Carausius. When embarrassments in other 
 
 * The antiquary Stukeley published a " Medallic History of Carausius," 
 "which, although it displays too much of that writer's hasty speculations and con- 
 clusions, show's us with how much advantage the coins might be made to illustrate 
 the history. Mr. Roach Smith has announced a work on the coins of Carausius 
 and Allectus, which we may be sure will be a valuable addition to the early 
 history of this island. 
 
 12 
 
116 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 parts of the empire obliged Maximian to leave liim for a 
 while to the enjoyment of his assumed dignity, and even, it is 
 said, to agree to a treaty of friendship with him, Carausius pro- 
 claimed himself an associate in the empire by coins with 
 inscriptions such as caravsivs et fratres svi (round the three 
 heads of Carausius, Dioclesian, and Maximian), pax avggg, salvs 
 avggg, pietas avggg, &c, the three g's indicating the three 
 emperors. Bat the most curious of all the coins of Carausius 
 yet discovered, is one which has recently come into the possession 
 of Mr. Roach Smith, and which, contrary to the universal practice 
 of the earlier Roman coinage, gives the emperor's head with a front 
 face, instead of a profile. From this circumstance, and from its 
 superior execution, Mr. Smith is inclined to believe that it was 
 struck expressly as a correct portrait of this remarkable man, 
 and as thus it forms one of the most interesting records of our 
 history, it is here given from his " Collectanea Antiqua," where 
 
 it was first published. This unique coin is in small brass, in an 
 excellent state of preservation, and was found at Wroxeter, in 
 Shropshire, the site of the Roman town of Uriconium. 
 
 We have said that Carausius held the supreme power in Britain 
 during nearly seven years (from 287 to 293.) In .292, the two 
 emperors, Maximian and Dioclesian, strengthened their govern- 
 ment by the appointment of two Caesars, Constantius and Galerius; 
 and Constantius, to whose lot the provinces of the west fell, 
 prepared immediately to reduce the island chieftain. We have 
 the account of the events that followed chiefly from imperial 
 panegyrists, who conceal all the circumstances advantageous to 
 the usurper, but their outline is no doubt correct. Constantius 
 having collected a very powerful army, made a rapid march to 
 Gessoriacum, and laid siege unexpectedly to the grand naval 
 station of Carausius. Then, as now, this port could only be 
 
chap, in.] MUEDEK OF CAEAUSIUS. 117 
 
 entered at full tide, and Constantius took advantage of the ebb to 
 block it up entirely with an embankment of piles and stones. 
 Before this, however, had been effected, Carausius, who was in 
 Gessoriacum at the time of the arrival of Constantius, took to his 
 ships and sailed away to Britain. 
 
 Gessoriacum soon surrendered to the imperial arms, but Con- 
 stantius found a greater obstacle to his immediate success in the 
 want of ships. Four years passed away in the construction of 
 a fleet, in the course of which Carausius himself had ceased to 
 live. The empty bauble of empire had excited the ambition of 
 Allectus, an officer whom Carausius had placed at the head of 
 his fleet, and who basely and treacherously murdered his master. 
 Allectus immediately seized the imperial authority, and, without 
 the abilities of Carausius, attempted to follow in his course. 
 During three years, while Constantius remained inactive, or only 
 occupied in reducing to obedience the Franks and other allies of 
 the usurper, Allectus was allowed to remain undisturbed. His 
 coins include some which are different from those of his pre- 
 decessor, and, considering the duration of his reign, they are 
 almost as numerous. At length, in the year 296, Constantius 
 had completed his vast preparations for invasion, and he is said 
 to have been the first to set sail. His principal force, under the 
 command of the prsefect Asclepiodotus, which had assembled in 
 the mouth of the Seine, immediately followed, and directing their 
 course towards the western coast of Britain, were enabled by a 
 thick fog to elude the fleet of Allectus, which was stationed off 
 the Isle of Wight. It was afterwards said in praise of 
 Asclepiodotus, that he ventured out to sea on a stormy day, with 
 a side wind, (which w r as then considered bold seamanship), and 
 that when he landed on the British coast, he burnt his galleys, 
 that his troops might find their only safety in victory 
 
 Meanwhile Allectus, who expected that the imperial forces 
 would cross over directly into Kent, had taken up a position in 
 the neighbourhood of London. He no sooner received intelligence 
 of the landing of Asclepiodotus, than he hurried hastily to meet 
 him, carrying with him only a part of his troops, and those chiefly 
 his Frankish auxiliaries. The consequence was that he w 7 as 
 defeated in his first engagement with his enemies, and he was 
 himself slain in the battle. As much of his army as escaped fled 
 to London, intending, it is said, to plunder that rich city and then 
 
118 THE KOMANS. [chap. hi. 
 
 sail with the spoils to the continent. But they were closely 
 pursued by the imperial army, and the greater part of them are 
 said to have been slain in the streets of the capital. According 
 to the panegyrists, the population of Britain hailed the day of the 
 arrival of Gonstantius as that of their redemption from an 
 oppressive and cruel tyranny. The imperial commander took up 
 his residence in York, from which we may perhaps assume that he 
 had been called to the north to repress the turbulence of the 
 Picts and Scots. But all we know of his proceedings is the 
 simple fact, that he had been in Britain nine years when, in the 
 year 305, the resignation of Dioclesian and Maximian left the 
 Boman empire to Galerius and Constantius. 
 
 Gonstantius, who is usually known by the name of Constantius 
 Chlorus, was the father of Constantine the Great ; but the story 
 that his wife Helena was of British origin appears to be a mere 
 fable. At the time of his father's accession to the empire of the 
 West, Constantine was serving in the army under Galerius, at 
 Nicomedia, and it is supposed that Galerius, who would willingly 
 have been without a partner in the empire, intended to keep him 
 as a hostage for his father. But Constantine made his escape, 
 and, travelling with extreme rapidity, reached Gessoriacum in 
 safety, and, finding his father there, passed with him into Britain, 
 where he assisted in the government, and soon ingratiated himself 
 with the troops and with the people. They proceeded immediately 
 to the north, to direct an expedition against the barbarians, but 
 Constantius was already struck with disease, and, after this expe- 
 dition, on the 25th of July, 306, he died at York. The soldiers 
 immediately saluted his son Constantine as their emperor, and 
 Galerius was induced to yield to their wishes. Constantine re- 
 mained resident in our island, though his acts are not recorded, 
 until, six years afterwards, he w T as called away to enter upon the 
 contest which ended in making him sole ruler of the B-oman world. 
 
 Britain now enjoyed a continued calm of more than thirty 
 years. The emperor Constans paid a visit to Britain in 347, 
 but we know not for what purpose ; though it is probable that the 
 British legions had begun again to show an inclination to throw 
 off their dependence on Borne. Three years after his return from 
 Britain, Constans fell a sacrifice to the ambition and treason of 
 Magnentius, one of his officers, a Briton by birth. The troops in 
 Britain probably supported the cause of Magnentius, and, after 
 
chap, iil] MISSION OF PAULUS CATENA. 119 
 
 that usurper's defeat and death, in 353, the province suffered 
 severely from the anger of the conqueror. The historian 
 Ammianus Marcellinus tells us that a Spanish notary, named 
 Paulus, who had gained by his cunning and astuteness the sur- 
 name of Catena (the chain], was sent to Britain to institute pro- 
 ceedings against those who had espoused the cause of Magnentius. 
 Paulus made use of the powers which had been given him by the 
 emperor in so cruel and oppressive a manner, that he became an 
 object of general detestation ; and when the civil ruler of the 
 island, whose name was Martin, interfered in favour of his 
 victims, he attempted to involve him, and many of his officers, 
 under the same accusations. Ammianus tells us how Martin 
 tried to save himself and his friends by slaying the imperial 
 accuser, but, failing in the attempt, he immediately killed himself 
 with his own sword. " Paulus returned to court steeped in 
 British blood, and dragging with him a multitude of wretched 
 victims loaded with chains, whose looks depicted the hopelessness 
 of their destiny. Some of these suffered horrible tortures at the 
 hands of the executioners ; while others were proscribed and 
 exiled, and others had their heads struck from their bodies on 
 the scaffold." 
 
 The visitation of Paulus Catena was followed by one of a 
 different kind, but no less disastrous to the inhabitants of the 
 province. The Picts and Scots joined together, and began to 
 carry their ravages far into the south. Britain had, no doubt, 
 been robbed of much of its military force in the recent struggles 
 for empire, and it had been further weakened by the severities of 
 Paulus ; its troops, therefore, were insufficient for its defence, 
 and they were obliged to send over into Gaul to ask assistance of 
 Julian, to whom Constantius had entrusted the defence of that 
 province against the incursions of the Germans. Julian sent to 
 Britain his magister armorum, or camp marshal, Lupicinus, a 
 brave and experienced officer, who took with him some light 
 auxiliary troops, with a few companies of the Heruli, Msesians, 
 and Batavians, and hastened over from Gessoriacum to Kutupia% 
 and thence to London. We have no further account of his expe- 
 dition, but he probably retaliated severely on the northern 
 invaders, for the island seems to have had again a long period 
 of undisturbed tranquillity. 
 
120 THE ROMAN'S. [chap. iv. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A Journey through Roman Britain — Londinium — Great Road from Londinium to 
 Segontium — Verulamium ; Uriconium, &c. — Direct Northern Road from 
 Londinium ; Durobrivse, Lindum, Danum, Eburacum, Isurium — Passage of 
 the two Walls — Stations on the Wall — Branch to Luguballium and Blatum 
 Bulgium — Eastern Road ; Carnulodunum, Camboricum — From Londinium 
 to Calleva — Branch to Corinium and Glevum ; Isca, and Maridunum — 
 From Glevum by Magna to Deva, and thence through Coccium to 
 the North — Cross Roads — Salinse and other towns — The Western Road, 
 from Calleva to Sorbiodunum, Durnovaria, and Isca Dumnoniorum — Aquae 
 Solis — The trajectus to Wales, and the Sarn Helen — The Road on the 
 Southern Coast ; Venta Belgarum, Clausentum, Portus Magnus, Regnum, 
 Anderida, Portus Lemanis. 
 
 At the period we have now reached the face of the island was 
 strangely altered from that which it presented when visited by 
 Caesar. Well inhabited and well cultivated, it was divided like 
 a network by innumerable roads, many of them wide and all of 
 excellent construction, which formed a communication between a 
 multitude of flourishing cities and towns. Several principal lines 
 of roads carried the traveller into and across the island in different 
 directions.* 
 
 * Two imperfect itineraries, giving us the names and distances from each other of 
 the towns and stations on the principal military roads, have been preserved. The 
 first is contained in the great Itinerarium of the Roman empire, which goes under 
 the name of Antoninus, and is believed to have been compiled about a.d. 320. The 
 other is contained in the work of Richard of Cirencester, and is supposed to have 
 been copied by a monk of the fourteenth century, from an older itinerary or map. 
 They differ a little from each other, but our faith in Richard's Itinerary is 
 strengthened by the circumstance that nearly all the roads he gives which are not 
 in Antoninus have been ascertained to exist. Traces of many Roman roads are 
 found all over the country, not mentioned in these itineraries, and names of a great 
 number of towns found neither in Antoninus nor in Richard, are given by an 
 anonymous geographer of Ravenna, who wrote about the middle of the seventh 
 century, but as he has placed them in no regular order, it is very difficult now to 
 identify their sites. 
 
chap, iv.] THE STRANGER IN ROMAN BRITAIN. 121 
 
 The stranger who embarked at Gessoriacum, on the coast of 
 Gaul, was carried, guided at night by the light from the lofty 
 pharos of Dubrse (Dover), into the port of Rutupiae, celebrated 
 for its oysters, which was the usual place of landing from the 
 Continent. The citadel of Rutupiae stood on an elevation com- 
 manding the beach, and its massive walls still remain at Rich- 
 borough, about three-quarters of a mile to the north-east of the 
 modern town of Sandwich. From the masses of white marble 
 that have been scattered about, it is evident that this citadel was 
 adorned with handsome buildings. The town lay behind the 
 citadel, spread over a gentle declivity, while at the top of the hill 
 to the north are still seen the remains of its amphitheatre. 
 Rutupiae stood on the edge of the isle of Thanet, separated from 
 the rest of Cantium by a creek which ran through to the mouth 
 of the Thames, where its entrance was defended by another 
 town and citadel, named Regulbium, now Reculver, of which part 
 of the walls still remain. Another Roman port seems to have 
 occupied the site of the modern harbour of Ramsgate.* 
 
 From Rutupise the traveller crossed over the water — the place 
 whence the Rutupine oysters were taken, and where, in digging, 
 the remains of the oyster-beds are still found — to the site of the 
 present town of Sandwich, and here he entered the high road, 
 which led directly over the Downs, by the present village of Ash, 
 to a large town, called Durovernum, which occupied probably 
 the whole site of the modern city of Canterbury. Part of the 
 Roman walls were standing a century ago, and tesselated pave- 
 ments and other antiquities discovered there at different times, 
 show its importance. It was the point from which several roads 
 branched, communicating with the towns on the coast, Regulbium, 
 Rutupiaa, Dubrse, and the Portus Lemanis. The road leading to 
 the interior of the island left Durovernum on the north-east, and 
 proceeded over the high grounds of the forest of Blee, by a town 
 named Durolevum, the probable site of which seems to be 
 Davington, but which was apparently one of those unimportant 
 stations that have left scarcely a trace behind, to a more impor- 
 tant town named Durobrivas, on the site of the present city of 
 
 * On the antiquities of Rutupise and Regulbium, the reader should consult the 
 excellent work by Mr. Roach Smith, (6 The Antiquities of Richborough, Reculver, 
 and Lymne," in which they have been investigated with remarkable skill and 
 care. It is itself almost a manual of Roman antiquities. 
 
122 THE ROMANS. [chap, iv. 
 
 Kochester, situated on a river then called the Madus, now the 
 Medway. The road then proceeded across towards the banks of the 
 Thames, where the traveller arrived at a town named Vagniacae, 
 the situation of which is also somewhat doubtful, though it is 
 generally believed to have stood in the neighbourhood of South- 
 fleet. Traces of Roman settlements are found thickly scattered 
 along the line of this road, and between it and the Thames. 
 From Vagniacae the road proceeded by Dartford, over Shooter's 
 Hill, across Blackheath, and to a town in the territory of the 
 ancient tribe of the Regni, called Noviomagus, which is supposed 
 to have stood on the side of Holwood Hill, in the parish of 
 Bromley. Fifteen Roman miles to the north brought the traveller 
 again to the banks of the Thames, at the foot of the bridge by 
 which he entered the great commercial town of Londinium. 
 
 Roman London was built on the elevated ground on both sides 
 of a stream, known in after times by the name of Wall-brook, 
 which ran into the Thames not far from South wark Bridge, and 
 extending westward to the edge of a hill overlooking another 
 stream, called in later times Holbourne, and on the east almost 
 to the Tower. Its walls were identical with those which inclosed 
 the mediaeval city of London. At this time it seems to have had 
 two principal lines of streets, one running from the bridge north- 
 ward in the line of Bishopsgate-street, the other branching from 
 it, and running along the line of the modern Watling-street, till 
 it left the city by Ludgate. At the western end of this street 
 the principal temples and public buildings seem to have stood, 
 crowning the hill, and occupying the side which sloped down to 
 the river. The northern and north-eastern parts of the town 
 were occupied with extensive and — to judge by the remains which 
 have been brought to light — magnificent mansions. Londinium 
 had increased much in extent since it had been founded by the 
 Romans. It has been supposed by a recent writer that the first 
 town w 7 as confined to the hill on the east of Walbrook.* Mr. 
 Roach Smith discovered in excavations on the site of the Royal 
 Exchange, pits which had been receptacles of the rubbish from 
 the shops and houses of Roman London at an earlier period of 
 its existence, and which had been afterwards filled up and built 
 
 * This notion on the earliest form of Londinium was published in an essay on 
 the original site of Roman London, by Mr. Arthur Taylor, in the thirty-third 
 volume of the " Archaeologia." 
 
chap, iv.] LONDINIUM AND VEEULAMIUM. 123 
 
 over. At the period to which our last chapter has brought us, 
 the city had extended to the other side of the Thames, and the 
 borough of South wark stands upon ground which covers the 
 floors of Roman houses and the pavings of Roman streets.* 
 
 Two principal roads led out of Londinium on the north side of 
 the Thames ; one apparently in the direction of Bishopsgate, 
 the other eastward, through Ludgate, across Holbourne, and in 
 the direction of Fleet-street and the Strand. Without Newgate, 
 on each side of this road, the principal sepulchral monuments 
 of the citizens of Londinium appear to have stood. It was 
 the grand route to the west of Britain ; but somewhere near 
 the present site of Knightsbridge another large road branched 
 off northward, and proceeded in a direct line along the modern 
 Kilburn road, until the traveller arrived at a town named 
 Sulloniacae, the traces of which are now found on an elevation 
 called Brockley Hill, a little south of Elstree, on the borders of 
 Hertfordshire. Hence the road continued its direct course, 
 through a rich and varied country, to the grand municipal city of 
 Verulamium, the extensive walls of which are still traced in the 
 neighbourhood of St. Albans. Verulamium was the fashionable 
 town of the south-east, and possessed, what few towns in Britain 
 did, a theatre 
 
 From Verulamium the road proceeded through the same rich 
 country, nearly straight, to a town named Durocobrivss, which 
 must have stood at or in the immediate vicinity of the modern 
 town of Dunstable, which is marked as an ancient station by the 
 number of tumuli and entrenchments in the neighbourhood. It 
 was apparently the great market of these agricultural districts, 
 over which the goddess Diana presided, as it was known also by 
 the name of Forum Dianas. On leaving this place, the traveller 
 continued his route across the beautiful country to the south of 
 Woburn till he entered a more open valley, where he reached 
 the town of Magiovintum, supposed to have stood at the place 
 where the road crossed the river Ousel, in the immediate vicinity 
 
 * Numerous particulars relating to Roman London will be found in papers by 
 Mr. Roach Smith, scattered through the volumes of the " Archseologia," of the 
 Society of Antiquaries, and other archaeological works. See also a paper on this 
 subject in the w Archaeological Album. 1 ' | Whenever excavations are made within 
 the limits of the city of London, the workmen come to the Roman floors at a depth 
 of from twelve to eighteen or twenty feet under the present level. } 
 
124 THE ROMANS. . [chap. iv. 
 
 of Fenny Stratford. The road then again mounted higher 
 ground, passing through the town of Stoney Stratford, and so 
 on to Lactodorum, a town occupying the site of the modern 
 Towcester. The road then turned slightly north to Weedon, 
 at which point a cross road turned off, leading to what some 
 have considered two towns, Isannavaria and Bennaventa, which 
 have been placed at Burnt Walls and Burrow Hill, ancient 
 sites near Daventry, though others have imagined it to be one 
 town under two different names. The main road continued its 
 course from Weedon in a straight line across an open country 
 to the neighbourhood of the modern town of Lilburne, where 
 it crossed the river Avon at Dove Bridge. Here stood a town 
 called Tripontium, wiiich must have possessed something re- 
 markable in its bridge or bridges across the river. Tumuli and 
 earthworks, scattered over the country around, again mark it as 
 a place of some importance. The country now became more 
 uneven, and the road proceeded till it reached the top of a hill 
 within the borders of Leicestershire, where stood the town of 
 Benonse, the site of which is now occupied by High Cross. The 
 next town at which the traveller arrived was Manduessedura, 
 occupying the slope of a hill over the river Anker, and surrounded 
 by high grounds. The site of this town is now called Manceter 
 (in the county of Warwick), and the square entrenchments of the 
 ancient station are still seen, while the hills to the south are 
 covered with tumuli. After leaving Manduessedum, the traveller 
 passed through a continuation of rich agricultural district, open 
 to the north, but rising into a fine hilly country to the south, the 
 road generally taking the higher grounds, until it reached the 
 town of Eteocetum. The last traces of its buildings have long 
 disappeared, but the tradition of them appears to be preserved in 
 the modern name of the site, Wall, in Staffordshire. The road 
 turned hence westward, proceeding direct through Stretton, till it 
 crossed the little river Penk, where stood the town of Penno- 
 crucium. The road now went through a more wooded and hilly 
 country, until the traveller arrived at Uxaconium, apparently but 
 a small unimportant town, which has been placed by some at Ked 
 Hill, a little to the north-east of Shiffnal, in Shropshire, and by 
 others at Oaken-gates, near Wembridge. It proceeded thence, 
 turning slightly south, to the important town of Uriconium or 
 Viriconium, the imposing remains of which are still seen at 
 
chap, iv.] THE GREAT NORTHERN" ROAD. 125 
 
 the modern village of Wroxeter. Here one branch of the great 
 road crossed the Severn, and proceeded in a north- westwardly 
 direction to Rutuniuro, a Roman town, the site of which is generally 
 placed at Rowton, in Shropshire, after which it entered Wales, 
 passing under the north end of the Brythen mountain, to a town 
 called Mediolanum, situated where the road crossed the river 
 Tanad. The traveller then pursued his way among the wild 
 mountains of North Wales, till he approached the majestic heights 
 of Mons Heriri (Snowdon), and halted at a station of that name, 
 the entrenchments of which are still observed at a place named 
 from them Tomen-y-mur, in the valley of Maentwrog. Thence 
 the road led down to the coast, where the traveller entered 
 Segontium, one of the most important Roman towns in Wales, 
 the walls of which are still visible at Caer Seiont, near Caernarvon, 
 on the coast of the Irish Sea. 
 
 If the stranger were not bound for the midland districts, he 
 might leave Londinium by the gate known in later times by the 
 name of Bishopsgate, and pursue the great road to the north. 
 His way at first ran through woods and corn districts, and the 
 traveller passed over considerable distances without meeting with 
 towns or stations. His first halting-place was a small station 
 named — we are not certain why — Ad Fines, the site of which is 
 supposed to have been at Broughing, in Hertfordshire, at the 
 confluence of two streams, the Rib and the Quin. Thence the 
 road proceeded in a direct line to Durolipons, the site of which is 
 fixed without doubt at Godmanchester, on the river Ouse. The 
 traveller had now entered upon the low, flat country on the 
 borders of the fens, to avoid which the road turned a little west, 
 and then continuing its dreary course to the north reached a 
 district covered with potteries, in the midst of which he entered 
 a rich and elegant town named Durobrivge, situated on one of 
 the sluggish rivers of this district, which in modern times is called 
 the Nen, and the site of the Roman town is now occupied by an 
 obscure village called Castor.* Hence the road continued nearly 
 north, with a slight curve, to another town of some importance, 
 named Causennse, or, according to other authorities, Isinse, situ- 
 ated on slightly elevated ground. There can be no doubt this 
 
 * The very interesting antiquities of this Roman town were explored by the late 
 Mr. E. Tyrrell Artis, of Castor, who published them in a series of expensive plates, 
 but which were not accompanied with a text. 
 
126 THE ROMANS, [chap. tv. 
 
 town occupied the site of the modern Ancaster, which has been 
 celebrated for its Eoman antiquities since the time of Leland.* 
 Another stage brought the traveller to Lindum, a noble city, both 
 for the elegance of its buildings, and its position on a lofty 
 isolated hill, commanding extensive views on every side over the 
 flat country around. Its modern representative is easily recognised 
 in the city of Lincoln. 
 
 The traveller who was not willing to follow the dreary road we 
 have been describing, might take another route, which, though 
 less direct, lay through a more beautiful country, in which the 
 towns were more numerous and interesting. He left Londinium by 
 its western gate, and proceeding along the road already described, 
 he passed through SulloniacaB, Verulamium, Durocobrivae. Magio- 
 vintum, Lactodorum, and Tripontium, to Venonse. There, 
 instead of continuing his route to Manduessedum, he took 
 another great road which turned off to the north-east, and pro- 
 ceeded direct to Ratae, one of the largest and most important of 
 the midland cities, adorned with rich mansions and temples, and 
 other public buildings, f Its site is now occupied by the town of 
 Leicester. Thence, keeping to the eastward of the great forest 
 of Charnwood, the road proceeded over a rich country to Vero- 
 metum — a town supposed to have stood in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of Willoughby, on the borders of Nottinghamshire. 
 A few miles more brought the traveller to a town on the river 
 
 * Leland, in his Itinerary, vol. i., pp. 28, 29, has left us the following note on 
 the antiquities discovered at Ancaster in his time: — "In tymes past it hath hene a 
 celebrate toune, but not waullid, as far as I could perceive. The building of it lay 
 in lenghth by south and north. In the south ende of it be often tymes founde in 
 ploughing great square stones of old buildinges and Romayne coynes of brasse and 
 sylver. In the west ende of it, where now meadowes be, ar founde yn diching 
 great vaultes. . . . An old man of Ancaster told me that by Ureby, or Roseby, 
 a ploughman toke up a stone, and found another stone under it, wherein was a 
 square hole having Romaine quoin in it. He told me also that a ploughman toke 
 up in the feldes of Harleston a 2 miles from Granteham a stone, under the which 
 was a potte of brasse, and an helmet of gold, sette with stones in it, the which was 
 presentid to Catarine princes dowager. There were bedes of silver in the potte, 
 and writings corruptid." 
 
 + The importance and beauty of Ratse are evinced by the numerous fine tesse- 
 lated pavements that have been found there. Some of its public buildings appear 
 to have been standing in the time of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who speaks of a sub- 
 terranean temple of Janus : " In quodam subterraneo quod sub Sora fluvio intra 
 Legecestriam fieri prasceperat. Erat autem subterraneum illud conditum in 
 honorem bifrontis Jani." — Galf. Mon. Hist. Brit, lib. ii., c. 14. 
 
chap, iy.] TOWNS ON THE NORTH ROAD. 127 
 
 Trent, named Margidunuin, supposed to have stood at or near 
 Bridgeford, and next he reached a station on the same river, called, 
 no doubt from its bridge over the river, Ad Pontem, believed to 
 have stood near the modern village of Farndon. The next 
 halting-place was Crococolana, a town supposed to have stood at 
 B rough, in Lincolnshire, from which another stage took him to 
 Lindum.* 
 
 Here he again took the north road from Londinium, and soon 
 after leaving Lindum he turned off westwardly, and, after a short 
 stage, repassing the river Trent, halted at the town of Segelocum, 
 or Agelocum, on the site of the modern town of Littleborough. 
 Thence, still keeping a little westward, the road brought him, 
 after a somewhat longer stage, to the more important station of 
 Danuin, a site now known by the somewhat celebrated name of 
 Doncaster. From Danum the road turned north, and after a 
 shorter stage reached Legiolium, supposed to have occupied the 
 site of the modern village of Castleford, at the confluence of the 
 Ayr and Calder, and proceeded thence to the town of Calcaria, 
 which probably received its name from its lime-works, and is now 
 represented by Tadcaster, the last station before reaching Ebu- 
 racum, the second, if not the first city in Britain. 
 
 There was another road from Lindum to Eburacum. It pro- 
 ceeded in a direct line from the former place to a town or station 
 on the Humber (Abus), called — no doubt from the great river near 
 which it stood— Ad Abum, supposed to have been at Winterton. 
 The traveller arrived here in two stages, stopping only at a half- 
 way station, the only name of which that has come down to us is 
 one taken from its position, In Medio. From Ad Abum the 
 traveller crossed the Humber in a boat, and landed at another 
 town, called, from the river on which it stood, Ad Petuariam, 
 supposed to have occupied the site of Brough on the Humber, 
 where interesting Roman antiquities have been found. From 
 Brough the road seems to have proceeded to Eburacum without 
 any intermediate station, a distance estimated in the ancient 
 itinerary at forty-six Roman miles, so that it perhaps went by a 
 circuitous route, joining some one of the roads from Eburacum to 
 the coast. 
 
 * The Roman towns between Ratse and Lindum have been less almost than 
 any others examined by modern antiquaries, and their sites are only fixed by 
 conjecture. 
 
128 , THE ROMANS. [chap. iv. 
 
 Eburacum, or Eboracum,* (as its name was differently spelt), 
 occupied the banks of a navigable river called the Urus, (now the 
 Ouse). Within its walls, which were of considerable extent, stood 
 the imperial palace, and no doubt other magnificent edifices, and 
 both within and without were temples to most of the Roman 
 gods, as well as to the eastern deities, Serapis and Mithras. Out- 
 side the walls, the city was surrounded with extensive and well 
 built suburbs. j 
 
 Many roads branched off from Eburacum in different directions. 
 Several of these ran towards the coast, and communicated no 
 doubt with trading ports. Of these the principal was a military 
 road, leading by two towns, named Derventio and Delgovitia, to 
 an apparently important town on the coast called Prsetorium. 
 Various positions have been fixed for these towns, chiefly on the 
 assumption that Prsetoriuni stood at Flamborough Head. There 
 are extensive remains of an important Roman station at Old 
 Mai ton, on the river Derwent, and as we know that there was 
 Derventio in the interior of the island on a river called the 
 Derwent, it is not improbable that the station at Old Mai ton may 
 have been Derventio. But the Roman antiquities of East 
 Yorkshire have as yet been very imperfectly explored. 
 
 The great north road, which we have been pursuing, after 
 leaving Eburacum, turned westward, in the direction of the Ouse, 
 until, at the end of a comparatively short stage, the traveller 
 arrived at another large and well-built town, Isurium, the walls 
 of which are still traced at Aldborough, and within them the 
 excavator meets continually with the tesselated floors of the 
 Roman houses. J A longer stage carried the traveller to Cataracto, 
 or Cataractonium, the ancient name of which has been preserved 
 by the village of Catteric, on the river Swale, and a few miles 
 further the road crossed the river Tisa (the Tees), it is supposed 
 
 * Eburacum is the spelling given in the Itinerary of Antoninus, in Ptolemy, 
 and in the geographer of Ravenna, while an inscription formerly found at York, 
 but not preserved, as well as the Roman historians who mention this place, call it 
 Eboracwn. The weight of authority, however, seems to he turned in favour of 
 the former by an inscription more recently discovered, and certainly reading ebvr. 
 
 ^ An excellent volume on the Roman antiquities of York has been published 
 by the Rev. C. Wellbeloved, of that city, under the title of " Eburacum, or York 
 under the Romans," which is recommended earnestly to the student of the history 
 and antiquities of the Romans in Britain. 
 
 J A series of very carefully executed plates of the tesselated pavements of 
 Isurium have been recently published by Mr. H. Ecroyd Smith. 
 
chap, iv.] PASSAGE OF THE WALL. 129 
 
 at Pieroebridge, near Darlington, where there was also a station. 
 The traveller had now entered the modern county of Durham, 
 and the road pursued its course nearly north, through a rich and 
 interesting country, to Vinovium, a town of some extent, of 
 which there are considerable remains in the modern hamlet of 
 Binchester, near Bishop Auckland. The next town on this road 
 was Epiacum, which occupied a lofty brow on a tongue of land 
 formed by the junction of two small streams on the west side of 
 the modern village of Lanchester, where abundant remains of the 
 Boman town have been found. It appears by inscriptions found 
 on this site, that this town had its basilica or court-house, and 
 its public baths and arsenal, and other important buildings. The 
 road now turned westwardly again till it reached Vindomora, 
 which is supposed to be the station traceable at Ebchester, on the 
 borders of Northumberland.* A few miles further stood the 
 town of Corstopitum, the modern site of which is called Corchester, 
 near Corbridge on the Tyne, and before he reached it r a bridge, 
 of which the remains are still to be traced, carried the traveller 
 over the river Tina. He was now only about two miles from the 
 great wall erected by the emperor Hadrian, which the road passed 
 at an opening a little to the west of the station of Hunnum. 
 On the other side of the wall the road separated into two branches, 
 one of which turned off towards the coast, while the other pro- 
 ceeded to the town of Habitancum (now Bisingham), situated on a 
 pleasant stream, in a small valley, sheltered by surrounding hills. 
 An inscription found in this place commemorates the rebuilding, 
 in the reign of Caracalla, of the gate and of the walls, which had 
 become ruinous by age : the remains, which after so many centuries 
 still present themselves, show that they were rebuilt well. A 
 very little further stood the town of Bremenium, which an in- 
 scription identifies with the modern village of High Bochester. 
 Here also a bridge passed over the river. The traveller then 
 pursued his way by longer stages by Trimontium, which has been 
 fixed at Eildon, and Curia, placed by some at Currie, and by 
 others at Borthwick Castle, to the eastern end of the vallum of 
 
 * Some doubt has "been thrown en the appropriation of these two last sites, 
 though it does not appear to be well founded. No other sites answer so well to 
 Epiacum and Vindomora, and we can find no other names for what, by the remains 
 still visible, were evidently towns of considerable importance. 
 
 K 
 
130 THE ROMANS. [chap. iv. 
 
 Antoninus, and passing it, if he were bound to the far north, he 
 proceeded to the towns of Alauna, Lindum, Victoria, and Orrea. 
 In the course of the great road from Eburacum to the north, 
 it had several smaller offsets or branches. One of these led 
 apparently from Vinovium to the important town of PonsiElii, or 
 Newcastle, and another to the stations which commanded the 
 mouth of the Tyne, at Jarrow and South Shields. A larger 
 branch turned off a little beyond Cataracto, and carried the tra- 
 veller westward to the town of Lavatrse, which, there seems little 
 reason for doubt, occupied the site of the present town of Bowes. 
 A few miles further he reached Verterae, which is supposed to 
 have stood on the site of the town of Brough in Westmoreland, 
 where many Eoman antiquities have been found at different 
 times.* He was now on the confines of the mountainous district 
 which had formed the stronghold of the Brigantes ; to the south 
 rose the heights of Stanemoor, while to the west were seen the 
 still nobler mountains of the lake district, which he approached 
 nearer as he reached the next town of Brovonacse, supposed 
 to have stood at the modern village of Kirby-Thore, where 
 Roman antiquities are found, and Brocavium, which its position 
 and the numerous antiquities found there seem to identify with 
 Brougham, f Another stage and the traveller arrived at the 
 important city of Luguballium, or Luguvallium, with its temples 
 and palaces, and other public edifices. Tbere can be no doubt 
 that the modern city of Carlisle stands upon its ruins. J From 
 
 * In the time of Leland, Brough seems to have been proverbial for the 
 antiquities continually found there. He says : — " Borow, now a vyllage, set in 
 Lunesdale a vi. myles beneth the foote of Dentdale, hath beene by likelyhod sum 
 notable town. The ploughmenne find there yn ering lapides quadratos, and 
 many other straung thinges ; and this place is much spoken of the inhabitants 
 there." — Itinerary, vol. vii., p. 48. 
 
 + " At Burgham is an old castel that the commune people ther eayeth doth 
 synke. Abowt this Burgham plowghmen fynd in the feldes many square stones, 
 tokens of old buildinges. The castel is set in a stronge place by reasons of ryvers 
 enclosing the cuntery therabowt." — Leland's Itinerary, vol. vii,, p. 49. 
 
 X " There is a curious passage in Bede's Life of St. Cuthbert (chap. 27), where 
 the saint is described as visiting the city of Lugubalia, and as being taken by the 
 citizens to see the Roman walls, and the wonderful fountain which had been 
 built there by the Romans. " Venit ad Lugubaliam civitatem (quae a populis 
 Anglorum corrupte Luel vocatur). . . . Postera autem die deducentibus eum 
 civibus ut videret moenia civitatis, fontemque in ea miro quondam Romanorum 
 opere exstructum." This was in the seventh century. Leland, at the beginning 
 of the sixteenth century, speaks of the numerous antiquities found at Carlisle in his 
 
chap, iv.] TOWXS ON THE WALL. 131 
 
 Luguballium the road again passed the wall of Hadrian, proceeding 
 by the Castra Exploratorum, which is identified with the modern 
 Netherby, where numerous antiquities have been found, Blatum 
 Bulgium, which is placed at Middleby, and Uxelum, which is 
 supposed to have stood at Castleover, and so on to Colania, the 
 modern Lanark, and Vanduaria, or Paisley, where it passed the 
 western extremity of the great barrier of Antoninus, and ended 
 at the remote town of Theodosia, or Dumbarton.* 
 
 The traveller in Britain has thus, by two different roads, passed 
 the wall of Hadrian, and the more northerly earthen vallum of 
 Antoninus. The first of these monuments must have attracted 
 his attention by its extraordinary character, and he would be 
 tempted to cross the island by the great road which accompanied 
 its course. As he approached it from Eburacum he entered a 
 populous region, which marked the great commercial importance 
 of the stations on the Tyne. Strong posts commanded the 
 entrance to the river both on the south and on the north. One 
 of these stood at Tynemouth, where, as we learn from a mutilated 
 inscription still preserved, the usurper Maximinus, then an officer 
 in the sixth legion, erected some public buildings, which included 
 a basilica, as well as a temple, which seem to have occupied the 
 site of the famous abbey of after ages. A few miles up the bank 
 of the river brought the traveller to the town or station of 
 Segedunum. Here the wall of Hadrian began, and from this 
 circumstance the spot has received in modern times the name, 
 now so widely celebrated, of Wallsend. The wall was a massive 
 work of masonry, varying from six to nearly ten feet in thickness, 
 and from eighteen to nineteen feet high. On the north it was 
 accompanied by a foss thirty-six feet wide, and fifteen feet deep. 
 To the south was another lesser foss, with a triple entrenchment 
 
 time (Itin. 9 vol. vii. 5 p. 54). "In diggying to make new building yn the towne 
 often tymes hath bene, and now a late, fownd diverse fundations of the old cite, as 
 pavimentes of streates, old arches of dores, coyne, stones squared, paynted pottes, 
 mony hid yn pottes so hold and muldid that when yt was stronly towchid yt went 
 almost to mo wider; as yn M . . . glalbys howse.yn diggyng for the squaryng 
 his gardin and orchard, the which ston . . . eth much sowth. The 
 hole site of the towne is sore chaungid. For wher as the stretes where and great 
 edifices now be vacant and garden plottes. In the feldes abowt Cairluel yn 
 plowghing hath be fownd diverse cornelines and other stonys well entayled for 
 seales, and yn other places of Cumbarland in plowinge hath be fownd brickes 
 couteyninge the prints of antique workes." — Page 54 . 
 
 * The Roman antiquities of Scotland have been collected in a volume, entitled 
 " Caledonia Romana," by Robert Stuart. Edinburgh, 1845. 
 
 k 2 
 
132 THE KOMANS. . [chap. iv. 
 
 of earth and stones. At no great distance apart, along the line 
 of the wall, were stations or towns, each consisting of a citadel, 
 strongly walled, with streets and habitations within, and often 
 extensive suburbs without. Between these towns stood smaller 
 fortresses, which, from the circumstance of their occurring at the 
 distance of one Roman mile from each other, have been termed 
 mile-castles ; and between each of these again were four small 
 subsidiary buildings, which for distinction have been termed 
 watch-towers. 
 
 The wall, as we have just stated, began on the east at Sege- 
 dunum. It there advanced to the south into the river Tyne, as 
 far as the low- water mark, while it pursued its course westwardly to 
 a town of great extent and commercial importance, named, from 
 its bridge across the river Tyne built by Hadrian, Pons iElii, 
 which occupied the site of the present town of Newcastle. Little 
 more than two miles from this place brought the traveller to 
 Condercum, a town beautifully situated on an elevated knoll, 
 which commands views of the valley of the Tyne to the south- 
 west, and northwardly of the distant and lofty Cheviots. The 
 houses and walls of the ancient town may still be traced in the 
 unevenness of the sod which covers them, at a spot which is now 
 called Benwell. Thence the wall proceeded over hill and vale, 
 for the country was here much varied, to the next town, which 
 appears to have been of less importance, and was called Vindo- 
 bala ; its site is now called Rutchester. The next town which 
 presented itself to the traveller was named Hunnum, apparently 
 a handsome and well-inhabited place, the deserted site of which 
 may now be distinctly traced at Halton-Chesters. He now 
 crossed the great road which passed the wall in its way from 
 York, and, pursuing the course of the wall, crossed the northern 
 Tyne by a bridge, of which the piers still remain, and entered 
 the large town of Cilurnum, the extensive ruins of which, well 
 described as a British Pompeii, are visible near the modern 
 hamlet of Chesters. This station also had its temples and public 
 buildings, which, to judge from the broken statues and fragments 
 of architectural decoration which are found there, must have been 
 distinguished by their beauty. The next town, Procolitia, distant 
 only a short stage, is traced at the spot now called Carrawburgh. 
 Another stage, abcftit the same length, brought the traveller to 
 the fine town of Borcovicus, perhaps, after Pons JElii, the largest 
 
chap, iv.] TOWNS ON THE WALL. 133 
 
 on the wall, the very extensive remains of which are found at a 
 place now named Housesteads. He was now among the hills, 
 surrounded with magnificent scenery, and might contemplate in 
 the distance the rugged mountains which sheltered the northern 
 enemies of Eome. A little to the west of Borcovicus, he left the 
 w r all to proceed a short distance south, to the town of Yindolana, 
 the site of which is now marked distinctly hy the remains of walls 
 and houses at Chesterholm. He then regained the wall, and 
 arrived at iEsica, the walls of which are still seen at Great 
 Chesters. The wall now again ran its course through the moun- 
 tains, in some places rising up or descending precipitous heights, 
 which struck the traveller with astonishment and even with terror. 
 The ground was unfit for towns, and the next he came to, Magna, 
 was built a little to the south of the wall, on the ground below, 
 at a place now called Carvoran, on a little river, and by the side 
 of a high road which ran southward to the town of Aliona, which 
 is believed to have stood at Whitley Castle, about two miles to the 
 north of Alston, and northward into the country between the two 
 walls. Hence, following the valley, the traveller came soon to 
 Amboglanna, a larger town, of which there are very extensive 
 remains at Birdoswald, in a rich valley on the river Irthing. 
 Further on, a little south of the wall, stood Petriana, at a place 
 now called Cambeck Fort, and a short distance south-east of this, 
 on a road which led from Magna direct to Luguballium, thus 
 avoiding the circuit here made by the wall, was another station, 
 named Bremetenracum, the intrenched area of which may be 
 still traced in the park at Brampton. The next town on the wall 
 was Aballaba, supposed to have stood at Watch-cross, though its 
 site is not quite certain. The traveller, in following the course of 
 the wall, now passed successively the towns of Congavata, near 
 which the wall joined the city of Luguballium, Axelodunum, 
 Gabrosentae, and Tunnocelum, where the wall ended on the coast 
 of the estuary of Ituna (the Solway Frith). The last-mentioned 
 town is supposed to have occupied the site of Bowness; the 
 others are doubtful, but they have been placed by conjecture at 
 Burgh-upon-Sands and Drumburgh. A road from Luguballium 
 led through a series of towns which were evidently connected 
 with the wall as a system of defence against the incursions of the 
 northern barbarians and their allies from Hibernia. This road pro- 
 ceeded from Luguballium to Olenacum, which is supposed to have 
 
134 THE ROMANS. [chap iv. 
 
 been the strong station now seen at Old Carlisle ; Virosidum, 
 supposed to be identical with the Roman remains at Maryport 
 and the adjacent village of Ellenborough, on the coast of Cum- 
 berland ; and Glanovanta, the site of which is more doubtful.* 
 
 The stranger who was desirous of visiting the eastern districts 
 of Britain, the old territory of the Trinobantes and the Iceni, 
 might have proceeded from the south to Lindum by a more 
 circuitous route. Leaving the great northern road soon after it 
 quitted Londinium, he proceeded by a road which took an easterly 
 direction, till he reached a town named Durolitum, or Durositum, 
 which is believed to have stood near Romford in Essex. The 
 next town he came to was called Csesaromagus, and is generally 
 identified with the modern Chelmsford. Canonium, which 
 followed, is usually placed in the vicinity of Kelvedon, on the 
 river Pant. From thence the traveller approached the grand 
 city of Camulodunum, or, as it is called in the Itinerary, 
 ^Camalodunum, the capital of the British princes after they had 
 submitted to the Romans, and the first Roman city in the island 
 which was honoured with the rank of a colonia. j History speaks 
 of its temples and public buildings ; and if, at an early period of 
 its history, it was exposed to attack without walls of defence, 
 that want was so well supplied at a subsequent period, that the 
 ponderous masonry of its walls has endured to the present day, 
 and ought never to have allowed anybody to hesitate in placing 
 the site of this ancient city at Colchester, f A few miles to the 
 north of Camulodunum, the road crossed the river Sturius (Stour,) 
 
 * No district in England is so interesting for its antiquities as that of the wall 
 of Hadrian. It has been made the subject of an excellent and most instructive 
 volume, by the Rev. J. Collingwood Bruce, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, under the 
 title of " The Roman Wall : a historical, topographical, and descriptive Account of 
 the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus, extending from the Tyne to the Solway, 
 deduced from numerous personal Surveys." The Wall district shows us in a 
 remarkable manner the effect of modern cultivation in destroying ancient 
 monuments. From Newcastle to the ancient Amboglanna (Birdoswald), which 
 extends over a wild and insecure country, the stations and posts are easily identified, 
 and buildings of all kinds lie in masses of ruins, which are only slightly covered 
 by the accumulation of earth. To the west of Amboglanna, the country has 
 been more highly cultivated, and the plough has so completely obliterated the 
 trace of Roman works, that we can only guess at the sites of ancient towns, and 
 the positions of all the western stations of the wall are very doubtful. 
 
 + The only good account of the Roman antiquities of Colchester will be found 
 in a paper by Mr. Roach Smith, in the « Journal of the Archaeological 
 Association/' vol. ii., p. 29. 
 
chap, iv.] EASTERN TOWNS ; CAMBORICUM. 135 
 
 where there was a station called Ad Ansaro, supposed to have 
 stood on the site of the present village of Stratford. The 
 traveller then proceeded by longer stages to the towns of Com- 
 bretoniurn and Sitomagus, which are conjectured to have stood 
 at Burgh, near Woodbridge, and at Dunwich, on the coast. The 
 course of this road is, however, at present very uncertain, and we 
 only know that it ended at the eastern Venta, or Venta of the 
 Iceni, which, there seems no reason to doubt, stood at Caistor, 
 near Norwich. From Venta the Itinerary brings us, without any 
 intermediate station, to Camboricum, which occupied the site of 
 the modern town of Cambridge. Another road from Colchester 
 led by Villa Faustini, the position of which seems to be exceed- 
 ingly doubtful, to Iciani, a town which has been conjectured, 
 perhaps only from a fancied resemblance of name, to have occupied 
 the site of the modern Icklingham, and in that case the road seems 
 there to have joined the other road from Venta to Camboricum. 
 There was also a direct road from Camulodunum to Camboricum, 
 of which the Itineraries give no account. Camboricum was 
 without doubt a very important town, which commanded the 
 southern fens. It had three forts or citadels, the principal of 
 which occupied the district called the Castle-end, in the modern 
 town of Cambridge, and appears to have had a bridge over the 
 Cam or Granta ; of the others, one stood below the town, at 
 Chesterton, and the other above it, at Granchester. Numerous 
 roads branched off from this town. One of these proceeded to 
 Durolipons (Godmanchester), where it joined the great north road, 
 and proceeded by it to Lindum. Another ran north into the 
 Fens, towards Ely and Lynn. Others proceeded to Venta of the 
 Iceni and to Camulodunum. Another proceeded southward to 
 London, having stations at Chesterford and perhaps at other 
 places in its course. Lastly, a continuation of the road from 
 Venta ran in a south-westerly direction towards the fashionable 
 districts of Gloucestershire and Somerset. Bede calls the repre- 
 sentative of Camboricum, in his time, " a little deserted city," and 
 tells us how, when the nuns of Ely wanted a coffin for their 
 saintly abbess, Etheldreda, they found a beautiful sculptured sarco- 
 phagus of white marble outside the city walls of the Boman town. # 
 
 * " Yenerunt ad civitatularn quandam desolatam, non procul inde sitam, quas 
 lingua Anglorum Grantacestir vocatur ; et mox invenerimt juxta muros civitatis 
 locelluin de marmore albo pulcherrime factum, operculo quoque similis lapidis 
 aptis8ime tectum." — Bedce Hist. FccL, lib. iv., c. 19. 
 
136 THE ROMANS, [chap. iv. 
 
 If the traveller, when he entered Britain, desired to visit the 
 western parts of the island, he left Londinium by its western 
 gateway, and proceeded along the great road, leading through the 
 present towns of Brentford and Hounslow to Staines, where it 
 crossed the Thames over a bridge, from which the Koman town 
 at this place took the name of Pontes. Having here passed the 
 river, the traveller came to a town named Bibracte, the position 
 of which is not known, and then continued his way through a 
 rich and varied country to the great town of Calleva, the walls 
 of which, as they still remain at Silchester, on the northern 
 border of Hampshire, enclose an area three miles in circuit. 
 Thence he proceeded over hilly grounds and heaths to a town 
 named Spinae, the name of which seems to be preserved in the 
 modern village of Speen, in Berkshire. The road then carried 
 him over a more level and open country, after a long stage, to 
 Corinium, a town filled with magnificent houses and public 
 buildings, which occupied the site of the modern Cirencester. 
 Some of the richest and most elegant mosaic pavements in this 
 island, dug up here, show its ancient splendour.* Another 
 stage conducted the traveller over the hills to the large colonial 
 city of Grlevum, now represented by Gloucester. 
 
 Glevum was a town of great importance, as standing not only 
 on the Severn, near the place where it opened out into the Bristol 
 Channel, but also as being close to the great Boman iron district 
 of the Forest of Dean. A road passed the Severn, and ran 
 north-westward over the hilly country on the east of the forest to 
 the town of Ariconium, the great station of the iron manufactures 
 of this district, a fine position, commanding an extensive prospect 
 over the surrounding country. Its site is now called Weston, at 
 a short distance to the south-east of Boss. The road proceeded 
 hence across the beautiful country on the banks of the Wye, 
 among hills covered with cinders and iron furnaces, to the town 
 of Blestium, which antiquaries agree in placing at Monmouth, on 
 a bend of the river. Thence the old road, continuing nearly in 
 the same direction, carried the traveller to Burrium, another con- 
 siderable town, the remains of which have been found at Usk. 
 
 * See the recently published work on the Roman antiquities of Cirencester, by- 
 Messrs. Buckman and Newmarck, entitled " Illustrations of the Remains of 
 Roman Art, in Cirencester, the site of Ancient Corinium." 
 
chap, iv.] ISCA TO MEXAPIA. 137 
 
 This beautiful country, and all the southern coast of Wales, were 
 well inhabited. After a short stage the traveller arrived at the 
 grand city of Isca, the head quarters of the second legion, remark- 
 able for its theatre, its temples, and its palaces.* It stood on the 
 river Usk, in a deep bottom, surrounded by lofty hills. Part of 
 its massive walls still remain at Caerleon. The road proceeded 
 hence to a station on the banks of the river Tibia {the Taaf), which 
 it crossed, and continued its course to the town of Bovium, which is 
 supposed to have stood at Ewenny, and to that of Nidum, the name 
 of which appears to be preserved in that of Neath. A shorter stage 
 than the two last brought the traveller to the town of Leucarum, 
 the name of which is again preserved in the village of Llychwr, 
 on the borders of the counties of Glamorgan and Caermarthen. 
 Another stage conducted him to the more important town of 
 Maridunum, finely situated on a beautiful river. Its site is 
 occupied by the modern town of Caermarthen. f Twenty Eoman 
 miles further west was a station, which was probably of too little 
 importance to have a name of its own, as it is simply designated 
 in the Itinerary as Ad Vigesimum, which we may translate " at 
 the twentieth milestone." Its site is supposed to be the spot now 
 called Castle Flemish. The traveller next arrived at the town of 
 Menapia, represented by the modern city of St. David's, on the point 
 
 * A large portion of the buildings of Isca seem to have been standing in the 
 latter part of the twelfth century, when Giraldus wrote. He speaks of splendid 
 palaces, a gigantic tower, public baths, a theatre, temples, subterranean buildings, 
 aquseducts, or sewers, and he remarks the ingenious method of warming the houses 
 by means of hypocausts : " Erat autem haec urbs antiqua et autentica, et a 
 Romanis olim coctilibus muris egregie constructa. Yideas hie multa pristinae 
 nobilitatis adhuc vestigia ; palatia immensa aureis olim tectorum fastigiis Romanos 
 fastus imitantia, eo quod a Romanis principibus primo constructa et sedificiis 
 egregiis illustrata fuissent ; turrim giganteam ; thermas insignes ; templorum 
 reliquias ; et loca theatralia muris egregiis partial adhuc extantibus, omnia clausa. 
 Reperies ubique, tarn intra murorum ambitum quam extra, aedificia subterranea, 
 aquarum ductus hypogeosque meatus. Et quod inter alia notabile censui, stuphas 
 undique videas miro artificio consertas, lateralibus quibusdam et praeangustis 
 spiraculi viis occulte calorem exhalantibus." — Girald. Carnb., Itiner. Cambrice, 
 lib. i., c. 5. Recent discoveries of considerable interest, made on the site of Isca, 
 have been described by Mr. John Edward Lee, of Caerleon, in a quarto volume 
 entitled, " Delineations of Roman Antiquities found at Caerleon," and in a 
 supplementary volume, entitled ii Description of a Roman building and other 
 remains lately discovered at Caerleon." 
 
 *j* The Roman walls of Maridunum were partly standing in the time of Giraldus 
 Cambrensis, who says: "Est igitur hsec urbs antiqua coctilibus muris partim adhuc 
 extantibus egregie clausa."— Itin. Camb., lib. i., c. 10. 
 
138 THE ROMANS. [chap. iv. 
 
 of the promontory called by Ptolemy Octopitarum Promontorium. 
 This was one of the ports from which ships passed over into 
 Ireland. 
 
 From Burrium, a branch road turned off to the north-east, and 
 carried the traveller towards the mountains of the interior of 
 Wales, until he reached, at the foot of lofty hills, a town of no 
 great magnitude, named Gobannium, which is supposed to have 
 occupied the site of the present town of Abergavenny. Thence, 
 returning eastwardly, he entered a fine open country surrounded 
 with hills, in the centre of which was a town of much larger 
 dimensions, which probably, from that circumstance, was called 
 Magna. Its site is still to be found at Kenchester, near Hereford, 
 where its tesselated floors are found in digging. The traveller 
 here joined the direct road which had proceeded from Ariconium, 
 through the rich country now forming the county of Hereford, to 
 Magna, and thence it continued its course northwardly to Bravinium* 
 a Boman town, supposed to have stood on the banks of the Teme, 
 near the village of Leintwardine. The road proceeded thence 
 to Uriconium, or Wroxeter, on the Severn, and so continued its 
 course northwardly. But the traveller might at Uriconiu m take the 
 north-eastern road, which has been followed before, to Kutunium, 
 the modern Bowton, or Buy ton, from whence another branch road 
 carried him first to a town named Bovium, and, at a later period, 
 Banchorium, which latter name seems to be preserved in that of 
 the modern village of Bangor on the border of Flintshire, and 
 thence to the great city of Deva, the station of the twentieth 
 legion, the interesting remains of whose labours are still found at 
 Chester, on the Dee. 
 
 Deva, as may be supposed from its importance, both in a 
 military and in a commercial point of view, was the centre of an 
 extensive system of roads. One of these proceeding westwardly, 
 carried the traveller first to Varse, which stood at the modern 
 Bodfari, the pass through the range of mountains which bound 
 the Vale of Clwyd, and then to Conovium, a town, of which the 
 remains are found at Caer-hun in the vale of the Conway, at 
 the northern foot of Snowdon. Another stage carried him to 
 Segontium. If the traveller had taken the western road from 
 Deva, at the end of the first stage, he would have reached the 
 town of Condate, supposed to be Kinderton in Cheshire. Here 
 he joined the northern road from Uriconium, and proceeded by 
 
chap, iv.] TOWNS IN THE NORTH-EAST. 139 
 
 it to Mancunium, now Manchester, and to the important town of 
 Coccium, the site of which is found at Bibchester, celebrated for 
 its Roman antiquities. The next town on this road was near the 
 sea, and was called, no doubt from the river on which it stood, 
 Ad Alaunam. Its site is now occupied by Lancaster. Eoads 
 from this town and from Coccium met at Bremetonacae, which 
 has been placed at Overborough in Lancashire. Thence, in one 
 direction, the road continued straight to Bronovacse, and so 
 forwards to Luguballium. The other road turned into the lake 
 district, and proceeded first to the town of Galacurn, supposed 
 to have stood at or near Kendal, then to Alonse, which has 
 been identified with Ambleside, at the head of Windermere, 
 thence to Galava, which is supposed to have occupied the site of 
 the modern town of Keswick, and so on to Glanoventa and the 
 coast towns at the entrance of the Sol way. 
 
 From Coccium a road led eastwardly to the coast, where a port- 
 town named Portus Sistuntiorum is supposed to have occupied 
 the site of the town of Freckleton in Lancashire. Eastwardly 
 from Coccium this road passed over a ridge of hills on the borders 
 of Yorkshire, where, in one of the passes, was a station named 
 from them Ad Alpes Penninos, to a town apparently of some 
 importance called Olicana, now Ilkley in Yorkshire, from whence 
 there was a road direct to Isurium, and another by Calcaria to 
 Eburacum. Another road from Olicana led the traveller back to 
 Mancunium, which also was the centre of several roads. One of 
 these led eastward to Cambodunum, which seems to be rightly 
 placed at Slack in Yorkshire, whence branch roads proceeded 
 to Calcaria and to Danum. We will return, however, by the 
 southern road to Condate, whence the road proceeded by another 
 Mediolanum, which is placed at Chesterton in Staffordshire, to 
 Eteocetum, or Wall, on the north-western road. Hence a road 
 proceeded south, through an intermediate station, of which the 
 name is lost, to the town of Salinse, remarkable then for its salt- 
 works and its salt-baths.* Its site has still the same celebrity, 
 
 * In a very curious Latin tract on the marvels of Britain, attached in manu- 
 script to the pretended history of Nennius, and as old, no doubt, as the earlier part 
 of the twelfth century, we have an account of a warm bath at Wich, or Droitwich, 
 the walls of which were built of tiles and stones, and in which the bather always 
 found the water of the temperature he wished : " Tertium miraculum ; stagnum 
 calidum quod est in regione Huich, et muro arnbitur ex latere et lapide facto, et in 
 
UO THE ROMANS. [chap. iv. 
 
 and is called Droit wich. Ptolemy, at a much earlier period of 
 the Roman rule, mentions a town called Salinas, which he seems 
 to place in the south of Lincolnshire ; but this may possibly be 
 an error of his copyists. The Salinee of which w'e are speaking 
 was a place of importance, on account of its salt trade, and several 
 Roman roads are still traced from it ; one of these led eastwardly, 
 by another town called Alauna, now Alcester, on the river iVlne in 
 Warwickshire, crossing the river Avon at Stratford-upon-Avon. 
 Another road led southerly, from Salinae to a town of which the 
 name is lost in the ancient Itinerary, but which we can hardly 
 doubt occupied the site of the modern city of Worcester. This 
 last place stood on the verge of the iron district, and seems to 
 have been distinguished by its forges, as Alauna was by its 
 smiths.* The road next crossed the Avon at a station named, 
 from the river, Ad Antonam, and so continued its course to 
 Glevum. The station on the Avon was the first stage in 
 proceeding from Glevum to Alauna, and so to Benonae and 
 Ratae, and to Lindum. The road by Salinas and Eteocetum 
 was also continued northerly, to a town called — also, no doubt 
 from a river — Ad Trivonam, supposed to have stood at Bury, in 
 the parish of Bramston in Staffordshire. Thence the road pro- 
 ceeded to Derventio, which occupied the site of the hamlet of 
 Little Chester on the Derwent. The road now entered the great 
 
 eo vadunt homines per omne tempus ad lavandum, et unicuique sicut placuerit illi 
 lavachnmi sic fiat sibi secundum voluntatem suam; si voluerit lavachrum 
 frigiduin, erit, si calidum, calidum 6111.'" 
 
 * A very curious legend relating to the destruction of this town, is given in the 
 life of St. Egwin, the founder of Evesham, in Capgrave's " Nova Legenda Angliae." 
 The inhabitants, we are told, were an arrogant race, given to every kind of luxury. 
 " Erat namque juxta Eovesham ad octo milliaria castrum Alnecester, regale tunc 
 mansum, cujus loci habitatores quanto rerum opulentia et temporalium abundantia 
 affluebant tanto magis guise et luxuriae dediti, studentes avaritiae et cupiditati 
 misericordia Dei se indignos efficiebant." — They were principally workers in iron, 
 and when the saint came to preach to them, in contempt of his doctrine they beat 
 upon their anvils with a great noise. — " Et cum castrum illud veluti nemoribus 
 undique consitum conflandi ferrum locus esset aptissimus, et fabris et ferri exclu- 
 soribus maxime repleretur, gens incredula incudes ferreis malleis tanto strepitu 
 continue percutiebat, ut beati viri sermo non audiretur et a castro recedere cogi- 
 taretur." — Upon this, he addressed his prayers to Heaven, — " contra artem fabrilem 
 castri illius dominum imprecatus est." — And the town was immediately destroyed. 
 " Et ecce subito castrum ipsum terra absorbuit, ita quod novo super veteri qualiter- 
 cumque reaedificato usque in hodiernum diem in constructione novarum domorum in 
 fundamentisantiqua sedificia reperiuntur.j Nunquam enim postea in loco illo aliquis 
 artem fabrilem recte exercuit, nee aliquis earn exercere volens ibi vigere potuit." 
 
chap, iv.] TOWNS IN THE MIDLAND DISTRICTS. 141 
 
 mining district of the mountains of the Peak, and conducted the 
 traveller to the town of Lutudarum, now Chesterfield, where the 
 metals were brought to be transported to the south or the north. 
 The road continued its course thence through the town of 
 Morbium, supposed to occupy the site of the modern Temple- 
 borough in Yorkshire, to Legiolium, and so on to the city of 
 Eburacum. 
 
 The central districts of Roman Britain appear to have been 
 traversed in every direction by cross roads. The traveller, in his 
 return to the south, when he reached Eteocetum, might turn by 
 the great road south-eastward towards Londinium, till he reached 
 Tripontium, whence he turned off, by Benaventa and Isannavaria, 
 south-westward to the town of Brinavae, which is believed to have 
 stood at a place called Black Ground, near Chipping Norton, 
 where considerable remains are found. The country he now 
 entered was thickly populated, and seems to have been covered 
 with small towns and elegant villas. Two of the former stood 
 near together at Bicester and Alcester, in Oxfordshire. The 
 latter is considered to be the Roman iElia Castra, the next station 
 on this road, which proceeded thence over Ottmoor to Dorocina, 
 which is identified with Dorchester in Oxfordshire. Six Roman 
 miles hence the road passed the Thames to a station which, if we 
 could suppose the number in the old Itinerary was wrong, might 
 be the post on Sinodun Hill, which has been celebrated for its 
 antiquities ever since the days of Leland,* otherwise we must 
 place it at or near Wallingford. The Itinerary of Richard of 
 Cirencester calls it Tamesis. Hence the road proceeded direct 
 to Calleva, but the Itinerary mentions no intermediate station. 
 
 The traveller from the metropolis passed through this city on 
 his way to the western extremities of the island. From Calleva 
 he had a choice of two routes; one led him to the southern 
 Venta, or, as it was called, from the tribe in whose district it 
 stood, Yenta Belgarum, an important town, represented by the 
 
 * " From Walingford to Sinodune a mile and a half. This place is wonderful 
 dikid about, and stondith on a hille in Barkshir, hanging over the Tamise. It is 
 yn by estimation half a mile. And withyn it hath beene sum toune, or, as the 
 commune voice sayith, a castelle in the Britannes tyme, defacid by lyklihod by the 
 Danes. At this tyme it berith very plentifullye both barley and whete, and 
 numismata Romanorum be ther found yn ploughyng. About this Sinodune 
 beginnith the fiuteful vale of Whitehorse." — LelancVs Itin., vol. ii., p. 14. 
 
142 THE ROMANS. [chap. iv. 
 
 modern city of Winchester. Hence the same road proceeded to 
 the post of Clausentum, now Bittern, on the Southampton Water, 
 from whence he might sail over to the Isle of Victis, or Wight. 
 Between Venta and Clausentum was a small town or station 
 called Ad Lapidem.* Another road proceeded westward from 
 Venta to the town of Brigis, or Brige, supposed to have stood at 
 or near Broughton, in Hampshire, and soon after leaving this 
 place the traveller approached the commanding fortifications of 
 Sorbiodunum, surrounding the summit of a bold hill in the midst 
 of a valley, and now called Old Sarum. The other road from 
 Calleva ran direct by a town called Vindomis, supposed to have 
 stood near Whitechurch, or at St, Mary Bourne, over the eastern 
 part of Salisbury Plain to Sorbiodunum. The main road, leaving 
 Sorbiodunum, proceeded to a town called Vindogladia, the traces of 
 which are believed to be visible on the Dorsetshire Downs, near 
 the Gussages, in the neighbourhood of Blandford. The next 
 town of importance was Durnovaria, now Dorchester, but there 
 appears to have been an intermediate station, the name of which 
 is lost. The road now passed nearer the coast, and, after a long 
 stage in which there were probably some intermediate stations 
 the names of which are not known, reached the town of Mori- 
 dunum, placed by some at Honiton, and by others at Seaton, and 
 then pursued its course to the western Isca, called, from the 
 British tribe which inhabited the district, Isca Dumnoniorum, a 
 rich and important city on the borders of the mining districts. 
 Its representative is the modern Exeter, remarkable for the 
 number of Roman antiquities which have been from time to time 
 dug up in it. The road now made a bend southward to avoid the 
 wilds of Dartmoor, crossed the river Durius (the Dart), where 
 there was a station, and there appear to have been others where 
 the road crossed the rivers Tamara (the Tamar), Voluba (the 
 Fowey), and Cenia (the Fal), on its way to the extremity of 
 Cornwall. This was a wild country, and perhaps thinly inhabited. 
 
 * This place, which no doubt received its name from some remarkable monu- 
 mental stone which was standing in the time of the Anglo-Saxons, was still known 
 by its Roman name in the time of Bede, who tells us how the two young 
 brothers of Oswald, king of Wight, were carried thither to be concealed from their 
 enemies — perhaps among the ruins of the ancient town : " Ubi cum delati essent 
 in locum qui vocatur Ad Lapidem, occulendos se a facie regis victoris credidissent." 
 — Bed. Mist. Ecc, lib. iv., c. 16. The memory of the monument that gave name 
 to the Roman station, seems to be preserved in its present name of Stoneham. 
 
chap, iv.] THE BATHS OF AQILE SOLIS. 143 
 
 The extensive and rich district between Sorbiodunurn and 
 Glevum was covered in every direction with extensive and magni- 
 ficent villas, marking it out as the most fashionable part of the 
 island. In its centre stood a city remarkable for its splendid 
 edifices, its temples, its buildings for public amusement, and 
 still more so for its medicinal baths. For this latter reason it 
 was called Aquae Solis, the Waters of the Sun, and for the same 
 cause its representative in modern times has received the name of 
 Bath. Eemains of the Koman bathing-houses have been dis- 
 covered in the course of modern excavations. Among its temples 
 was a magnificent one dedicated to Minerva, who is supposed to 
 have been the patron goddess of the place. * From inscriptions 
 found at different periods, it appears that military commanders, 
 high municipal officers, and other persons of rank, frequented 
 this city for the benefit of its waters, and, perhaps, to mix in its 
 fashionable society. 
 
 As might be expected, Aquae Solis was the centre of many 
 roads, which communicated with every part of the island. One 
 road went northwardly to Corinium [Cirencester), whence the 
 traveller might proceed across the island to Lindum [Lincoln), or 
 he might go to Glevum [Gloucester), and the towns on the 
 Severn., or he might turn eastward towards London. The road 
 from Corinium to Aquae Solis continued its course southwardly 
 from the latter place to another bathing town called Ad Aquas, 
 and now known by the somewhat similar name of Wells. Here 
 the road separated into two branches, one of which proceeded to a 
 town called, from the river on which it stood, Ad Uxellam, now 
 Bridgewater, and thence to Isca [Exeter) ; the other led by a 
 town of some importance named Ischalis, now Ilchester, to 
 Moridunum on the southern coast. The traveller, who would 
 proceed direct from Londinium to Aquae Solis, followed the western 
 road till he reached the town of Spinee (Speen), where he turned 
 off by a branch road which led him by the towns of Cunetio, the 
 
 * The temple of Minerva, at Bath, is mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth 
 (Hist. Brit., lib. ii., c. 10), and it was, perhaps, standing in his time. The 
 ruins of it were found in the course of excavations for the foundations of a new 
 Pump Room, at the close of the last century. A magnificent volume on the 
 Roman antiquities of Bath, was published by Samuel Lysons, and forms a part of 
 his Reliqidce Romano-Britannicce, Leland (Itin., vol. ii., p. 34) describes a 
 considerable number of Roman sculptures then (in the time of Henry VIII.) 
 built up in the town-walls of Bath. 
 
144 THE ROMANS. [chap. iv. 
 
 site of which has been traced, by Roman antiquities found there, 
 at Folly Farm, near Marlborough, and Verlucio, which, for similar 
 reasons, has been fixed at Highfield, in Sandy Lane, near 
 Heddington, to Aquae Solis. From Aquae the same road was 
 continued to a station on the Avon called Ad Abonam, or Abona, 
 which seems to be correctly placed at Bitton, and thence to 
 another post on the banks of the Avon, where it enters the 
 Bristol Channel, thence called Ad Sabrinam, and believed to have 
 stood at Sea-Mills, a short distance from Bristol. Hence was the 
 trajectus, or passage, across the estuary, and the traveller landed 
 on the opposite coast at a station called Ad Trajectum, supposed 
 to have stood on a spot now called Severn-Side. He now 
 entered upon the great road through Wales, called still by the 
 Welsh the Sarn Helen, or road of Helen, from a notion that a 
 Roman empress of that name caused it to be made. A short 
 stage brought him to a strongly fortified town, named Venta, and 
 often, to distinguish it from other towns of the same name in the 
 island, Venta Silurum. Its walls are still seen at Caerwent. If 
 he liked he might proceed hence to Isca (Caerleori), and so along 
 the southern road, which is called by some old writers the Via 
 Julia, to Menapia; but his direct road lay by Burrium (Usk), and 
 Gobannium (Abergavenny), whence the Sarn Helen is distinctly 
 traced across the mountains to the Luentinum of Ptolemy, which, 
 from remains that have been discovered at Llanio in Cardiganshire, 
 seems to have been an important post, and thence in a direction 
 parallel to the western coast up to Conovium and Segontium. 
 
 One road only remains to be noticed. When the traveller was 
 at Clausentum, on the Southampton river, he might have returned 
 eastward along the coast. The first stage on this road carried 
 him to Portus Magnus, the extensive and massive walls of which 
 are still standing at Portchester. The next stage brought him to 
 Regnum, a large town, represented by the modern Chichester. 
 Where the road passed the river Avon was a station, probably a 
 mere posting place, called, from its distance from Regnum, Ad 
 Decimum, but of which no traces are left to mark its site. The 
 road then carried him to the important port of Anderida, which, 
 there can hardly be a doubt, is Pevensey, a place remarkable for 
 its imposing remains of Roman buildings. A road went hence 
 across the w T eald to Noviomagus and Londinium, having a station 
 in the midst of the forest, which from it was called Silva Anderida. 
 
chap, iv.] DUBILE AND RUTUPI^E. 145 
 
 The coast road, after leaving Anderida, proceeded to a post, or 
 station, on theLymne river, named Ad Lemanum, and then, running 
 across the land to avoid the low marshes on the coast, about ten 
 miles beyond it reached the Portus Lemanis, at the place now called 
 from it Lymne, where so many interesting discoveries have recently 
 been made.* The road next passed behind Folkestone, where, 
 though not mentioned in the Itinerary, there was probably a small 
 town ; perhaps the elevated entrenchments, now called popularly 
 Caesar's Camp, contained a light house or pharos. At the next 
 station, Dubrae, now Dover, the pharos itself, within somewhat 
 similar entrenchments, is still standing. The road now con- 
 ducted the traveller to Rutupise, whence, having thus traversed 
 the whole island, and viewed the excellence of its roads, its nourish- 
 ing towns, the highly-cultivated plains of the interior, its forests and 
 mountains rich in mineral productions and game, he might embark 
 and return to Gaul. 
 
 * The account of the recent excavations on this interesting site is given in 
 Mr. Roach Smith's " Antiquities of Richhorough, Reculver, and Lymne." 
 
146 THE ROMANS. [chap. t. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A Roman Town in Britain — Its Walls, Towers, and Gates — Materials, and 
 Modes of Construction — The Houses — Their Plan, and Arrangement — 
 The Tesselated Pavements and Frescoed Walls — Method of Warming the 
 Houses ; the Hypocausts — The Baths — Windows and Roofs — Distribution 
 of the Houses in Streets — Public Buildings; Temples, Basilicse, Theatres, 
 Amphitheatres — The Suburbs and Burial-places — Sanitary Arrangements ; 
 Sewers, Rubbish-pits. 
 
 We have seen in the preceding chapter how thickly Roman 
 Britain was studded with towns, even if we only reckon those 
 marked in the official Itineraries, which have perhaps 
 come down to us themselves in an imperfect form. When we 
 look, on one hand, at the description of Britain in the anony- 
 mous cosmography of the seventh century, where many names 
 occur that are not mentioned elsewhere ; and when we consider, 
 on the other hand, the numerous sites of Roman towns or stations 
 that may still be traced in different parts of the island, which 
 are not mentioned in the Itineraries, we are still more struck 
 with the picture of Roman Britain as it thus presents itself to us. 
 The English reader of the nineteenth century will naturally be 
 curious to have some notion of the appearance of these towns, 
 and of their comparative magnitude and comforts; and fortunately, 
 although much remains to be done by the antiquary in this respect, 
 accidental discoveries have furnished us with considerable materials 
 for gratifying his wish. 
 
 / We have no means of ascertaining the periods at which, or the 
 circumstances under which, the Roman towns in Britain were 
 built. The Roman Camulodunum we know was founded by a 
 body of disbanded veterans, and the other towns seem to have 
 been built in the same manner by bodies of troops, Romans or 
 auxiliaries, as they advanced in the occupation of the island. We 
 
chap, v.] TOWN WALLS. 147 
 
 learn from the earlier historians, that, though the troops had here 
 and there fortified stations — castra or castella, the towns were not 
 surrounded with walls. Such was the case with Camulodunum, 
 Londinium, and Verulamium. But subsequently — we cannot fix 
 the period, though it was no doubt at the time when the towns 
 rose into political importance — they were all surrounded with 
 walls, and these walls, which were so massive in character that 
 in many instances they have outlived sixteen centuries, must have 
 formed so prominent an object in the outward appearance of 
 the town, that they will naturally first attract our attention. 
 
 The more usual form of the inclosure, following that of the 
 Roman camp, was a parallelogram more or less elongated, but in 
 some cases, especially in large towns, such as Calleva (Silchester), 
 Magna (Kenchester), and perhaps Durovernum [Canterbury), the 
 walls inclosed an area of a very irregular form. When the town 
 stood on the coast, or on the banks of a large river, there were 
 walls only on three sides, the side to the sea or river being open. 
 From their ruinous condition in modern times, we are imperfectly 
 acquainted with the altitude of the walls of the Roman towns in 
 Britain. The walls of Rutupiae (Riehborough), where most perfect, 
 are nearly thirty feet high, but this was perhaps an unusual 
 elevation. The walls of Gariannonum (Burgh, in Suffolk), where 
 they appear to be of nearly their original height, have an elevation 
 of only fourteen feet. The great wall of Hadrian was not above 
 eighteen or nineteen feet high. The highest part of the wall at 
 Lymne is about twenty three feet. At Lymne, the walls are 
 about fourteen feet thick ; those at Riehborough are at the bottom 
 between eleven and twelve feet thick, and diminish slightly 
 towards the top ; while those at Burgh, in Suffolk, are not more 
 than nine feet in thickness. 
 
 The walls were supported at the corners, and at certain dis- 
 tances along their face, by towers, either square or round. At 
 Riehborough, there were round towers at the corners, and two 
 square towers at each side wall. The round towers have been here 
 so entirely destroyed that their existence was only ascertained by 
 excavations. The annexed cut represents the lower part of the 
 tower at the south-west angle, as thus brought to light, with a 
 part of the adjacent wall. It will be seen that the angle of the 
 wall was built first, and that the tower, which, as far as it remains, 
 is a solid mass of masonry, was added after. The square towers 
 
 l2 
 
148 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 along the face of the wall seem to have been attached much in 
 the same way ; they projected only about eight feet from the wall, 
 
 Wall and Tower at Richborough (Rutupice). 
 
 and were solid to the height of eight feet from the foundation, 
 after which they were hollow in the centre, and they were built 
 into the main wall at the top. This was probably the case with 
 the round towers also. At Burgh Castle the towers are all round, 
 and they are singular in their construction. From the foundation 
 to about one half their elevation, that is to the height of about seven 
 feet, they are entirely detached from the wall, but at that height 
 they become enlarged in diameter, so as to join to the wall. 
 They consist of solid masonry, with the exception of a hole in 
 the centre of the upper surface, two feet deep, and as many wide, 
 the object of which is by no means evident. The towers at 
 Lymne appear to have been quite solid. The most perfect of them 
 is represented in the cut on the next page. It remains about 
 ten feet in height, and seems, like those at Richborough, to have 
 been built separate from the wall ; the other towers at Lymne 
 have been segments of circles, joined to the wall. In other 
 instances we find no round towers, but only square buttresses ; 
 at Aldborough and York these seem to have been small hollow 
 towers. At Caerwent the wall is supported by a series o penta- 
 
chap, v.] TOWERS AND GATEWAYS. 49 
 
 gonal towers or buttresses, perfectly solid, and built up against 
 the wall, and not into it, though they may have been attached 
 
 Tower at Lymne (Portus Lemanis). 
 
 at the top. At York, the large multangular tower which occupied 
 one corner of the walls, is still standing. 
 
 Each fortress or town had generally one principal entrance gate 
 which, for its importance, was usually called the decuman gate 
 {porta decumana). Sufficient remains of the principal gateway have 
 been preserved in very few instances in Britain to enable us to 
 understand its form, probably because it was often composed, 
 more or less, of larger stones, which offered a temptation to 
 mediaeval builders. At Lymne, the great entrance gateway stood 
 about the middle of the eastern wall. It consisted of two semi- 
 circular solid towers, with the gate probably in a curtain between 
 them. It was raised upon a solid platform of immense stones, and, 
 when recently uncovered, the stones which formed the pavement 
 bore distinct impressions, worn by the wheels of the carriages which 
 had passed over them. Our engraving represents the ruins of 
 this gateway as they appeared after the earth which covered them 
 had been dug away. The lower part of the tower on the left was 
 well preserved, and the lower course of stones of the other were 
 in their place when first opened, but they were soon cleared 
 away or covered, and the tower is only represented by a small 
 
150 THE KOMANS. [chap. v. 
 
 mound of shapeless masonry. The stones, partly displaced, 
 which formed the platform, are seen in front ; the stones of the 
 gateway were thrown in confusion in a deep hollow behind. 
 Some of them appeared by their mouldings to have formed the 
 lintels ; one seemed to be the base of a column, and in others 
 were found holes still containing masses of lead which had fixed 
 the ironwork of the hinges of the gate. On the left is seen the 
 wall as it joined up to the gateway tower, The most singular 
 circumstance in the structure of this gateway was the manner in 
 which the semicircular towers joined the wall. The latter was 
 cut off vertically at right angles, and the corner of the tower 
 joined the corner of the wall, so that the inner flat surface of the 
 tower was in a line with the outer surface of the wall. Thus the 
 tower and the wall did not support each other, and if there was 
 nothing else to strengthen them, an enemy might have broken 
 his way through the point of junction with the greatest ease. 
 This, however, is probably to be explained by supposing that the 
 gate itself was an edifice built of large blocks of stone, and forming 
 the continuation of tbe wall, and that the two towers were only 
 facings or supports to it. 
 
 The decuman gate at Richborough was in the middle of the 
 western wall, and excavations have shown that it also stood on a 
 platform of large stones. The wall adjoining to it has been much 
 damaged and broken, but it appears to have been cut through by 
 a small opening in its whole height, in which opening a gateway 
 was built of larger stones. There are no traces of its having had 
 towers as at Lymne. At Pevensey (Anderida), the principal 
 gateway seems to have stood at one corner of the angular 
 area, and to have had side towers, as at Lymne. The most 
 perfect example of a Roman gateway now existing in this country 
 is that called the Portway gate, at Lincoln, which is represented in 
 our cut. It will be seen at once that this differs essentially from 
 those we have been describing, and in fact it is not the decuman 
 or principal gate of the Roman city of Lindum, but one of the 
 subordinate eutrances. The two actual entrances, one for car- 
 riages and the other for foot passengers, are well preserved, and 
 the wall, running off inwardly at right angles between them, 
 appears to have formed part of the portal buildings, containing 
 guard-rooms and other offices. At Colchester, Mr. Roach Smith 
 discovered very interesting remains of the buildings attached to 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 ROMAN TOWN GATES. 
 
 151 
 
 one of the gates of Camulodunum. It was the gate on the west 
 side of the town, and consisted of a chief entrance for horses and 
 
 
 life 
 
 Roman Gate at Lincoln (Lindum). 
 
 carriages, and a subordinate archway, apparently on each side, for 
 foot passengers. It was protected by advanced bastions. The 
 chief entrance was not quite twelve feet wide. The subordinate 
 archway on the right hand on entering is preserved in compara- 
 tively a perfect state ; the upper part of it is entirely composed of 
 long tiles. By the side of it is a room in the form of a quadrant, 
 twenty-six feet in length by fourteen in width, entered by a large 
 arched doorway, and which, there can be little doubt, was a guard- 
 room. At Borcovicus (Homesteads), on the wall of Hadrian, the 
 gateways, especially that on the western side, remain in a 
 state in which we can easily understand their details. This 
 western gateway had two portals or passages, with a square guard- 
 room on each side. Its outer face was level with the wall of the 
 station, and each portal led through a passage which extended 
 the depth of the two guard-rooms, which were entered by doors 
 from the passage. At Colchester, the entrance to the guard- 
 room was not from the passage, but from the interior wall. "This 
 gateway," says Mr. Collingwood Bruce, speaking of the entrance to 
 Borcovicus, "as well as the others which have been explored, is, 
 
152 THE ROMANS. [chap, v 
 
 in every sense of the word, double. Two walls must be passed 
 before the station can be entered ; each is provided with two 
 portals, and each portal has been closed with two-leaved gates. 
 The southern entrance of the outside wall has alone, as yet, been 
 entirely cleared of the masonry that closed it. The jambs and 
 pillars are formed of massive stones of rustic masonry. The 
 doors, if we may judge from the fragments of corroded iron which 
 have been lately picked up, were of wood, strengthened with iron 
 plates and studs ; they moved, as is apparent from the pivot-holes, 
 upon pivots of iron. In the centre of each portal stands a strong 
 upright stone, against which the gates have shut. Some of the 
 large projecting stones of the exterior wall are worn as if by the 
 sharpening of knives upon them ; this has probably been done , 
 by the occupants of the suburban buildings after the closing of the 
 gateway. The guard-chambers on each side are in a state of 
 choice preservation, one of the walls standing fourteen courses 
 high. Were a roof put on them, the antiquary might here stand 
 guard, as the Tungrians did of old, and, for a while forget that 
 the world is sixteen centuries older than it was when these 
 chambers were reared." 
 
 Besides these larger gateways, there were posterns and smaller 
 gateways, more or less numerous, according to the extent of the 
 walls. At Richborough there is a well-preserved postern gate, of 
 a peculiar construction, in the middle of the north-eastern wall. 
 The gate is covered by an advanced wall, which outwardly has the 
 appearance of a large square tower. The entrance is on one side, 
 and runs first by the side of the main wall and between it and the 
 advanced wall, and then turns at a right-angle through the main 
 wall into the inclosure. It appears to have been open to|bhe top, 
 without any covering. At Lymne there appears to have been 
 several small portals, and some of what were outwardly semi- 
 circular towers had small chambers below. 
 
 From the dilapidated state in which the walls of the Roman 
 stations in this country now present themselves, we cannot form 
 a perfect idea of their appearance when entire. The walls 
 of Chester, and probably those of other places, were crowned 
 with an ornamental coping, above which perhaps rose battlements. 
 There is an illuminate MS. of the Psalter in the British Museum, 
 (MS. Harl., No. 603,) which appears to belong to the latter end 
 of the Anglo-Saxon period, and in which we find several pictures 
 
v1>U \ 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 WALLED TOWNS. 
 
 153 
 
 of walled towns, no doubt either copied from much more ancient 
 drawings of such objects, or representing the walls as they were 
 still seen. In either case, though they are often defective in 
 regard to perspective, and the artist, by a conventional mode of 
 treating his subject which was common in the middle ages, repre- 
 sents the buildings of the interior only by a temple or public 
 edifice, these pictures no doubt give us a tolerably accurate 
 notion of the appearance which the walls of a Roman town must 
 have presented. Our engraving represents a part of one of these 
 pictures, in which the mode of representing the Sun (Apollo) is 
 peculiarly classical. The serpentine figure in the interior is 
 intended to represent water running in two streams from a pond 
 or reservoir. The supporting towers, with the exception of those 
 of the gateway, are here square, and they all appear to be, like 
 those in our Roman remains, solid up to a certain height. The 
 diminishing of the gateway towers, as they rise, is also to be 
 remarked. The principal gateway at Lymne must, when entire, 
 have borne a close resemblance to the one in this picture. 
 
 Sketch of an ancient Town-wall, from MS. Harl. No. 603. 
 
 Another similar gateway is shown in the smaller cut annexed, 
 taken from the same manuscript. ■ The supporting towers are 
 here round, still solid at the bottom, and terminating at the top 
 in the same manner as those of the gateway. The opening at the 
 bottom of the tower to the right is probably intended to represent 
 a postern entrance, rather than a low window. 
 
 The masonry of Roman buildings in this country is universally 
 
154 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 TCHAP. V. 
 
 good, and the materials well chosen and well prepared. The 
 town walls generally consist of two parallel facings of stones and 
 tiles, the interior filled up with a mass of mortar mixed with 
 rubble and other materials. The stone for building may be 
 generally traced to neighbouring quarries; but if none good 
 enough is found in the neighbourhood, it was often brought from 
 a considerable distance. Some of the stone used for building at 
 Richborough is supposed to have been brought over from Gaul. 
 The careful and exact manner in which even the small facing stones 
 of the walls are squared, shows them to be the work of excellent 
 masons. In general, these facing stones are slightly wedge-shaped, 
 the smaller end being placed towards the interior of the wall, which 
 seems to have been intended to give them a better hold on the 
 mortar. In Hadrian's Wall, the facing stones, which taper 
 towards the inner extremity considerably, are remarkably long in 
 comparison to the size of the face which presents itself outwardly; 
 the latter being usually eight or nine inches by ten or eleven, 
 while the length inwardly is as much as twenty inches. This 
 was no doubt designed for strength. The part of the stone 
 exposed to the weather was cut across what masons call the bait, 
 to hinder its scaling off by the lines of stratification. The facings of 
 the stones in Hadrians Wall are sometimes roughly tooled, or, as it 
 is technically termed, scabbled with the pick ; and in some parts of 
 the line this tooling takes a definite form. Sometimes the pattern 
 thus formed consists of upright, or nearly upright, lines ; at other 
 
 Facings of Stones, Hadrian's Wall. 
 
 times the stone is scored with waved lines, or with small squares, 
 and with other designs. Of the three examples here given, the 
 one in the middle, which is usually termed diamond-broaching, is 
 the most common. The masons' marks are often found on the 
 stones in Roman buildings, and resemble most closely those of 
 the masons of the middle ages. Sometimes they consist of a 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 ROMAN BRICKS, 
 
 155 
 
 letter, perhaps the initial of the mason's name ; but they are 
 more usually crosses, triangles, and other geometrical figures. 
 The annexed cut represents four of the more common masons' 
 marks on the Wall of Hadrian. 
 
 i ^)!!!!.!',i',|iK^»y \< a " 
 
 Masons' Marks, Hadrian's "Wall. 
 
 One of the most remarkable characteristics of Roman building, 
 was the extensive use of bricks, or, perhaps more properly speaking, 
 tiles ; for the latter word, as we now understand it, expresses more 
 accurately the form of the Roman building tiles. They are always 
 flat, generally from half an inch to an inch, or even two inches, in 
 thickness, and the smaller tiles are generally about seven inches 
 square. But others are found considerably larger, and these are 
 often much longer than broad. The old writers, such as Pliny 
 and Vitruvius, give exact directions for the making of tiles, and 
 in those found in England the clay has evidently been prepared 
 and tempered with great care ; they are most commonly of a dark 
 red colour, but in others the colour is much brighter, and tiles of the 
 two colours are mixed together in a regular arrangement, no doubt 
 for the purpose of ornament. Our cut on the next page represents a 
 group of the different sorts of tiles most commonly used in Roman 
 buildings in Britain. In front are three ordinary building tiles, 
 of different shapes and dimensions ; one, taken from the remains 
 of a house found at Dover (Dubrce), has four holes, which had 
 been used in some way or other to fix it in its place. The two 
 standing behind are flue tiles, for the passage of air or water. 
 These are always scored, in patterns of great variety, apparently 
 for the purpose of being fixed more tenaciously by the mortar. 
 
156 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 Many of them, for purposes which will be explained hereafter, 
 have square holes at the sides. The tile lying flat on the left 
 
 Roman Tiles. 
 
 has its edges turned, or, as it is technically termed, flanged, and 
 was used principally for roofing. The other is a ridge tile. 
 
 The ordinary building tiles often bear inscriptions indicating 
 the troops or officials, by whom, or under whose directions, the 
 buildings were erected. This is especially the case with the 
 different legions. Thus at Chester (Deva) the tiles bear the 
 name and title of the twentieth legion, leg. xx. v.v. (legio xx 
 valens victrix) ; at Caerleon (Isca) and the stations thereabouts, 
 and in South Wales, we find tiles with the 
 inscription leg. ii. avg. (legio ii Augusta) ; 
 and at York (Eburacum) the inscriptions 
 on the tiles are leg. vi. vict. (legio vi 
 victrix), and leg. ix. hlsp. (legio ix His- 
 panica). At Lymne and Dover, on the 
 Kentish coast, the usual inscription on 
 the tiles is cl. be,., which is supposed to 
 mean classiarii Britannici, the marines of 
 the British fleet. The inscription on tiles 
 found in London are more difficult of inter- 
 pretation. They read prb. lon, or ppbr. 
 lon, or, as it occurs in one case, p. pr. be. 
 This latter form of the inscription occurs on a flanged tile, 
 found in excavations in the city, which is represented in the annexed 
 
 Flanged Tile from 
 London. 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 ROMAN MASONRY. 
 
 157 
 
 cut. The most probable interpretation is that which explains 
 it as proprcetor Britannia Londinii, the Propraetor of Britain at 
 Londinium. This inscription has thus a peculiar interest, as 
 showing that Roman London was the seat of government of the 
 province. 
 
 As stated before, the Romans chose good stones for their 
 buildings, and squared them and fitted them together with great 
 care, and even where the facings of their walls have been exposed 
 to the air so many centuries, if not injured by the hands of man, 
 they preserve a remarkable freshness of appearance. But when- 
 ever they have been buried by the accumulation of soil, when the 
 earth is removed the masonry appears as fresh as if it had been 
 the work of yesterday. Such was the case with the town walls at 
 Lymne, as well as the lower parts of the walls at Richborough as 
 shown in our cut on p. 148. On the walls of Cilurnum, on 
 Hadrian's Wall, the marks of the trowel on the mortar are still 
 distinctly visible, and our cut annexed shows the regular appearance 
 of the masonry at another station on the wall, Borcovicus, as it 
 appeared when uncovered. 
 
 Wall at Housesteads in Northumberland (Borcovicus). 
 
 This latter is a very good example of Roman masonry. The 
 walls, even in houses, had generally one or two set-off courses of 
 
158 THE ROMANS. [chap. v. 
 
 stone at the bottom. There were two, as we here see, in the walls 
 of Borcovicus, and it seems to have been generally the case on the 
 line of Hadrian's Wall. In some instances the second course was 
 bevelled off into a moulding. At Richborough, as shown in our 
 cut on page 1 48, there was one footing course bevelled oif in this 
 manner. In the wall of Hadrian, as we are informed by Mr. 
 Bruce, the foundation had been prepared by the removal of the 
 natural soil to the width of about nine feet. This excavation was 
 at most from fifteen to eighteen inches deep. On the outer and 
 inner margins of the ground thus bared, two rows of flags, of from 
 two to four inches in thickness, and from eighteen to twenty in 
 breadth, were generally laid without mortar. On these lay the 
 first course of facing-stones, which were usually the largest stones 
 used in the structure. In higher courses the facing-stones are 
 uniformly of freestone, but on the ground course a whin-stone is 
 occasicnally introduced. The flag-stones of the foundation usually 
 project from one to five inches beyond the first course of facing- 
 stones, and these again usually stand out an inch or two beyond 
 the second course, after which the wall is taken straight up. The 
 foundation of the walls at Richborough is formed of two row r s of 
 boulders, laid upon, or a very little below, the surface of the 
 natural soil, which is a compact pit- sand. At Burgh Castle, in 
 Suffolk, the ancient Gariannonum, the massive w T alls were simply 
 built upon the plain ground. The chalk and lime of the original 
 soil was covered with earth hard beaten down ; upon this were 
 laid planks of oak nearly two inches thick, and upon them a bed 
 of coarse mortar, on which the first stones of the superstructure 
 were placed. Some years ago one of the round towers, under- 
 mined by a channel cut by continual floods of rain, was over- 
 thrown, and thus the nature of the foundation was shown, the 
 form and even the grain of the oaken planks being impressed on 
 the mortar. 
 
 The Roman bricks, or tiles, were not used in construction as 
 we use them now, to form the mass of the wall, but they were 
 built in as bonding courses, or used for turning arches, and for 
 various other purposes of ornament or strength. The bonding 
 courses of bricks are peculiarly characteristic of Roman masonry 
 in this country, as well as on the continent. They are shown, as 
 seen at Richborough and Lymne, in our cuts on pages 148 and 
 149. In both these localities, the courses consist of two rows 
 
chap, v.] ROMAN MASONRY. 159 
 
 of tiles ; at Burgh, in Suffolk, there are three rows of tiles 
 in each course ; and at Colchester there are three and four rows 
 of tiles in a course. Sometimes they are still more numerous. 
 In the multangular tower at York there are five rows in a course ; 
 and the walls of a building in Lower Thames Street, London, 
 discovered in 1848, were constructed entirely of tiles set in 
 mortar, without any courses of stones. At Bichborough the first 
 bonding course of tiles commences at three feet four inches 
 from the surface of the ground at its present level, and about five 
 feet from the bottom of the wall ; and they are repeated upwards 
 at distances varying from three feet three inches to four feet 
 three inches. The distances between the bonding courses vary 
 in other places, and they appear not to have been regulated by 
 any fixed rule. In some rare instances the rows of tiles went 
 through the whole thickness of the wall, but generally they only 
 run one tile deep. They are almost always multiplied at the 
 angles and turnings of walls. At Bichborough, in the angles, 
 there are generally two short courses between each of the regular 
 courses. In some instances, more especially in houses and public 
 buildings, the angles of the walls are composed entirely of tiles. 
 Arches are generally formed of tiles placed in a position radiating 
 from the centre. In some instances, large arches and vaults are 
 composed entirely of immense masses of tiles placed in this 
 manner, as in the fragment called the Jury Wall at Leicester, 
 and in the arched gateway already mentioned at Colchester. 
 
 The system just described was the one generally followed in 
 Boman buildings in this country, though there are exceptions. 
 In the walls of several Boman towns, as at Beculver (Regulbium), 
 Silchester (Calleva), Kenchester {Magna), Caerwent (Venta 
 Silurum), Chester (Deva), and in Hadrian's Wall and all the 
 stations adjacent to it, tiles are not used. It is not possible, 
 with our present knowledge, to assign any reason for this 
 deviation from the general practice. At Silchester there are 
 bonding courses of single rows of large flat stones. At Caerwent, 
 where the walls are faced with limestone, there are four bonding 
 courses of red sandstone, which when fresh would seem like tiles. 
 Similar variations are found in regard to the stone masonry. 
 The w 7 alls at Chester were formed of large squared stones, and 
 must have had a very noble appearance. The walls of Burgh 
 Castle and Silchester, and those of Bichborough, in the interior, 
 
160 THE ROMANS. [chap. v. 
 
 were faced with flints. At Silch ester the flints were placed in 
 what is popularly called herring-bone work. The small remains 
 of walls at Kenchester also exhibit herring-bone work. Variations 
 like this arose no doubt from fashion or caprice which prevailed 
 in particular districts, or was adopted by certain masons. The 
 herring-bone masonry is often found in Roman buildings; and 
 was seen in its perfection in the numerous houses brought to 
 light by the excavations of Mr. Artis at Castor (Durob?ivce). 
 
 The mortar employed by the Romans possesses several pecu- 
 liarities ; and we learn from the directions of Vitruvius, that the 
 composition of it was attended to with great care. It strikes the 
 ordinary observer by its extreme strength and durability ; he will 
 break with much greater ease the stones with which the wall is 
 faced than the mortar which holds them together. As we find it 
 in Britain, the Roman mortar is generally composed of lime, 
 pounded tiles, sand, and gravel, more or less coarse, and even small 
 pebble stones. These ingredients vary in their quantities, but 
 usually the lime and pounded tiles predominate, which is the 
 cause of its extreme hardness. Occasionally, as at Silchester, 
 Caerwent, and Kenchester, the pounded tiles are omitted, and, in 
 common buildings, mortar of an inferior description is used, com- 
 posed merely of sand and lime. At Richborough, the mortar 
 used in the interior of the wall is composed of lime, sand, and 
 pebbles, or sea-beach ; but the facing-stones throughout are 
 cemented with a much finer mortar, in which pounded tile is 
 introduced.* 
 
 * fC The tenacity of the mortar which was used, forms an important element in 
 the strength of the whole fabric. That which is in use now is generally spoiled, 
 from a variety of circumstances. The prevailing practice is, first of all, to slack 
 the lime by pouring a quantity of water upon it when lying in a heap ; in most 
 cases this does not sufficiently pulverise it; it is then mixed with any earth bearing 
 the least resemblance to sand, and the two are worked together very imperfectly 
 with a shovel. The mortar thus made often stands and hardens, so as to require 
 to be once and again mixed with water, and worked up before it is used. It thus 
 becomes quite impoverished ; and after all, for the convenience of the mason, it is 
 employed in so dry a state, that the stone soon takes all the moisture from it, and 
 it becomes little better than powder. The gigantic railway operations of recent 
 times have driven men out of the beaten track, and compelled them afresh to 
 discover the Roman method of preparing mortar. On the authority of engineers 
 well acquainted with the Roman Wall, I am enabled to state, that the mortar of 
 that structure is precisely similar to the grout and concrete of the railway mason 
 of the present day. Specimens of the ancient and modern grout are before me, 
 and there cannot be a doubt as to the identity of their preparation. The following 
 
chap, v.] ROMAN MASONRY. 161 
 
 The mode in which the wall was constructed seems to have 
 been as follows. The facing- stones were first built up to a certain 
 height, and set in mortar of a finer and better description. Then 
 fresh liquid mortar was poured in in large quantities in the space 
 between, heaps of rubble or stones were cast in with it, and the 
 whole soon hardened into a solid mass. In some instances, the 
 stones of the interior of the wall are placed in layers, and are 
 arranged with considerable precision. The interior of the walls 
 at Lymne is composed chiefly of the hard stone of the neighbour- 
 hood, which has been thrown into the mortar in rough pieces as 
 quarried. In the Wall of Hadrian, whin-stones, as the material 
 most abundant in the district, were " puddled in " amongst the 
 mortar to fill up the interior of the wall. When this had been 
 done, more courses of facing-stones were built up, and then the 
 interior was filled in in the same manner, and when the whole 
 w : as finished, it formed a solid, compact mass. In the walls at 
 Richborough, and at other places, we trace a number of small 
 holes on the face of the walls, which were probably made to 
 support scaffolding. 
 
 In some parts of the Roman walls in Britain we observe irre- 
 gularities, which seem to have arisen from the accidental deficiency 
 of particular kinds of materials. In the pharos at Dover, when 
 the masons ran short of the large tiles which are so plentifully 
 employed in its construction, they hewed pieces of the Folkestone 
 rock into the form of tiles, and used them instead. In other 
 instances, we find roof or other tiles used instead of building tiles. 
 An instance will be seen in our engraving of the tower at 
 Lymne, on p. 149, where, at the bottom of the wall, on the left, 
 tiles with turned -or flanged edges are used along with the plain 
 flat tiles. 
 
 is the mode in which the railway engineer prepares his mortar. The lime, in the 
 state in which it comes from the kiln, is first ground to powder, and is then mixed 
 with sand and gravel, and chippings of stone. The purposes for which the mortar 
 is required, indicate the coarseness and quantity of the intermingling gravel. 
 "When wanted as concrete, to form, independently of other materials, the founda- 
 tion of some heavy structure, stony fragments of larger size are mingled with the 
 lime than when the mortar is to be used to cement chiselled stones, or even than 
 when wanted to constitute, with rubble, the interior of a wall. The mixture of 
 pounded lime and gravel, when made, is not mingled with water until the moment 
 of application to the work for which it is required, but it is then intimately united 
 with an abundant quantity of it. When used as concrete, the mass will, in three 
 hours, have solidity sufficient to bear the weight of a man, and in about three 
 days it will have acquired a rock-like firmness." — Bruce' ] s "Roman Wall" p. 86. 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 Having thus examined the walls, with their towers and gates, let 
 us pass through the latter, and survey the interior. A town consisted 
 then, as now, of its private and its public buildings, the former of 
 which would naturally vary much in form and magnitude, according 
 to the caprice as well as the quality of those for whom they were 
 built. The discovery of the buried city of Pompeii first threw 
 any considerable light on the domestic arrangement of Roman 
 houses, yet difference of climate, and many other causes 
 existed in this island which should make us cautious in applying 
 to Roman houses in Britain the rules which we know were 
 observed in Italy. The only instance with which we are 
 acquainted of a small separate house in a Roman town in this 
 country, is one recently discovered at Lymne, in Kent, a plan of 
 which is here given. This house, which stood north and south 
 
 Plan of a House at Lymne {Portus 
 
 (the semicircular projection looking due south), was about fifty 
 feet (east and west), and thirty feet in the transverse direction, 
 exclusive of the semicircular part and the eastern recess. The walls 
 evidently remain only to the level of what was originally the floors, 
 and we have no indication of the position of doors or windows ; but, 
 from an examination of the motion that must have been given 
 to the ruins by the ancient landslip which reduced them to their 
 
(mm m 
 
 
 
chap, v.] ROMAN HOUSES. 163 
 
 present condition,* it is probable that this house stood on the south 
 side of the street at the entrance of the principal gateway, and 
 therefore that the entrance-door of the house stood in its northern 
 wall, which was supported by buttresses. The arrangement of 
 this house was very simple, for it seems that it consisted of four 
 rooms of about the same dimensions. We have no means of 
 ascertaining whether it had any upper story, but there seems 
 little doubt that it was a detached house. The accompanying 
 engraving of Roman foundations laid open at Aldborough in 
 Yorkshire, clearly represents a long row of houses, though they 
 are by no means easily explained. The corner to the left appears 
 to have been a little shop, and the other rooms in a line w T ith it 
 may perhaps have served the same purpose. 
 
 It is a question of much doubt whether the Eoman houses in 
 this country were built of stone and brick up to the roof, or whether 
 they were only raised a little above the floor, to support a super- 
 structure of wood. It is a remarkable circumstance that, in 
 most of the numerous houses and villas which at different times 
 have been discovered and examined, the walls are found remaining 
 about as high, or very little higher, than the floors, and that they do 
 not terminate in a broken line as though the walls had been thrown 
 down, but in a regular level through the whole building. We 
 must, however, take into consideration, on the other hand, the 
 probability £hat the upper walls would, in the middle ages, be 
 gradually carried away for materials down to the ground, yet, 
 even in this case, we should expect sometimes to find the walls 
 broken away more irregularly, and some of the materials of the walls 
 scattered about. Some instances have certainly occurred, espe- 
 cially in the larger country villas, where the walls remain at a 
 greater elevation in some parts than in others, and in which they 
 have evidently been broken away. Perhaps the safest conclusion 
 at which we can come is, that in houses of people of wealth and 
 importance the walls of at least some of the principal apartments 
 were of masonry, while in the more ordinary houses the masonry 
 
 * At some period, long after the Roman town at Lymne had been ruined and 
 deserted, an extensive landslip took place on the site, which is easily explained by 
 geologists, the consequence of which was that a great part of the Avails has been 
 overthrown, and much of the interior appears to have been entirely defaced and 
 destroyed. The house, of which the plan is given above, had suffered less than 
 most of the other buildings, and although the walls were in part dislocated, it was 
 easy to restore them in the plan. 
 
 m2 
 
164 THE ROMANS. [chap. v. 
 
 of the walls rose only two or three feet above ground, and some- 
 times not so much, and that they supported a superstructure of 
 timber. In exposed districts, and more especially in the north, 
 houses of stone were no doubt more common. Mr. Roach Smith dis- 
 covered a Roman house in the neighbourhood of Hadrian's Wall, 
 the walls of which, built of stone, are still standing to an elevation 
 above the doors and windows, the openings of which remain.* 
 
 Generally, however, the only parts of a Roman house which 
 remain perfect are the floors and substructure, which therefore 
 will naturally first attract our attention. We invariably find that 
 in a certain number of the rooms of a Roman house in Britain 
 the floors were supported, not on the solid ground, but upon a 
 number of short thick columns, arranged in regular rows, with 
 narrow passages between them. These formed what were called 
 the hypocaust (from a Greek word signifying literally fire or 
 heat underneath) ; it was the Roman method of warming a house. 
 These pillars were generally formed of piles of square tiles ; 
 sometimes, as in a building found at Inverness in Scotland, 
 described in Stuart's " Caledonia Romana," in one found at 
 Wroxeter (Uriconium), and described in the ninth volume of the 
 " Archaeologia," and in other instances, the columns supporting 
 the floor were of stone, or stone columns mixed alternately or 
 irregularly with brick pillars. Mixed with these supporting pillars 
 were rows of flue tiles, especially near or against the walls, and 
 flue tiles of various forms were built into the walls above, so as to 
 distribute the hot air over the building. These flue tiles have 
 square holes on one side to admit hot air or smoke, from the fires 
 of the hypocaust. Sometimes, but this is of rarer occurrence, in- 
 stead of these pillars, the floor was supported on parallel walls 
 of masonry, with passages in which the fires were made, and 
 through which the heat was conducted. The fire was made under 
 the arch in the outer wall below the level of the ground, and 
 appears to have been approached from without by the servants 
 who had the care of the fires, in the same manner that we now 
 approach the stoves of hot-houses. Similar arches in the founda- 
 tions of the walls communicated between the hypocaust of one 
 room and that of another. In our plan, just given, of the house 
 at Lymne, the two rooms on the right had hypocausts with pillars 
 
 * An engraving of this house is given in Mr. Roach Smith's Collectanea 
 Antiqua, vol. ii v p. 188. 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 HYPOCAUSTS. 
 
 165 
 
 of square bricks, the lower parts of most of which were found when 
 the covering of earth was first cleared away. At i i, were the 
 passages, built in rougher masonry than the walls, which led to 
 the fire-places under the two arches indicated in the walls. 
 Three other arches, through the wall which divided these two 
 apartments, all neatly turned with the large flat tiles, formed 
 the communication between the hypocausts. Another similar 
 arch in the western wall of the more northerly of these two 
 rooms communicated with the parallel walls of rough masonry 
 which formed a hypocaust under a part of the room marked b. 
 The small recessed room at the south-east corner, supported by 
 much thicker columns of bricks than those of the other hypocaust, 
 may perhaps have served as the kitchen, or cooking- room. The 
 
 Hypocaust at Cirencester (Corinium). 
 
 arrangement of the hypocaust will perhaps be better understood 
 by the annexed cut of one of these structures found in a Roman 
 house at Cirencester, which we give because it presents several 
 peculiarities. One of the supports here is a stone pillar, another 
 stands upon a stone base. Between the last row of pillars and 
 the side- wall, is a row of upright flue- tiles, and in the wall itself 
 are two apertures, intended no doubt to convey the hot air into 
 the upper part of the building. In this instance the hypocaust 
 
166 THE ROMANS. [chap. v. 
 
 only extended under one-half of the room, the pavement of the 
 other half resting upon a prepared solid foundation.* The room 
 marked b, in the plan of the house at Lymne, seems to have had 
 a similar arrangement in this respect. The more we examine 
 the remains of Roman buildings in Britain, the more we are 
 struck with the care and ingenuity displayed in providing for 
 internal warmth, as well as for other comforts. In many instances, 
 the subterranean hypocausts are elaborately arranged. The 
 excavations in the large villa at Woodchester, in Gloucestershire, 
 at the latter end of the last century, brought to light a hypocaust 
 which is represented in an engraving in our next Chapter. It 
 consisted of parallel walls, pierced with an elaborate system of flues, 
 formed of ridge-tiles placed two and two together, so as to form 
 pipes. Rows of flanged tiles were placed along the sides of the 
 walls, thus making hollows through which the hot air was 
 distributed equally over the whole interior surface of the walls of 
 the apartment. 
 
 In laying the floors, a layer of large flat tiles was first placed 
 on the columns of the hypocaust. Flanged tiles were not unfre- 
 quently used for this purpose, with the flanged edges sometimes 
 turned upwards and sometimes downwards, perhaps according to 
 the caprice of the builder. Sometimes there w r ere two layers of 
 tiles, and in some cases, where tiles probably were not at hand, 
 thin flag-stones were used instead. Upon these were laid a mass 
 of fine mortar or concrete, generally about six inches thick, in the 
 surface of which the pavement was set. This pavement was 
 variously constructed according to the richness and elegance of 
 the house, and to the purposes for which the apartment was 
 designed. In rich houses the principal floors were beauti- 
 
 * We should avoid giving refined and unnecessary explanations where very 
 simple ones are sufficient. In Messrs. Buckman and Newmarch's work on the 
 Roman remains at Cirencester, from which our cut of the hypocaust is taken, the 
 circumstance of the hypocaust extending under one half only of the floor, is 
 explained by considering that " the two parts of the room were intended for use at 
 different seasons of the year, and that it was the triclinium of the house ; that 
 portion over the hypocaust being the triclinium kybernum, and the other 
 end the triclinium cestivum, for use in warm weather." It seems to me very 
 easy to understand how a room may be perfectly well warmed by a hypo- 
 caust on one side only, but I do not perceive how this arrangement would make 
 one half of the room warm and the other half cold, which I presume is the meaning 
 of this explanation. If there were in summer no fire in the hypocaust, it would 
 be quite as cool over it as on the other side of the room ; and if there were a fire 
 in it, no part of the room could be cool. 
 
chap, v.] THE ROOMS OF HOUSES. 167 
 
 fully ornamented with figured pavements, composed of very 
 small cubes or tesserae of different colours. In less expensive 
 houses, the ornament was plainer, and formed of much larger 
 tesserae. Ordinary floors were usually paved with tesserae of brick, 
 which we should perhaps rather call small tiles, one or two inches 
 square. In a few instances a mere floor of flag-stones has been 
 found laid regularly over the mass of concrete. 
 
 It is quite impossible, in the condition in which the foundations 
 of the Roman houses are found, even to offer a probable con- 
 jecture on the use or objects of the several rooms which we are 
 enabled to trace by them. We can have little, doubt that the 
 rooms warmed by hypocausts were those in which the masters of 
 the house were accustomed to assemble together, or receive 
 visitors. In the larger country villas it has been observed that 
 the rooms with hypocausts lie often on the southern part of 
 the building, and it has therefore been assumed, that they were 
 the winter apartments, while the summer apartments were placed 
 with a more northern aspect, and were without hypocausts ; but 
 this observation does not hold good in all cases. There is one 
 peculiarity which is observed almost invariably in Roman houses 
 in Britain ; one room has always a semicircular recess or alcove, 
 and in some, but rarer, instances, more than one room possesses 
 this adjunct. It is not omitted even in the little house at Lymne, 
 of which we have given a plan. There is generally, as in the 
 example just cited, at each side where it joins the room an 
 advancing piece of wall or pier, as though a curtain, or something 
 of that kind, had been drawn across to separate the recess from 
 the room. In a suburban villa, which has lately been partially 
 excavated in Leicester, a short pillar was found lying upon the 
 tesselated pavement of the semicircular recess, which seemed to 
 have served as an altar, or to have supported a small statue, and 
 it has been conjectured that this recess served as the sacrarium, 
 or place of domestic worship, where the image of the patron god 
 of the family was placed. A Roman house of any extent generally 
 presents to view such a numerous assemblage of crowded and 
 very small rooms, that we are led to believe that some of the 
 transverse walls have only been raised to a slight elevation above 
 the floor, and that they served for seats or other purposes in the 
 middle or at one side of the room. In one or two instances low 
 projections have been observed in the interior of the wall of a 
 
168 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 room, which have every appearance of having been intended for 
 stone seats. Drains and gutters are often found in and under the 
 floors, for carrying off water, and these are sometimes ingeniously, 
 and even elaborately, constructed ; generally of tiles ; pieces of 
 leaden pipe have also been found, formed by turning a thin plate 
 of lead rounded into the form of a cylinder. 
 
 Many writers have concluded hastily, that every house with a 
 hypocaust was a public bath ; but it required very little observation 
 and comparison to expose this error. In some instances, but more 
 especially in country villas, we find baths belonging to the house, 
 generally in a room which seems to have been set aside for them. 
 Two such baths were observed in the villa excavated at Hartlip, 
 in east Kent. One of these, which is represented in the cut 
 annexed, was of very small dimensions, being only three feet six 
 
 Bath in a Villa at Hartlip, Kent. 
 
 inches in length by three feet one inch in width, and about two 
 feet deep. At the bottom, on one side, was a seat six inches and 
 a half wide. A moulding of plaster ran round the floor and up 
 the angles, and the interior was originally covered entirely with 
 stucco, painted of a pink or red colour, as appeared by portions of 
 it still remaining. From the size of this bath, it must have been 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 BATHS m ROMAN HOUSES. 
 
 169 
 
 either intended for children, or for the partial immersion and 
 ablution of grown-up persons : but the presence of the seat would 
 lead us to suppose it was for children. Adjoining was another 
 bath, represented in our second cut, of larger dimensions than the 
 former. It was six feet two inches in length by fourteen in 
 width, but it was only fourteen inches deep. Both baths were no 
 doubt deeper, when the building was perfect. This bath also 
 had a seat extending the whole length of one side, but it was 
 composed of hollow flue-tiles, placed lengthways, and coated over 
 
 Second Bath in the Villa at Hartlip. 
 
 with a thick layer of cement ; the sides, as in the former, had 
 been stuccoed and painted, and a similar moulding ran round the 
 bottom. Both had leaden pipes still remaining, which conducted 
 the water from the baths through the external wall of the house. 
 There was no pipe or channel of any kind for conducting water 
 to either of these baths, so that either hot or cold water must 
 have been brought when wanted in buckets or other vessels. A 
 room adjoining was probably open to the baths ; a recess in the 
 wall of this room is supposed by Mr. Roach Smith to have held a 
 cistern for warm water. 
 
 Internally, the walls of the apartments were invariably covered 
 with a thick coating of plaster, or stucco, composed of lime, sand, 
 and small stones, so tempered as to harden into a very solid and 
 firm mass. The surface of this was made perfectly smooth, and 
 upon it was laid a very thin coating of fine calcareous cement. 
 
170 THE ROMANS. [chap. v. 
 
 On this, while moist, the various designs were painted, and the 
 whole became so durable, that on the broken fragments we pick 
 up among the ruins of the houses and villas in this country, the 
 colours often look as bright and fresh as if they had but just been 
 laid on. Some of these fragments belong to walls painted of 
 a uniform colour ; others are striped, or made to represent 
 arabesques and other patterns. Some fragments in the museum 
 of Mr. Roach Smith, taken from the site of a large building near 
 Crosby Hall, in London, exhibit a sort of decorated trellis-work 
 on a red ground, in the divisions of which are stars, or flowers, in 
 yellow, white, and dark blue colours, with a man carrying a staff 
 and what appears to be a basket ; the whole pattern, man and all, 
 being repeated over the face of the wall, and enclosed in a dark 
 border, upon which is a stripe of white. Other fragments are 
 painted in imitation of coloured marbles. A considerable variety 
 of rather elegant patterns were found in the ruins of a Roman 
 villa at Chesterford, in Essex, among which were some represen- 
 ting portions of the human figure. The most remarkable of the 
 latter was the foot of a female, as large as life, with drapery flowing 
 round it. In one of the larger rooms of the villa at Combe-End, 
 in Gloucestershire, the lower part of the wall remained covered 
 with the fresco painting, on which were a row of feet, also as large 
 as life, which had belonged to the figures in some grand historical 
 painting that had once adorned the walls of this apartment. 
 
 Where we find the openings of doors, they are in general 
 narrow, and they appear to have been square-headed, like the 
 ordinary doors of the present day. Among the stations on 
 Hadrian's Wall, where the materials of the buildings have not 
 been so extensively cleared away, ornamental heads of doors and 
 windows in stone have been found, and some of them are 
 engraved in Mr. Brace's " Roman W T all." We seldom open Roman 
 houses of any extent without finding abundant fragments of 
 window-glass, so that there can be no doubt that the Roman 
 windows were glazed. Many fragments of very thin window glass 
 were picked up under the walls of the houses within the Roman 
 town of Lymne, where the walls had no doubt been pierced with 
 windows above. We have little information on the nature of the 
 ceilings and roofs of the Roman houses in Britain. Supporting 
 columns, and fragments of ornament and plaster, found in some 
 of the villas, seem to show that the more important apartments were 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 ROOFS OF HOUSES. 
 
 171 
 
 Arrangement of Roof Tiles. 
 
 sometimes vaulted ; but it is probable that the ceiling was more 
 usually flat. In the midland and southern parts of Britain, the 
 houses appear to have been most commonly roofed with tiles, con- 
 sisting of parallel courses of flanged tiles, with the flanges turned 
 upwards, and the joints covered with 
 ridge tiles. This arrangement will 
 be best understood by the accom- 
 panying cat. In other cases, es- 
 pecially in the northern parts of 
 England, the houses were roofed 
 with slates. In the stations on the 
 wall, thin slabs of free-stone slate, 
 with nail-holes in them, as well as 
 the nails themselves, are found on 
 the ground. At Maryport, in Cum- 
 berland, when some parts of the interior of the station were 
 excavated, it was found that the houses had been roofed with 
 Scotch slates, which, with the pegs that fastened them, lay 
 scattered about in the streets. In the Roman villas in the south, 
 we often find the roofing tiles scattered over the floors of the rooms 
 in the same manner. 
 
 We have few opportunities of examining the internal arrange- 
 ments of a Roman town, and until the uncovering of Pompeii 
 our knowledge on this subject was very limited. Where a modern 
 town stands on the site of an ancient town, which is the case with 
 most of the more important Roman cities in Britain, it is of course 
 impossible to excavate ; and where such is not the case, there have 
 usually been so many difficulties to contend with in obtaining 
 permission to dig, and raising the necessary funds, that very little 
 progress has yet been made. Yet there are many localities in 
 this island, where the site of an ancient city of great extent lies 
 merely covered with earth, and that not very deep, and in which 
 excavations would, no doubt, lead to very interesting results. 
 Among the more remarkable of these, we may enumerate Silchester 
 (Calleva), Old Verulam (Verulamium), Aldborough \Isurium), 
 Ribchester (Coccium), Caerwent (Venta), Wroxeter (Urwoniwm), 
 Kench ester (Magna), and some others. Some of the towns on 
 Hadrian's Wall, though not so large or magnificent as these 
 great cities, appear, from the comparative neglect in which their 
 ruins were left, to promise perhaps more than some of the larger 
 
172 THE ROMANS. [chap. v. 
 
 sites. It has been often assumed by some that the streets of the 
 Roman towns in Britain were arranged with great regularity, and 
 by others that they w r ere in general identical with the streets of 
 the modern towns that occupy their sites ; but both are equally 
 erroneous. A variety of excavations in the city of London have 
 proved that the principal streets, such as Cheapside, Cornhill, &c, 
 are in almost every instance traversed by masses of Roman 
 houses underneath. We have learnt from the discoveries at 
 Pompeii, that Roman streets were arranged irregularly, and that 
 they were in general very narrow. It is probable that even in 
 Roman London there were only two or three lines of streets 
 through which any kind of carriage could pass, and that the rest 
 were only narrow alleys. A small part of the Roman town of 
 Cilurnum, at Chesters in Northumberland, has been uncovered, 
 and presents us with a curious example of these small alleys and 
 houses. A plan of it is given in the accompanying cut. Eight 
 apartments are here represented, which belonged to at least two, 
 if not to three, houses. Descending a few steps at l, we enter a 
 street or alley, three feet wide at one extremity, and four at the 
 other. At h, another street runs off at right angles, which is about 
 four feet wide. At d, an entrance door, approached by steps, 
 leads into the room e, which, as well as the other rooms with 
 which it communicates, is paved with thin flag-stones, and has a 
 hypocaust underneath. There is one of the semi-circular recesses 
 at g. which has an aperture through the wall, perhaps one of the 
 fire-places of the hypocausts, though Mr. Bruce tells us that the 
 furnace, wirich warmed the suit of apartments, stood near f, at 
 the south-eastern extremity of the building. When these hypo- 
 causts were first opened, the soot in the flues was found as fresh 
 as if it had been produced by fires lighted the day before. In 
 the room to the north of that we first entered, at c, was found a 
 bath, in good preservation, covered with stucco which was painted 
 red. Near it, at b, the exterior wall of the house had been 
 broken in, and among the rubbish was found the statue of a river 
 god. The pavements had been damaged by the falling in of the 
 roof. The steps at d were much worn by the tread of feet, and 
 stones had been inserted in place of others which had been worn 
 out, which also were partially worn ; hence Mr. Bruce thinks that 
 this was a public building of some kind. Outside the circular 
 recess, a, there seemed to have been a larger open space than 
 
chap, v.] ARRANGEMENT OF HOUSES IN STREETS. 
 
 173 
 
 the street first mentioned. A door nearly opposite that at d led 
 into the house i, of which two apartments were uncovered, both 
 having similar floors and hypocausts. The street h d appears to 
 
 ssS^- 
 
 Plan of Houses at Chesters in Northumberland (Ciluraum). 
 
 communicate by a narrow passage with another transverse street, 
 but the ground beyond has not been cleared away. The rooms 
 
174 THE ROMANS. [chap. v. 
 
 of the house I are in dimension each about twenty-four feet by 
 seventeen ; that at e about nineteen feet by fifteen. The walls 
 of the latter house had been covered internally with a stucco 
 painted dark red. 
 
 At Maryport, in Cumberland, where excavations were made in 
 1766, the streets were found to be paved, like those at Cilurnum, 
 with large flagstones, which, we are told, " were much worn by use, 
 particularly the steps into a vaulted room, supposed to have been a 
 temple." The foundations at Aldborough, represented in our plate 
 at p. 163, seem evidently to have belonged to a row of houses, 
 apparently with shops in front ; but the artist has, by an oversight, 
 represented them as parallel to the town wall, whereas in reality 
 they are at an angle to it. They have not been excavated to any 
 extent backwards ; but there are reasons for supposing that in 
 the more important towns, the great dwelling-houses were, as at 
 Pompeii, back from the street, and that each was inclosed out- 
 wardly w 7 ith small houses and shops. At Durobrivse {Castor), as 
 far as we can judge from Mr. Artis's plan, the houses were 
 scattered about in no regular order. 
 
 The numerous pieces of sculptured stone which are found about 
 the ruins in the remains of Roman towns, show that the houses 
 did not want for architectural ornament. Capitals and shafts of 
 columns, cornices, mouldings, and other fragments, are frequently 
 met with ; but as these materials were in after times much more 
 useful, and more easily carried away, than the masonry of the 
 walls, it seldom happens that there is a sufficient quantity left to 
 enable us to form a notion of the manner in which the building 
 was adorned. It is remarkable, also, that these architectural 
 fragments, although often very elegant, are seldom of pure style ; 
 instead of plain or simply fluted columns, we often have them covered 
 with scales, or leaves, or other designs, as if the models had been 
 brought from Egypt or India ; and the bases and capitals are 
 sometimes profusely ornamented. The same circumstance of the 
 utility of the materials caused the public buildings to disappear sooner 
 than the dwelling-houses, and there are few cases in which they have 
 been distinctly traced out in modern times. Lysons discovered 
 so many architectural fragments of the Temple of Minerva at 
 Aquas Solis (Bath), that he was enabled to make a restoration of 
 the building ; and considerable remains are said to have been 
 found, and perhaps still exist under-ground, of the temple of the 
 
chap, v.] PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 175 
 
 same goddess at Coccium (Ribchester). No doubt, every town 
 had its temples, of greater and less magnificence, which were 
 filled with the votive altars that are discovered so numerously in 
 some parts of the country. A few inscriptions have been found 
 recording the building or repairing of such edifices. At Regnum 
 (Chichester), a temple was dedicated to Neptune and Minerva.* 
 At Condercum, on Hadrian's Wall (Bemvell), an officer stationed 
 there " rebuilt from the ground " a temple dedicated to the Deae 
 Matres, and to the genius which presided over his troops. f At 
 Cilurnum (Ohesters), a temple which was dilapidated through age, 
 was rebuilt in the year 221, during the reign of Heliogabalus. j At 
 Petriana (Cambeck Fort), a temple to the deities " of all nations," 
 which had through age fallen into decay, was similarly restored. § 
 Such slabs were generally placed against the walls of the 
 building they commemorated, and it was not always thought 
 necessary to describe in them the nature of the building itself, 
 so that they are now often useless for identification. Yet in some 
 instances public buildings are commemorated by name. Thus an 
 inscription found at Habitancum (Risingham), commemorates the 
 restoration of the gate and walls. || We learn also, from such in- 
 scriptions, that at Fjp'mcum(Lanchester), the public baths and basilica 
 (or court-house) were built from the foundations in the reign of 
 Gordian ; IT that someother buildings (the name is partly obliterated) 
 with a basilica and temple, were built on the site of the modern 
 Tynemouth ; ** that public baths and a basilica were rebuilt at 
 Coccium (Ribchester); ff that the public baths at Lavatrae (Bowes) 
 had been burnt down, and rebuilt and dedicated to the goddess 
 Fortune (they were probably joined with a temple), under the 
 propraetor Virrius Lupus ; J J and that a basilica for riding, which 
 appears to have taken some time building, was completed under 
 
 * See the commemorative inscription in our note on p. 29. 
 
 *T MATRIBVS .... TEMPLVM A SOLO RESTITVIT BrUCe's " Wall," p. 140. 
 
 £ TEMPLVM VETVSTATE CONLAPSVM RESTITVERVNT. Bruce, p. 186. 
 
 § . . . OMNIVM GENTIVM TEMPLVM OLIM VETVSTATE CONLABSVM. Horsley. 
 
 || PORTAM CVM MVRIS VETVSTATE DILAPSIS. Bruce, p. 331. 
 
 *J[ BALNEVM CVM BASILICA A SOLO INSTRVXIT. LySOnS. 
 
 *„* . . . gyrvm cvm basi et templvm fecit. — Bruce, p. 319, so read by 
 Mr. Bruce ; Horsley read it cvrvm ; but on examining this altar, which is in the 
 collection of the Society of Antiquarians, with Mr. Roach Smith, I agree with 
 him that the true reading seems to be cypvm (for cippum) cvm basi et, &c. 
 The stone is much worn in the upper part. 
 
 + + BALINEVM REFECT . . . ASILICAM VETVSTATE CONLABSAM SOLO RESTITVT*M. 
 
 — Whitaker. 
 
 X + BALINEVM VI IGNIS EX"3TVM. HoImCV. 
 
176 THE ROMANS. [chap. v. 
 
 Severus Alexander (a.d. 221 — 235).* As well as its basilica and 
 public baths, Epiacum (Lanchester) had an arsenal and a building 
 for the commanding officer, or governor's lodgings.f 
 
 It seems from these inscriptions that every town of any impor- 
 tance had a basilica, or court-house, and public baths, and that 
 these were usually placed together, and joined often with a 
 temple. In several of our ancient Koman towns, as at Leicester, 
 Wroxeter, and, formerly, Kenchester, masses of masonry within 
 the town, which it has not been easy to account for, may have 
 formed part of these combined buildings. Remains of public 
 baths have been found in excavations in some of the Roman 
 towns in Britain, as, for instance, at Silchester. Of other public 
 buildings we know little. Giraldus Cambrensis speaks vaguely of 
 buildings for theatrical purposes at Caerleon, but perhaps he only 
 meant the amphitheatre. A theatre of considerable extent, and 
 elaborate construction, has been recently brought to light at 
 Verulamium (near St. Albans.) J The Romans were everywhere 
 passionately addicted to gladiatorial exhibitions, and almost every 
 station had its amphitheatre. We need only mention those at Rich- 
 borough, Colchester, Silchester, Dorchester, Cirencester, and Caer- 
 leon. The amphitheatre at Richborough has been recently excavated, 
 and it was then found that it was not, as had been supposed, a 
 mere raised circle of earth, but that it had been surrounded with 
 walls, and had doubtless seats and passages of masonry. The 
 same was probably the case with the other amphitheatres just 
 referred to. At Aldborough there are remains of a stadium, and 
 perhaps also at Leicester. 
 
 The walls of the Roman towns in Britain varied much in 
 extent. Those of Silchester, which are three miles in circuit, 
 inclose an area of about a hundred and twenty acres ; those of 
 Kenchester inclosed about twenty-one acres ; the walls at Col- 
 chester included a hundred and eight acres ; while the walls of 
 Lymne inclose only twelve acres, and those of Richborough not 
 more than four. It is evident that, in cases like the latter, we 
 must consider the fortress as a mere citadel, and suppose that the 
 town stood around. In the other instances, the wall surrounded 
 
 * BASILICAM EQVESTREM EXERC1TATORIAM IAMPRIDEM A SOLO COFPTAM AEDIEI- 
 
 CAVIT CONSVMMAV1TQVR. L) S011S. 
 
 *T PRINCIPIA ET ARMAMENTARIA CONLAPSA RESTITVIT. LySOIlS. 
 
 X An account of this discovery was published in a pamphlet, entitled " A 
 Description of the Roman Theatre of Verulam," by Mr. R. Grove Lowe, of 
 St. Albans, under whose care the excavations were carried on. 
 
chap, v.] THE SUBURBS. 177 
 
 the town. In many cases, however, the population became gra- 
 dually too large to be contained within the inclosure, and then 
 suburbs were built outside. Most of the stations along Hadrian's 
 wall appear to have consisted of an inner town and an outer town. 
 There are reasons for believing that the walls of Eoman London 
 were erected at a later date, when that city had reached its full 
 extent, and hence we cannot trace that it had any suburbs on the 
 northern side of the Thames ; but it had apparently a large one on 
 the southern bank. Eburacum had been probably fortified earlier, 
 and it had increased more rapidly, and accordingly we find that it 
 had extensive suburbs at each of its gates. That on the side 
 towards Calcaria (Tadcaster) extended, as we are informed by 
 Mr. Wellbeloved, as much as a mile along the road, and the one on 
 the road to Isurium (Aldborough) was nearly as long. Extensive 
 suburbs have also been traced round Caerleon, and it is the tra- 
 dition of the place, that the ancient city tilled a circuit of nine 
 miles. Considerable suburban buildings have, in like manner, 
 been discovered at Leicester. 
 
 The suburbs were probably not built so closely as the town itself, 
 but consisted often of detached villas. They were also the site of 
 the cemeteries, and the tombs generally stood along each side of 
 the road. The principal sepulchral monuments of the Eoman 
 citizens of London appear to have stood outside Ludgate, where 
 inscribed stones have been found ; but we know also that there 
 was a large cemetery at the outside of Bishopsgate. At York, 
 the burial places were without all the gates, but the road leading 
 to Calcaria has been called emphatically, on account of the great 
 number of interments found along it, the Street of the Tombs. 
 
 Before we quit the Roman towns, we must notice one of their 
 important features, the sanitary precautions. We have seen how 
 careful the inhabitants were to keep themselves warm and dry, 
 and they seem not to have neglected cleanliness. Traces of pipes 
 and drains are found in their houses, which were no doubt in- 
 tended to carry off superfluous water and filth. We have no 
 means of ascertaining how the streets were drained, but we seldom 
 carry on excavations long on the sites of Roman towns without 
 meeting with large and extensive sewers. A large drain of this 
 description was found outside the town at Hunnum, on the Wall 
 (Halton-Chesters). " My informant," Mr. Bruce tells us, "crept 
 along it for about one hundred yards ; the bottom of it was filled 
 
178 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 with hardened mud, imbedded in which were found a lamp and 
 many hone pins, such as those with which the Romans fastened 
 their woollen garments." The Roman sewers at Lincoln are still 
 in good preservation, and are constructed of excellent masonry. 
 They are covered with large flags of stone. A smaller transverse 
 drain brought down the waters from each house. The accom- 
 panying cut, representing a part of the interior of one of these 
 sewers, with the mouths of two transverse drains, is taken from 
 a sketch by Mr. Roach Smith, who walked up it about a hundred 
 
 ^r— 
 
 Interior of a sewer at Lincoln {Lindvmi), 
 
 yards. Mr. Smith tells me that the sewers of the city of Treves 
 (the Roman Treviri), still in use, bear a close resemblance to 
 those of Lincoln, and they are probably of Roman origin. 
 
 As far as we can judge by existing remains, water was not 
 conducted into the Roman houses. It was probably brought by 
 aqueducts or watercourses to a fountain or conduit in the town, 
 whence the inhabitants fetched it in buckets. We learn from 
 Bede, how St. Cuthbert was shown the extraordinary Roman 
 fountain at Carlisle, which, no doubt, had supplied the citizens of 
 Luguballium with water. Giraldus Cambrensis speaks of water- 
 courses at Caerleon, but, as his words are somewhat vague, these 
 may perhaps have been merely sewers, But on the line of 
 Hadrian's wall, we still see the curious watercourse which supplied 
 the Roman town of iEsica {Great Chesters), and which was worked 
 
chap, v.] EUBBISH PITS. 179 
 
 through a tortuous course of six miles. In a similar manner, an 
 aqueduct, (or rather two aqueducts,) of considerable extent and 
 labour, was constructed to bring the water from a distant stream 
 to Epiacum (Lanchester); they delivered their water into a reservoir 
 outside the walls, near the south-west corner of the station, and 
 there, no doubt, the inhabitants went to take it for their domestic 
 purposes. 
 
 One circumstance remains to be noticed with regard to the 
 economy of the Roman towns. We have as yet discovered no 
 arrangements about the Roman houses for personal easement, but 
 close at the outside of Roman towns are found numbers of deep 
 and very narrow round wells, which, no doubt, are the remains of 
 conveniences for this purpose. The discovery of such wells is the 
 sure sign of the proximity of a Roman station. They are 
 numerous at Richborough and at Winchester, and have indeed 
 been observed in many other places, and they are rich mines for 
 the antiquary, from the great number of miscellaneous articles 
 they contain. In fact, they appear to have been common deposi- 
 tories for refuse of every description, such as animal's bones, broken 
 pottery, and a variety of other articles which have been dropped 
 in by chance, or thrown in intentionally, and they have hence 
 been very properly termed rubbish holes. The earth taken from 
 the bottom of those at Richborough, on being examined by an 
 experienced chemist, was pronounced to be the remains of sterco- 
 raceous matter. These pits are formed so carefully, and some of 
 them so small in diameter, and at the same time so deep, that 
 we might almost suppose that they had been made with a large 
 cheese-scoop. Perhaps they were originally covered with some 
 light structure. Some antiquaries, from finding broken urns in 
 them, have imagined that these pits were sepulchral, but they 
 have probably been misled by erroneous impressions of accidental 
 circumstances connected with them.* 
 
 * See a paper in the " Archseologia," vol. xxxii., on such pits, found at Ewell, 
 by Dr. Diamond, and another, in vol. xxxiv., on a similar pit found at Stone, Bucks, 
 by Mr. Akerman. In the latter it is stated, erroneously, that sepulchral deposits 
 were found in the wells at Richborough ; they were carefully examined by good 
 antiquaries as they were cut away by the railway excavators, and most certainly 
 there was nothing sepulchral about them ; they had literally been receptacles of 
 filth and refuse. 
 
THE ROMANS. [chap. vi. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Country — Roman Roads, and their Construction — Milliaria : the Roman 
 Mile — Bridges — Roman Villas ; Woodchester, Bignor, &c. — Tesselated pave- 
 ments, and the Subjects represented on them — Rustic Villages — Agriculture 
 and Farming — Country Life ; the Chase — British Dogs. 
 
 With the imperfect view which we have thus been able to obtain 
 of a Eoman town in Britain, we see enough of comfort and 
 elegance to convince us that the island was then inhabited by a 
 population which had reached a high degree of civilisation and 
 refinement. Of this we shall find still more remarkable traces 
 when we leave the town and proceed into the country. The first 
 objects that would there attract attention were the roads, which 
 were constructed with such extraordinary skill that even now 
 many of the best roads in England are laid upon the ancient 
 Eoman foundation. 
 
 Vitruvius has given exact directions for making a road. They 
 began, it appears, by making two parallel furrows, the intended 
 width of the road, and then removed all the loose earth between 
 them till they came to the hard solid ground, and they filled up 
 this excavation with fine earth hard beaten in. This first layer 
 was called the pavimentum. Upon it was laid the first bed of the 
 road, consisting of small squared stones, nicely ranged on the 
 ground, which was sometimes left dry, but often a large quantity 
 of fresh mortar was poured into it. This layer was termed 
 statumen. The next was called nidus, or ruder atio, and con- 
 sisted of a mass of small stones, broken to pieces and mixed with 
 lime, in the proportion of one part of broken stones to two of lime. 
 The third layer, or bed, which was termed nucleus, was formed 
 of a mixture of lime, chalk, pounded or broken tiles, or earth, 
 beaten together, or of gravel, or sand and lime mixed with clay. 
 Upon this was laid the surface or pavement of the road, which 
 was called technically summum dorsum, or summa crusta. It was 
 
chap, vl] ROMAN ROADS. 181 
 
 composed sometimes of stones set like the paving stones in our 
 streets, and sometimes of flag-stones cut square or polygonally, 
 and also, probably oftener, of a firm bed of gravel and lime. The 
 roads were thus raised higher than the surrounding grounds, and 
 on this account the mass was termed agger. 
 
 The result of the above process would be a Roman road of the 
 most perfect description ; but we must not suppose that in any 
 part of the empire these directions were always strictly adhered 
 to. On the contrary, there are few Roman roads existing which 
 do not in some way or other vary from them ; some are entirely 
 without the nucleus, in others there was no statumen. Never- 
 theless, there is always found a sufficiently close resemblance 
 between the structure of the old Roman roads as they exist, and the 
 directions given above. They are often found in our island in an 
 extraordinary degree of perfection ; where they have been used 
 to the present time as high-roads, they are naturally worn 
 down, and it is only at rare intervals that we can find any 
 characteristic to identify them, except it be the extraordinary 
 straightness of the course ; but where the course of the road has 
 been changed at a subsequent period, and especially where it runs 
 along an uncultivated heath, the ancient Roman road often pre- 
 sents itself to our view in an imposing embankment for several 
 miles together. When they came upon higher ground, the 
 Romans were not in the habit of intrenching, but they often 
 raised the embankment higher even than in the plain, probably 
 as a measure of precaution. Thus, on the summit of the Gog- 
 magog hills, near Cambridge, the embankment of the Roman 
 road is very lofty and remarkably perfect. They seem seldom to* 
 have turned out of their course to avoid a hill, and, in some 
 instances, we find the Roman road proceeding direct up an 
 acclivity which we should not encounter at the present day. A 
 Roman road runs over the top of one of the mountains of West- 
 moreland, almost two thousand feet above the level of the sea, 
 which is named from it, High Street. 
 
 The roads here described are of course to be looked upon as 
 the grand military roads of the empire, those along which the 
 lines of the Itineraries are traced, and which formed the direct 
 communication between the towns in this island which have 
 been enumerated in a former chapter. But there were numerous 
 other roads in all parts of the island, such as the Romans 
 termed vim vicinales, branch roads, privatce, private roads, agrarice, 
 
182 THE EOMANS. [chap. yi. 
 
 country roads, device, bye-roads. These were constructed with 
 much less labour than the others, yet they were still sufficiently 
 good and durable to have left distinct traces down to the present 
 time. They were sometimes paved with flag-stones, as is the 
 case with one over the hills near Monmouth, where the stones 
 are fitted together with care, though they are of all shapes and 
 sizes. This, as it has been already observed, was probably the 
 usual way of paving the streets of towns. The Roman road 
 leading direct from Lymne to Canterbury seems, by old accounts, 
 to have been paved in this manner, and it is still, no doubt from 
 that circumstance, called Stone Street. The stones themselves, 
 in the course of ages, have been carried away for various purposes 
 of utility. Other larger roads which seem to have traversed 
 nearly the whole island, and which were not constructed in the 
 same laborious manner as the military roads, were probably 
 intended for commercial purposes, such as those which branch from 
 the salt districts of Droitwich, and from the mining districts. 
 Antiquaries seem often to have been misled by their dissimilitude 
 to the great Roman military roads, to imagine many of these 
 to have been British. It is not very probable that the older 
 inhabitants of the island, such as Caesar found them, divided into 
 separate and hostile tribes, which seem often to have changed 
 their boundaries, as they were pressed forwards by other colonies, 
 should have been great road-makers. 
 
 We know that the Roman roads were constructed and regulated 
 at an enormous expense, and we learn, from ancient writers, that 
 the office of curator viarum was one which implied considerable 
 honour. Nearer the centre of the empire, if not in the distant 
 provinces, there were from place to place mutationes, or places 
 where post-horses might be taken, which were termed agminales, 
 and which were conducted by veredarii, or postilions. The 
 keepers of these stations were called statores. It was by means 
 of these posts that Constantine, the son of Constantius Chlorus, 
 made his rapid and celebrated progress from the east to join his 
 father in Britain, and as they appear to have been continued to 
 the coast of Gaul, it is probable that they were also established in 
 Britain. There were also found by the road side diversoria, 
 cauponce, or tabemce diversorice, places of entertainment for man 
 and horse, which were kept by diver sores and caupones. Further at 
 stated intervals, stood mansiones, the keepers of which, named man- 
 cip0$,stopped the passengers to examine their dijplomata or passports 
 
ghap. vi.] MILE STONES. 183 
 
 Through all the immense systems of great roads which thus run 
 over the whole Roman empire, the distances were marked out 
 with the greatest care, and at the end of each millepassus, or Roman 
 mile, was erected a milliary column or milestone, (milliarium), 
 with an inscription, indicating the distance from the next town. 
 These milestones usually consisted of a large plain cylinder of 
 stone, raised on a hase ; and the inscription stated the name of 
 the emperor under whose reign it was erected, so that they were 
 probably often changed, in order to honour a new emperor's 
 name. After the Romans had departed from the island, these 
 monuments were gradually taken for the material, and only a few 
 of them have been preserved, which is to be lamented, as they 
 would have thrown great light on the Roman topography of 
 Britain. The only perfect example known at present in this 
 country is one preserved in the local museum at Leicester, and 
 its inscription, which is as follows, states that it was set up under 
 the emperor Hadrian, at the distance of two miles from Ratse. 
 
 IMP CAESAR 
 DIV TRAIAN PARTH F DIV 
 
 TRAIAN HADRIAN AVG 
 
 PONT IV COS IH A RATIS 
 
 II. 
 
 It is a perfect cylinder, three feet six inches in height, and five 
 feet seven inches in circumference, and was dug up, in 177.1, by 
 the side of the ancient Roman road, called the Foss-way, about 
 two miles to the north of Leicester, thus identifying the Roman 
 name of that town. There is another with an inscription nearly 
 perfect, at Caton, near Lancaster, also erected under Hadrian. 
 These milestones have been found more numerously in Gaul, 
 and one of them, found near the town of Yic-sur-Aisne, has the 
 following inscription, stating that it was raised in the fourteenth 
 year of the reign of Caracalla, or a.d. 212, at the distance of 
 seven leagues from Soissons, 
 
 IMP CAES 
 M AVRELIO AN 
 
 TONINO PIO 
 AVG BRITANNI 
 CO MAX TRIB 
 
 pot xnn imp ii 
 cos in pppro 
 
 COS AB AVG 
 SVES8 LEVG 
 
 vn. 
 
184 THE ROMANS. [char vi. 
 
 It will be seen by this last inscription, that in ancient Gaul, 
 as in modern France, they reckoned by leagues, and not, as in 
 Britain, by miles. If we had but two consecutive milliaria 
 remaining in their places, we should be able at once to solve the 
 much debated question of the length of the Roman miles in 
 Britain ; but, unfortunately, no such discovery has yet been made. 
 We know that the mile consisted of a thousand passus, or paces, 
 which, according to D'Anville, was equivalent to 756 French 
 toises, or 4834*28 English feet. The English mile is 5280 feet. 
 We gain, however, not much in knowing the exact measure of 
 the Roman mile, because we cannot place trust in the numbers 
 given in the Itineraries. The Roman numerals were easily 
 altered by careless copyists, and they are found to be so often 
 wrong in the texts of the Itineraries as they now exist, that we 
 can place no confidence in them, at all events as far as regards 
 Britain, and the only safe method of applying them to the actual 
 sites is first to find the traces of the stations, and then compare 
 them with the Itinerary. 
 
 One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Roman roads 
 is the extraordinary straightness of their course. The great 
 military roads may often be traced for many miles without a 
 single deviation from the direct line. When there is a deviation, 
 if between two stations, it was for some very important reason, and 
 may generally be explained by the circumstances of the locality. 
 As we have before remarked, hills, even when of considerable 
 elevation, presented no obstacle to the course of the road. The 
 Roman engineers even drained or filled up marshes, when they 
 stood in their way, if there was any advantage to be gained by 
 passing across them. We have many proofs that the rivers in 
 this country were passed by an extensive system of bridges — it is 
 probable, indeed, that a military road seldom passed a river 
 without one. Some of the more important Roman bridges 
 remained till a recent period, forming the foundation of the 
 modern structures which replaced them. Such was the case little 
 more than twenty years ago at London, and when the old bridge 
 over the Tyne at Newcastle was taken down in 1771, the piers 
 were found to be Roman masonry. The foundation was laid 
 upon piles of fine black oak, w T hich were in a state of perfect 
 preservation. The remains of three bridges are found along 
 the line of the Wall. When the old Teign-bridge in Devon- 
 
chap, vi.] BRIDGES. 185 
 
 shire, by which the Roman road crossed the Teign in its way to 
 Totness and Plymouth, was taken down in 1815, the Roman work 
 beneath was found in a remarkable state of preservation. It is 
 the opinion of Mr. Bruce and other antiquaries that the bridge 
 at Newcastle, as well as the others in the Wall district, had no 
 arches, but that a horizontal roadway of timber was laid on the 
 piers. " The foundations of the piers of three Roman bridges in 
 the region of the wall," Mr. Bruce tells us, " still remain; one 
 across the Tyne at Corstopitum, one across the North Tyne at 
 Cilumum, and another across the Rede- water at Habitancum ; 
 an examination of these has induced me to believe that they, at 
 least, had no arches. The piers are of a size and strength 
 sufficient to withstand the thrust of the waters without the aid of 
 an arch ; and in one at least of these cases, the requisite spring 
 of the arch would have raised the road to an inconvenient height. 
 An experienced mason, who examined carefully the ruins of the 
 bridge at Habitancum, told me that he observed that all the 
 stones which encumbered the spot were square, none of them 
 having the shape of stones used in building arches. It is certain 
 that in the mediaeval period the Newcastle bridge had a road of 
 timber." We cannot doubt, nevertheless, that many Roman 
 bridges had arches. Mr. Roach Smith has pointed out a Yerj 
 fine semicircular arched bridge over the little river Cock, near its 
 entrance into the Wharfe, about half-a-mile below Tadcaster, on 
 the Roman road leading southward from that town (the ancient 
 Calcaria), which he considered as undoubtedly Roman. The 
 masonry of this bridge is massive, and remarkably well preserved, 
 and the stones are carefully squared and sharply cut, and 
 on some of them the mason's mark, an R, is distinctly visible. 
 The roadway was very narrow. The Saxons seem to have pre- 
 served carefully the bridges they found in existence, though they 
 probably built few themselves ; and I am inclined to believe that 
 most of the bridges in this country at the time of the Norman 
 conquest were Roman. The preservation of these ancient 
 bridges was considered of so much importance, that the charge of 
 them was often thrown upon the hundred, or county. Thus, at 
 Cambridge, the county was bound to see that the bridge was 
 kept in repair, and certain lands were allotted for the expense of 
 the repairs ; and I have very little doubt that the bridge which 
 in the thirteenth century was in such a ruinous condition, that 
 
THE ROMANS. [chap. vi. 
 
 people's carts used to fall over into the river, was the ancient 
 bridge of the Roman town of Camboricum.* It was probably 
 from a broken Roman bridge, the remains of which seem to 
 have been visible in the time of Leland, that the town of 
 Pontefract, in Yorkshire, (jpons fractus) derived its name. 
 
 The objects, however, which must have struck the traveller 
 most forcibly as he passed along the road between one town and 
 another, were the numerous country villas or mansions, many of 
 them magnificent palaces, covering as much ground as a whole 
 town. Modern discoveries have shown us how marvellously the 
 country was covered, especially in some of the southern and 
 midland districts, with these great rural residences, which will be 
 better understood by the reader, if we describe the relative 
 positions of two or three known groups. Perhaps the largest 
 and most magnificent Roman villa yet discovered in England is 
 that at Woodchester, in Gloucestershire. Woodchester is situated 
 in a beautiful valley in the high grounds bordering the vale of 
 Gloucester, on the bank of a stream which runs down thence into 
 the plain to join the Severn, and at about four miles from the 
 Roman road from Corinium (Cirencester) to the trajectus Augusti 
 (Aust Passage) across the channel. It was about twelve miles 
 from the town just mentioned, and the same distance from 
 Glevum (Gloucester). If we left Corinium by the ancient road 
 just mentioned, we should first have seen on a hill to the right, 
 between this road and the road to Glevum, a villa of some 
 extent, the remains of which have been discovered at Dagling- 
 worth, about three miles to the north-west of Cirencester. Close 
 to the road on the left, under a hill about five miles from 
 Corinium, was a Roman station, or building, at a place now 
 called Trewsbury. About two miles further, on the right-hand 
 side of the road, stood another handsome villa, which has been 
 excavated to some extent at Hocberry, in the parish of Rod- 
 mar ton. Two miles more brought us to a villa on the opposite 
 side of the road, and, like the last, close to it, which has been 
 
 * Dicunt quod reparatio et refectio magni pontis Cantebrigiae pertinent ad 
 comitatum Cantebrigiae, et quidam de comitatu praedicto tenent terras geldabiles qui 
 debent pontem reficere quando pons indiget reparatione et refectione. Dicunt 
 etiam quod pons praedictus debilis est, fractus, et dissolutus, ita quod carectae mag- 
 natuum et aliorum ibidem transitum facientes cadunt in aqua, ita quod tarn 
 homines quam equi emergunt ad magnum periculum et dampnum ibidem transi- 
 entium. — Hundred Rolls, vol. ii. ; p. 392. 
 
chap, vi.] KOMAN VILLAS. 187 
 
 discovered in the parish of Cherington. About six miles further, 
 on the same side of the road, extensive buildings have been 
 found at a place called Kingscot, which belonged either to a villa 
 or to a station. About half-way between the two last places, a 
 bye-way probably led to the villa at Woodchester, among the 
 hills to the right. Eight or nine miles from Kingscot, at a place 
 called Croom-hall, remains of another villa, or mansion, have been 
 found, close to the left-hand side of the road, where it passes 
 over an eminence. A few miles carried the traveller hence to 
 the shores of the Bristol Channel. If we had taken the road 
 from Corinium to Glevum, we should first have seen the villa at 
 Daglingworth, on the hill to the left, and then, on the right hand, 
 and near the road, about seven miles from Corinium, we should 
 have seen a fine villa, which has been discovered at Combe-end. 
 On the other side of the road, in a fine valley among the hills, 
 about half-way between the road and Woodchester, was another 
 rich villa, the remains of which have been discovered at a place 
 called Brown's Hill. In the vale of Gloucester, at the foot of the 
 hills, about four miles to the west of Woodchester, stood another 
 handsome villa, or perhaps a small town, at Frocester. All these 
 places are within a very small circuit, and have been discovered 
 accidentally, so that there may be others within the same compass. 
 Let us now turn to Somersetshire, and take as a centre the 
 ancient town of Somerton, situated on a Roman road leading from 
 Ilchester in the direction of Glastonbury. If we follow this road 
 towards Ilchester, two miles from Somerton, two extensive Roman 
 villas have been traced in the parish of Kingsdon, one near 
 the Roman road, the other a little to the east, on the bank of a 
 small stream called the Cary. Further east, on the other side of 
 the stream, a third villa has been found at Lytes Cary. These 
 three villas are included in a distance of about a mile. In the 
 parish of Hurcot, joining Somerton to the east, two villas have 
 also been found, one near Somerton, the other about three-quarters 
 of a mile to the north-east. Barely half a mile to the south-east 
 of the latter is another extensive Roman villa at Charlton 
 Mackrel; and in the opposite direction, somewhat more than 
 half a mile from the Hurcot villa, is another at Copley. To 
 the east of this, in the parish of Littleton, close to the Roman 
 road just mentioned, a group of several Roman villas has been 
 found. Proceeding along the road northwardly, at about four 
 
188 THE ROMANS. [chap. vi. 
 
 miles from Somerton, we arrive at Butleigh Bottom, where a 
 Roman villa of considerable extent has been traced. Villas are 
 found in equal abundance within two or three miles to the west of 
 Somerton, among which the most extensive is that at Pitney, 
 covering an acre and a half of ground, and containing a very- 
 remarkable pavement. It may be remarked that the walls of the 
 villas in this district abound in herring-bone work. We might 
 give similar examples of the profusion with which the Roman 
 villas were scattered over the country in Hampshire and Oxford- 
 shire. In the latter county, two noble villas stood within 
 a mile of each other, in the parishes of Stonesfield and North 
 Leigh, near the Roman road now called the Akeman Street. 
 The splendid Roman villa at Bignor, in Sussex, among the hills 
 to the north of Arundel, close by the Roman road from Regnum 
 {Chichester) to London, has a situation somewhat like that of 
 Woodchester. Over the hills, between two and three miles to 
 the north-west of Bignor, a villa has been traced near the church 
 at Duncton. To the north-east, by the side of the Roman road to 
 London, at about two miles distant from Bignor, traces of Roman 
 occupation are found, and about three miles further, in the parish 
 of Pulborough, there has been a Roman station. Rather more 
 than six miles south of Bignor, the discovery of a Roman sepulchre 
 at Avisford seems to indicate the vicinity of another villa ; about 
 six miles eastwardly from this place a villa has been found in 
 the parish of Angmering : and another villa has been found on 
 the coast at Bognor, about seven miles to the southward of 
 Avisford.* 
 
 While we are thus speaking in general terms of villas scattered 
 over the country so thickly, few will imagine what an immense 
 pile of building a Roman villa usually was. I will, therefore, 
 proceed to describe one of the largest in this country, that of 
 Woodchester, which was opened partly under the superintendence 
 of Mr. Lysons during the years from 1793 to 1796. Nothing 
 
 * The villas of Woodchester and Bignor formed the subject of very splendid 
 publications by Lysons. An account of the Pitney villa and pavement was pub- 
 lished by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in a thin 8vo volume, printed in 1832. A 
 description of the North Leigh and Stonesfield villas was printed in 1836, by 
 Mr. Henry Hake will, in a similar form. The great collection by Lysons contains, in 
 addition to Woodchester and Bignor, accounts of villas at Littlecote in Wiltshire, 
 Frampton in Dorset, Withington in Gloucestershire, Horkstow in Lincolnshire, 
 and some others, all illustrated with magnificent plates of pavements, &c. Accounts 
 of other villas will be found in the various volumes of the Archseologia of the 
 Society of Antiquaries. 
 
CHAP. VI.] 
 
 VILLA AT WOODCHESTER. 
 
 189 
 
 could be finer than the site which the Roman proprietor had here 
 chosen for his residence. A square level platform, with a little 
 
 Plan of the Roman villa at Woodchester. 
 
 narrow gorge on the north, down which a small 
 stream ran into the larger stream that washed the 
 foot of its eastern declivity, was backed by a hill which 
 sheltered it from the damp winds of the west. It was 
 also sheltered from the east winds by a hill which 
 rose on the opposite side of the stream. The main 
 valley ran north and west, and, curiously enough, 
 what appears to have been the principal apartments, lay with a 
 north-westerly aspect. The arrangement of this extensive build- 
 ing will be best understood by the accompanying plan.* The 
 
 * The rooms in which mosaic pavements were found, are shaded in the plan. 
 
190 THE ROMANS. [chap. vi. 
 
 apartment marked 1, was a room nearly fifty feet square. It lay 
 under the churchyard of Woodchester, and the sextons, in digging 
 graves, had at various periods, during more than two centuries, 
 brought to light and destroyed portions of its splendid pavement. 
 This consisted of a central circular compartment of about twenty- 
 five feet in diameter, consisting of an outer border formed of a 
 Vitruvian scroll, edged on each side by a guilloche, and enriched 
 with foliage proceeding from a mask of Pan having a beard of leaves. 
 Immediately within this border was a wide circular band containing 
 representations of twelve different animals, on a white ground, with 
 trees and flowers between them. Within this circle was a smaller 
 band, separated from it by a guilloche and a border of acorns, 
 and containing representations of birds on a white ground. Among 
 them was a figure of a fox. On the southern side was a figure of 
 Orpheus playing on the lyre. This band was bounded internally 
 by a twisted guilloche, and within was a central hexagon about 
 ten feet in diameter. This centre had been entirely destroyed 
 long before the time of opening the villa byLysons, but some old 
 drawings, made on former partial openings, show that the field 
 was covered with figures of fish and sea monsters. I am inclined 
 to think that it was a little lower than the rest of the pavement, 
 and formed the floor of a shallow reservoir for water. The 
 circular compartment we have been describing was inclosed in a 
 square frame, consisting of twenty-four compartments, enriched 
 with a great variety of guilloches, scrolls, frets, and other orna- 
 ments, edged on the inside with a braided guilloche, and on the 
 outside with a labyrinth fret, between a single fret and a braided 
 guilloche. In the four angular spaces between the great border 
 of this gorgeous pavement and the great circular compartment were 
 the remains of female figures, two of which appear to have 
 occupied each space ; they had evidently been naiads. At the 
 four inner corners of the square were found sufficient indications 
 that they had once been occupied by columns, which had no doubt 
 supported the roof, which was probably vaulted. It was found 
 that the pavement was supported by a hypocaust, or system of 
 flues, intended to warm the room. 
 
 On each side of this large apartment was found a passage, 
 twenty-nine feet four inches long by seven feet and a half wide, 
 the entrance into which was by a door three feet wide. The 
 floor of these passages was paved with coarse mosaic work, 
 
chap, vi.] VILLA AT WOODCHESTER. 191 
 
 ornamented with a double labyrinth fret of a dark bluish-grey on 
 a white ground, surrounded by a plain red stripe. Curiously 
 enough, at the extremity of the eastern of these passages, part of 
 another pavement was discovered laid over it, a foot above its 
 level, formed of much coarser materials than the original one, 
 and very ill executed ; the design being merely stripes of white, 
 blue, and red, very irregularly put together. It had evidently 
 been an alteration of a late period. 
 
 To the southward of these two passages, were, on each side 
 of the great apartment, two rooms, of which that nearest to the 
 great apartment on each side had a mosaic pavement, of the 
 same degree of coarseness as the passages, but of a simple and 
 elegant design, consisting of a mat of three colours, dark grey, 
 red, and white, surrounded by a double red border. 
 
 These were the first discoveries made, and they led to a more 
 extensive investigation. On the south of the great apartment a 
 gallery was discovered, a hundred and fourteen feet in length, 
 by ten in width, except where it passed the wall of the great 
 pavement, where it was only nine feet wide. The mosaic was of 
 the same degree of coarseness as that of the other passages, 
 but it was ornamented with a great variety of patterns, consisting 
 chiefly of labyrintbs, mats, and stars, for the most part in a good 
 taste, forming square compartments, with a single twisted guilloche 
 and two plain red stripes running round the whole of them. 
 Those parts of the wall of this gallery which remained on the 
 south side were two feet thick, and beyond it towards the south 
 was a hard terrace floor. As the pavement of the gallery was 
 destroyed at the centre, and no foundations of the wall remained 
 there, it was impossible to ascertain if there had been any 
 entrance from this gallery immediately into the room of the 
 great pavement. 
 
 Excavations were now commenced at the end of the southern 
 gallery running from the large apartment, and the room to the 
 north of that marked No. 2, was found. This apartment, which 
 had been a square of twenty- two feet ten inches, appeared also to 
 have been new floored, for on excavating to the depth of three 
 feet, the workmen came to a floor of very hard cement or terrace, 
 on removing some of which a small fragment of mosaic pavement 
 was discovered, six inches below the level of that floor. The 
 whole of the terrace floor was then removed, not without much 
 
192 THE ROMANS. [chap. yi. 
 
 difficulty, on account of the extreme hardness of the cement. 
 Under it were found four fragments of a mosaic pavement, which 
 had been partly broken up. They were in a very good style, and 
 the design had consisted of five octagonal compartments, con- 
 taining figures on a white ground, surrounded by a double 
 labyrinth fret ; immediately within which, on the north side, 
 was a scroll of flowers, with a vase in the centre. In the 
 remains of the compartments, at the north-west and south-east 
 corners, were fragments of Bacchanalian figures. The octagonal 
 compartment at the south-west corner was entire, and contained 
 figures of two boys holding up a basket of fruit and leaves, 
 with the inscription bonvm eventvm, under them, in large 
 capital letters. The compartment at the north-east corner had 
 been nearly destroyed, but the letters biinii o . . . remained, 
 evidently for bhnh coltte, the Greek H being used for the 
 Latin E, of which there are other examples. The inscription, 
 when entire, would thus be, Bonum JEventum bene colite, a 
 recommendation to worship well Bonus Eventus, one of the 
 twelve deities who presided over the affairs of husbandry ."^ The 
 walls of this room were two feet thick, formed of stone, roughly 
 hewn, and remained to the height of about three feet on every 
 side. Fragments of stucco, painted in fresco, lay scattered 
 about. On the west side the wall was double, with a space of 
 six inches between, to secure the room against humidity. 
 Another system of flues for warming was found under this room, 
 the passages being about four feet deep. 
 
 The room adjoining, No. 2, had no tesselated pavement, but 
 the same hypocaust of flues extended under it, and outside the 
 wall was the fire-place communicating with them. The aperture 
 under the wall, where the fire seemed to have been placed, was 
 formed by bricks, one foot five inches long, one foot wide, and two 
 inches thick ; it was one foot eleven inches wide at the bottom, 
 and six inches at the top, where a sort of arch was formed by the 
 edges of the bricks gradually advancing beyond each other. This 
 
 * So we are informed by Varro, de Re Rustica, lib. i. There was a temple of 
 Bonus Eventus at Rome, and Pliny mentions statues of this deity, which repre- 
 sented him holding a patera in the right hand, and an ear of corn and a poppy in 
 the left. He is represented in the same manner on the reverse of a coin of Titus ; 
 and the reverse of one of Geta has a female figure holding a dish of fruits in her 
 right hand ; and ears of corn in her left, with the inscription boni eventvs. 
 
chap, vl] VILLA AT WOODCHESTER. 493 
 
 fire-place had walls one foot eight inches thick on each side ; they 
 were four feet two inches apart, and projected outwards four feet 
 from the wall. A considerable quantity of skulls and bones of 
 animals, chiefly sheep, were found near the fire-place. 
 
 To the south of the room marked 2, was another apartment, 
 twenty feet long, by twelve feet eight incheswide, which contained a 
 mosaic pavement, of a tasteful design. It consisted of a circular 
 compartment, between two oblong ones, united together by a single 
 twisted guilloche, with a border formed by a labyrinth fret, 
 between which and the wall was a considerable space filled up 
 with plain red tesserae, rather more than an inch square. The 
 circular compartment was nearly destroyed, but it had probably 
 contained a figure. This floor was also supported by a hypocaust, 
 and it had a fire-place outside the wall, near which was found a 
 coin of Magnentius. 
 
 Two rooms were subsequently opened, between the room No. 
 $, and the large room No. 1, and the one adjoining to the latter 
 had a tesselated pavement, consisting of two square compart- 
 ments, filled with labyrinths, and united together by a braided 
 guilloche, on the outside of which w T ere two narrow red stripes. 
 The parts of the building next explored were the large rooms, 
 numbered 9 and 10, and the room to the left of the latter. One 
 of them was thirty-eight feet square ; another was thirty-eight 
 feet by forty-six ; and the third was thirty-eight feet by fifty-one. 
 The walls remained in several places, to the height of four feet 
 from the foundation. Those on the north side were two feet two 
 inches thick, and were in some places lined with brick- work ; the 
 south walls were one foot ten inches thick. These walls were in 
 several places plastered on the outside, and painted of a dull red 
 colour. Many fragments of the stucco which had covered the 
 walls internally, and had been painted in fresco, with various 
 colours, were found among the rubbish. Some of them were 
 painted with large capital letters, which had formed parts of 
 inscriptions. These rooms appeared to have had tesselated 
 pavements, which had been broken up ; and several slices of 
 marble of different sorts, but chiefly foreign, were also found. 
 These had, perhaps, been employed to encrust the walls, a 
 practice which we know prevailed among the Romans. Some of 
 these pieces of marble were not more than a quarter of an inch 
 thick. Parts of two stone columns, and fragments of statuary, 
 
194 THE ROMANS. [chap. vi. 
 
 were subsequently found in the room No. 10, and in the room 
 adjoining it to the left ; on digging trenches across, several inner 
 walls, two feet four inches wide, were discovered running in the 
 directions indicated by the light outlines in our plan. These walls 
 were covered with large flat stones on the top, which did not rise 
 higher than the foundations of the other walls, so that it is 
 probable that they supported a floor, and that their object was to 
 prevent humidity in the apartment above. Among the ruins of 
 this room were found quantities of tesserae, many fragments of 
 the figured Samian ware, and of glass vessels, and portions of 
 two statues in Samian marble, which seem to have belonged to 
 figures of Diana Lucifera and Meleager. At the east end of the 
 room, No. 9, great part of an arch was discovered, about three 
 feet below the surface of the earth, which was doubtless connected 
 with the substructure of the floors. 
 
 From the autumn of 1795, to the summer of 1796, the 
 excavations were carried on more to the south, and the great 
 court, b, was traced, with the various apartments round it. On 
 the west side was a mass of buildings, containing twelve rooms, 
 which had been entered from the court by a vestibule, between the 
 rooms marked 18 and 19. In this vestibule a fragment of a 
 beautiful group, in white marble, of Cupid and Psyche, was 
 found, which had evidently been copied from the same model as 
 a group of sculpture engraved in the Museum Florentinum. 
 The walls in this part of the building were of stone, with 
 bonding courses of brick ; and among the ruins were found thin 
 slabs of stone, of an irregular hexagonal form, which, perhaps, 
 belonged to the roof. Pieces of stags' horns, several of them 
 sawed off at the ends, were also found here ; and several human 
 bones were met with in the buildings on the north and west 
 sides of the great court. Many coins, chiefly in small brass, 
 were found here and in various parts of the building. 
 
 A wall extended along the whole length of the south side of the 
 great court B,near the centre of which were discovered the foundation 
 walls of three rooms, or perhaps of a gateway, with a door on each 
 side (No. 21). Here, as in many other parts of the building, the 
 walls were destroyed down to the foundation, so that it was impos- 
 sible to ascertain the width of more than one of the doorways, 
 which was four feet wide. Fragments of large columns were 
 found here, which showed that there had been an imposing 
 
chap, vl] VILLA AT WOODCHESTER. 195 
 
 display of architectural ornament. A little to the west of these 
 foundations, and attached to the long southern wall, were the 
 remains of a singular building, consisting of two parallel walls, 
 three feet distant from each other, connected by two transverse 
 walls, having an opening between them. At the bottom of this 
 opening was a considerable quantity of coal ashes, and, at the 
 west end, at the height of fifteen inches from the bottom, was a 
 small flue through the wall. This building is described as pre- 
 senting very much the appearance of having held a boiler. 
 
 Considerable remains of buildings were also discovered on the 
 eastern side of this great court. A gallery first presented itself, 
 marked 24 in our plan, and measuring sixty-five feet eight inches 
 in length, by ten feet four inches wide. The entrance from the 
 court was eight feet eight inches wide. Another opening in the 
 east wall, immediately opposite and nearly of the same dimen- 
 sions, led into what appears to have been a court, c, surrounded 
 with apartments. In one of these rooms, to the east of the court,, 
 there were two parallel narrow walls (fifteen inches wide), running 
 the whole length of the room, and square projections from the west 
 wall. As these walls rose no higher than the foundation part of 
 the other walls, they probably supported a pavement. At the 
 north end of this room was found the leg of a statue, of white 
 marble, and not far from it was a foundation of square stones, 
 which appeared to have been intended as a pedestal. The out- 
 ward wall on the east side of this range of building was entire to 
 the height of from four to five feet. It was three feet thick, and 
 built of stones roughly hewn, with six projections on the outside, 
 which were evidently buttresses. We may, therefore, suppose, 
 that this was the exterior of the whole building on this side. 
 
 At the north end of the range of rooms of which we are now 
 speaking, at No. 22, were found the remains of what Lysons con- 
 sidered to be a laconicum, or sweating-room. At the depth of 
 five feet below the surface of the ground the excavators met with 
 a very hard cement floor, eight feet ten inches wide, and nine feet 
 ten inches long. On removing this floor, which was eight inches 
 thick, a layer of bricks was discovered under it, which proved to 
 be the covering of flues that ran under the floor. The flues were 
 two feet two inches in depth, and one of them was longitudinal, 
 and four transverse. The longitudinal flue was one foot nine 
 inches wide at the bottom, and seven inches at the top. The 
 
 o2 
 
196 THE ROMANS. [chap. vi. 
 
 transverse flues were six inches wide at the top, and one foot six 
 inches at the bottom. They were built partly of unhewn stone, 
 and partly of brick, forming a rude kind of arches. The inter- 
 mediate space between the transverse flues was filled up with 
 ridge tiles formed into funnels, and placed between layers of 
 brick and stone ; while the interstices, which were much wider 
 than is usual in walling, were filled with a reddish clay. The 
 funnels were on an average eighteen inches long, and four and 
 a-half in diameter, some formed by only one of the curved tiles. 
 A row of perpendicular funnels extended along the north and 
 south walls, and seemed to have been carried up to the top 
 of the building. This elaborate hypocaust is shown, as it 
 appeared when opened, in our accompanying plate, which is a 
 view taken from the south-west corner, and exhibits a fragment of 
 the cement floor, as well as the floor of another room on the east. 
 The latter has no flues or hypocaust underneath, but at the north- 
 east corner was a sort of basin hollowed in the floor, from which 
 a leaden pipe passed through the wall. From the opposite 
 corner of this room was a passage, with a floor of cement, rising 
 towards the west, to more than three feet above the level of 
 the other part. The upper part of it is destroyed, but at the 
 south-east corner of the great court is a passage which appears to 
 have been one of the entrances to it. 
 
 From excavations made in different parts, it appeared that the 
 great court, b, had been laid with a coarse sort of terrace pavement. 
 Further excavations outside the southern wall of the great court, 
 brought to light a continuation of the western wall, with an apart- 
 ment in the corner, No. 27, and further on a range of rooms, at 
 28. The excavations were next carried on from the north-east 
 corner of the great court, b, along the eastern side of the court, a, 
 which led to the discovery of a new series of apartments, Nos. 3 
 to 8, with traces of pavements and hypocausts. These and the 
 corresponding rooms on the west side were carefully examined. 
 In the room, No. 11, were found eight square stone pillars, two 
 feet nine inches and three quarters high, which seemed to have 
 been the supports of a hypocaust. On each side of the court was 
 a gallery, sixty-two feet five inches long, and eight feet five inches 
 wide, each of which had possessed handsome mosaic pavements, 
 and which joined up to the great gallery on the north side of the 
 court. These galleries had had flues under them, and on the 
 
Hypocaust in the Roman Villa at Woodchester. 
 
chap, vl] YILLA AT WOODCHESTER. 197 
 
 outside of the walls of each, within the court, were short parallel 
 walls that appeared to have been the fire-places to hypocausts. 
 In some of the rooms on the west side, remains of very handsome 
 mosaic pavements were discovered. The floors on the east side of 
 the court appeared to have been much more thoroughly destroyed 
 than on the west. The walls of the apartment, No. 3, were 
 continued northwardly, but could not be traced except at intervals, 
 as they ran under the churchyard and the church ; and it was 
 evident that the whole mass of buildings had extended much 
 further in that direction. Perhaps there was another court. A 
 transverse wall below the room, No. 27, appeared also to lead to other 
 buildings, so that in spite of the immense extent of the building 
 thus uncovered, it appears that it was by no means the complete villa. 
 Our cut on page 189 gives a plan of as much of this extensive 
 building as has been explored, and will furnish us with a general 
 notion of its arrangements. It covers an area of five hundred and 
 fifty feet by above three hundred feet The approach was by a level 
 platform from the south, with outbuildings on the left, if not also on 
 the right. Here the visitor approached apparently a long dead 
 wall, with the grand portal in the centre. On passing through 
 the entrance gateway, he found himself in an immense court, 
 about a hundred and fifty feet square, with masses of building on 
 each side. In front of him was another gateway, which led him into 
 a second court, ninety feet square, surrounded on three sides 
 by a gallery, or, as the ancients called it, cryptoporticus, which was, 
 no doubt, either closed in, or capable of being closed in, as the hypo- 
 causts under it show that it was intended to be warmed. Opposite 
 the gate by which he entered, was probably another portal that led 
 him through the northern cryptoporticus into the grand hall, No. 1, 
 which was decorated with every kind of ornamentation, and perhaps 
 with a fountain or basin of water in the middle. It is possible that 
 beyond this there was another small court, surrounded by buildings, 
 the foundations of which lie under the churchyard and church. 
 A simple glance at the plan is sufficient to show us that it is 
 useless to attempt to give any explanation of the mass of rooms 
 which surround these different courts. It seems reasonable to 
 suppose that the more elegant and private apartments were those 
 built round the inner court, a. The apartments round the little 
 side court, c, were perhaps, as Lysons supposed, baths and rooms for 
 purposes connected with them. Perhaps those on the other side 
 
THE ROMANS, [chap. vi. 
 
 of the court were rooms for recreation and conversing, and they 
 seem to have been adorned with sculptures, and perhaps with 
 pictures, ornamental pottery, and plants.' 1 ' 
 
 The only common feature in the Roman villas in Britain 
 seems to have been the large courts round which the buildings 
 were grouped : and it is in this alone that they bear any close 
 resemblance to the directions given by Vitruvius. f In the villa 
 at Bignor, there were also two courts, larger even than those at 
 Woodchester, but they lay with a different aspect, running north- 
 west and south-east, instead of nearly north and south. The 
 inner court at Bignor was surrounded by a more perfect and 
 extensive cryptoporticus than that at Woodchester. The court 
 itself was a parallelogram, not quite perfect, as the northern side 
 w 7 as a little longer than the side opposite. The southern crypto- 
 porticus measured a hundred and thirty-seven feet nine inches in 
 length, and eight feet in width. The western cryptoporticus 
 extending across the width of the court, was ninety-six feet 
 long, by ten wide. The great outer court appeared not to have 
 had buildings round it, although traces of buildings were 
 found towards the middle of the area. There appears to have 
 been a large entrance gate from the outside of the building into 
 the inner court on its southern side. The baths, which were 
 more extensive and more clearly defined than at Woodchester, 
 were attached to the inner court, near its south-eastern corner. 
 The cryptoporticus of the villa at Bignor had had tesselated 
 pavements ; the level of the floor on the northern side w 7 as more 
 elevated than the others, and at the northern corner, where this 
 northern cryptoporticus joined the western one, there was a small 
 square room, with a very elegant pavement, through which, by 
 
 * The Roman villas no doubt long remained, as imposing ruins, after the 
 departure of the Romans. The earth gradually accumulated, till, at a much later 
 period, the upper parts of the walls were cleared away for the materials, leaving 
 the substructure underneath. The pavements have suffered most from being 
 accidentally discovered, from time to time, by the ignorant peasantry, who broke 
 them up, imagining that treasures were concealed under them. Perhaps the 
 Caledonian or Saxon invaders often destroyed the pavements from the same 
 cause. The Saxons imagined that all statues and busts were implements of magic, 
 and that the dangerous spell could only be broken by breaking them. Hence, we 
 seldom find more than fragments of statues. 
 
 f Lysons attempted to trace out the design of the villa at Woodchester, by 
 applying the rules given by Vitruvius, but I think without much success, although 
 that villa is more regular in its plan than most of the others. To most of them 
 the rules of Vitruvius seem quite inapplicable. 
 
chap. vlJ EOMAN VILLAS. 199 
 
 means of steps, people passed from one into the other. The 
 accompanying plate represents this room as it appeared when first 
 discovered. The painted stucco remained fresh on the wall. The end 
 of the floor of the northern cryptoporticus is seen to the right. It is 
 singular that under the middle of the court at Bignor, foundations 
 of old walls were found, which appeared to have belonged to a 
 previous villa that had been rebuilt on a different plan. At 
 North Leigh, in Oxfordshire, the stone materials of a former 
 building had been made use of, for the stones of an arch which 
 were found in one of the larger rooms, had been made out of frag- 
 ments of columns, and the mouldings of bases and capitals still 
 remained on the back. The inner quadrangle only of this vill? 
 has been explored, if it ever consisted of more than one. There 
 is a large entrance gateway with several rooms adjoining on the 
 south-eastern side, and the apartments round the other three sides 
 are very numerous. The quadrangle is not an exact square; the 
 dimensions of its four sides being, north-east, a hundred and 
 sixty-seven feet ; south-east, a hundred and eighty-six feet ; south- 
 east, a hundred and fifty- three feet; and north-east, two hundred 
 and thirteen feet. 
 
 Many of the Eoman villas hitherto discovered in this country 
 appear to have been of nearly equal extent with those described 
 above, and we derive an extraordinary notion of the condition of 
 the island at this period from the number of these extensive and 
 evidently magnificent buildings w T hich have been discovered. As 
 these discoveries have generally been the result of accident, there 
 can be no doubt that we are only acquainted with a small number 
 of the villas which were scattered over the soil of Britain. The 
 number already discovered amounts probably to not less than a 
 hundred. Some of the most magnificent lay in the south-west. 
 In Gloucestershire, besides the great villa at Woodchester, and 
 the extensive group wdiich has already been mentioned as scattered 
 over the country around it, large villas have been discovered at 
 Lidney Park, Great Witcombe, Rodmarton, Combe-end, Withing- 
 ton, Bisley, and Stancombe Park near Dursley. No less extensive 
 villas have been found in Somersetshire, at Combe St. Nicholas, 
 East Coker, and Wellow : in Wiltshire, at Bromham, Littlecote 
 Park, Pitmead near Warminster, and Rudge near Froxfield ; in 
 Dorset, at Frampton, Lenthy Green near Sherborne, and Halstock; 
 in Hampshire, at Bramdean, Crondall, West Dean, and Thruxton; 
 
200 THE ROMANS. [chap. vi. 
 
 in Sussex, at Bignor, and other places ; at Basildon, in Berkshire ; 
 in Oxfordshire, among many other places, at North Leigh, 
 Stonesfield, Great Lew, and Wigginton ; in Northamptonshire, at 
 Cottersbook, Welden, Burrow Hill, Harpole, &c. ; in Nottingham- 
 shire, at Mansfield Woodhouse. Kent and Essex appear to have 
 been covered with extensive villas, but they seem to have been 
 generally less magnificent than those in the west, and no fine 
 tesselated pavements have yet been found in them. In the 
 former of these two counties, they lay thickly scattered along 
 the road from Canterbury to London, and on the banks of 
 the Medway towards Maidstone, as well as on the southern coast. 
 Among the principal villas found in Essex are those at West 
 Mersey, discovered long ago, and those explored more recently in 
 the north-west of the county, at Icklington, Chesterford, and 
 Hadstock. Lincolnshire appears to have been a rich and 
 important district, and large villas with magnificent pavements 
 have been found at Horkstow, Winterton, Roxby near the 
 Humber, Haseby, Storton, Scampton, and Grantham. It must 
 be borne in mind that Lincolnshire is comparatively unexplored, 
 and so are most of the northern and midland counties. Yorkshire 
 must have contained many fine country mansions of this kind, 
 yet I am only aware of the discovery of one at Hovingham, in the 
 North Biding. Some years ago, remains of a Boman villa were 
 found at Buxton, in Derbyshire, which seems, even at that early 
 period, to have been visited for its mineral waters ; and several 
 have been found on the Welsh border in Shropshire and 
 Herefordshire, as well as in North and South Wales. 
 
 Many of the villas which have been opened present unequivocal 
 traces of having been plundered and injured by the violence of 
 invaders, and sometimes they bear traces of having been burnt. 
 Here and there human bones have been found, and while many 
 of these may be accounted for by subsequent interment, yet in 
 some cases there can hardly be a doubt of their having belonged 
 to persons who were slain when the building was attacked. In 
 1833, some excavations at Silchester brought to light Boman 
 baths, in a good state of preservation, having, like the baths 
 discovered in the villas, leaden pipes to carry off the water. In 
 one of these pipes were found two hundred Boman coins in brass, 
 and in the bath lay a human skeleton, which, with a slight stretch 
 of the imagination, may be supposed to have been that of an 
 
chap, vi.] TESSELATED PAVEMENTS. 201 
 
 inhabitant of Calleva, who had sought refuge there when the city 
 was invaded by the enemy, in the hope of saving his little treasure 
 by concealing it where no one would think of seeking for it. 
 Perhaps, if we carefully noted the articles of domestic use which 
 are dug up in the excavations, we might at least form probable 
 conjectures on the purposes of the rooms in which they were 
 found. The number of such articles found at Woodchester was 
 much less than might be expected from the space excavated ; 
 they consisted chiefly of several knives and choppers, a weight, 
 a key, some fibulae and buckles, and several hair pins, and other 
 small personal ornaments of this kind ; two spears, and parts of 
 weapons, with a considerable quantity of pottery, and a certain 
 number of coins. The latter are always found scattered about. 
 We are often tantalised by finding mere fragments of what might 
 have given us the most important information relating to the 
 occupiers of these villas. Such are the fragments of inscriptions 
 on the walls found at Woodchester. Inscribed stones were 
 found within the quadrangle of the villa at Pitney, but they also 
 proved mere fragments, one of them having the words : — 
 
 PATER 
 PATRI 
 SANC 
 
 The other, which appears to have been a sepulchral inscription, 
 and to commemorate probably some member of the household who 
 had been buried in the court, had the imperfect inscription : — 
 
 VIXI SIN 
 TRIGINTA 
 QVM CAPI 
 NONO A 
 
 The most interesting portion of the villas, as they now remain, 
 is, however, the tesselated pavements. These are beautiful as 
 works of art, and interesting for the subjects they represent; and 
 they must have been the result of immense labour and great 
 skill. These tesselated pavements were not confined to the 
 country villas, but were used in the better mansions in the towns, 
 and examples have been found in London, Cirencester, Gloucester, 
 Caerleon, Caerwent, Kenchester, Leicester, York, Aldborough, 
 Lincoln, Colchester, Canterbury, Dorchester, &c. Some of those 
 found in London, Cirencester, and Leicester,* are of very supe- 
 
 * Part of an extremely fine Roman tesselated pavement has been uncovered in 
 the cellar of a grocer in Leicester, who has kept it open, and shows it to visitors 
 
202 THE ROMANS. [chap. vi. 
 
 rior execution. As I have stated before, these pavements are 
 formed with a number of small tesserae, or cubes, set into a fine 
 cement, and arranged in patterns or subjects, somewhat in the 
 manner of Berlin wool patterns ; but in the pavements the cubes 
 are of different sizes, which enabled the artist to give far more 
 freedom to his lines and effect to his picture. The cubes were 
 made of different substances, in order to produce various shades 
 of colour ; some being of stone, others of terra-cotta, and others 
 again of glass. Professor Buckman, in his description of the 
 beautiful pavements found in Cirencester, has given us an excel- 
 lent analysis of the materials of which they are composed. Six of 
 the colours employed there are natural substances, and show us how 
 skilfully the Roman artist turned to account the materials fur- 
 nished by the neighbourhood. White was produced by small 
 cubes of chalk, which, on account of its softness, was used very 
 sparingly, and only where it was necessary to produce very high 
 relief. The hard, fine-grained free-stone from the quarries round 
 Cirencester furnished a cream colour, and, when it had been 
 exposed to a certain degree of heat, it served for a grey. Yellow 
 was furnished by the oolite of the gravel drift of the district. 
 The old red sandstone, from Herefordshire, was used to produce a 
 chocolate colour ; and slate-colour was furnished from the lime- 
 stone bands of the lower lias in the vale of Gloucester. Three 
 colours, light red, dark red, and black, were produced by terra- 
 cotta ; and one, a transparent ruby, by glass. Other materials 
 are used in different parts of the country, the coloured glass being 
 always the rarest. " When the tesserae were all set, and the 
 cement hardened, the finish appears to have been given by 
 polishing over the surface of the whole, which not only gave 
 a perfectly smooth surface to the floor, but increased the bril- 
 liance of the effect; the cream-coloured and grey stones, from 
 their hardness, took a fine polish, whilst we may conceive that 
 the reds, being made of terra-cotta, would remain opaque, and 
 this very contrast tended to heighten the effect, which was 
 perhaps the reason why substances capable of high polish were 
 not chosen in all instances." 
 
 In the subjects represented on these pavements, we observe a 
 
 at a shilling each. It is well worth visiting. The principal pavements at Bignor, in 
 Sussex, have also been kept open, and they are protected by buildings erected 
 over them. 
 
chap, vl] TESSELATED PAVEMENTS. 203 
 
 considerable variety ; though, as far as the discoveries go, two or 
 three subjects seem to have been more popular than the others. 
 It is not impossible that the subjects thus chosen may have had 
 some reference to the purpose for which the room was designed. 
 One of the most popular subjects hitherto observed, is that of 
 Bacchus seated on a tiger or leopard, which perhaps indicates a 
 love of conviviality among the people to whom these extensive 
 residences belonged. This subject, which usually forms the 
 centre of a pavement, was found in the fine pavement discovered 
 in Leadenhall-street, in London ; in the pavement at Thruxton ; 
 and in others at Stonesfleld and Frampton. Another very 
 popular central subject was Orpheus playing on the lyre, which 
 seems to have been a favourite, because it gave the opportunity of 
 picturing birds and beasts in the field of the pavement. This 
 subject has been found in pavements at Woodchester, Horkstow, 
 Winterton, and Littlecote. A field covered with fishes and sea 
 monsters is also not an uncommon subject, and has been found 
 at Witcombe, Cirencester, Withington, and Bromham in Wilt- 
 shire. The four seasons formed another favourite subject, which 
 has been found at Thruxton, Littlecote, and Cirencester ; in the 
 latter place, the seasons are represented by heads in medallions, 
 in a circle alternating with four other medallions, of which two 
 are destroyed, but the two which remain contain respectively 
 Bacchus on the tiger, and Actseon. At Littlecote, the seasons 
 are represented by female figures riding on different animals in 
 a circle round the figure of Orpheus. The Gorgon's head forms 
 a centre piece in pavements found at Bignor and Bramdean ; an 
 Amazon encountering a tiger, at Frampton ; ik^on, at Ciren- 
 cester; Mercury, at Dorchester; and Hercules and Antaeus, at 
 Bramdean. A fine pavement at Horkstow was divided into 
 compartments, each containing a group of mythological and emble- 
 matical figures; along the side were represented chariot races, 
 enlivened by accidents, one carriage being overthrown by the 
 wheel going off, and another with the horse fallen down. The 
 pavement at East Coker represented hunting scenes, and on a 
 fragment preserved from destruction, were seen the attendants 
 carrying home the slaughtered deer. On one of the pavements 
 at Bignor there is a border of winged Cupids, or Genii, in the 
 characters of gladiators, in armour, with shields, swords, and 
 tridents. The large pavement at Frampton was also divided into 
 
204 THE ROMANS. [chap. vi. 
 
 compartments containing mythological subjects, such as Bacchus, 
 Neptune, Diana hunting, &c. On the sides of a compartment 
 containing a large bearded head of Neptune, was an inscription 
 intended evidently for verse, and relating to the picture ; on one 
 side are the lines, — 
 
 NEPTVNI VERTEX REGMEN 
 SORTITI MOBILE VENTIS 
 
 On the other, — 
 
 SCVLTVM CVI CERVLEA EST 
 DELFINIS CINCTA DVOBVS 
 
 Under a compartment, which was nearly destroyed, was the 
 fragment of another inscription, — 
 
 . . . NVS PERPICIS VLLVM 
 . . . . GNARE CVPIDO. * 
 
 A pavement at Thruxton bore an inscription, which seems to 
 have commemorated the persons for whom the villa was built ; 
 but unfortunately only a portion of it remains perfect, which 
 is distinctly read as follows: — qvlntvs natalivs natalinvs 
 et bodeni. Of the line at the other side of the pavement, (the 
 continuation of the inscription,) fragments only of two letters were 
 found, apparently a V and an 0, and some antiquaries have rather 
 hastily concluded that these must have belonged to the word 
 voto, and propose to read the whole Quintus Natalius Nata- 
 linus et Bodeni fee erunt ex voto, i. e. Quintus Natalius Natalinus 
 and the Bodeni have made this in fulfilment of a vow. But 
 there are strong reasons against such an interpretation ; it is not 
 probable that this is a votive offering ; the Bodeni seem to be an 
 invention of the interpreter, and a comparison of the space with 
 the number of letters in the first half of the inscription and the 
 position of the fragments, will show that there must have been 
 more letters in the lost part than are here supplied, and that the 
 last o of the supposed voto was not the end of the inscription. 
 We should perhaps have found a letter or two at the beginning of 
 the second line, which would have completed the name of the wife 
 of Quintus Natalius Natalinus. f 
 
 * Lysons supplies it : "f acinus perficis ullum . . . ignare cupido.^ The 
 meaning these inscriptions were intended to convey, is more evident than the 
 construction of the words. » 
 
 + The interpretation alluded to, was proposed hy the late Dr. Ingram, of 
 Oxford, and has been recently published under the sanction of the Archaeological 
 Institute of Great Britain, in the proceedings of the Salisbury meeting of 1849. 
 
chap, vi.] STATE OF AGRICULTURE. 205 
 
 It must be observed that, when we compare the different pave- 
 ments representing the same subject, we do not find them copied 
 after the same model, or treated in the same manner. It is also 
 curious that the subjects most frequently repeated, were the same 
 on the continent as in Britain. The central Orpheus, with his 
 circle of animals, has been found in a pavement at St. Colombe, 
 in France, and in one at or near Friburg, in Switzerland ; the 
 Gorgon's head has also been found in pavements in France ; 
 and a pavement of fishes and sea monsters was found at Pau. 
 Perhaps the artists who made the pavements, carried about with 
 them a professional list of subjects which they offered for choice, 
 if their employer had not a subject of his own to propose. 
 
 It is impossible to discover, from the appearance of these 
 villas, to what class of the community they usually belonged, but 
 we can hardly doubt that their owners were men of wealth, who 
 sought here that splendid country retirement to which we know the 
 Eoman gentry were much attached. When we consider the great 
 number of rooms which were grouped round the different courts, 
 we must be convinced that the lord of the mansion had a nume- 
 rous household, troops of slaves, and menials, and clients ; and it 
 is not improbable that some of the buildings, more distant from the 
 domestic apartments of the family, were separate dwellings, 
 tenanted by his farmers, and even by their labourers. But the 
 peasantry in general, no doubt, lived in huts, slightly constructed, 
 and of perishable materials, either separately, or grouped together 
 in villages. These villages are apparently the settlements, the 
 nature of which have been described in a former chapter, and 
 which have been commonly called British villages. The coins 
 and other remains found in them, show that they belonged to the 
 Roman period, but it is highly probable that the peasantry who 
 inhabited them were chiefly of the old British race. 
 
 We know very little of the state of agriculture in this island 
 under the Romans, though, as it was celebrated for its fertility, it 
 was probably extensively and highly cultivated. When Caesar 
 visited the island, he remarked chiefly the large herds of cattle, 
 which are the principal wealth of uncivilised peoples, but under 
 the Romans it appears to have been celebrated for the pro- 
 duction of corn. The emperor Julian, in one of his orations, 
 states that when he commanded in Gaul, about the year 360, 
 agriculture had been so entirely interrupted in the countries 
 
206 THE ROMAN'S. [chap, vl 
 
 bordering on the Rhine, by the ravages of war, that the population 
 was in danger of perishing by famine. In this emergency, Julian 
 caused six hundred corn-ships to be built on the Rhine, with 
 timber from the forest of the Ardennes, and these made several 
 voyages to the coast of Britain, and, returning up the Rhine 
 laden with British corn, distributed it among the towns and 
 fortresses on that river, and he thus obtained a sufficient supply 
 to prevent the threatened calamity. Gibbon has supposed that 
 each of Julian's corn-ships carried at least seventy tons, which I 
 am told is a very low estimate. But taking this, and reckoning 
 wheat at sixty pounds a bushel, the six hundred vessels would have 
 carried at each voyage a hundred and ninety-six thousand quarters, 
 which would not be a very large export. But as we are ignorant 
 of the number of voyages they made, and the estimate of tonnage 
 is perhaps too small, we are justified in supposing that the export 
 was large enough to prove that the country was very extensively, 
 and, perhaps, for the age, very well cultivated. In many 
 parts of Britain we find distinct marks of former cultivation on 
 land which is now common, and has certainly lain fallow for ages, 
 and it is not impossible that it may have been the work of the 
 Roman ploughshare. A curious legend has been told in some 
 parts to explain these appearances of ancient cultivation : it is 
 pretended that when, in the time of king John, the country lay 
 under an interdict, the pope's ban fell expressly on all cultivated 
 land, and that the superstitious peasantry, imagining that the 
 lands which were not cultivated when the bull was written were 
 excepted from its effects, left their cultivated lands, and ploughed 
 the wastes and commons as long as the interdict lasted. The 
 suggestion made above is at least as probable an explanation as 
 the legend. Mr. Bruce observed similar traces of cultivation on 
 the waste lands in Northumberland, and he is probably right in 
 attributing them to the Romans. " A little to the south of 
 Borcovicus," he says, " and stretching westward, the ground has 
 been thrown up in long terraced lines, a mode of cultivation much 
 practised in Italy and the East. Similar terraces, more feebly 
 developed, appear at Bradley ; I have seen them very distinctly 
 marked on the banks of the Rede-water, at old Carlisle, and in 
 other places." It is probable that Julian's corn-ships came for 
 their cargoes to the Tyne or the Humber. To judge by the 
 
CHAP. VI.] 
 
 COUNTRY LIFE. 
 
 207 
 
 accompanying cut, the plough used in Roman Britain was rather 
 of a primitive construction. It represents a Roman bronze, said 
 to have been found at Piersebridge in Yorkshire, and now in the 
 
 Bronze of a Roman Ploughman. 
 
 collection of Lord Londesborough. The figure of the ploughman 
 gives us probably a correct picture of the costume of the Romano- 
 British peasant. Fruit-trees were also cultivated with care, and 
 the Romans are said to have introduced, among others, the cherry. 
 We may probably add the vine. 
 
 One of the chief occupations of country life among the higher 
 classes was the chase, to which the Romans were much attached. 
 If we cast our eyes over the map of Roman Britain, we perceive 
 considerable tracts of land which the great roads avoided, and in 
 which there were apparently no towns. These were forest 
 districts, represented by the medieval forests of Charnwood, Sher- 
 wood, and others, which abounded in beasts of the chase. Some 
 of the more extensive forests were inhabited by wild boars, and 
 even by wolves. The chase of the boar appears to have been a 
 favourite pursuit in Britain. An altar was found at Durham, 
 dedicated to the god Silvanus, by the prefect of an ala of soldiers, 
 who had slain an extraordinary fine boar, which had set all the 
 hunters before him at defiance.* At Birdoswald in Northumber- 
 land {Amboglanna), was found a small altar dedicated also to 
 
 * SILVANO INVICTO SACRVM C TETIVS VETVRIVS MICIANVS PR^IF ALAE SEBOSIANAE 
 OB APRVM EXIMIAE FORMAE CAPTVM QVEM MVLTI ANTECESSORES EIVS PRAEDARI NON 
 
 potvervnt v. s. l. p. This inscription is given in Camden. 
 
208 THE ROMANS, [chap. vi. 
 
 Silvanus by the hunters of Banna.* The Koman pottery, made 
 in Britain, was frequently ornamented with hunting scenes, in 
 which the stag or the hare is generally the victim, and it gives us 
 pictures of the dogs for which Britain was famous.f These are at 
 times represented with something of the character of the modern 
 bulbdog or mastiff, while others have the more delicate form of 
 the greyhound and stag-hound. The classic writers contain not 
 unfrequent allusions to the dogs of Britain. Claudian, enume- 
 rating those peculiar to different countries, speaks of the British 
 breed as capable of overcoming bulls : — 
 
 " Magnaque taurorum fracturse colla Britannae." 
 
 The more delicately shaped dog, often found on the Bomano 
 British pottery, appears to be the one named by the Bomans 
 vertragus y which was also derived from this island. Martial 
 
 says, — 
 
 " Non sibi, sed domino, venatur vertragus acer, 
 Illesum leporem qui tibi dente feret." 
 
 And Nemesian speaks of the export of British hounds for the 
 purpose of hunting : — 
 
 " Sed non Spartanos tantum, tantuinve molossos 
 Pascendum catulos ; divisa Britannia mittit 
 Veloces, nostrique orbis venatibus aptos." 
 
 * Banna was a town or station not mentioned in the Notitia Imperii or in the 
 Itineraries, but it is found in the list of Roman towns in Britain given in the 
 Ravenna Cosmography, which places it between iEsica and Uxellodunum. An 
 ornamental bronze cup was found in a rubbish pit at Rudge in Wiltshire, more 
 than a century ago, having the names of five of these towns in an inscription 
 round the rim — aballava vxellodvm g amboglan s banna . a . mais. It seems 
 to have been made for a club or society of persons belonging to these towns, 
 perhaps hunters. 
 
 f Figures of these dogs will be given in the next chapter. 
 
chap, til] ROMAX MANUFACTURES. 209 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Manufactures of the Romans in Britain — Pottery — The Upchurch Ware — Dym- 
 church — The Potteries at Durobrivse — The Samian Ware — Other Varieties 
 — Terra-cottas — Roman Glass — Kimmeridge Coal Manufacture — Mineral 
 Coal — Metals — The Roman Iron-works in Britain ; Sussex, the Forest of 
 Dean, &c. — Tin and Lead — Other Metals — Bronze — The Arts; Sculpture 
 — Medicine ; the Oculists' Stamps — Trades : a Goldsmith's Sign. 
 
 "With a considerable population, great riches, as evinced by its 
 numerous splendid villas, and an advanced state of civilisation, 
 manufactures and trade must doubtless have been carried on in 
 Britain to a very considerable extent. Many of these were 
 naturally of a description which left few traces behind them, but 
 of the existence of others we have proofs of a more substantial 
 kind, and as they form a rather important class of our antiquities, 
 they deserve especial attention. We begin with that of which 
 the remains are most numerous, the pottery. 
 
 Any one who has sailed up the Medway, will have observed 
 that the left bank of the river, a little above Sheerness, consists 
 of low flat ground, cut by the water into innumerable little creeks, 
 and at high water almost buried by the sea. This is called the 
 Halstow and the Upchurch marshes. In the time of the Romans 
 the channel of the river appears to have been here much 
 narrower, and the "marshes" had not been encroached upon by 
 the sea as they are now. If we go up the little creeks in the 
 Upchurch marshes at low water, and observe the sides of the 
 banks, we shall soon discover, at the depth of about three feet, more 
 or less, a stratum, often a foot thick, of broken pottery. This is 
 especially observable in what is called Otterham creek, and also in 
 Lower Halstow creek, where it may be traced continuously in the 
 banks, and may be brought up by handfuls from the clay in the 
 bed of the creek. This immense layer of broken pottery, mixed 
 
210 THE KOMANS. [chap, til 
 
 with plenty of vessels in a perfect, or nearly perfect, state, has 
 heen traced at intervals through an extent of six or seven miles 
 in length, and two or three in breadth, and there cannot he the 
 least doubt that it is the refuse of very extensive potteries, which 
 existed probably during nearly the whole period of the Roman 
 occupation of Britain, and which not only supplied the whole 
 island with a particular class of earthenware, but which perhaps 
 also furnished an export trade ; for we find urns and other vessels 
 precisely similar to the Upchurch ware in considerable quantity 
 among the Roman pottery dug up in the neighbourhood of 
 Boulogne. The clay which constitutes the soil in the Upchurch 
 marshes is very tenacious, of a dark colour, and of fine quality, 
 well calculated for the manufacture of pottery. 
 
 The prevailing colour of the Upchurch pottery, which is of a 
 fine and hard texture, is a blue-black, which was produced by 
 baking it in the smoke of vegetable substances. A sufficient 
 number of perfect examples have been found, to show that the 
 variety of forms was almost infinite ; but a few of the more 
 remarkable are given in the lower group on the accompanying 
 plate. The patterns with which it is ornamented, though gene- 
 rally of a simple character, are also extremely diversified. Some 
 are ornamented with bands of half-circles, made with compasses, 
 and from these half-circles lines are in many instances drawn 
 to the bottoms of the vessels with some instrument like a 
 notched piece of wood. Some are ornamented with wavy 
 intersections, and zigzag lines ; while on others, the ornament 
 is formed by raised points, encircling the vessels in bands, or 
 grouped into circles, squares, and diamond patterns. The 
 cross-lined pattern of the large urn in the back-ground of our 
 group, is a very common one. Mr. Roach Smith has found 
 tracings of buildings in the neighbourhood of the marshes, which 
 perhaps mark the habitations of the potters. It is evident from 
 the extent of the bed of pottery, that a great number of workmen 
 must have been employed here ; and, as might be expected, we 
 scarcely excavate a Roman site in any part of the island without 
 finding samples of the Upchurch ware. 
 
 There can, indeed, be no doubt that the Upchurch marshes 
 furnished a great proportion of the commoner pottery used in 
 Roman Britain. A few years ago, as Mr. James Elliott of Dym- 
 church, the engineer of the Dymchurch marshes, was carrying on 
 
Roman Pottery from Castor {Durobriva 
 
 Roman Pottery from the Upchurch Marshes. 
 
CHAP. Til.] 
 
 POTTERIES OF DUKOBRIV/E. 
 
 211 
 
 excavations connected with the works of the sea-wall there, where 
 the clay differs not much from that at Upchurch, he found traces 
 of extensive potteries on that part of the southern Kentish coast. 
 The examination of the ground was not carried out sufficiently to 
 decide on the character of the ware manufactured there, but the 
 fragments seemed to be rather those of amphorae, and such-like 
 Tessels, than the sort of pottery made at Upchurch. 
 
 The site of the potteries which produced another preTailing 
 sort of Romano-British pottery, was discoTered by the late 
 Mr. Artis, at Castor, on the eastern boundaries of Northampton- 
 shire, the site of the Roman town of Durobrivae. These potteries 
 extended thence westward, along the country bordering on the 
 Nen, to the neighbourhood of Wansford. The Durobrivian pottery 
 was of a superior quality, and adorned with more elegance than 
 that made in the Upchurch marshes. Some examples of this ware 
 are given in the upper group on our plate. It also is usually of a 
 bluish or slate colour, but the ornaments, which are in relief, and 
 added with the hand after the Tessel had been made and burned, 
 are sometimes white. They consist often of elegant scrolls, like 
 those in our engraTing, and of a Tariety of other patterns. 
 Among these, scenes of stag and hare hunting are very common, 
 and they are executed with a freedom of touch which shows 
 much artistic skill in the workmen. The annexed cat represents 
 on a diminished scale one of these hunting scenes, in which we 
 
 Hunting Subject, from Durobrivian pottery. 
 
 have a picture of a British stag-hound. In some rare instances, 
 figures of men are introduced, urging on the dogs, or spearing 
 the stag or boar; and the costume of these figures indicates 
 a rather late period of the Roman sway in Britain. In the 
 pictures of hare-hunting scenes the dog has much the same 
 form as that here represented, but in some fragments, of 
 
 p 2 
 
212 THE ROMANS. [chap. vii. 
 
 which our second cut is an example, we see a dog of a stronger 
 and fiercer description, which perhaps, if we had the whole 
 pattern, would he found to be engaged in 
 hunting the boar. Other favourite repre- 
 sentations on this pottery were dolphins and 
 other fishes. Indented vases, usually of a 
 dark copper colour, like that in the middle 
 of our group, are also characteristic of the 
 potteries of Durobrivse; in examples found 
 at Chesterfield, in Essex, these indentations 
 are filled with figures of the principal deities, 
 in white. Similar pottery appears to have 
 been manufactured in Flanders ; and the 
 large urn in the back-ground of our group, was found at Bredene, 
 in the department of the Lis. 
 
 The Koman potteries at Castor have a peculiar interest from 
 the circumstance that Mr. Artis's researches were there re- 
 warded by the discovery of the potters' kilns, and that he was 
 thus enabled to investigate the process of the manufacture. This 
 we shall be best able to describe in his own words, giving in an 
 accompanying engraving a sketch of one of the kilns, as it 
 appeared when uncovered. One of these kilns, discovered in 
 1844 at Sibson, near Wansford, Mr. Artis described as follows :— 
 " This kiln," he says, " had been used for firing the common 
 blue or slate-coloured pottery, and had been built on part of the 
 site of one of the same kind, and within a yard and a half of one 
 that had been constructed for firing pottery of a different 
 description. The older exhausted kiln, which occupied part of 
 the site of that under consideration, presented the appearance of 
 very early work ; the bricks had evidently been modelled with 
 the hand, and not moulded, and the workmanship was altogether 
 inferior to that of the others, which were also in a very mutilated 
 state ; but the character of the work, the bricks, the mouths of the 
 furnaces, and the oval pedestals which supported the floors of the 
 kilns, were still apparent. The floors had been broken up some 
 time previous to the site being abandoned, and the area had then 
 been used as a receptacle for the accumulated rubbish of other 
 kilns." 
 
 " During an examination of the pigments used by the Eoman 
 potters of this place," Mr. Artis continues, " I was led to the 
 
chap, vil] POTTERIES OF DUROBRIV^E. 213 
 
 conclusion that the blue and slate-coloured vessels met with here 
 in such abundance, were coloured by suffocating the fire of the 
 kiln, at the time when its contents had acquired a degree of heat 
 sufficient to insure uniformity of colour. I had so firmly made up 
 my mind upon the process of manufacturing and firing this 
 peculiar kind of earthenware, that, for some time previous to the 
 recent discovery, I had denominated the kilns in which it had 
 been fired, smother kilns. The mode of manufacturing the bricks 
 of which these kilns are made, is worthy of notice. The clay was 
 previously mixed with about one-third of rye in the chaff, which, 
 being consumed by the fire, left cavities in the room of the grains. 
 This might have been intended to modify expansion and contrac- 
 tion, as well as to assist the gradual distribution of the colouring 
 vapour. The mouth of the furnace and top of the kiln were 
 no doubt stopped ; thus we find every part of the kiln, from the 
 inside wall to the earth on the outside, and every part of the clay 
 wrappers of the dome penetrated with the colouring exhalation. 
 As further proof that the colour of the ware was imparted by 
 firing, I collected the clays of the neighbourhood, including 
 specimens from the immediate vicinity of the smother-kilns. In 
 colour, some of these clays resembled the ware after firing, and 
 some were darker. I submitted them to a process similar to that 
 I have described. The clays, dug near the kilns, whitened in 
 firing, probably from being bituminous. I also put some frag- 
 ments of the blue pottery into the kiln ; they came out precisely 
 of the same colour as the clay fired with them, which had been 
 taken from the site of the kilns. The experiment proved to me 
 that the colour could not be attributed to any metallic oxide, 
 either existing in the clay, or applied externally ; and this con- 
 clusion is confirmed by the appearance of the clay wrappers of 
 the dome of the kiln. It should be remarked, that this colour is 
 so volatile, that it is expelled by a second firing in an open kiln. 
 
 " I have now traced these potteries to an extent of upwards of 
 twenty miles. * They are principally confined to the gravel beds 
 on the banks of the Nen and its tributary streams ; the clay used 
 at some of them appears to have been collected at some little 
 distance from the works. The kilns are all constructed on the 
 same principle. A circular hole was dug, from three to four feet 
 
 * Mr. Artis, in another report, estimates the number of hands who must have 
 been employed at once in the Durobrivian potteries, at not less than two thousand. 
 
214 THE ROMANS. [chap. yii. 
 
 deep, and four in diameter, and walled round to the height of two 
 feet. A furnace, one third of the diameter of the kiln in length, 
 communicated with the side. In the centre of the circle so 
 formed was an oval pedestal, the height of the sides, with the end 
 pointing to the furnace mouth. Upon this pedestal and side 
 wall the floor of the kiln rests. It is formed of perforated 
 angular bricks, meeting at one point in the centre. The furnace 
 is arched with bricks moulded for the purpose. The side of the 
 kiln is constructed with curved bricks, set edgeways, in a thick 
 slip (or liquid) of the same material, to the height of two feet.* 
 I now proceed to describe the process of packing the kiln, and 
 securing uniform heat in firing the ware, which was the same 
 in the two different kinds of kilns. They were first carefully 
 loose-packed with the articles to be fired, up to the height of the 
 side walls. The circumference of the bulk was then gradually 
 diminished, and finished in the shape of a dome. As this 
 arrangement progressed, an attendant seems to have followed the 
 packer, and thinly covered a layer of pots with coarse hay or grass. 
 He then took some thin clay, the size of his hand, and laid it flat 
 on the grass upon the vessels ; he then placed more grass on the 
 edge of the clay just laid on, and then more clay, and so on until 
 he had completed the circle. By this time the packer would have 
 raised another tier of pots, the plasterer following as before, 
 hanging the grass over the top edge of the last layer of plasters, 
 until he had reached the top, in which a small aperture was left, 
 and the clay nipt round the edge ; another coating would be laid 
 on as before described. Gravel or loam was then thrown up 
 against the side wall where the clay wrappers were commenced, 
 probably to secure the bricks and the clay coating. The kiln 
 was then fired with wood, f In consequence of the care taken to 
 place grass between the edges of the wrappers, they could be 
 unpacked in the same sized pieces as when laid on in a plastic 
 state, and thus the danger in breaking the coat to obtain the 
 contents of the kiln could be obviated. 
 
 * See the kiln represented in the accompanying engraving, in which the two 
 labourers are standing on the original level of the ground, while the single man, 
 with the spade, stands on a level with the bottom of the pit in which the kiln 
 was built. 
 
 *\* In the furnace of a kiln discovered by Mr. Artis in 1822, there was a layer 
 of wood ashes from four to five inches thick. This kiln, which was in a very 
 perfect state, was covered in again undisturbed. 
 
chap, vil] POTTERIES OF DUROBRIViE. 215 
 
 " In the course of my excavations, I discovered a curiously 
 constructed furnace, of which I have never before or since met 
 with an example. Over it had been placed two circular earthern 
 fire vessels (or cauldrons) ; that next above the furnace was a 
 third less than the other, which would hold about eight gallons. 
 The fire passed partly under both of them, the smoke escaping by 
 a smoothly plastered flue, from seven to eight inches wide. The 
 vessels were suspended by the rims fitting into a circular groove 
 or rabbet, formed for the purpose. The composition of the 
 vessels was that of a clay tempered with penny-earth. They 
 contained some perfect vessels and many fragments. It is 
 probable they had covers, and I am inclined to think were used 
 for glazing peculiar kinds of the immense quantities of orna- 
 mented ware made in this district. Its contiguity to one of the 
 workshops in which the glaze (oxide of iron) and some other 
 pigments were found, confirms this opinion." 
 
 Mr. Artis then proceeds to explain the process by which the 
 Durobrivian pottery was ornamented. " The vessel, after being 
 thrown upon the wheel, would be allowed to become somewhat 
 firm, but only sufficiently so for the purpose of the lathe. In 
 the indented ware, the indenting would have to be performed 
 with the vessel in as pliable a state as it could be taken from the 
 lathe. A thick slip of the same body would then be procured, 
 and the ornamenter would proceed by dipping the thumb, or a 
 round mounted instrument, into the slip. The vessels, on which 
 are displayed a variety of hunting subjects, representations of 
 fishes, scrolls, and human figures, were all glazed after the figures 
 were laid on ; where, however, the decorations are white, the 
 vessels were glazed before the ornaments were added. Orna- 
 menting with figures of animals was effected by means of sharp 
 and blunt skewer instruments, and a slip of suitable consistency. 
 These instruments seem to have been of two kinds : one thick 
 enough to carry sufficient slip for the nose, neck, body, and 
 front thigh ; the other of a more delicate kind, for a thinner slip 
 for the tongue, lower jaws, eye, fore and hind legs, and tail. 
 There seems to have been no retouching after the slip trailed 
 from the instrument. Field sports seem to have been favourite 
 subjects with our Eomano-British artists. The representations of 
 deer and hare hunts are good and spirited ; the courage and 
 energy of the hounds, and the distress of the hunted animals, 
 
216 THE ROMANS. [chap. vii. 
 
 are given with great skill and fidelity, especially when the simple 
 and off-hand process, by which they must have been executed, is 
 taken into consideration." 
 
 The two descriptions of pottery just described were undoubtedly 
 made in England ; the Upchurch ware is found more or less in 
 almost all Roman sites, but that manufactured at Durobrivae is by 
 no means so common. We now come to a third description of 
 pottery, which is found in great quantities in Britain, though we 
 have every reason for believing that it was not made in this 
 island. It is that which is usually termed Samian ware ; and, if 
 it be not the pure Samian pottery of antiquity, it appears to have 
 been an inferior description of the same class of ware. The 
 Samian ware was of great repute among the ancients, and is 
 frequently alluded to by Roman writers as that most used at 
 table. It appears certain that it was of a red colour, and the 
 terms applied to it in the classic authors answer to the specimens 
 which are found in such great abundance in England.* It is 
 frequently mentioned by Plautus as the ordinary ware used at 
 table, as well as for sacred purposes. Pliny speaks of it as being 
 in common use for the festive board ; and he gives the names of 
 several places famous for their pottery, among which Aretium, in 
 Italy, holds the first place. Sarrentum, Asta, and Pollentia, in 
 Italy, Saguntum in Spain, and Pergamus in Asia Minor, were, as 
 we learn from this writer, celebrated for the manufacture of cups. 
 Trail eis in Lydia, and Mutina in Italy, were also eminent for 
 manufactures of earthenware. The manufactures of these different 
 places were exported to distant countries, f Isidore of Seville, at 
 the end of the sixth century (he died in 6 1 0), speaks of the red 
 pottery made at Aretium (the modern Arezzo) which he calls 
 Aretine vases, and also of Samian ware, with an expression of 
 doubt as to the exact locality which produced the latter ; so that 
 
 * Among a large and very curious collection of Grseco-Roman terra-cottas from 
 Lycia, in the possession of Mr. W. B, Barker, are some fragments of red ware, closely 
 resembling what we call Samian ware, with the potters' name, in Greek, similarly 
 impressed. Perhaps these are samples of pure Samian ware. 
 
 f The words of Pliny {Hist. Nat, lib. xxxv., c. 12.) are as follows : " Major 
 quoque pars hominum terrenis utitur vasis. Samia etiamnum in esculentis 
 laudantur. Retinet hanc nobilitatem et Aretium in Italia; et calicum tantum 
 Surrentum, Asta, Pollentia ; in Hispania, Saguntum ; in Asia, Pergamum. 
 Habent et Tralleis opera sua, et Mutina in Italia ; quoniam et sic gentes nobili- 
 tantur. Hsec quoque per maria terrasque ultro citroque portantur, insignibus rotse 
 officinis Erythris." 
 
chap, vn.] SAMTAN POTTERY. 217 
 
 it was probably made under that name in different parts of Roman 
 Europe. Modern researches at Arezzo, in Italy, have not only 
 brought to light a considerable quantity of the Aretine ware, but 
 also the remains of the kilns in which it was baked ; and a 
 scholar of that place, A. Fabroni, has published a book on the 
 subject, under the title of Storia degli antichi Vasifittili Aretini. 
 The specimens given in his engravings bear a general resemblance 
 to the Samian ware found in Britain, and there are some points 
 in which the one seems to be imitated from the other, yet there 
 are also some very strongly marked circumstances in which they 
 differ. The names of the potters are different, and they are 
 marked in a different form and position on the vessels ; the red 
 of the Aretine ware is of a deeper shade, the figures are in a 
 superior style of art, and they seem to be of an earlier date. 
 
 The common Samian ware is of an extremely delicate texture, 
 having somewhat the appearance of fine red sealing-wax. The 
 vessels composed of it are of all sizes and shapes, sometimes 
 strong, but more frequently thin, and consequently very fragile ; 
 and it is only under favourable circumstances that we find 
 them unbroken. The frailty of the pure Samian ware appears, 
 in classical times, to have been proverbial ; when, in Plautus, a 
 person is desired to knock gently, he exclaims, in surprise, " You 
 seem to fear that the door is made of Samian ware." 
 
 M. Placide pulta. P. Metuis, credo, ne fores Samiae sient. — 
 
 Mencechm., 1. 98. 
 
 And, on another occasion, the brittleness of Samian ware is 
 directly mentioned — 
 
 Vide, quseso, ne quis tractet illam indiligens — 
 
 Scis tu, ut confringi vas cito Sarniuni solet. — Bacch,, 1. 166. 
 
 It is by no means unusual to find bowls and paterae of the ware 
 of which we are speaking, that have been broken by their 
 possessors in former times, and subsequently mended, generally 
 by means of leaden rivets. This shows the value which must 
 generally have been set upon it. 
 
 The question whether this so-called Samian ware was ever 
 manufactured in Britain has given rise to some discussion among 
 antiquaries. In the mouth of the Thames, a short distance from 
 the Kentish coast between Beculver and Margate, is a spot 
 known popularly by the name of the Pan Rock, and Pudding-pan 
 
213 THE ROMANS. [chap. yii. 
 
 Sand, because, almost from time immemorial, the fishermen in 
 dragging there have been accustomed to bring up pieces of ancient 
 pottery, and not unfrequently entire vessels. These are chiefly 
 of the fine red or Samian ware. It was at first supposed that 
 these marked the site of an extensive manufacture of this ware ; 
 but other writers suggested as a more probable explanation that 
 some Eoman ships laden with it, perhaps from the potteries 
 on the Ehine, had been wrecked in this place, and the notion 
 that it was the site of a pottery seems to be abandoned. More 
 recently, fragments of this ware having been picked up about the 
 Upchurch marshes, I believe in one or two spots rather plentifully, 
 it has been supposed that it might have been manufactured there, 
 and by experiment it appeared that the clay of the locality was 
 capable of being made into similar ware. But the evidence that 
 such ware was manufactured there appears to be quite insufficient; 
 and the opinion generally received among antiquaries, after all 
 the discussion which has taken place, seems to be, that the 
 Samian ware was not made in England, but that it was imported 
 from the continent. 
 
 The accompanying engraving represents a group of vessels of 
 Samian ware found in England ; but it is far from giving any 
 notion of the great variety of forms, or the still greater diversity 
 of ornament, which they present. Many of the smaller vessels 
 are quite plain, or are merely adorned with the ivy-leaf, a very 
 favourite ornament on this kind of ware. The characteristic 
 moulding is the festoon and tassel, to which the somewhat 
 inappropriate term of egg-and-tongue border has been given. The 
 subjects represented on the more ornamental vessels are extremely 
 varied. Many of them are groups taken from the ancient 
 mythology, such as the labours of Hercules, the amours of 
 Jupiter, Diana surprised by Actseon, and Actaeon attacked by 
 his dogs, Apollo and Daphne, and figures of Venus and other 
 personages of ancient fable. Many of the figures and groups 
 were evidently copied from some of the well-known masterpieces 
 of ancient art; thus we have Jupiter and Leda, an evident 
 imitation of a celebrated sculpture at Rome, and the figures of the 
 Farnese Hercules, the Apollo Belvidere, and the Venus de 
 Medici, are often repeated. Some represent genii, Cupids 
 riding upon marine animals, tritons, griffins, and other imaginary 
 beings : others again represent domestic scenes, hunting subjects, 
 
CHAP. VII.] 
 
 SAMIAN POTTERY. 
 
 219 
 
 gladiatorial combats, groups of musicians and dancers, and sub- 
 jects of a still more miscellaneous description. In the accom- 
 panying cut are given three samples of the more common subjects 
 
 Subjects from Samian "ware. 
 
 — combats of gladiators — the war between the pygmies and the 
 cranes — and a dancing scene. Another series of designs com- 
 prises scrolls of foliage, fruits, and flowers, arranged in different 
 manners, and always with great elegance. A multitude of the 
 Samian vases found in this country, as well as other articles, such 
 as lamps, bronzes, and even knife-handles, represent licentious 
 scenes of the most infamous description. Drinking vessels of this 
 class are alluded to by Pliny ;* and their comparative frequency 
 in Britain, shows how deeply not only the manners but the vices 
 of Eome had been planted in this distant province. 
 
 Almost all vessels in this ware have the name of the potter 
 stamped in a label, usually at the bottom, in the inside, but 
 sometimes, especially on the embossed bowls, on the outside. The 
 name is given in the nominative with f for fecit, or in the 
 genitive, with o, or of, or m, for officina or manu : thus sabinvs f. 
 Sabinus fecit (Sabinus made it), ahici m., Amid manu (by the 
 hand of Amicus), of. felic, officina Felicis (from the workshop of 
 
 * "Inpoculis libidines ccelare juvit ac per obscsenitates bibere." — Plin., Hist. 
 Nat., lib. xxxiii., prooem. " Vasa adulteriis ccelata." — 75., lib. xiv., c. 22. 
 
220 THE ROMANS. [chap. to. 
 
 Felix). These names, of which long lists have been made, are many 
 of them Gaulish and German, and they seem to point to the 
 countries from whence this class of pottery was derived. In fact, 
 potteries of the ware we term Samian have been found in France, 
 particularly on the banks of the Rhine, as at Brusche (Bas- 
 Rhine), Luxembourg, Saverne (near Strasburg), and especially at 
 Rheinzabern, in Bavaria. In these places not only have the 
 potters' kilns been found, but the moulds, and the implements 
 for stamping borders and names. Some of the moulds from 
 Rheinzabern are now preserved in the national museums in Paris. 
 These are earthenware bowls, with the figures impressed on the 
 inner surface, so that the vessel when formed of soft clay, being 
 placed in the mould and pressed in it, took the figures in relief, 
 and when dry had shrunk sufficiently to be taken out. Some- 
 times the moulds were made in more than one piece, like our 
 moulds for plaster-of-Paris casts, but this was only when the 
 subjects were in higher relief. The impressions in the moulds 
 seem to have been made by a great number of small stamps, each 
 containing a single ornament, or a single figure or group, and 
 these were varied continually in making the moulds. It is thus 
 that we see the same figure often repeated on different examples 
 of the pottery with totally different accompaniments. This also 
 explains why the figures on the pottery are so seldom sharp and 
 fresh ; in the course of making the impressions in the moulds and 
 casting from them the impression had become imperfect, and the 
 figures look often like impressions in sealing-wax rubbed or bruised. 
 The clay seems to have received its redness from some substance 
 mixed up with it, which is supposed to have been oxides of iron 
 and lead. The kilns found in France appear to have borne a 
 general resemblance to those discovered by Mr. Artis. A few 
 examples of this red ware, which are now chiefly in the collection 
 of Mr. Roach Smith, have been found in England, exhibiting a 
 much higher degree of artistic excellence, the figures of which are 
 in higher relief than the others, and have not been made with 
 the pottery, but moulded separately and then attached to the 
 surface of the vessel. This class of pottery is very rare. The 
 w r are found in these foreign potteries is identical with that which 
 our antiquaries have agreed to call Samian ware in England, it 
 evidently came from the same moulds, and the potters' names 
 are the same, so that we have little room for doubting that it 
 
CHAP. VII.] 
 
 OTHER KINDS OF POTTERY. 
 
 221 
 
 was imported into this country. I believe, however, that Mr. Artis 
 discovered in the Durobrivian potteries traces of an unsuccessful 
 attempt to imitate the foreign red ware. 
 
 Among the examples of pottery found in exploring Eoman sites, 
 are many which are totally dis- 
 similar to the ware made in the 
 great potteries at Upchurch and 
 Castor, and which were probably 
 derived from other potteries in 
 Britain, the sites of which have 
 not yet been ascertained. Traces 
 of potteries have been noticed, 
 I believe, in Lincolnshire and 
 other parts, but they have not 
 yet been explored. Some of the 
 examples alluded to are very pe- 
 culiar in character, and of very 
 rare occurrence. The two frag- 
 ments represented in the annexed 
 cut were found at Bichborough ; 
 but I understand that similar 
 ware has been found in one of the 
 Boman stations in Wales. They 
 are of a red colour, and are 
 stamped with the ornament which, in the first example, is 
 
 evidently a rude copy of the 
 festoon and tassel pattern of 
 the Samian ware. The lower 
 one is curious for its resem- 
 blance to the ornamentation of 
 the Frankish pottery, which we 
 shall describe further on. Our 
 next cut represents an urn 
 found at York ; it is of a dusky 
 grey colour, with a very sin- 
 gular ornament in relief, which 
 may be described as a frill 
 pattern, and which is far from 
 inelegant. Two or three sam- 
 ples of this pottery may be seen in the York museum, but it- 
 
 Pottery from Richborough. 
 
 Urn, from York. 
 
222 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap, VII. 
 
 appears to have been found nowhere else, and came probably 
 from some manufactory in Yorkshire or Lincolnshire. 
 
 Other potteries produced vessels of a different character, in- 
 tended for other purposes than those of which we have been 
 speaking. Among the most important of these were the 
 amphorse, or wine vessels. They are of large dimensions, and 
 strongly made, usually of a reddish yellow colour. There are 
 two distinct forms of amphorae. Some are long and slender, and 
 very elegantly shaped. The two examples figured here, one of 
 which has lost its neck and handles, were dug up at Mount 
 
 Roman Amphorae. 
 
 Bures, near Colchester. The other form of amphora is much 
 more spherical in shape, and they are therefore more capacious. 
 These are shorter in the neck than the others. Both sorts were 
 pointed at the bottom, for the purpose, it is said, of fixing them 
 in the earth ; one of our examples, however, has a knob. Numerous 
 fragments of broken amphorae are generally found in the rubbish 
 pits mentioned in a former chapter; and they occur so abun- 
 dantly elsewhere, that we can hardly doubt their being made 
 
CHAP. YII.] 
 
 AMPHORAE AND MORTARIA. 
 
 223 
 
 in the potteries in Britain. Another class of domestic earthen- 
 ware utensils have been termed mortaria, because it is supposed 
 that they were used for pounding vegetables and other soft 
 articles for the kitchen with a pestle. They are usually made 
 of yellow, drab, or fawn-coloured clay, and the surface of the 
 interior is often studded with 
 small, siliceous stones, broken 
 quartz, and scoria of iron, no 
 doubt to counteract attrition. The 
 one here represented is in the 
 possession of Mr. Boaeh Smith, 
 and was found in London. It 
 is made of clay, kneaded with a 
 mixture of about one-third of 
 tile, broken small, and it is studded with small white siliceous 
 stones. Other examples are shallower, but the general form is 
 the same. The names of the potters are often marked on the 
 amphorae and mortaria, much in the same way as on the Samian 
 ware. It appears from the researches of Mr. Artis, that mortaria 
 were made in the Durobrivian potteries. 
 
 Before we leave the subject of pottery, we must not overlook 
 one class of vessels, which, though of very rare occurrence in this 
 country, are of peculiar interest. They are probably of foreign 
 manufacture. They are urns, or jugs, ornamented at the mouth 
 with heads, usually of females. The two examples given in 
 our cut were found at Bichborough. Each is four inches and a 
 
 A Mortarium. 
 
 Heads of Roman Jars from Richborough (Rutupice). 
 
 half across, so that they have belonged to large vessels. They 
 are of brown clay. It has been observed that they are evidently 
 
224 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. VII. 
 
 the prototypes of a class of earthenware vessels which were 
 popular in the middle ages. The rubbish-pits of Bichborough 
 also furnished the museum of Mr. Rolfe of Sandwich with some 
 broken terra-cotta statuettes, a class of Roman antiquities which 
 are now extremely rare. The Richborough terra- 
 cottas were by no means of a low style of execution, 
 as works of art, but they were unfortunately all 
 fragments. A portion of a figure of Venus, 
 represented in our cut, was perhaps the best ; in 
 its present state it is four inches high. These 
 statuettes were probably imported from Gaul. A 
 manufactory of such articles was discovered a few 
 years ago near the village of Heiligenberg, about 
 three miles from Mutzig, on the Rhine. 
 
 Whenever we open Roman sites, we are as- 
 tonished at the quantities of pottery which lie 
 scattered about, and we feel convinced that this 
 article must have formed a large proportion of the 
 furniture of a Roman house. It was used, indeed, 
 for a much greater variety of purposes than at 
 the present day, and we find many proofs that 
 earthenware vases were continually employed as the receptacles 
 of money and of a variety of little articles, which we should 
 lay up in chests and boxes, or in baskets, bags, caskets, or work- 
 boxes. 
 
 There was another manufacture in which the Romans attained 
 to great excellence, that of glass, and we are struck not only 
 with the extraordinary beauty, but with the endless variety of the 
 samples that are continually found on Roman sites. All our 
 readers will be familiar with the old story of the accidental disco- 
 very of glass-making by the merchants who lit their fires upon the 
 sands of the river Belus on the coast of Syria. Pliny gives a 
 brief account of the manufacture of glass in his time, from which 
 we gather that the great glass furnaces were generally established 
 on the sea coast, where a fine sand was found adapted to the 
 purpose. In these manufactories the glass was made in lumps, 
 in which form it was distributed to the workshops of the workers 
 in glass, who melted the lumps as they wanted them, and it was 
 then coloured and formed into bottles, vessels, and other articles, 
 sometimes by blowing, at other times by grinding on a wheel or 
 
 Terra-cotta 
 
 from 
 Richborough. 
 
chap, vn.] THE GLASS MANUFACTURE. 225 
 
 lathe, and at others by embossing or casting in a mould.* Pliny 
 goes on to tell us that the working of glass was carried to such 
 a perfection in Rome that the emperor Tiberius put a stop to it, 
 lest the precious metals should be thrown into discredit. Sidon 
 was the site of the great glass works of antiquity, but the most 
 celebrated establishment of the Romans was that situated on the 
 coast between Curnae and Lucrinum. In the time of Pliny, glass 
 manufactories had been established on the coasts of Spain and Gaul.f 
 I have always believed, from the quantity of Roman glass that 
 is found in this island, that we should some day trace the exist- 
 ence of Roman glass manufactories in Britain, and it is naturally 
 to the coast that we must look for them. But I was not aware that 
 anything of the sort had yet been observed, until I was recently 
 informed by my friend, Augustus Guest, Esq., LL.D., of a very 
 curious discovery he had made on the coast at Brighton, the sand 
 of which I am told is extremely well calculated for the manufac- 
 ture of this article. Dr. Guest tells me that in 1848, as he was 
 searching along the shore for specimens of agates, he picked up, 
 on that portion of it extending from opposite Kemp town towards 
 Rotting or Rotten Dean, several pieces of what, in consequence of 
 the attrition to which it had been subjected, appeared, on placing 
 them before a strong light, to be coloured pebbles ; but on taking 
 them to an intelligent lapidary in the town, he at once recognised 
 them as pieces of glass, of which, after a heavy sea, he occasion- 
 ally found considerable quantities. He produced several large 
 pieces, the colours of which were amethyst, amber, emerald 
 green, and deep maroon, the latter colour being the rarest. The 
 lapidary was accustomed to cut and polish small sections of the 
 glass, and to apply them to ornamental purposes, as brooches, &c. 
 The largest piece shown to Dr. Guest was about double the size 
 of a man's fist ; it was of an amber colour, and much encrusted by 
 marine insects. A large portion of the cliff on this spot has 
 evidently given way under the action of the sea, which has here 
 encroached considerably on the land, and it is not improbable that 
 one of the slips common in the chalk formation, has at some 
 distant period carried away with it the remains of one of the 
 
 * Continuis fornacibus ut ses liquatur, massaeque fiunt colore pingui nigricantes. 
 Ex massis rursus funditur in officinis, tingiturque, et aliud flatu figuratur, aliud 
 torno teritur, aliud argenti modo ccelatur. — Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvi. c. 26. 
 
 f Jain vero et per Gallias Hispaniasque simili modo arenas tempeiantur. 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. VII. 
 
 Bomano-Britisli glass manufactories. The fragments cast upon 
 the shore are no doubt parts of the lumps [masses) of the material 
 which were sent away hence to the glass- workers in the greater 
 towns through the island. Pliny seems to intimate that the mass 
 of glass thus sent out was colourless, and that it was coloured 
 by the glass-workers, but it seems here to have been made in 
 coloured masses, to be still more ready for use. 
 
 From the brittle character of the material, glass vessels are 
 found in a perfect state much more seldom than pottery ; indeed, 
 perfect specimens are rarely found, except in sepulchral inter- 
 ments, where they have been intentionally protected. The shapes 
 and uses of vessels of glass were evidently very numerous, and 
 one or two only of the forms more worthy of notice are given in the 
 accompanying cut. The two vessels to the left are those usually 
 
 ^ A,.,y 
 
 j 
 
 ev 
 
 JcMJfl 
 
 Roman Glass Vessels. 
 
 found, with calcined bones, in Eoman sepulchres. They are 
 generally of green glass. The three smaller ones to the right are 
 also frequently found in sepulchres, and are usually termed 
 lachrymatories, from the somewhat romantic notion that they 
 were filled with the tears of the mourners ; the received opinion 
 among antiquaries at the present day, is that they contained the 
 unguents and aromatics which it was usual to depose with the 
 dead. The jug in the middle exhibits one of the simpler forms of 
 the embossed ornaments on the moulded glass. Some of these are 
 elaborate and beautiful, and would present difficulties even to the 
 modern glass-makers. This is said to be especially the case with 
 a class of round cups or bowls, which are by no means uncommon 
 in green, blue, and mixed colours, and which are ornamented 
 with projecting pillars. This pillar-moulding was considered to be 
 one of the great inventions in modern glass-making, and it was 
 not supposed among glass-workers that it was a mere revival 
 
CHAP. VII.] 
 
 EMBOSSED GLASS. 
 
 227 
 
 of an ornament common among the Romans. The cups alluded 
 to are nearly all of the same form, and would be described now as 
 sugar-basins, though they were probably drinking cups. The 
 annexed cut represents a fragment of one of these cups, given by 
 
 Part of a Roman Glass Bowl or Cup. 
 
 Mr. Roach Smith from the excavations at Richborough ; it is 
 engraved the full size of the original. 
 
 In some instances the embossed ornaments were much more 
 elaborate, and, as on the ornamental pottery, it extended to figures 
 and to inscriptions. This figured glass ware is, however, rare, 
 and was no doubt precious. Mr. Roach Smith has published in 
 
 Roman embossed Glass Cup, from Hartlip, Kent. 
 
 his " Collectanea," a fragment of a very remarkable cup in green 
 
 q 2 
 
228 THE KOMANS. [chap. vii. 
 
 glass, found in the Roman villa at Hartlip in Kent. It is given, 
 on the preceding page, from his book, about half the actual size, 
 the thin lines indicating the form of the vessel when entire. The 
 subjects represented upon it are chariot racing and gladiatorial 
 combats, with the names of the charioteers and combatants. The 
 figures are in the original somewhat indistinct, and the letters 
 so faint, that it is questionable if they are all given correctly. 
 Mr. Smith possesses, in his private museum, two similar fragments, 
 found in London, one of which is identical with the Hartlip 
 fragment in its design, and appears to be from the same mould ; 
 the other is from a vessel of a different shape, and has a quadriga 
 in bas-relief. We have before had occasion to observe how 
 popular the gladiatorial subjects and the games of the circus were 
 among the Roman inhabitants of this island, and how often 
 we find them represented on the pottery as well as on the glass. 
 In the Hartlip glass the charioteer has just reached the goal, which 
 is marked by three conical columns of wood raised upon a base. 
 This was the usual form of the metce, and is said to have been 
 assumed as the imitation of the form of a cypress tree : — 
 
 "Metasque imitata cupressus," 
 
 says Ovid (Metamorph. lib. x. 1. 106). The names here given to the 
 charioteers and combatants are probably mere conventional appel- 
 lations. A series of gladiatorial subjects are sculptured on one of 
 the tombs of Pompeii, with names attached to them in a similar 
 manner, although in this instance they appear to have been the 
 real names of the individuals represented. The charioteer is here 
 driving the biga ; in the other example of embossed glass in the 
 possession of Mr. Roach Smith, he rides, as we have stated, the quad- 
 riga. It no doubt formed part of a scene from the circus. Embossed 
 glass vessels of this description are of the utmost rarity, and I am 
 not aware of the existence of any other examples in this country. 
 Drinking-cups, with inscriptions, are found not unfrequently. 
 It was a trait of Roman sentiment, both on the continent and in 
 Britain, to accompany familiar or domestic occupations with 
 invocations of happiness or good fortune upon those who took part 
 in them, and this seems to have been especially the case in their 
 convivial entertainments. Cups have been found with such 
 inscriptions as btbe feliciter (drink with good luck !), or bibe 
 vt vivas (drink that you may live !), or again vivas bibere (may 
 
chap, vil] SKILL OF THE ROMAN GLASS WORKERS. 
 
 229 
 
 "%§£ 
 
 you live to drink !). An analogous drinking formula was preserved 
 in the middle ages, in the Anglo-Saxon icces hal (be thou in health !). 
 Mr. Roach Smith, in his " Collectanea," has given samples of 
 cups in red pottery with inscriptions, in white letters, such as 
 ave (hail !), vivas (may you live !), bibe (drink), imple (fill). 
 In excavations on the site of the Roman villa at Ickleton, in 
 Essex, Mr. Neville found a fragment of a drinking-cup of fine 
 earthenware, with an inscription, inscribed with a stilus, or some 
 sharp instrument, of which there remained the letters camicibibvn, 
 no doubt part of the words ex hoc amici bibunt (out of this cup friends 
 drink). ' Among fragments picked up in a Roman, and subsequent 
 Saxon, cemetery, near Holme Pierrepoint, in Nottinghamshire, 
 was part of a small cup of thin yellow glass, with a portion of a 
 raised inscription (of which the word sempek only remained), 
 above the figure of a bird. The figures in this and most similar 
 articles are rather rude, but there are specimens in which the 
 execution shows not only a high feeling of art, but also an extra- 
 ordinary skill in manipulation on the 
 part of the workman. The cut an- 
 nexed represents the base of a handle 
 to a vase, of fine blue glass, represent- 
 ing the head of a female, in very high 
 relief. It was dug up in Leadenhall- 
 street. in London, and is now in the 
 collection of Lord Londesborough. 
 Mr. Roach Smith possesses a similar 
 fragment in green glass, but of still 
 finer execution, also found in London. 
 
 The skill of the Roman glass- workers, 
 in the manipulation of their art, is 
 shown still more remarkably in the 
 manner in which they fused into each 
 
 other pieces of glass of different colours, so as to form the most 
 elegant and tasteful patterns. This art was displayed especially 
 in the manufacture of glass beads, which are found in considerable 
 quantities on Roman sites in this country. They present so many 
 varieties in form and colour, that it would be impossible here to 
 give any description that could include them all ; yet there are a 
 certain number of types which occur more frequently than others, 
 and I will give a few of these which have sometimes been 
 
 Embossed Glass. 
 
230 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 FCHAP. VII. 
 
 misappropriated. The large bead to the left in the accompanying 
 group is one of common occurrence, and it and some other Roman 
 beads of different forms have been fancifully and very erroneously 
 termed druids' beads. They are sometimes found of a large 
 
 Roman Glass Beads. 
 
 size, twice or even thrice the size of the one in our cut. The 
 most common forms of Roman glass beads are slight variations 
 of the upper figure to the right, which are executed in glass of 
 different colours, though most commonly blue, sometimes very 
 light, at others of a deep shade, and sometimes of a material 
 that has been only imperfectly vitrified. The other bead, in 
 which a serpentine ornament is infused into the glass, was 
 found among the ruins of Cilurnum in Northumberland. In 
 many of these beads of compound colours, the shades are 
 exquisitely blended together. Our second cut represents a bead 
 and a button, both of glass, found at Kichborough. The bead is 
 
 ff$K 
 
 Roman Glass Bead and Button. 
 
 of blue glass, with white enamel ; the body of the button is dark 
 blue, with the central dot red, and the other four light blue. 
 Mr. Smith informs us that a considerable number of such buttons, 
 but chiefly in plain white and blue glass, have been found with: 
 
chap, vil] KIMMEEIDGE COAL. 231 
 
 sepulchral remains on the site of a Roman burial ground near 
 Boulogne. 
 
 Extensive traces of the manufacture of personal ornaments 
 from another material have been discovered in Britain. This 
 material was what the Romans seem to have designated by the 
 name of g agates, or jet, and which is now popularly called in the 
 different localities where it is found, Kennel coal and Kimmeridge 
 coal. In our own time Kennel coal has been extensively used in 
 the manufacture of ornamental vases, turned on the lathe, and 
 other such articles. The articles in jet of the Romans in Britain 
 were also made on the lathe, and consisted chiefly of rings, 
 amulets, beads, buttons, and similar ornaments, and, as I have 
 just said, the traces of the manufactories in one district have been 
 discovered. In the wildest and least frequented part of the isle 
 of Purbeck, on the coast of Dorset, are two small secluded valleys, 
 opening to the sea into what are termed the Kimmeridge and 
 Worthbarrow bays, and divided by an intervening ridge of 
 considerable elevation. The soil of these valleys, laid out from 
 time immemorial in unin closed pastures, has never been disturbed 
 by the ploughshare, and when for any accidental purpose it is dug, 
 at a few inches under the surface are found great numbers of 
 small, round, and flat pieces of a mineral substance, found in 
 extensive beds on this part of the coast, and known by the name 
 of Kimmeridge coal. It is a bituminous shale, which burns freely, 
 with a white ash and slaty residue, diffusing a disagreeable 
 bituminous odour, in this respect answering to Pliny's description 
 of the gagates. The round pieces found in such abundance in 
 these localities are generally from a quarter to half an inch thick, 
 and from an inch and a quarter to two inches and a half in 
 diameter, with beveled and moulded edges, and having on one 
 side, two, three, or four round holes, and on the other side a small 
 pivot hole. In a few instances these round holes are absent, and 
 the pieces are wholly perforated with a single central square hole. 
 
 A. single glance at these articles is sufficient to convince any 
 one acquainted with the use of the lathe, that they are simply the 
 refuse pieces of the turner, the nuclei of rings and other articles 
 formed by his art. The round holes were evidently made to 
 attach the piece of material on the point of the chuck ; and the 
 square one was for fixing it on a small square mandril-head ; 
 circumstances, it has been observed, which prove that the people 
 
232 THE KOMANS. [chap. vii. 
 
 who made these articles were well accustomed to the use of the 
 lathe, not in its primitive rude form, but as an improved and, in 
 some degree, perfected instrument. Much irregularity is 
 observable in the number of the holes. The greater number 
 hitherto found have two holes ; while pieces with four holes are 
 rare, and generally of a small size. Fragments of the raw 
 material are frequently found mixed with these round pieces. 
 Some of these show the marks of cutting tools, as if prepared for 
 the lathe, whilst the shale, being fresh from the quarry, was 
 comparatively soft. Others exhibit lines, angles, circles, and 
 other figures, drawn with mathematical accuracy, the central 
 point, in which one, leg of the compasses was inserted, being often 
 visible. Pieces of rings of the same material, and sometimes a 
 perfect ring, are also found scattered about ; so that we cannot 
 have the least doubt that here existed once an extensive manufac- 
 tory of this material. Fragments of Roman pottery, mixed here 
 and there with these remains, fix the date to which they belong. 
 Yet, with all these facts before them, our antiquaries of the old 
 school have remained blind to their real character, and it was 
 gravely conjectured, and even asserted, that these refuse pieces 
 from the Roman lathe had been manufactured to serve the 
 purposes of money by Phoenician traders, who came in the remote 
 ages of the world to trade with the primeval Celts,* 
 
 Articles of this material seem to have had a peculiar value 
 from the circumstance that it was supposed, as we are told by 
 Pliny, to possess the virtue of driving away serpents. Probably 
 future discoveries will bring to light similar manufactories in other 
 parts of the island, and it is not unlikely that they continued to 
 exist through the earlier Anglo-Saxon period. Bede describes 
 the gagates as being in his time an important production of 
 Britain, and he speaks of its quality, when burnt, of driving away 
 serpents, and tells us how, when warmed with rubbing, it has the 
 same attractive quality as amber.f In interments, chiefly of the 
 
 * The real character of these remains was, I believe, first pointed out by the 
 late Mr. Sydenham, a gentleman known to antiquaries by his contributions to the 
 Archseologia on Dorsetshire barrows. The notion of their being made by 
 Phoenician merchants, to represent money, and of their being used also in the 
 religious worship of the natives of Britain, was set forth, among others, by Mr. 
 Miles, in an appendix to the account of the Deverill barrow. 
 
 f Gignit et lapidem gagatem plurimum optimumque ; est autem nigrogem- 
 
chap, yil] USE OF MINERAL COAL. 233 
 
 Eoman period, and on Roman sites, rings and other articles of 
 the Kimmeridge or Kennel coal have been found. 
 
 The Romans were more attentive to the utility of the mineral 
 productions of our island than we are accustomed to suppose. There 
 cannot be a doubt that they knew the use of mineral coals, and that 
 they employed them, but they only obtained them where the coal- 
 bed was near the surface, and the coal was probably burnt chiefly 
 in the district where it was found. Mineral coal has been sup- 
 posed to be referred to by Solinus, when he tells us that Minerva 
 was the patron of the warm springs in Britain, alluding apparently 
 to Bath, and that the fire that burnt on her altars did not fall 
 into white ashes, but as the fire wasted away it turned into stony 
 globules. * A more unequivocal proof of the use of this fuel is, how- 
 ever, furnished by the fact that the cinders of mineral coal have 
 been not unfrequently found in the fire-places of Roman houses and 
 villas in different parts of the island. Mr. Bruce assures us that in 
 nearly all the stations on the line of the wall of Hadrian, " the 
 ashes of mineral fuel have been found ; in some, a store of 
 unconsumed coal has been met with, which, though intended to 
 give warmth to the primeval occupants of the isthmus, has been 
 burnt in the grates of the modern English. In several places the 
 source whence the mineral was procured can be pointed out ; but 
 the most extensive workings that I have heard of, are in the 
 neighbourhood of Grindon Lough, near Sewingshields. Not long 
 ago, a shaft was sunk, with the view of procuring the coal which 
 was supposed to be below the surface; the projector soon found 
 that, though coal had been there, it was all removed. The 
 ancient workings stretched beneath the bed of the lake." 
 
 The metals of Britain formed, we know, the great proportion of 
 its exports, under the Roman occupation. They consisted chiefly 
 of iron, lead, tin, and copper. Round pigs of the last-mentioned 
 metal, belonging to the Roman period, have been found in Wales, 
 whence, and from Cornwall, the Romans derived their chief 
 supply. One of these, still preserved at Mostyn Hall, in the 
 
 meus et ardens igni admotus ; incensus serpentes fugat, attritu calefactus applicita 
 detinet seque ut succinum. Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. i, c. 1. It must be stated that 
 Bede's account is taken almost literally from Solinus. 
 
 * Quibus fontibus praesul est Minervse numen, in cujus asde perpetui ignes 
 nunquam canescunt in favillas, sed ubi ignis tabuit, vertit in globos saxeos. 
 Solini Polyhist. c. 22. 
 
234 THE ROMANS. [chap. vii. 
 
 county of Flint, bears the inscription socio eomae, which has not 
 been satisfactorily explained. Iron was obtained by the Romans 
 in vast quantities from various parts of the island, though the 
 principal Roman iron-works were in the wooded district of the 
 country of the Silures, now called the Forest of Dean, and the 
 extensive forest of Anderida, forming the modern weald of Sussex 
 and Kent. Traces of the Roman occupation are found abun- 
 dantly in both these districts. In various places in Sussex, as in 
 the parishes of Maresfield, Sedlescombe, and Westfield, immense 
 masses of ancient iron scoriae, or slag, are found. At Oaklancls, 
 in Sedlescombe, there is a mass of very considerable extent, 
 which, on being cut into for materials for road-making, was 
 ascertained to be not less than twenty feet deep. The period to 
 which they belong, is proved, by the frequent discovery of Roman 
 coins and pottery intermixed with the cinders. At Maresfield, 
 especially, the fragments of Roman pottery and other articles are 
 so abundant, that, as we are informed by Mr. M. A. Lower, of 
 Lewes, who first laid these facts before the public, when one of 
 these cinderbeds was removed, scarcely a barrow-load of cinders 
 could be examined without exhibiting several fragments. The 
 material for the Roman furnaces was the clay ironstone, from the 
 beds between the chalk and oolite of this district, which is found 
 in nodular concretions, consisting often of an outer shell of 
 iron ore, with a nucleus of sand. These are found near the 
 surface of the ground, and the Romans dug small pits from which 
 they extracted these nodules, and carried them to the furnaces, 
 which stood in the immediate vicinity. These pits are still found 
 in considerable groups, covered almost always with a thick wood, 
 and the discovery of pottery, &c, leaves us no room to doubt that 
 they are Roman works. Large as the Sussex works seem to have 
 been, those in the forest of Dean, and more especially along the 
 banks of the Wye, appear to have been much more extensive. 
 Here the ground for miles rests upon one immense continuous 
 bed of iron cinders, the antiquity of which is proved by the occa- 
 sional discovery of Roman coins and other remains, with unmis- 
 takeable traces of Roman settlements. The ore is here of a much 
 richer description, and lies in veins at no great depth under the 
 ground. The Romans sank a larger pit until they came to the 
 vein of metal, which they then followed in its course, and thus 
 excavated caverns and chambers underground, extending often to 
 
chap, vil] PEOCESS OF SMELTING IRON. 235 
 
 some hundred feet. In the neighbourhood of Coleford these 
 ancient excavations are called Scowles — a term of which the 
 derivation is not very evident. They are often looked upon 
 with a superstitious feeling, and have received names from it. 
 Thus, in a hill on the banks of the Wye, called the Great 
 Doward, is an extensive Roman iron mine, popularly called 
 " King Arthur's Hall," at the bottom of which tradition says a 
 chest of treasure is concealed. In this district the river Wye 
 formed a convenient medium of transport, and either the pure ore, 
 or the iron in its first, rough state, was carried up the Severn 
 as high at least as the present city of Worcester, where large 
 beds of iron scoriae with Roman remains have been discovered. 
 We have already (see p. 140) quoted a tradition which describes 
 the Roman Alauna (Alcester, in Warwickshire) as a town of iron 
 workers. Traces of Roman iron- works are met with in various 
 other parts of Britain. Large beds of cinders, or, as they are 
 technically termed, slag, mixed with Roman remains, have been 
 found in Northumberland and, I understand, in Yorkshire. 
 
 The process of smelting among the Romans appears to have 
 been simple and imperfect. The fuel used was charcoal, pieces of 
 which are often found impressed in the cinders. It is supposed that 
 layers of iron ore, broken up, and charcoal, mixed with lime-stone 
 as a flux, were piled together, and inclosed in a wall and covering 
 of clay, with holes at the bottom for letting in the draught, and 
 allowing the melted metal to run out. For this purpose they were 
 usually placed on sloping ground. Rude bellows were perhaps 
 used, worked by different contrivances.* In Sussex, and in the 
 
 * This primitive mode of smelting is still in use among some peoples unac- 
 quainted with the improvements of civilised nations. We are told by the early 
 Spanish writers, that the Peruvians built their furnaces for smelting silver on 
 eminences where the air was freest ; they were perforated on all sides with holes, 
 through which the air was driven when the wind blew, which was the only time 
 when the work could be carried on, and under each hole was made a projection 
 of the stonework, on which was laid burning coals to heat the air before it entered 
 the furnace. 
 
 The smelting furnaces for iron in the Himmaleh mountains of central Asia are 
 described as follows : — A chimney is built of clay, about four feet and a half high, 
 by fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter, upon a stage of stonework, over a fire- 
 place. In an opening below the stage there is a hole, through which the metal 
 when melted flows, and this is stopped with clay or earth, easily removed with an 
 iron poker. The fire is blown with two pair of bellows, each made of a goats' 
 skin, and worked by a woman or boy. The iron ore was mixed with pounded 
 charcoal, and thrown into the chimney. A somewhat similar tower of clay was 
 
236 THE ROMANS. [chap. vh. 
 
 Forest of Dean, they appear to have been worked by means of 
 water, at least in some of the streams in those districts remains 
 of ancient tanks are found, which are supposed to have been made 
 to collect the water for that purpose. Mr. Bruce, in his account 
 of the " Roman Wall," has pointed out a very curious contrivance 
 for producing a blast in the furnaces of the extensive Roman iron- 
 works in the neighbourhood of Epiacum (Lanchester). A part of 
 the valley, rendered barren by the heaps of slightly covered 
 cinders, had never been cultivated till very recent times. 
 " During the operation of bringing this common into cultivation," 
 Mr. Bruce says, "the method adopted by the Romans of pro- 
 ducing the blast necessary to smelt the metal was made apparent. 
 Two tunnels had been formed in the side of a hill ; they were 
 wide at one extremity, but tapered off to a narrow bore at the 
 other, where they met in a point. The mouths of the channels 
 opened towards the west, from which quarter a prevalent wind 
 blows in this valley, and sometimes with great violence. The 
 blast received by them would, when the wind was high, be poured 
 with considerable force and effect upon the smelting furnaces at 
 the extremity of the tunnels." 
 
 Any one who takes one of these ancient cinders in his hand, 
 will be at once convinced by its weight how imperfect had been 
 the process of smelting, and how much metal still remains in it. 
 During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Roman iron 
 scoriae in the Forest of Dean and in Worcestershire, were re- 
 smelted on a very extensive scale ; and it is said that, being 
 gathered with so little trouble, they were actually found more 
 profitable than fresh ore which had to be dug from a considerable 
 depth in the ground. Besides the marks of charcoal still visible 
 on some of the cinders, examples occur which show the effects of 
 the irregular heat produced by this fuel. One, which I picked up 
 among a vast heap of cinders at Sedlescombe, in Sussex, proved 
 by coins found in it to be Roman, exhibits a curious appearance 
 of a compact mass with veins and drusy cavities with crystalline 
 iron ; in this instance an imperfect steel or carburet of iron has 
 been the result of the excessive heat produced by the wood fuel. 
 
 made for smelting by an African people, visited by Mungo Park, but they trusted 
 partly to the wind for a blast, and placed the iron ore, after it had been broken 
 into pieces of the size of a hen's egg, in alternate layers with charcoal. See 
 further on this subject, Scrivener's " Comprehensive History of the Iron Trade." 
 
chap, vii.] THE LEAD MANUFACTURE. 237 
 
 Among the other principal metallic productions of our island, 
 worked by the Eomans, were lead and tin, called by the Romans, 
 plumbum nigrum and plumbum album. The latter we know was, 
 under its Greek name of cassiteros, the chief and most valuable 
 production of the Britannic isles at a very remote period, and pro- 
 cured for them the name of the Cassiterides, or Tin Islands. 
 We are told by ancient writers that lead was found so plentifully, 
 and so near the surface of the ground, that it was found necessary 
 in the earlier period of the Roman occupation to make a law 
 limiting the quantity to be taken each year.* The tin districts were, 
 as at present, Cornwall and Wales, and I believe that Roman 
 mines have been traced, and that blocks of Roman tin have been 
 found, though they are of extreme rarity. This, however, is not 
 the case with lead ; for the traces of Roman lead mines are very 
 numerous, and pigs of lead, with the official stamps of the Roman 
 miners, are by no means of uncommon occurrence. This stamp 
 usually consisted of an inscription giving the name of the emperor 
 under whose reign the lead had been produced from the furnace. 
 The annexed cut represents one of these pigs of lead, found in 
 
 Roman Pig of Lead, from Hampshire. 
 
 1783, on the verge of Broughton brook, near Stockbriclge, in 
 Hampshire. It will serve to give a general idea of the form and 
 character of these articles, and it has a certain historical interest 
 from the circumstance that it was made the year before the insur- 
 rection of Boadicea. The main inscription is, neronis avg-. ex 
 kian iiti cos beit. On one side are the letters hvl pmcos ; on the 
 other, ex argent and capascas, with the numeral xxx.f Other 
 
 * In Britannia summo terrse corio adeo large, ut lex ultro dicatur, ne plus 
 certo modo fiat. — Plin. Hist. Nat., lib. xxxv., c. 17. 
 
 f Mr. Roach Smith observes on this inscription . — " As Nero never assumed 
 the title of Britannicus, and as the numerals precede the cos, I suspect the 
 inscription should be read — 
 
 (Plumbum or Metallum) Neronis Aug. cos. iiii. ? Ex. Kian. Brit. 
 The P.M. Cos may belong to the above, and the rest be the name of some 
 superintendent." 
 
238 THE ROMAN'S. [chap, vil 
 
 examples found at different times have presented the following 
 inscriptions : — 
 
 1. TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TRIB P VIII IMP XVI DE BRITAN 
 
 2. IMP DOMIT AVG GER DE CEANG 
 
 3. CAESARI VADOM 
 
 4. IMP CAES DOMITIAN AVG COS VII BRIG 
 
 5. IMP VESP VII T IMP V COS DE CEANG 
 
 6. TI CL TR LVT BR EX ARG 
 
 7. IMP CAES HADRIANI AVG MET LVT 
 
 8. IMP HADRIANI AVG 
 
 9. IMP DYOR AVG ANTONINI ET VERI ARMENIACORVM 
 
 10. L ARVCONI VERECVND METAL LVTVD 
 
 11. C IVL PROTI BRIT LVT EX ARG 
 
 The greater number of these inscriptions, it will be seen at once, 
 commemorate the emperor in whose reign each was made. The 
 two last, no doubt, give us the names of private individuals, either 
 governors of the province, or persons appointed to superintend 
 the mines of Britain. Some of the words of these inscriptions 
 have provoked rather long disquisitions, yet they are capable of a 
 simple explanation, lvt is no doubt an abbreviation of latum, 
 washed, in reference to the process through which the metal 
 (met) had passed ; and the ex arg, or ex argent, is explained 
 by a passage of Pliny, who informs us that lead was found under 
 two different forms, either in veins by itself, or mixed with 
 silver. # The latter had to go through a more complicated 
 process of extraction, which is referred to by the words of the 
 inscription, lutum ex argento, and which it seems the Romano- 
 British metallurgist considered it necessary to specify. The 
 examples on which the words brig and de ceang occur, were 
 found chiefly in Cheshire and Yorkshire, and these words are 
 supposed to signify that they came from the tribe of the Ceangi, 
 or Cangi, and the Brigantes. The words ex kiak on the pig of 
 lead represented in our cut, are supposed to refer to the same 
 tribe of the Ceangi, by an earlier mode of spelling the name. It 
 had no doubt been left in Hampshire on its way to the coast for 
 exportation. 
 
 It is indeed difficult in many cases to form any opinion relating 
 to these relics from the place where they were found. Three of 
 them were found near Matlock, in Derbyshire, no doubt in the 
 
 * Plumbi nigri origo duplex est ; ant enim sua provenit vena, nee quicquam 
 aliud ex se parit ; aut cam argento nascitur, mistisque venis confiatur. — Plin. 
 'Mist. Nat., lib. xxxiv., c. 16. 
 
chap, vil] GOLD, SILVEH, AND BRONZE. 239 
 
 neighbourhood of the mines from which they were taken. They 
 have been found also in Shropshire, near the site of ancient 
 lead mines. The inscriptions are curious, as belonging mostly 
 to the earlier emperors and showing that the metallic riches of 
 Britain were among its first resources turned to account by the 
 Roman conquerors. 
 
 The wording of some of the above inscriptions is sufficient 
 evidence that the Romans obtained silver from the mines in 
 Britain, and the island province appears also to have furnished gold, 
 though probably in very small quantities. Gold has been traced 
 in the quartz formation near Lampeter, in Wales, in the imme- 
 diate neighbourhood of a Roman settlement, where enormous 
 mounds of broken and pounded quartz remain as memorials of 
 the Roman gold diggers. A still more curious memorial, per- 
 haps, of the British silver mines was discovered in the latter part 
 of the last century, among remains of very old masonry cleared 
 away in digging the foundations of the then new office for the 
 Board of Ordnance, in the Tower of London. It had apparently 
 been a square ingot of silver, about three-eighths of an inch 
 thick, but it had subsequently been beaten at each end with a 
 hammer, till the whole had assumed the form of a double wedge. 
 From its weight, when found, there could be little doubt of its 
 having been originally a Roman pound of silver. In the middle, 
 on one side, within a simple square label, was the inscription : — 
 
 EX OFII 
 HONORI 
 
 in which the last letters of each line had been partly effaced, 
 probably by a blow of the hammer. It seems doubtful if the 
 Honorius here commemorated was an officer of the Roman 
 mint in Britain, or the emperor of that name ; though the proba- 
 bility seems to be turned in favour of the latter by the discovery 
 close by it of three gold coins, one of which was of the emperor 
 Honorius, while the two others belonged to his partner in the 
 empire, Arcadius.* In this case, it would belong to the closing 
 period of the Roman rule in Britain. 
 
 The metal most . in favour among the Romans for the manu- 
 facture of useful and ornamental articles, appears to have been 
 
 * This ingot of silver and the three coins are engraved in the fifth volume of 
 the " Archseologia " of the Society of Antiquaries. 
 
240 THE ROMANS. [chap yii. 
 
 bronze. It would extend beyond our limits, and be of no real 
 practical utility, to give a description of the almost endless 
 variety of articles of bronze belonging to the Roman period, 
 which have been found in this country, some of very rude work- 
 manship, and others showing a very high state of art. It is not 
 possible to say how many of these articles were made in Britain, 
 and how many were imported, but there can, I think, be little doubt 
 that such articles were manufactured here in considerable quantities. 
 As the rough, unformed glass was distributed from the manu- 
 factory to the small glass workers, so the bronze w 7 as probably 
 sold in lumps to small manufacturers, who, either with the hand, 
 or more frequently by melting it into moulds, formed statuettes, 
 vessels of various kinds, ornaments, tools, and toys, under which 
 latter head I suspect we ought to place a large number of the 
 small, rude figures of animals, &c, in bronze, which are fre- 
 quently found on Roman sites. I believe that the fragments of 
 old bronze with chisels and other implements of the same 
 metal, already described (p. 73), as found in different parts of 
 England, belonged to the Roman workers in bronze. Smelting 
 pots, with remains of molten bronze, and lumps of the same 
 metal, and even entire foundries, with moulds and the articles 
 cast in them, have been found in different parts of Germany, 
 as at Demmin, in Mecklenburg ; Gross Jena, in Thuringen ; 
 Braunfels, in Hessen ; and at Zurich, in Switzerland ; and, I 
 believe, in France ; and, if I am not mistaken, they will be found 
 to have been discovered in localities occupied by the Romans. 
 
 That Roman art did flourish to a certain degree in Britain, we 
 have proofs in the various traces of ornamental decoration in 
 the houses, in articles of bronze and other material, and in the 
 remains of statuary. Some few fragments of wall-paintings that 
 have been rescued from the general destruction of the frescoes of 
 the Roman houses, are artistically executed ; and, although many 
 of the sepulchral and other sculptures found in our island are of 
 a rude character, others are quite the contrary. It is probable 
 that most of the finer pieces of sculpture in marble, found in the 
 Roman villas and elsewhere, were executed abroad ; but other 
 similar remains of great beauty have been found sculptured in 
 materials w r hich were undoubtedly obtained in the island, and 
 generally near the spot where they seem to have been erected. 
 Such were the statues, which exhibit a very high degree of art, 
 
chap, vil] THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 241 
 
 found by Mr. Artis in 1844, 1845, and 1846, near Sibson, in 
 Bedfordshire, and at a place between Wansford and King's Cliff, 
 in the same county, known as Bedford Purlieus, which were 
 formed of the oolite of the district, popularly known as Barnack 
 rag. They are now preserved in the collection of the Duke of 
 Bedford, and include large portions of figures of Hercules, Apollo, 
 and Minerva Custos. At Birrens, in Scotland, was found a dedi- 
 catory inscription, by Julius Cerealis Censorinus, who is described 
 as the image-maker (sigillarius), or fabricator of the statues of the 
 gods, to the college of ligniferi ; and the mutilated trunk of a 
 colossal statue of Mercury, found at the same spot, was supposed 
 to be a relic of his works. 
 
 Of the other professions of the Romans in Britain, we find, 
 from their very nature, fewer traces among existing remains, 
 though one or two of them are commemorated in inscriptions. 
 Thus, a votive statue to the goddess Brigantia, found at Birrens 
 in Scotland, was dedicated, if not made, by Amandus the 
 architect. A monumental stone, found at Housesteads in North- 
 umberland, commemorates a young medical practitioner, Anicius 
 Ingenuus, physician in ordinary to the first cohort of the 
 Tungrians.* 
 
 There is, however, a class of monuments relating to the Roman 
 medical profession and their practice in Britain, which are so 
 curious, that they require a more minute description and explana- 
 tion. These are the stamps used for impressing the names of 
 the makers and the purposes of certain medicinal preparations. 
 
 Numerous examples of these medicine stamps have been 
 found in Germany, France, and Italy, as well as in Britain ; 
 and in the former countries they have been the subject of several 
 learned treatises. t They are usually made of a greenish schist, 
 or steatite, and consist of a small thin square block, generally 
 with an inscription on each of the four edges. In a few instances 
 
 * D M ANICIO INGENVO MEDICO ORDI COH PRIMAE TVNGR VIX AN XXV. 
 
 + Two French writers especially have recently written at length on this subject ; 
 M. Sichel, in a tract entitled Cinq Cachets inedits de Medecins-Oculistes 
 Romains (Paris, 1845), and M. Duchalais, Observations sitr les Cachets des 
 Medecins-Oculistes anciens, a-propos de cinq Pierres sigillaires inedites (Paris, 
 1846). Still more recently an interesting paper on the Roman medicine stamps 
 found in Britain has been contributed to the " Monthly Journal of Medical 
 Science,' ' by professor Simpson, of Edinburgh, but a part only of which has, as far 
 as I can learn, been yet printed. 
 
 E, 
 
242 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [CHAP. VII. 
 
 the stone is of an oblong form, and has only two inscribed sides. 
 The inscriptions are inverse and retrograde, and they were 
 evidently intended as stamps ; but when first noticed, they were 
 a great puzzle to the antiquary. The example given in our cut, 
 which was found a few years ago at Kenchester in Herefordshire 
 (Magna), belongs to the former of these two classes. The in- 
 scription usually expresses the name of the maker of the 
 
 Roman Medicine Stamp from Kenchester (Magna). 
 
 medicine, that of the medicine itself, and the disease for which it 
 was intended as a specific. From the places in which they are 
 found, the name appears to be generally that of a medical 
 practitioner in one of the principal towns, who composed the 
 medicines, and, perhaps, sold them in packages to the minor 
 practitioners or dealers in the smaller towns and in the country, 
 in the manner that patent medicines used to be sold in England. 
 It is somewhat remarkable, that in all the examples yet found, 
 amounting in number to at least sixty, the diseases are 
 uniformly those of the eyes, and hence they are supposed to 
 have been only used by physicians who treated that very numerous 
 class of diseases, and some writers have spoken of them by the 
 name of oculists' stamps.* 
 
 Any one who will turn to the index to an ordinary edition 
 of Pliny's Natural History, will see at one glance how much 
 attention the Romans gave to diseases of the eyes, which appear 
 to have been extraordinarily prevalent, not only in Italy, but 
 throughout the western provinces. This is probably to be attri- 
 buted to some circumstance connected with the diet or manners 
 of the ancients. The Greek medical writers enumerate more 
 than two hundred diseases of the eyes, for which an immense 
 
 * Medici ocularii and medici ophthalmici are mentioned by the Roman 
 medical writers in a manner to make us believe that this formed a special branch 
 of the practice. 
 
chap, vil] MEDICINE STAMPS. 243 
 
 number of different ointments, or collyria, were invented. The 
 reader will remember the lines of Horace — 
 
 " Hie oculis ego nigra meis collyria lippus 
 Illinere." 
 
 These collyria were composed of a great number of ingredients, 
 and were many of them celebrated among all physicians by their 
 particular names. These were sometimes taken from those of 
 the original inventors, as the collyrium of Dionysius, or the 
 collyrium of Sergius. A more numerous class received their names 
 from the characteristic of the mixture or from some particular 
 ingredient. Thus we have the collyrium Moron, named from its 
 green colour ; the cirrhon, from its yellow tint ; the evodes 
 (eitobes), from its pleasant smell; the anicetum (clvlkwtov, 
 invincible), because pretended to be superior to all the others ; 
 the crocodes, made of crocus or saffron ; the nardinum, con- 
 taining spikenard ; the diasmyrnes, containing myrrh ; the 
 diarrhodon, containing roses ; and so on. The example given 
 above, which was found at Kenchester, had belonged to a 
 physician named apparently Titus Vindacius Ariovistus, who, to 
 judge from his name, appears to have been of German race. Od 
 the upper surface is the word senior, the first three letters of 
 which are repeated on the lower surface, and it has been suggested 
 that it was probably the name of a subsequent possessor. The 
 four inscriptions of the sides, which are in double lines, are — 
 
 (1) T . VINDAC . ARIO 
 VISTIANICET 
 
 (2) T . VINDACTAR 
 OVISTI . NARD 
 
 (3) . . VINDAC . ARI 
 OVISTICHLORON 
 
 (4) T . VINDACARIO 
 VISTI . . . 
 
 The name of the collyrium, indicated in the last, has been lost by 
 a fracture of the stone. The other three w T ere the anicetum, the 
 nardinum, and the Moron, well known collyria, all mentioned above. 
 Another of these stamps, found at Cirencester in 1818, is now 
 in the possession of P. B. Purnell, Esq., of Stanscombe Park, 
 Gloucestershire. It is an oblong piece of hone-stone, or whet- 
 
 r 2 
 
244 THE ROMANS. [chap. to. 
 
 slate, with two sides inscribed, which commemorate a physician 
 named Minervalis. They are — 
 
 (1) MINEEVALISDIALEB 
 ANVMADIMPETLIPEXOV 
 
 (2) MINERVALISMELINV 
 ADOMNEMDOLOREM 
 
 The dialebanum was composed with the plant ledanum or 
 ladanum found in Crete, and it is here directed to be used with 
 egg (ex ovo) on the first attack of lippitudo — ad impetum lippitu- 
 dinis. The second was a well-known collyrium, which is men- 
 tioned by the old medical writers under the same name of 
 melinum, but the origin of the name seems very doubtful. 
 Another medicine stamp was found at Bath in 1781. A fourth 
 was dugup at Gloucester (not, as some writers have stated by 
 mistake, at Colchester), at the beginning of the last century, and 
 was published by Chishull. It bore the name of the physician, 
 Quintus Julius Murranius, and had two inscriptions — 
 
 (1) QIVLIMVRRANIMELI 
 NVMADCLARITATEM 
 
 (2) QIVLMVRRANISTACTV 
 MOPOBALSAMATADCAL 
 
 The first of these was another melinum, which was to be efficacious 
 for producing clearness of vision — ad claritatem. The second 
 was an opobalsamic stactum, or liquid (from orafco), intended as 
 a remedy for dimness of sight — ad caliginem. In 1808, a 
 medicine stamp of an unusual form was found at Wroxeter in 
 Shropshire (Uriconium) ; it was a round, instead of quadrangular, 
 stone, with the inscription on the face, as in a seal. It was 
 accordingly engraved and published in the " Gentleman's 
 Magazine," as "an ancient seal found at Wroxeter," and the 
 inscription as there given, evidently incorrectly, was — 
 
 IBCLM 
 DIALBA 
 IAD'OM 
 NEAVNC 
 O EXO 
 
 It is impossible from this incorrect copy to tell who was the 
 physician of Uriconium, whose dialebanum was a specific ad 
 
chap, vil] MEDICINE STAMPS. 245 
 
 omnem and was to be applied, like the dialebanum of 
 
 Minervalis, ex ovo, with egg* 
 
 It is curious that we have thus a series of these medicine 
 stamps belonging to the great Roman towns in the west, 
 Corinium, Aquae Solis, Glevum, Magna, and Uriconium. None 
 have yet been found, as far as we have any distinct information, 
 in the Eoman towns of the eastern and northern parts of the 
 island, but there are two, or at least fragments of two, preserved 
 in the British Museum, which are stated to have been found in 
 this country, although the exact locality is not known. One of 
 these is a flat quadrilateral stone, and commemorates a physician 
 named Sextus Julius Sedatus. It is inscribed only on three sides ; 
 which is also the case with at least one of the foreign examples. 
 The inscriptions are — 
 
 (1) SEXIVLSEDATI 
 CROCODPACCIAN 
 
 (2) SEXIVLSEDATICRO 
 CODESDIALEPIDOS 
 
 (3) ... IVLSEDATICEO 
 . . . ESADDIATHES 
 
 These collyria were all of the class already mentioned as taking 
 its name crocodes from one of its ingredients, the crocus or saffron. 
 The first was distinguished by the name Paccianiim, from its 
 inventor, Paccius, a celebrated ancient oculist, several of whose 
 medicines, as well as this identical crocodes Paccianiim, are 
 mentioned by Galen. The crocodes dialepidos, the second on our 
 stamp, is also mentioned by the ancient medical writers, and 
 derived its name from the circumstance that it contained the 
 scales (AeTuSes) of burnt copper, or the black peroxide of that 
 metal. The second stamp in the British Museum, which is 
 evidently a mere fragment, bears the letters — 
 
 COLLYRT-CLOC 
 
 They are probably to be read collyrium post caliginem oculorum, 
 
 * This curious medicine stamp has been given more recently in Mr. Hartshorne's 
 Salopia Antiqua, where the inscription has been made less intelligible by placing 
 stops between the letters where there are none in the original. It is to be regretted 
 that in a book printed so late as the year 1841 a monument of this kind should be 
 designated as " an amuletal seal ; " and that we should be told that " it has hitherto 
 baffled the endeavours of those who have attempted to explain it." This stamp is 
 described as being a circular jadz stone, seven- eighths of an inch in diameter, and a 
 quarter of an inch thick. 
 
246 THE ROMANS. [chap. vii. 
 
 a collyrium to be used after an attack of dimness of the eyes. 
 The Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, at 
 Edinburgh, contains one of the oblong medicine stamps, which 
 was found at Tranent in East Lothian, near Inveresk, the site of 
 an extensive Roman town. It had belonged to an oculist named 
 Lucius Vallatinus. The two inscriptions are — 
 
 (1) LVALLATTNIEVODESADCI 
 CATRICESETASPRITVDIN 
 
 (2) LVALLATINIAPALOCRO 
 CODESADDIATHESIS 
 
 The first was the collyrium named evodes, and was a remedy 
 against cicatrices of the eyes and granulations of the eyelids. The 
 second was some modification of the usual character of the 
 crocodes (apalocrocodes), which has been interpreted " a mild 
 crocodes," used as a general remedy against affections of the 
 eyes — ad diatheses* The person who cut the inscription has 
 made an error in the termination of the last word. 
 
 It has been supposed by writers on the subject of these stamps, 
 that the various preparations were hardened with gum or some 
 viscid substance, and kept in a solid state to be liquefied with 
 fluids when required for use; the stamps being impressed just 
 before the medicines attained the last stage of solidification. 
 The Cirencester stamp is said to have been found in a Roman 
 urn, but no further particulars of the discovery have been pre- 
 served. It is a curious circumstance that Caylus (vol. vii. p. 261) 
 has given the rim of an earthen vessel marked by one of these 
 medicine stamps, which might be supposed to indicate that the 
 mark was intended to be placed on the vessel containing the 
 medicine, and not on the medicine itself. But this may have 
 arisen from some accident which we cannot now explain, and the 
 circumstances under which the stamps are generally found seem 
 to contradict such an inference. 
 
 Of Roman trades, in this island, we have fewer indications even 
 
 * An account of this stamp was first communicated by Mr. Daniel Wilson 
 (now Dr. Wilson), Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, to the 
 "Journal of the Archaeological Association," vol. v., p. 351, where an editorial 
 note has been added, somewhat hastily, to state that " diathesis can only imply a 
 particular state of the body disposing to any disease, and not mean the disease 
 itself." This is the use of the word in modern medicine, but the ancient physicians 
 used it in the sense of an affection or disease. It is often quite as useful to the 
 student in science to point out an error, as to state a truth. 
 
CHAP. VII.] 
 
 SIGN OF A GOLDSMITH'S SHOP. 
 
 247 
 
 than of professions. It is probable that the Roman tradesman 
 was seldom commemorated in a sepulchral inscription. Mr. 
 Roach Smith found in a very ancient rubbish-pit, deep under the 
 site of the Royal Exchange, in the city of London, the refuse 
 of the shops of Roman shoemakers, weavers, and workers in 
 other such handicrafts. I owe to the pencil of the same zealous 
 and skilful antiquary the sketch of a monument of a still more 
 remarkable character — the sign of a Roman goldsmith, still 
 remaining amid the ruins of a town at Old Malton in Yorkshire, 
 which probably represents the Roman Derventio. It is a large 
 stone, which has apparently been let into a wall, and bears on 
 
 Goldsmith's Sign, from Old Malton (Derventio?). 
 
 one face, within a label, an inscription which seems to commemo- 
 rate the shop of a goldsmith named Servulus. The inscription is 
 as follows — not very correct in its Latinity : — 
 
 FELICITERSIT 
 GENIO LOCI 
 SERVULE'VTERE 
 FELIXTABERN 
 AM AVREFI 
 CINAM 
 
 I have had occasion more than once to allude to the practice of 
 the Romans of invocating good fortune on every occasion.* The 
 
 * These invocations were used in private houses, as well as in shops, and are 
 sometimes joined with the name of the possessor. Thus, a mutilated Roman 
 
248 THE ROMANS. [chap. vn. 
 
 sign of an artisan here begins with an invocation to the presiding 
 genius or spirit of the locality, — a propitiation to the divinity of 
 the spot on which he settled, that his undertakings there might 
 prosper, — and next comes the wish that the owner of the shop 
 may have good fortune in his profession. Mr. Wellbeloved has 
 published the fragment of the commencement of an inscribed 
 stone, found at York, and containing the words — 
 
 GENIO LOCI 
 FELICITER 
 
 which he believed to be part of a votive tablet. But on com- 
 paring it with the complete inscription found at Old Mai ton, I 
 am inclined to think that this also may have formed part of a 
 tradesman's sign. 
 
 tesselated pavement found at Salzburg, in Germany, presented the following frag- 
 ment of an inscription (the name of the person is lost) : — 
 
 HIC HABITAT 
 
 NIHIL INTRET MALI 
 
 i. e. ( ) divells here — may nothing evil enter. This supports our interpre- 
 tation of the inscription on the Thruxton pavement. (See before, p. 204.) 
 
chap, vin.] THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN. 249 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Ethnological Character of the Roman Population of Britain — Countries from 
 which it was derived — The Auxiliary Troops — Names and Birthplaces of 
 Individuals — Traces of Languages ; Inscribed Pottery ; the Roundels found 
 at Colchester — Debased Latinity — Remains of the British Population. 
 
 When we contemplate these numerous towns and cities, so many 
 buildings and public works of all descriptions, manufactures and 
 monuments of art and science, our inquiries naturally return to 
 the people from whom they came, and we ask who were the 
 Eomans in Britain ? It is a question much more complicated in 
 its various bearings than it would appear at the first thought to 
 those who have not previously studied the subject. 
 
 When Rome first established colonies, they were composed 
 purely of Roman citizens, usually of veterans or soldiers, who, 
 having completed their time, were no longer compelled to serve, 
 except in defending the town and territory which was given to 
 them. The land of this territory was distributed among them. 
 Such was the foundation of Camulodunum [Colchester), as we 
 learn incidentally from the narrative of Tacitus. As their conquests 
 extended, the Roman legions, which still consisted of Italian 
 soldiers, were accompanied with numerous bodies of auxiliaries, or 
 troops raised from the different countries which had been succes- 
 sively subdued. It was a policy henceforth pursued with great 
 steadiness by the Roman conquerors to transplant, under the 
 name of auxiliaries, colonies from one nation to another, and 
 they thus not only made a gradual amalgamation of the different 
 peoples who composed the empire, but they established effective 
 defences without exhausting the central force.* Gradually, 
 
 * Cicero, in more passages than one, speaks of the Roman colonice as the 
 defences of the empire, propugnacula imperii. 
 
250 THE ROMANS. [chap. viii. 
 
 however, while destroying the nationalities of other peoples, Eome 
 lost its own nationality in the mass. Men from those very 
 nations upon whom ancient Rome had trampled as barbarians, 
 were made commanders in its armies, nobles in its senate, and 
 emperors on its throne. The Roman legions were now recruited 
 indiscriminately, and we shall have to point out officers of the 
 legions in Britain, who were natives of countries far distant from 
 Italy. 
 
 / Even with our present imperfect information, we can trace the 
 parcelling out of Britain among colonies of almost every people 
 who had been subdued by the Roman arms, and it must have 
 presented a strange assemblage of races.* l The Notitia Imperii, 
 composed under Theodosius the younger; and therefore at the 
 close of the Roman domination in Britain, gives us a rather long 
 list of the auxiliary nations who held the towns and stations along 
 the south-eastern and eastern coasts and in the north, the parts 
 then exposed to invasion by the Saxons and the Picts. Thus we 
 learn from that valuable record, that Othona (supposed to be the 
 lost town of Ythaucester, on the coast of Essex), was occupied by a 
 body of Fortensians, who came from the town of Fortia in Asiatic 
 Sarmatia. Dubras (Dover) was held by Tungricanians, supposed 
 to be only another form or an error of the scribe for Tungrians. At 
 the Portus Lemanis (Lymne) there were Gauls from Tornacum 
 (Tournay). The Abulci, a Spanish people, held Anderida 
 (Pevensey). At Regulbium {Revolver) was the first cohort of 
 Vetasians, or Betasians, from Belgic Gaul. On the coasts of 
 Suffolk and Norfolk, we find Stablesians, perhaps a tribe from 
 Germany, at Garriannonum [Burgh Castle), and Dalmatians at 
 Branodunum (Brancaster). There were Dalmatians, again, at 
 Presidium (Brougliton, in Lincolnshire) ; Crispians, from a town 
 named Crispiana in Pannonia, at Danum (Doncaster) ; a people 
 called Barcarii Tigrienses, perhaps from Africa, at Arbeia 
 (Moresby ?) ; and Nervians, from Belgium, at Dictis (Ambleside ?). 
 Returning eastward again, we find Solenses, from Cilicia, at 
 Maglone (supposed by Horsley to be Gretabridge) ; and Pacen- 
 sians from Lusitania or Portugal, at Magae (Piercebridge). 
 Along the line of Hadrian's Wall, the inhabitants of the different 
 
 * I here use tbe word colony, not in its Roman legal sense, but to signify any 
 town or settlement formed in one country by a body of people from another. 
 
chap, vhl] DIFFERENT RACES IN ROMAN BRITAIN. 251 
 
 towns were still more varied in their races. Segedunum (Wallsend) 
 was occupied by Lingones from Belgium ; Pons iElii (Newcastle) 
 by a people called Cornovii ; Condercum (Benwell) by Asturians 
 from Spain ; Vindobala (Rutchester) by Frixagi ; Hunnum 
 (Halton Chesters) by a tribe whose name has not been preserved ; 
 Cilurnum (Chesters) by another body of Spanish Asturians ; Pro- 
 colitia (Carrawburgh) by Batavians ; Borcovicus (Housesteads) by 
 Tungrians ; Vindolana (Chesterholm) by Gauls ; iEsica (Great 
 Chesters) by another colony of Asturians ; Magna (Carvoran) by 
 Dalmatians ; Amboglanna (Birdoswald) by Dacians ; Petriana 
 (Cambeck-fort) by Tungrians ; Aballaba (Watch-cross ?) by Moors ; 
 Conga vata (Stamvicks) by Lingones ; Axelodunum (Burgh-on-the- 
 Sands) by Spaniards ; Gabrosentis (Drumburgh) by Thracians. 
 There were Morini from Gaul at Glannibanta (a town of uncertain 
 site) ; Nervians at Alionis (Whitley Castle) and at Virosidum 
 (Ellenborough). 
 
 These are the different races established in Britain mentioned 
 in the Notitia, because, by their position and the circumstances 
 of the time, they were obliged to be on active duty. We must 
 not, however, imagine that they were bodies of troops in temporary 
 quarters which could be changed at pleasure, for inscriptions on 
 altars and tombstones, found on many of these sites, show us 
 that they had remained in the same place from a very early 
 period of the Roman occupation of the island, and some monu- 
 mental stones are stated to have been set up by the heir or heirs 
 of the deceased (hares, haredes\ which seems sufficient to prove 
 that they were possessors of the land. No doubt the colonists of 
 these towns were accompanied or followed by relations and 
 friends, and as evidently they were recruited from their own 
 countries, they must have gone on increasing and strengthening 
 themselves. They were all, however, obedient to Roman laws 
 and institutions, used the Latin tongue, and had indeed become 
 entirely Romanised, as we shall see more and more fully in sub- 
 sequent chapters. 
 
 Many others of the races, who thus colonised towns in Britain, 
 are now unknown, though a few from time to time are recovered 
 by the discovery of inscribed stones. In different places in 
 Cumberland there appear to have been Gauls, Dacians, and 
 Lingonians. A people called the Carvetii are found at Old 
 Penrith. Spaniards, Dalmatians, and Betasians were established 
 
252 THE KOMANS. [chap. Yin. 
 
 at, or in the neighbourhood, of Ellenborough. At Brougham, 
 -there were Germans. In Scotland, inscriptions mention the 
 Tungrians in several places ; Gauls at Cramond and at Castlehill 
 on the Wall of Autoninus ; Spaniards at Ardoch ; Thracians ; 
 Hamii from the Elbe, at Barhill fort on Antoninus 's Wall ; 
 Nervians, Germans, and Cugerni, a people of Belgic Gaul, 
 between the Ubii and the Batavi. The Roman town at Risingham, 
 Habitancum, was held by the Vangiones, a people from the 
 banks of the Rhine. The Varduli, from the foot of the Pyrenees 
 in Spain, were established at Bremenium (Riechester), and they 
 are mentioned also in an inscription found at Epiacum (Lan- 
 chester). An inscription found at Bowes, in Yorkshire, proves 
 that that site, the Roman Lavatrse, was held by Thracians. In 
 Lancashire, Coccium (Ribchester) was a settlement of Sarmatians, 
 while Mancunium (Manchester) was a colony of Frisians, called, 
 in the inscriptions, Frisingi, Frisones, and Frisavi. The latter 
 seem to have found some difficulty in expressing the name of 
 their country in the language of their conquerors. If we descend 
 towards the south, Uriconium (Wroxeter) appears to have been 
 occupied by Thracians ; Cirencester by Thracians and Indians. 
 The rarity of inscriptions in the midland and southern towns 
 renders it at present impossible to identify the races from which 
 they severally drew the nucleus of their population. 
 
 We see still more how people from all parts of the world came 
 to intermingle in our island, when we compare their names as 
 they occur in inscriptions. Thus, in one of the inscriptions 
 found at Cirencester, Dannicus, who belonged to the Indian 
 Cavalry stationed there, was a citizen of Rauricum, in Switzerland. 
 Sextus Valerius Genialis, the subject of another monument at 
 Cirencester, w r ho belonged to the Thracian cavalry, was a Frisian. 
 Titus Domitius Heron, prefect of the second cohort of Gauls at 
 Old Penrith in Cumberland, came from Nicomedia of Bithynia 
 in Asia Minor. iEmilius Crispin us, prefect of the ala Augusta 
 at Old Carlisle, was a native of Tusdrus, in Africa (natus in 
 provincia Africa de Tusdro). Publius iElius, also prefect of the 
 ala Augusta at Old Carlisle, was a native of Mursa, in Lower 
 Pannonia (de Mursa ex Panuonia inferior e). Marcus Censorius, 
 prefect of the cohort of Spaniards at Ellenborough, was of Nimes, 
 in Gaul (ex provincia Narbonensi domo Nemausensis). Lucius 
 Duccius, an officer buried at York, was of Vienna, in Gaul. 
 
chap, viil] DIFFERENT RACES IN ROMAN BRITAIN. 253 
 
 Flavius Longus, a tribune of the twentieth legion at Chester, 
 was a native of Samosata, in Syria, the birth-place of Lucian. 
 An individual mentioned in an inscription at Lincoln, named 
 Nominius Sacer,the son of Bruscus, was of the tribe of the Senones, 
 in Gaul (civis Senonii). Caius Valerius, standard bearer of the 
 second legion at Caerleon, was a native of Lugdunum, in Gaul 
 (Lyons). Julius Vitalis, the fabriciensis of the twentieth legion, 
 commemorated in the celebrated inscription found near Bath, was 
 a Belgian (natione Belga). Caius Murrius, of the second legion, 
 also buried at Bath, was a native of Forum Julii, in Gaul 
 (Frejus). Caius Cornelius Peregrinus, the tribune of a cohort at 
 Maryport, in Cumberland, was a native of Mauritania (ex provincia 
 Mauritania Ccesariensis domo Se . . . . the name of the town is 
 broken off). Cornelius Victor, a soldier of the Gauls of Vindolana 
 at Chesterholm, was a citizen of Pannonia (civis Pannonice). 
 Although the Barbarians frequently assumed a Roman name, 
 yet in the inscriptions found in Britain we often meet with 
 names which betray their provincial origin. Such are Blescius 
 Diovicus, probably the name of a Gaul, found in an inscription 
 at Eisingham ; Titus Oisedio, at Cambeck-fort ; Menius Dada, 
 at Carvoran ; Audagus, at Brougham ; Iminius Honius Ter- 
 tullus, a Gaul, at Cramond, in Scotland ; Marcus Decius Vocon- 
 ticus, also in Scotland; and Fabius Bera, in the same country. 
 Caius Antiochus Lysimachus, commemorated in a Greek inscrip- 
 tion in Scotland ; Hermagora, at Riechester ; and a worshipper of 
 Astarte named Pulcher, at Corbridge, were no doubt Greeks. 
 
 When we contemplate the facility with which the Romans 
 moulded the nations they had conquered to their own government 
 and manners, we feel inclined to doubt the existence among the 
 ancients of those deeply implanted sentiments of nationality 
 which are observed in modern times. The moment a new 
 country was subdued, its inhabitants seem to have rivalled one 
 another in their eagerness to become Romanised, and to 
 have soon relinquished the manners, the worship, and even the 
 language which they had received from their forefathers. Yet it 
 was hardly possible that here and there some sentiment of 
 attachment for the land of nativity and its recollections should 
 not outlive the change, some confession of the influence of old 
 superstition, some remains of reverence for the gods of their 
 ancient land, or some remembrance of friends, or places, or 
 
254 THE ROMANS. [chap. vm. 
 
 language. We have seen how often the original country of the 
 deceased was commemorated on his tombstone. Perhaps, if we 
 examine closely the names of Romano- British towns, and could 
 compare them extensively with those of the countries from which 
 their founders came, we should find, as in British America at the 
 present day, that they also were more or less commemorative of 
 the land they had left.* Instances have also been met with 
 among the Roman remains found in Britain, of inscriptions 
 rudely scratched on cups and bowls, and other articles, in 
 languages of which we are now ignorant. Some of these are in 
 the possession of Mr. Roach Smith, and have been pronounced by an 
 oriental scholar, I think somewhat hastily, to be Arabic. Perhaps 
 we should look rather for the language in which they are written, 
 to Spain or Africa. I believe these inscriptions have been found 
 chiefly in London and at Exeter. At Colchester, a very curious 
 class of antiquities has been found, the use of which is not very 
 apparent. These are thin roundels of reddish earthenware, on 
 the surface of which inscriptions — usually names or numerals — 
 and figures of animals, &c, have been scratched. It has been 
 conjectured that these may have been tickets of admission to the 
 theatre or amphitheatre. One of them has a roughly drawn 
 Egyptian cartouche, with a name in hieroglyphics, a proof that 
 there was at least one Egyptian resident at Camulodunum. 
 Others appear to be Hebrew. 
 
 It is also to be noticed, as illustrating the variety of race which 
 here passed under the name of Romans, that the inscriptions 
 not unfrequently contain errors in spelling and in Latinity, 
 which seem to show that they were composed by persons whose 
 mother tongue was not Latin. In an inscription at Caerleon an 
 adjective in the feminine gender is joined with a masculine name. 
 In an inscription found in Cumberland we have domu instead of 
 domo. We find still more frequently such errors as numeni for 
 niimini, aginte for agente, and the like, which show the Latin 
 tongue spoken by a people whose pronunciation was organically 
 
 * It has often struck me that we ought to look for the derivation of the names 
 of the Roman towns in Britain rather from the countries from which the settlers 
 came, than from the presumed language of the original Celtic population. Thus 
 we know that Ahallaha in the North was a colony of Moors, and certainly the 
 name sounds Moorish. Some of the names of Roman towns in Britain are 
 identical with towns on the continent, from which the settlers may have heen 
 Drought. 
 
chap, vhi.] THE NATIVE BRITOXS. 255 
 
 different from that of the Bomans. Thus we trace, at this early 
 period, one of the causes which led to the formation of the neo- 
 latin dialects of the middle ages. 
 
 Among this variety of races, we are led naturally to inquire what 
 had become of the original Britons? What portion of the population 
 of the island did they form ? Unfortunately we are entirely wanting 
 in the materials for solving so interesting a question. It appears 
 that British troops served as auxiliaries in the Boman army in 
 Britain during the wars of Agricola; and we know that they 
 afterwards served thus in various parts of the Boman empire, 
 though it seems contrary to the Boman policy to have employed 
 them thus in their native land. Horsley gives a fragment of a 
 votive tablet found at Castlecary in Scotland, on which was traced 
 the word beitton ; and another was found at Ebchester in 
 Durham, dedicated to the goddess Minerva by Julius Gneneius, 
 who is styled actvaeivs cohoetis iiii. be, but the last letter 
 appears to have been doubtful. Inscriptions are said also to 
 have been found in the north conveying the words civitas do^txi, 
 
 CIVITAS DVMXON, C1VITATE CATUVELLAV^'OEVM, and CIVITAT BEICIC, 
 
 signifying that the British tribes thus indicated were employed 
 in the erection of Hadrian's Wall. This would show that at that 
 period they were still allowed a certain degree of political existence. 
 But this no doubt was soon taken from them, and the few 
 glimpses we have of the earlier period of their history would 
 seem to show that they were gradually reduced to the lowest 
 degree of dependence. In the towns of the legions or of the 
 auxiliaries they would not be allowed to enjoy any rights, and it 
 is probable that in the latter part of the Boman period the 
 British blood in the south was found chiefly in the peasantry. 
 The name of Britons was then applied almost exclusively to the 
 independent tribes of Caledonia. 
 
256 THE ROMAN'S, [chap. ix. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Religious Worship of the Romans in Britain — Roman chief Deities : Jupiter^ 
 Mars, Apollo, Minerva, Ceres, &c. — The eight Deities — Lesser Deities : 
 Silvanus, iEsculapius — Grecian and Eastern Deities ; the Tyrian Hercules, 
 Mythras, Serapis — The Nymphs and Genii, Fortune, and Deified Personifi- 
 cations — Deities of the Auxiliary Races : the Deae Matres, Viteres or 
 Vitris, Belatucadrus, Cocidius, Mogontis, &c. — Did Christianity prevail or 
 exist in Roman Britain ? 
 
 No characteristics of races are more permanent than their reli- 
 gious belief and superstitions, and we may expect in these, if in 
 anything, to perceive some traces of the original peoples who 
 formed the Roman state of Britain through the outward covering 
 of Roman forms. Our expectations in this respect will not be 
 entirely disappointed, for amid the immense numbers of altars 
 found in this island dedicated to the gods of Rome, we find some 
 dedicated to deities whose names are new to us, and who, there 
 can be little doubt, belonged to the distant province to which the 
 auxiliary owed his birth. We know how tolerant in this respect 
 the Roman mythology ever showed itself, and though, as a matter 
 of course, those who served under its banners were bound to 
 show reverence to Rome's gods, they were not restricted from 
 offering homage to those who had been worshipped by their own 
 forefathers. 
 
 We have already stated that almost every town, or station, had 
 its temple, or more usually, its temples, dedicated to different 
 deities. Of these, as far as discoveries have yet gone, few traces 
 now remain. The materials of which they were built were too 
 valuable in subsequent ages to remain untouched, and the stones 
 were cleared away, and their sculptures and inscriptions defaced 
 by mediaeval builders. Immense quantities of altars shared the 
 same fate, and the great number of these monuments which still 
 
chap, ix.] ALTARS AND SACRIFICIAL IMPLEMENTS. 257 
 
 exist, shows beyond a doubt how very numerous they must have 
 been. In the wild country along the line of Hadrian's Wall, 
 where they have escaped destruction in greater numbers than 
 elsewhere, it was a practice among the peasantry, even within the 
 memory of man, to chip away the sculptures and inscriptions 
 wherever they found them, because they associated them in their 
 minds with notions of magic and witchcraft. The altars to the 
 different deities — especially to the lesser objects of worship — 
 seem to have been placed within the temples of the superior gods 
 in the same manner that the saints had their chapels and shrines 
 in the Komish churches ; and they were perhaps also placed in 
 the open air, by the forum, or on the roadside, or in the 
 cemeteries, like the Eomish crosses. 
 
 The Koman altar consisted usually of a rectangular block of 
 stone, with an inscription in front. On each side were carved 
 ornaments, ususually representing the instruments of sacrifice, the 
 prafericulum, or pitcher, which contained the wine for the offering ; 
 the patera, a dish with a handle, used for throwing a portion of 
 the wine upon the altar ; the securis, or axe, with which the 
 animal was slain ; and the cutter, or knife, used in cutting it up ; 
 with a figure of the whole or part of the victim, usually the head 
 of an ox. Sometimes other figures were introduced, emblematical 
 of the deity to whom the altar was dedicated, or relating perhaps 
 in some cases to the dedicator. The back of the altar is usually 
 rough, which shows that it was intended to be placed against 
 a wall. The upper part was the most elaborately ornamented, 
 and in the middle of the upper surface a basin-shaped cavity was 
 sunk in the stone, called the focus (or hearth), which received 
 the portion of the victim that was offered up in sacrifice, and 
 burnt in the fire kindled in the focus. The inscription set forth 
 first the deity to whom the altar was dedicated, next the name 
 and condition of the dedicator, and often concluded with stating 
 the cause of dedication. This was usually a vow. 
 
 This description will be best understood by comparison with 
 the annexed cut, which represents a Eoman altar dedicated 
 to Jupiter, found at Tynemouth, in Northumberland, and now 
 preserved in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of London. 
 It was dedicated by the prefect of the fourth cohort of Lingones, 
 which, we are informed by the Notitia, was stationed at Sege- 
 dunum, usually placed at Wallsend, of which Tynemouth is, 
 
258 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. IX. 
 
 probably, the site of an advanced outpost ; or, perhaps, it may 
 have been carried from the ruins of Segedunum, as materials for 
 the foundations of the celebrated monastery at the mouth of the 
 Tyne. On one side, which is concealed in the perspective view, but 
 given in the side sketch, are seen the prof ericulum, the securis, or 
 
 Altar to Jupiter, found at Tynemouth. 
 
 axe, and the culter, or knife, with the usual ox's head. On the 
 other side is the patera, supported by two serpents, which had no 
 doubt a symbolical signification. The inscription commences 
 with the ordinary initials of dedication to the chief deity of the 
 mythology of Rome, I. o. m., and must be read as follows : — 
 
 TJOVl] 0[PTIM0] M[AXIMO] 
 
 ael[ivs] rvfvs 
 pr^f[ectvs] coh[ortis] 
 ilii lingo 
 
 jstvm 
 
 To Jupiter the best and greatest, 
 
 JElius Rufus 
 
 the prefect of cohort the 
 
 fourth of the Lingo- 
 
 nes. 
 
 Numerous inscriptions to Jupiter have been found in Britain, 
 which show that all the various races brought together in this 
 island joined in worshipping the chief deity of Rome. We have 
 
chap, ix.] WORSHIP OF JUPITER. 259 
 
 just seen that he was reverenced by the Lingones at Wallsend. 
 An altar found at Birdoswald (Amboglanna), was dedicated to 
 Jupiter by the Dacians; another, found at Canibeck-fort (Petriana), 
 was dedicated to the same deity by the Tungrians ; and a third, 
 found at Maryport, by the Spaniards. Other altars dedicated to 
 Jupiter have been found at Auchindavy, in Scotland; at Old Carlisle 
 (Olenacnm); at Chesterholrn (Vindolana), dedicated by Gauls ; at 
 Housesteads (Borcovicus), by the Tungrians ; at Ellenborough 
 (Virosidum), by Spaniards; at Plumpton Wall (uncertain), by Gauls ; 
 at Xetherby [Castra explo rat L orum); at Lanercost and Bew T castle 
 (uncertain), all by Dacians ; at Lanchester (Ejnacwn) ; at Chester 
 (Deva), by-^the twentieth legion; at Caerleon (Isca), by the 
 second legion, and at York by the sixth legion. Many others 
 might be added to the list. In some of these altars the deity is 
 distinguished by peculiar appellations, or is joined with others. 
 Three altars have been found in Britain dedicated to Jupiter 
 Dolichenus, One of these was found in the middle of the 
 seventeenth century in the neighbourhood of Caerleon, at a place 
 named St. Julians, and was read as follows : — 
 
 iovi.o.m. dolichv To Jupiter the best and greatest, 
 
 i. ox.° aemeliasys the Dolichene, ^Emilianus 
 
 calpyrniys Calpurnius 
 
 ryfiliaxys . . .EC Rufilianus (dedicates this) by 
 
 aygystorym the emperors ' 
 
 moxiiv direction. 
 
 There appears to have been a peculiar aptness in the epithet as 
 used in this locality, which was on the edge of the great iron 
 district. Reinesius has printed an inscription found at Rome 
 which describes this title as bearing reference to a place where 
 iron was produced : — 
 
 IOYI OPTIMO MAXIMO DOLYCHEXO 
 YEI EEREYM XASCITYR C SEMPRO 
 NIVS RECTY3 CENT YII FRYMEXTARIYS 
 D D 
 
 " The Doliche," Mr. Roach Smith observes,* "which gives the 
 name of Dolichenus to Jupiter, was most probably the town of 
 that name in Macedonia, a country which, Strabo says, abounded 
 in iron ; and to this Doliche, the words in the last inscription, 
 ubi ferritin nascitur. where iron is produced, seem more applicable, 
 
 * In the first number of his Collectanea^ "where he has published some other 
 inscriptions to Jupiter Dolichenus. 
 
 s 2 
 
260 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 than to Dolichenes, a city of Commagene, in Asia, whence, 
 according to Stephanus, this name was derived." Two other 
 altars dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus are published by Horsley, 
 one found in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, in the midst of the 
 coal district, where remains of ancient coal-mines have been 
 found, the other at Risingham (Habitancum). 
 
 Early in the seventeenth century, an altar was found at Chester 
 dedicated to Jupiter under the name or epithet of Tanarus : — 
 
 I. o. m. tanaro To Jupiter, best and greatest, Tanarus, 
 
 T. elvpivs galer Titus Elupius Galerius 
 
 praesens gvntia Praesens, of Guntia (a town in Vindelicia), 
 
 pri. leg. xx vv prefect of the twentieth legion, styled valens victrix, 
 
 commodo et Commodus and 
 
 laterano Lateranus 
 
 cos being consuls, 
 
 v. s. L. M. performed his vow willingly and dutifully. 
 
 The date of this inscription is fixed, by the names of the consuls, 
 in the year 154. It is curious for several reasons. Tanarus is 
 supposed, and apparently with good reason, to be the Teutonic 
 Thunar, the Scandinavian Thor, whose name is preserved in our 
 Thursday, and who is always identified with the classic Jupiter. 
 It thus shows the influence of Teutonic feelings in England at a 
 very early period. 
 
 Jupiter is often combined in these inscriptions with other 
 deities or objects of worship. An altar found at Chesterholm, in 
 Northumberland (Vindolana), is dedicated by Quintus Petronius, 
 praefect of the Gauls established there, Jovi optimo maximo 
 ccBterisque diis immortalibus et genio jprcetorii — to Jupiter, best and 
 greatest, and to the rest of the immortal gods, and to the genius 
 of the pretorium. A centurion of the second legion dedicated an 
 altar, found at i^uchindavy, in Scotland, to Jupiter and Victoria 
 victrix — Victory the vanquisher. An altar found at York bore 
 the following inscription : — 
 
 i. o. w. To Jupiter best and greatest, 
 
 Dis . deabvsqve and to the gods and goddesses 
 
 hospitalibvs . pe who preside over the household, 
 
 natibvsq . obcon and to the penates, for the 
 
 servatam . salvtem preservation of the health 
 
 svam . svorvmq of himself and his family, 
 
 p . ael . marcian Publius JElius Marcianus, 
 
 vs . praef . coh praefect of a cohort, 
 
 aram . sac . F . nc . D. dedicated and consecrated this altar. 
 
chap, ix.] JUPITER AND MARS. 261 
 
 Even the emperor himself was thus associated with the deity. 
 At Housesteads, on the Wall of Hadrian {Borcovicus), an altar 
 has been found with the inscription — 
 
 I. o. m. To Jupiter the best and greatest, 
 
 et nvminibvs and the deities 
 
 avg coh i tv of Augustus, the first cohort 
 
 ngrorvm of the Tungrians, 
 
 mil cvi praee a military one, commanded 
 
 st q verivs by Quintus Verius 
 
 svperstis Superstis, 
 
 praefectvs its prsefect. 
 
 " The emperor himself," as Mr. Bruce observes, "is probably 
 intended by this phrase, not the gods whom the emperor wor- 
 shipped. The use of the noun in the plural number, numina, is 
 not opposed to this view. Horsley remarks that niunina is 
 frequently, in classical writers, applied to a particular deity ; thus 
 we have numina Diance in Horace, and numina Plusbi in Virgil. 
 The emperors, we know, were frequently worshipped as gods. 
 The Mantuan bard, addressing Augustus, has no doubt of his 
 divinity, though he knows not what region to assign to his 
 especial care : — 
 
 . . . . urbesne invisere Csesar, 
 Terrarumque velis curam ; . . . . 
 An deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautae 
 Numina sola colant." 
 
 Other altars have been found in Britain dedicated to Jupiter 
 et numinibus Augusti, or Augustorum. 
 
 Perhaps, after Jupiter, the deity most extensively worshipped 
 in Roman Britain was Mars, which is easily explained by the 
 military character of the mass of the settlers. Mars, like Jupiter, 
 is often coupled with other divinities, and distinguished by 
 various epithets. At Benwell (Condercum), an altar was found 
 dedicated to Mars, the conqueror and avenger — deo Marti victori 
 vindici. An altar was dedicated by the Bsetasii at Ellenborough 
 to the military Mars, — Marti militari — which we should imagine 
 to be an unnecessary epithet. One found at Lanchester (Epiacum), 
 was dedicated Marti Augusti, to Mars of Augustus. An altar 
 found at Kibchester (Coccium), was dedicated deo Marti et Victoria 
 dominorum Augustorum — to the god Mars and Victory of the 
 emperors. Another altar found at the same place was dedicated 
 
262 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 Marti pacifero — to Mars the peace-bearer. Among several altars 
 dedicated by a Koman officer named Cocceius Firmus, and 
 found at Auchindavy, in Scotland, was one with the following 
 inscription : — 
 
 marti To Mars, 
 
 MINERVAE to Minerva, 
 
 campestbi to the deities of the fields, 
 
 bvs hero. . . to Hero, 
 
 epona to Epona, 
 
 victortae to Victory, 
 
 M coccei Marcus Cocceius 
 
 firmvs Firmus, 
 
 leg II avg centurion of the second legion 
 
 called Augusta. 
 
 A singular epithet is given to Mars on an altar found at 
 Haddon Hall, in Derbyshire, with the following inscription : — 
 
 DEO 
 
 To the god 
 
 MARTI 
 
 Mars 
 
 BRACIACAE 
 
 Braciaca, 
 
 OSITTIVS 
 
 Osittius 
 
 CAECTLIAN 
 
 Csecilianus, 
 
 PRAEFECT 
 
 prsefect 
 
 COH I AQVITANI 
 
 of the first cohort of the Aquitani, 
 
 V. S 
 
 in performance of a vow. 
 
 Horsley supposes that Braciaca is the name of a place. Other 
 epithets, or synonyms, applied to Mars, will be mentioned 
 further on. Altars dedicated to this god have also been found at 
 Lanchester, Castlesteads, Lancaster, and other places. 
 
 Dedications to Apollo, in his simple classical character, are of 
 rarer occurrence. One found on the line of Hadrian's Wall 
 bears the following inscription : — 
 
 deo apol To the god Apollo 
 
 ini et o. N and all the deities, 
 
 sinis expl the left wing of exploratores, or guides, 
 
 cvi PR svlp under the command of Sulpicius, 
 
 votvm s in discharge of a vow 
 
 L. l. m. most willingly and dutifully (dedicates 
 this). 
 
 An altar found at Eibchester (Coccium), dedicated to this deity, 
 is more curious, though somewhat more obscure. It was first 
 described by Camden, and the inscription very incorrectly copied, 
 and it was afterwards supposed to be lost, till Dr. Whitaker 
 
chap, ix.] APOLLO ; DIANA ; MINERVA. 263 
 
 discovered it in 1815 among the antiquarian treasures of Salesbury 
 Hall. The inscription, as copied by Dr. Whitaker, runs thus — 
 
 deo sancto To the holy god 
 
 APOLLONI APONO Apollo ApOllUS, 
 
 ob salviem dn for the health of our lord (the emperor), 
 
 al eq sarm the wing of Sarmatian horse 
 
 breneten of Brenetum, (?) 
 
 svb dianio under Dianius 
 
 antonino Antoninus, 
 
 o leg vi v centurion of the sixth legion, called 
 
 ic domv the conquering, his native town 
 
 eliber was Eliber. 
 
 The god is said to have received his appellation of Aponus, from 
 the Fontes Aponi, warm springs near Padua, at a place still 
 called Poni, which were celebrated for their medicinal qualities. 
 At Inveresk, in Scotland, an altar has been found dedicated to 
 Apollo Grannus ; and at Auchindavy there was one dedicated 
 conjointly to Apollo and Diana. An altar and the dedication of 
 a temple to Diana, have been found at Caerleon (Isca). 
 
 Altars to the female deities of Rome are not numerous among 
 those hitherto found in Britain. I am not aware of any instance 
 of a dedication to Venus, but I believe there is one to Juno. 
 Minerva occurs on several occasions. Under the title of 
 Suliminerva she had a magnificent temple at Bath [Aqua Solis), 
 the inscription on which was restored by Lysons. There was a 
 temple to Minerva at Ribchester (Coccium), the dedication of 
 which was commemorated in an inscription found there in 1811,* 
 Minerva is joined with Neptune in the celebrated inscription 
 relating to the dedication of a temple at Chichester (Regnum). 
 A small altar found at Rochester, in Northumberland (Bremenium), 
 was dedicated to Minerva in the following simple inscription : — 
 
 DEAE Ml 
 
 To the goddess 
 
 NERVE IVL 
 
 Minerva, Julius 
 
 CARANTVS 
 
 Carantus 
 
 S. C. 
 
 dedicated this. 
 
 Minerva is joined with Mars in an inscription already mentioned 
 as found at Auchindavy, in Scotland. At Kirk Haugh, in 
 
 * DEAE MINERVAE PRO SALVTE IMP ALEXANDRI AVG ET IVLI MAMMEAE MATRIS 
 DN ET CASTR SVOR ET VAL CRESCENTIS FVLVIANI LEG EIVS PP PR PR T FLORIDVS 
 NATAL1S LEG PRAEP N ET REGINAE TEMPLVM A SOLO EX RESPONSV RESTITVIT KT 
 DEDICAVIT. 
 
264 
 
 THE KOMANS. 
 
 [chap. IX. 
 
 Northumberland, an altar was discovered, dedicated dece- Minerva 
 et Herculi victori — to the goddess Minerva, and to Hercules the 
 conqueror. But perhaps the most curious inscription found in 
 this country, is a slab discovered in 1816 at Carvoran [Magna), 
 containing an inscription relating to the goddess Ceres, consisting 
 of a sort of mystical declaration of the creed of a Roman tribune 
 composed in iambic verse. The annexed cut, taken from 
 
 ;!|ljnVG MAXCVSCAFCifMDOl 
 
 Inscription to Ceres, found ac Carvoran (Magna). 
 
 Mr. Bruce's work on the Roman wall, represents this slab and its 
 inscription, which, arranged properly in lines, is as follows : — 
 
 Imminet leoni virgo cselesti situ 
 Spicifera, justi inventrix, urbium conditrix, 
 Ex quis muneribus nosse contigit deos. 
 Ergo eadem mater divum, pax, virtus, Ceres ; 
 Dea Syria ; lance vitam et jura pensitaus. 
 In cselo visum Syria sidus edidit 
 Lybise colendum, inde cuncti didicimus ; 
 Ita intellexit, numine inductus tuo, 
 Marcus Csecilius Donatinus, militans 
 Tribunus in prsefecto dono principis. 
 
chap, ix.] CERES; MERCURY; THE PLANETS. 265 
 
 It has been thus translated by Mr. Bruce : — 
 
 The Virgin in her celestial seat overhangs the Lion, 
 
 Producer of corn, inventress of right, foundress of cities, 
 
 By which functions it has been our good fortune to know the deities. 
 
 Therefore the same Virgin is the mother of the gods, is peace, is virtue, 
 
 is Ceres; 
 Is the Syrian goddess, poising life and laws in a balance. 
 The constellation beheld in the sky hath Syria sent forth 
 To Lybia to be worshipped, thence have all of us learnt it ; 
 Thus hath understood, overspread by thy protecting influence, 
 Marcus Csecilius Donatinus, a warfaring 
 Tribune in the office of prefect, by the bounty of the emperor. 
 
 " Caecilius," as Mr. Bruce observes, " probably prepared this 
 exposition of his faith on being admitted into the mysteries of 
 Ceres." An altar dedicated to the goddess under one of the 
 titles here mentioned — deae svkiae — was found at Little 
 Chesters, in Northumberland ; it was raised by an officer of one 
 of the auxiliary cohorts, named Aulus Licinius Clemens, in the 
 propraBtorship of Calpurnius Agricola, that is, between the years 
 162 and 180. 
 
 Mercury is often figured among Roman remains found in this 
 island, and an altar was found at Birrens in Scotland, dedi- 
 cated to this deity by Julius Cerealis Censorinus, image-maker 
 of the college of the ligniferi, which appear to have been a 
 religious order attached to the worship of the gods, and the 
 occupation of Cerealis was to make their statues. — 
 
 deo mercy To the god Mercury, 
 
 Rio iyl crs Julius Cerealis 
 
 cens sigill Censorinus, image-maker 
 
 col lign cvlt of the college of ligniferi, his worshippers, 
 
 eivs dsd gave it at his own cost, 
 
 Y. s. L. m. in performance of a vow willingly and dutifully. 
 
 Mercury appears to have been the favourite deity of this college, 
 for they also dedicated a statue of Mercury to the god and to the 
 emperor — niunini Augustideo Mercurio. 
 
 We have already seen how the principal deities were often 
 combined together, or with others. One of these combinations, 
 which was very popular, consisted of the deities who presided 
 over the days of the week — the signa or planets — combined with 
 another to make up the number eight. They were Sol, or 
 Apollo, who presided over Sunday (dies Solis) ; the moon, or 
 Diana, for Monday; Mars, for Tuesday; Mercury, for Wednesday; 
 
266 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 Jupiter, for Thursday; Venus, for f Friday ; and Saturn, for 
 Saturday. They are thus enumerated in an " eclogue," or 
 epigram of Ausonius : — 
 
 Primum supremumque diem radiatus habet sol ; 
 Proxima fraternae succedit Luna coronse ; 
 Tertius assequitur Titania lumina Mavors ; 
 Mercurius quarti sibi vindicat astra diei ; 
 Inlustrant quint am Jo vis aurea sidera zonam ; 
 Sexta salutigerum sequitur Venus alma parentem ; 
 Cuncta supergrediens Saturni septima lux est ; 
 Oetavum instaurat revolubilis orbita Solem. 
 
 In most of the Eoman monuments the week commences with 
 Saturn (Saturday), and not, as in Ausonius, with Sol (Sunday). 
 A fragment of an octagonal monument in stone, sculptured with 
 the eight deities, which long lay neglected in a blacksmith's 
 shop at Chesterford, in Essex, and is now in the British Museum, 
 contains four of these figures, namely, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, 
 and Venus. It is a curious circumstance that at the same 
 station, Chesterford, portions of two of the indented earthenware 
 vessels made in the Durobrivian potteries have been found, which 
 had the eight deities figured in eight indentations. In the volume 
 of the " Magna Britannia " of Lysons for Cumberland, are 
 engravings of sculptures, in rather superior workmanship, of 
 deities found at Plumpton Wall, which appear also to have 
 belonged to the eight deities. They are represented in the 
 tesselated pavement of what has been called the Medusa room, in 
 the Roman villa at Bramdean, in Hampshire. Mr. Roach Smith 
 possesses a very curious bronze forceps, found in the bed of the 
 Thames, the purpose of which is by no means evident ; but 
 representations of these planetary deities in busts are arranged 
 on the two parallel shanks. They commence at the bottom of 
 the left shank with Saturn, and conclude at the bottom of the 
 opposite side with the bust of a female divinity, supposed to be 
 Ceres, which completes the number eight. It is from this 
 number that the French still call the week huit jours, and the 
 Germans acht tage. We have ourselves preserved the reckoning 
 of our Saxon forefathers, and instead of calling the week huit jours, 
 and the two weeks quinze jours, with the French, we call them 
 sennight (seven nights), and fortnight (fourteen nights). Mr. 
 Roach Smith, who has given some remarks on these deities in the 
 
chap, ix.] THE PLANETS; SILVANUS. 267 
 
 second volume of his " Collectanea," informs us that there is, " in 
 the Museum at Mayence, a votive altar, found at Castel, on the 
 opposite side of the Rhine, which belongs to the same class of 
 mythic representations as those on the Bramdean pavement and 
 the forceps. This monument is about three feet and a half high, 
 and is divided into two parts, the lower of which is quadrilateral ; 
 the upper, of smaller dimensions, octagonal. On the former are 
 sculptured the full-length figures of Mercury, Hercules, Minerva, 
 and Juno ; the latter contains busts of Saturn, Sol, Luna, Mars, 
 Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus ; the eighth compartment is 
 inscribed in h d d, in honor em domits divinoe. Over the left 
 shoulder of Saturn is a sickle in form of our modern bill-hook ; 
 Sol wears a radiated crown ; Luna, a crescent ; Mars is helmeted, 
 and carries a shield ; the head of Mercury is winged ; the bust of 
 Jupiter has been injured, and his emblems are not clearly 
 to be recognised ; Venus carries a mirror. Other museums in 
 Germany, I am informed, contain sculptures of the planets 
 similarly arranged. Montfaucon has published an engraving of 
 the seven busts, in a boat, or more probably a half-moon, in 
 bronze." In the Bramdean pavement, where they are similarly 
 represented in busts, Saturn, as the first, has been destroyed 
 with a portion of the pavement; Sol is represented with the 
 radiated crown, and with his usual attribute, a whip ; Luna has 
 the crescent ; Mars is distinguished by his helmet and spear ; 
 Mercury has a winged cap, and the eaduceus in his hand ; 
 Jupiter, a sceptre in the form of a trident ; and Venus, a mirror. 
 The eighth head has been destroyed by the same fracture which 
 has erased the figure of Saturn. This eighth figure seems to 
 have been chosen almost at pleasure. 
 
 The minor deities and heroes of Roman mythology also have 
 their place among the Roman altars found in Britain. Silvanus, 
 the god of forests and of hunting, was an object of general 
 reverence. We have already (p. 207), given an inscription dedi- 
 cating an altar to Silvanus, in consequence of the slaughter of an 
 enormous boar. An altar found at Birdoswald [Amhoglanna) 
 bears the following inscription : — 
 
 deo sancto To the holy God 
 
 stlvano ve Silvanus, 
 
 natores The hunters of 
 
 banne ss Banna have consecrated this. 
 
268 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 At Moresby, in Cumberland, an altar was found dedicated to the 
 God Silvanus (deo silvano), by the second cohort of Lingones. 
 Another, dedicated to the same deity, was found at Netherby, and 
 another at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. An altar found in the north 
 of England was dedicated Silvano Pantheo. In Scotland, a 
 mutilated altar dedicated to Silvanus was found at Castlecary ; 
 and one found at Eidon bore the following inscription : — 
 
 deo silva To the god Silvanus, 
 
 NO pro sa for the health (or welfare) 
 
 lvte sva et of himself and 
 
 svorum car his family, 
 
 Rivs domiti Carrius Domitianus, 
 
 anvs o leg xx centurion of the twentieth legion 
 
 vv vs ll m the valiant and victorious, performs his 
 vow most willingly and dutifully. 
 
 Altars were dedicated to other gods for health and welfare. 
 An altar to iEsculapius found at Lanchester, in Durham, bears a 
 Greek inscription, stating that it was dedicated to the god by a 
 tribune named Titus Flavius Titianus, for the recovery of his 
 health (virep o-wTrjplas). Altars dedicated to Hercules are not 
 very uncommon. They have been found on the line of Hadrian's 
 Wall and in Scotland. An altar was dedicated by the Vangiones 
 at Habitancum (Bisingham), to Hercules as the unconquered 
 god — deo invicto Herculi. Another altar found in the north was 
 dedicated to Hercules and the deity of Augustus- — Herculi et 
 numini Aug. An altar found at Polmont, in Scotland, was dedi- 
 cated by a soldier in a troop of Tungrian cavalry to Hercules 
 Magusanus, an epithet which the deity derived from Magusa, a 
 town of Ethiopia, from whence, perhaps, the dedicator came. At 
 Corbridge an altar was dedicated by a Grecian priestess to the 
 Tyrian Hercules, with the brief inscription : — 
 
 HPAKAEI 
 
 To Hercules 
 
 TlPPin 
 
 the Tyrian, 
 
 AIOAHPA 
 
 Diodora 
 
 APXIEPEIA 
 
 the high-priestess. 
 
 Several of the Syrian and Oriental deities shared with those of 
 Rome the devotion of the inhabitants of Britain. At Corbridge 
 (Corstopitum), where there appears to have been a Grseco-Syriac 
 population, an altar has been found dedicated to the Phoenician 
 
chap, ix.] ^ESCULAPIUS; HERCULES; ASTARTE; MITHRAS. 269 
 
 Astarte, the Ashtaroth of Scripture, with an inscription which 
 forms a line in Greek hexameter verse. 
 
 ACTAPTHC Of Astarte 
 
 BHMON M the altar me 
 
 ECOPAC you see, 
 
 nOYAXEP M Pulcher me 
 
 ANE0KKEN dedicated. 
 
 i 
 The curious figured plate of silver found at Corbridge in 1734, 
 
 and known as the Corbridge lanx, had no doubt some connection 
 with the mysterious worship which these inscriptions show to 
 have existed there under the Romans. It contained figures of 
 Diana, Minerva, Juno, Yesta, and Apollo, with other objects, the 
 meaning of which is obscure. 
 
 Another eastern superstition, the Mithraism of Persia, had 
 planted itself deeply in this island The worship of Mithras 
 was established at Rome under Trajan, and it afterwards spread 
 through the western provinces of the empire. An altar found at 
 Housesteads in Northumberland (Borcovicus), was erected in the 
 year 252, when Gallus and Volusianus were consuls. It bears 
 the following inscription, in which the title of Jupiter (i. o. m) is 
 usurped : — 
 
 D. o. m. To the god best and greatest, 
 
 invicto mit the invincible Mith- 
 
 eae saecvlari ras, lord of ages, 
 
 pvbl procvli Publius Proculi- 
 
 Nvs o pro se nus, centurion, for himself 
 
 ET procvlo fil and his son Proculus, 
 
 svo v s L M performs his vow willingly and dutifully, 
 
 dd nn gallo ET our lords Gallus and 
 
 volvsino cos Volusianus being consuls. 
 
 This altar was found in a Mithraic cave. We know that a cave, 
 or, at least, a dark and generally subterranean room, representing 
 a cave, was properly the scene of the worship of this deity, which 
 continued long established in the western empire. We are told 
 that as late as the year 378, Gracchus, prefect of Rome, 
 destroyed the cave of Mithras in that imperial capital. Porphyry 
 tells us that Mithras was worshipped in a cave, because this was 
 the image and symbol of the world, and that it was dark, because 
 the essence of the virtues is obscure. The mysticism of the 
 Mithraic worship entered deeply into the doctrines of the Neo- 
 Platonists, to whose school Porphyry belonged. " The cave at 
 
270 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 Housesteads," says Mr. Bruce, " was situated in the valley to 
 the south of the station. It was discovered in 1822 by the 
 tenant of the farm in which it stood, who fixed upon the spot as 
 one likely to yield him the material which he required for 
 building a stone fence hard by. The building was square ; its 
 sides faced the cardinal points ; it had been originally, as was 
 usually the case in a Mithraic temple, permeated by a small 
 stream. Hodgson, who saw it as soon as it was laid bare, says, 
 ' the cave itself seems to have been a low contemptible hovel, 
 dug out of a hill side, lined with dry walls, and covered 
 with earth or straw.' Though the building has been entirely 
 removed, a small hollow is left which marks the spot where 
 it stood. All the sculptured stones have happily been placed 
 in the custody of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon- 
 Tyne." 
 
 The largest of these sculptures appeared to have been broken 
 to pieces, and part of it carried away ; it has been one of those 
 remarkable bas-reliefs of which so many examples have been 
 found on the sites of the Mithraic worship in the Roman pro- 
 vinces. The god was usually represented as a youth wearing 
 the Phrygian bonnet and costume, and kneeling on a prostrate 
 bull, which he is sacrificing. Among the numerous figures and 
 emblems attendant on this group, the most conspicuous are a 
 personage carrying an uplifted torch, representing the sun in the 
 vernal equinox, and another with an extinguished and reversed 
 torch, representing the sun on its approach to the winter solstice. 
 These two figures are otherwise explained as the guides and 
 guardians of souls into and out of life : the one with the inverted 
 torch denoting the descent of the souls to earth ; the other, with 
 the torch erect, their return to heaven. One of these figures, 
 nearly entire, was found among the fragments in the cave at 
 Housesteads. The remaining portions of this monument had, no 
 doubt, been carried away and broken up at a remote period — 
 perhaps for the sake of the material — by the ignorant peasantry 
 of the neigbourhood. Another sculptured stone, found in the same 
 place, represented a figure of Mithras, holding a sword in his 
 right hand, and a rather indefined spiral object in his left, in the 
 centre of an egg-shaped tablet, on which were sculptured the 
 signs of the zodiac. Other altars, besides the one of which the 
 inscription is given above, were found in this cave. One bore 
 
chap, ix.] WORSHIP OF MITHRAS. 271 
 
 an equally interesting inscription, which was easily read as 
 follows : — 
 
 DEO 
 
 To the god 
 
 SOLI IXVI 
 
 the sun, the in- 
 
 CTO MITRJE 
 
 vincible Mithras, 
 
 SAECYLARI 
 
 the lord of ages, 
 
 LITORIYS 
 
 Litorius 
 
 PACATIANVS 
 
 Pacatianus, 
 
 B F. COS. PRO 
 
 a consular beneficiary, for 
 
 SA ET SVIS. V. S 
 
 himself and family, fulfils 
 
 L. M. 
 
 willingly and dutifully. 
 
 his vow 
 
 An inscription found at Eiechester in Northumberland comme- 
 morates the dedication of a temple, deo invicto soli socio sacrum, by 
 Lucius Ceecilius Optatus, a tribune of the first cohort of the 
 Varduli. Another smaller altar found in this cave, from that 
 circumstance, identifies Mithras with the sun; it bears the 
 simple inscription, — 
 
 soli To the Sun, 
 
 herion Hieronynius, 
 
 v. l. M. performs his vow willingly and dutifully. 
 
 It is to be regretted that even bare walls, which marked the site 
 in this island of those dark and fearful mysteries, which were 
 said to have been stained with human blood, and which are repre- 
 sented as having been a principal cause of the murder of the impe- 
 rial tyrant, Heliogabalus, should have been wantonly destroyed. 
 It was a national monument of no little value. The important 
 town of Borcovicus, where these remains were found, was held by a 
 cohort of Tungrians. At Chesters (Cilurnum), another town on the 
 line of the wall, held by Asturians from Spain, a sculptured slab 
 of stone was found, which is supposed also to refer to the worship 
 of Mithras/ 1 ' Hodgson has hazarded the following description and 
 explanation of it: — " The sculpture is in two compartments : that 
 on the left seems to contain a lion, statant, raising the head of a 
 naked and dead man ; that on the right, a figure of Mithras seated 
 on a bench, and having a flag in one hand, a wand [or sceptre] in 
 the other, and on its head the Persian tiara (?). I would hazard 
 a conjecture that the whole relates to the Mithraic rites, called 
 Leontica ; for the lion, in the zodiac of the ancient heathens, 
 
 * Engravings of these altars and sculptures will be found in Brace's u Roman 
 Wall.'" On the monuments of the worship of Mithras, see Yon Hammer's 
 " Mithiiaca," and especially the forthcoming work of M. Lajard on this subject. 
 
272 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 stood for Mithras, or the sun, which threw its greatest heat upon 
 the earth during its course through the constellation Leo." 
 
 Monuments of the Mithraic worship are said to have heen 
 found in Cambeck-fort in Cumberland; and a portion of a sculptured 
 entablature of Mithras and the bull was found early in the last 
 century at Chester. But the most perfect of these monuments 
 yet seen in Britain was one found at York, and still preserved in 
 the vestibule of the museum of that city. An engraving of it is 
 given in Mr. Wellbeloved's "Eburacum." It represents Mithras 
 stabbing the bull, with all the usual attendant figures. It is 
 supposed that the spot where this very interesting monument was 
 discovered was the site also of a Mithraic cave, where the rites of 
 the Persian deity were performed by the ancient citizens of 
 Eburacum. 
 
 At York also has been found a monument commemorative 
 of one of the deities of ancient Egypt. It is a large slab, 
 with an inscription dedicating a temple to Serapis, in the 
 following words : — 
 
 deo . sancto To the holy God 
 
 serapi Serapis, 
 
 templvm . aso this temple from the 
 
 lo . fecit ground made 
 
 cl . hierony Claudius Hierony- 
 
 mianvs . leg mianus, legate 
 
 leg . vi . vic of the sixth legion, called the victorious. 
 
 It is not necessary here to speak of the prominent place held by 
 the god Serapis among the objects of worship in imperial Borne, 
 and we are not surprised to find that a temple was dedicated to 
 him in almost the first city in Boman Britain. If we had a few 
 more of the altars and other religious monuments which have been 
 destroyed, or are yet buried under the sod, we should,, no doubt, 
 trace his worship in other parts of Britain. An altar dedicated 
 iovi seeapi (to Jupiter Serapis) has been found at Appleby, in 
 Cumberland. 
 
 There was another class of Boman deities which were, no 
 doubt, better understood by the Teutonic, and probably by the 
 Gallic races, because they bore a closer affinity to that popular 
 class of mythic beings which are represented by our elves and 
 fairies — the nymphs and genii. These are commemorated in 
 numerous altars found in this island. The nymphs presided over 
 
chap, dl] WORSHIP OF THE NYMPHS. 273 
 
 groves and meadows, and especially over fountains. Close by a 
 spring of clear water overlooking the ancient station of Habitancum 
 (Risingham), was found an altar dedicated to the nymphs of the 
 spot in the following hexameter couplet: — 
 
 Somnio prsemonitus miles hanc ponere jussit 
 Aram quae Fabio nupta est nymphis venerandis. 
 
 The writer was evidently more anxious to preserve the measure 
 of his verse than to make himself intelligible, and the sense 
 intended to be conveyed is far from clear. Mr. Bruce has 
 offered two explanations. " Taking nupta est to signify dedicated, 
 a peculiar use of the word, suggested perhaps by its etymological 
 relationship with the one which it governs, nymphis, the inscription 
 will read — ' A soldier, warned in a dream, directed the erection 
 of this altar, which is dedicated by Fabius to the nymphs to whom 
 worship is due.' The other method of rendering it is the fol- 
 lowing : — ' A soldier, warned in a dream, directed her (earn 
 supplied) who is married to Fabius, to erect this altar to the 
 nymphs to whom worship is due.' According to either inter- 
 pretation the altar was erected to the sylphs of the fountain 
 in consequence of a dream." An altar found near Chester (Deva), 
 to the east of the town, on a spot abounding in springs, bore the 
 inscription : — 
 
 NYMPHIS 
 
 To the nymphs 
 
 ET 
 
 and 
 
 FONTIBVS 
 
 fountains, 
 
 LEG XX 
 
 the twentieth legion, 
 
 V V 
 
 the valiant and victorious. 
 
 It reminds us of the poet's description of iEneas, who, when he 
 had reached an unknown land, 
 
 Nymphasque et adhuc ignota precatur 
 Flumina. 
 
 The nymphs and kindred deities were, in fact, regarded by the 
 Eomans with extreme reverence, not less than that shown by the 
 Germans to their popular deities, which has not been entirely 
 eradicated from the minds of the peasantry even at the present 
 day. Another altar dedicated to the nymphs was found at Nether 
 Croy, in Scotland ; and at Rutchester (Vindobala), one was dedi- 
 cated to a kindred class of deities, the gods of the mountains. 
 The gods of the fields have also their altars, and in one, found at 
 
274 THE KOMAXS. [chap. ix. 
 
 Castle Hill, on the wall of Antoninus, they are identified with 
 Britain, — 
 
 campes To the field deities 
 
 TRIB7S et and the deities 
 
 BRiTANNi of Britain, 
 
 q pisentiys Quintus Pisentius 
 
 iystvs peep Justus, prefect 
 
 coh iiii gal of the fourth cohort of Gauls, 
 
 v s ll M performs his vow most willingly 
 and dutifully. 
 
 Even the roads had their deities ; an altar preserved in a muti- 
 lated state at Tretire, in Herefordshire, on the borders of the 
 great Roman iron district, was dedicated, apparently, to the god 
 who presided over cross roads, deo trivii ; and a more perfect 
 altar, found at Gretabridge, in Yorkshire, had the following 
 ascription : — 
 
 deo qui "VTAS To the god who ways 
 
 et semitas com and paths has de- 
 
 mentvs est t ir vised, Titus Ir- 
 
 das s c f v ll M das performed a holy vow most 
 
 willingly and dutifully. 
 
 q varivs vita Quintus Varius Vita- 
 
 lis et E cos aram lis, beneficiary of the consul, 
 
 sacram resti the holy 
 
 tvit altar restored, 
 
 aproniano ET bra Apronianus and Bra- 
 
 dva cos dua being consuls. 
 
 The altar erected by Titus Irdas having become dilapidated, 
 Quintus Varius Vitalis appears to have caused another to be 
 made in its place ; he may have been a relative of the first 
 dedicator. Apronianus and Bradua were consuls in the year 191. 
 An altar has been found in the neighbourhood of Hadrian's Wall 
 dedicated to the gods who preside over cultivation, dis cultoribus. 
 
 The genii were a somewhat different description of divinities, 
 having each a peculiar object entrusted to its care. We have seen 
 how, even when a man opened a shop or established a trade, he 
 began by propitiating the genius of the place on which he settled. 
 When iEneas arrived at the mouth of the Tiber, he invocated 
 genium loci. An altar found at Chester was dedicated to the 
 genius of the place for the health of the two emperors (probably 
 Diocletian and Maximian) ; and the same genius occurs in more 
 than one other instance on Roman altars found in Britain. One 
 
CHAP. IX.1 
 
 THE GEXII. 
 
 275 
 
 of these, found in the camp at Maryport, in Cumberland, and 
 
 mm-Jtm 
 
 
 Roman Altar found at Maryport. 
 
 remarkable for its elaborate ornamentation, is represented in the 
 
 annexed cut. The inscription must be read as follows : — 
 
 genio loci To the genius of the place, 
 
 eortvnae REDTCi to returning fortune, 
 
 romae aeterxae to eternal Rome, 
 
 et fato boxo and to propitious fate, 
 
 G corxeliys Gaius Cornelius 
 
 peregrinys Peregrinus, 
 
 trib cohor tribune of a cohort, 
 
 EX proyixcia from the province of 
 
 mayr caesa Mauritania Csesariensis, 
 
 domo se native of Se . . . . 
 
 The last line of the inscription, probably containing the usual 
 
276 THE ROMANS. [chap, ix 
 
 formula, ysllm (votum solvens libentissime merito), has been en- 
 tirely erased, and we have only two letters left of the name of the 
 town from which Peregrinus came ; perhaps it was on the river 
 Serbes. # " Peregrinus," observes Mr. Bruce, "addresses first 
 the deity of the place over which his arms had triumphed ; lest 
 the local god should not smile benignantly, he resorts to Fortune, 
 who had conducted him safely to the land of his adoption. If 
 this deity should fail him, he thinks to find a refuge in the 
 genius of the eternal city ; but, driven from this resource, there 
 is nothing for it but to trust to fate or chance." 
 
 Besides the genii which presided over each particular locality, 
 there was a genius of each province of the empire, and a genius 
 of imperial Rome itself. At Auchindavy, in Scotland, were found 
 several altars, dedicated to different deities by a centurion of the 
 second legion, named Marcus Cocceius Firmus. On one of these 
 was the inscription : — 
 
 GENIO 
 
 To the genius 
 
 TERRAE 
 
 of the land 
 
 BRITA 
 
 of 
 
 NNICAE 
 
 Britain, 
 
 M COCCEI 
 
 Marcus Cocceius 
 
 FIRMVS 
 
 Firmus, 
 
 LEG II AVG 
 
 Centurion of the second legion, 
 
 
 the Augustan. 
 
 The pedestal of a statue, which probably represented a figure of 
 Britannia, was dug up at York in the middle of the last century, 
 with the inscription : 
 
 bkitanniae To sacred 
 
 sanctae, Britain, 
 
 p . nicomedes Publius Nieomedes, 
 
 avgg .n.n of our two emperors 
 
 LiBERTVS the freedman. 
 
 The two emperors were no doubt Severus and Caracalla. 
 
 At Whitby Castle, in Northumberland, an altar was dedicated 
 by the Nervii to the genius of Kome, genio Romae. At Maryport, 
 in Cumberland, was found another inscription, romae aeternae 
 et fortunae redvci. One at Riechester was dedicated, dea 
 
 * The last remaining letters of the inscription have usually been explained 
 domos e [versos'], and supposed to refer to some buildings which the tribune 
 Peregrinus had restored, but the interpretation given above is the only one author- 
 ised by a comparison of other similar inscriptions. 
 
CHAP. IX.] 
 
 THE GENII. 
 
 277 
 
 Romce, to the goddess Roma. A tablet was found at Stanwicks, 
 in the same county, with an inscription which has been inter- 
 preted as follows : — 
 
 LEG. VI 
 VIC. P.F. 
 G. P. R.F. 
 
 The sixth legion, 
 the victorious, pious and faithful, 
 to the genius of the Roman people 
 made (or erected) this. 
 
 There were genii who presided even over palaces and public offices. 
 The fine altar represented in our cut, was found at Chesterholm 
 
 Roman Altar found at Chesterholm (Vindolana). 
 
 (Vijidolana) ; it is ornamented with figures of the usual instru- 
 ments of sacrifice, and with another object, which is not so easily 
 explained, and it may be observed that the focus, or hollow at the 
 
278 THE EOMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 top, was reddened by the action of the sacrificial fire. The 
 inscription is : — 
 
 genio To the genius 
 
 praetori of the prsetorium 
 
 SACRVM pi sacred, Pi- 
 
 tvanivs se tuanius Se- 
 
 cvndvs prae__ cundus prae- 
 
 eectvs cho mi feet of the fourth cohort 
 
 GALLOR Of Gauls. 
 
 An altar was found at Lanchester (Epiacum), dedicated to the 
 same genius by a tribune of the Lingones : — 
 
 genio praetori To the genius of the preetorium, 
 
 cl epaphroditvs Claudius Epaphroditus 
 
 clavdianvs Claudianus, 
 
 tribvnvs cho tribune of the second cohort 
 
 . . I ling v L P M of Lingones, placed his vow 
 
 willingly and dutifully. 
 
 An altar was found at Caerleon (Isca Silurum), dedicated to the 
 genius of the second legion ; and one found in North Britain, was 
 dedicated to the genius of the first wing of Spaniards, genio alee i. 
 Hispanorum. Thus each prsetorium, or quarters, and each 
 troop, had its presiding genius. x\n altar recently discovered at 
 Chester has the still more curious inscription : — 
 
 GENIO 
 
 To the genius 
 
 AVERNI 
 
 of Avernus, 
 
 IVL QVIN 
 
 Julius Quin- 
 
 TILIANVS 
 
 tilianus. 
 
 which shows that even the presiding genius of the infernal 
 regions had his worshippers in Roman Britain. 
 
 The numen, or divinity of the emperors, was also an object of 
 worship, and occurs rather frequently on altars. We have 
 already referred to examples in which the imperial numina were 
 combined with other deities. At Chester, an altar was found 
 dedicated numini Augusti, to the deity of Augustus. The dedi- 
 cation, numinibus Auyusti, is common on altars found in different 
 places in Northumberland. One found at Risingham was dedi- 
 cated by the fourth cohort of Gauls, numinibus Augustorum, which 
 is supposed by Horsley to refer to Severus and Caracalla, and by 
 others to Caracalla and Geta. An altar, found also at Rising- 
 ham, which will be given further on, is dedicated, numini domini 
 nostri Augusti, to the divinity of our lord the Augustus. Another, 
 found in Cumberland, has, numini imperatoris Alexandri Augusti, 
 
chap, ix.] NUMEjS 1 AUGUSTI ; FORTUNA. 279 
 
 to the divinity of the emperor Alexander the Augustus, referring 
 to Alexander Severus, who held the empire from 222 to 235. In 
 an inscription found at Hexham, in 1726, the emperor, supposed 
 to be Commodus, is spoken of as, prmsentissimum numen del. 
 
 Numerous altars have been found dedicated to Fortune, who 
 seems to have been a popular deity among the towns of Eoman 
 Britain. We have one on the line of the wall of Antoninus, in 
 Scotland, dedicated conjointly by detachments of the second and 
 sixth legions. An altar, dedicated to the same goddess by a 
 centurion of the sixth legion, occurs at Chesterholm (Vindolana), 
 in Northumberland. A lady whose father belonged to the second 
 legion, dedicated an altar to Fortune, at the head-quarters of the 
 sixth legion at Eburacum (York). This monument, which may still 
 be seen in the York museum, has the inscription : — 
 
 DEAE 
 
 To the goddess 
 
 FORTVNAE 
 
 Fortune, 
 
 SOSIA 
 
 Sosia 
 
 IVNCTNA 
 
 Juncina, 
 
 F ANTONI 
 
 daughter of Antonius 
 
 ISAVRICI 
 
 Isauricus, 
 
 LEG AVG 
 
 of the Augustan legion. 
 
 An altar at Netherby was dedicated by the Spaniards, dece sancta 
 Fortune, to the sacred goddess Fortune. On an altar at Whelp 
 Castle, in Westmoreland, she is reverenced as Fortuna servatrix. 
 One at Manchester was dedicated, FortuncB conservatrici ; and on 
 several altars the goddess is worshipped as, Fortuna redux. An 
 altar at Chester was dedicated conjointly to Fortuna redux, 
 iEsculapius, and Salus. One found at Chesterholm {Vindolana), 
 was dedicated, fortuncB popidi Romani, to the fortune of the Roman 
 people. But the most interesting of all the inscriptions to this 
 goddess is one found at Bowes, in Yorkshire (Lavatr<%), which 
 was raised by the celebrated pro-prsetor, or governor of Britain, 
 Virius Lupus : — 
 
 deae fortvnae To the goddess Fortune, 
 
 virivs lvpvs Virius Lupus, 
 
 leg avg PR PR legate of Augustus, proprastor, 
 
 balinevm vi the bath, by force 
 
 ignis exvst of fire burnt, 
 
 vm coh i thr of the first cohort of the 
 
 acvm rest Thracians, restored, 
 
 itvit cvran under the care 
 
 te val fron of Valerius Fronto, 
 
 TONE PRAEF prefect 
 
 eq alae vetto of the wing of horse of Vettones. 
 
280 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 Victory was no less favourite a deity with the Komans in 
 Britain than Fortune. A large sculptured figure of this goddess 
 has been found at Housesteads in Northumberland (Borcovicus). 
 An altar at Rough Castle in Scotland was dedicated to Victory 
 by the Nervii. Another, at Ribchester in Lancashire (Coccium), 
 was dedicated to Mars and Victory. A sculptured figure of 
 Victory at Cambeck-fort in Cumberland bore the inscription 
 yictobiae avg-, to victory of Augustus ; and the same words 
 occur in the dedicatory inscription of an altar found at Hexham. 
 At Ben well (Condercum), an inscribed slab, probably belonging 
 to a temple, was found with the following dedicatory inscription, 
 in a label supported on each side by a winged figure : — 
 
 victoriae To Victory 
 
 . . . gg nn fe of our two Augusti (this) made 
 
 N s senecio the nephew of Socius Senecio 
 
 N cos feltx the consul, Felix, 
 
 alae I asto of the first wing of the Asturians 
 
 . . . m prae prsefect. 
 
 At Castlesteads, in Cumberland, was found an altar dedicated 
 discipvltnae avg, to the discipline of the Augustus. This is an 
 inscription which is found on several of the Roman imperial 
 coins. Virtues or moral principles were deified in the same 
 manner. We have seen before (p. 192) the god Bonus Eventus 
 commemorated in the tesselated pavement of a Roman villa ; at 
 Binchester in Durham a mutilated altar was found with an 
 imperfect inscription, to Mars and Bonus Eventus, by a tribune 
 of the first cohort of Cartovians (?) : — 
 
 trib cohor I tribune of the first cohort 
 
 cartov .... of Cartov .... 
 
 marti victori to Mars the victor, 
 
 genio loci to the genius of the place, 
 
 et bono and to good 
 
 eventvi event. 
 
 An altar at Caerleon was dedicated to Fortune and Bonus 
 Eventus. An inscription was found at Elsdon in Northumber- 
 land, near the Watling-street, which Horsley reads as follows : — 
 
 bono generis To the good of the 
 
 hvman impe human race, 
 
 rante calpvr by order of Calpur- 
 
 nio agricola nius Agricola, 
 
 avg pr pr posvit the propraetor of Augustus, (^'s) placed 
 
 AC dedicavit and dedicated 
 
 c a acilivs. Caius Aulus Acilius. 
 
chap, ix.] WORSHIP OF THE DE^E MATRES. 281 
 
 Calpurnius Agricola was propraetor of Britain under Antoninus ; 
 and the inscription was probably the dedication of the temple, 
 but I am not aware of any other instance in which the good of 
 the human race was deified. Not less singular is an inscribed 
 altar found at Risingham (Habitancum) to a goddess who is sup- 
 posed to be the personification of the tertian ague : — 
 
 deae ter To the goddess 
 
 tianae sa Tertian, 
 
 crvm ael sacred, ^Elius 
 
 timothea p Timothea placed it, 
 
 v s ll M performing a vow most 
 
 willingly and dutifully. 
 
 At Carvoran, a small altar was found, dedicated deae eponae 
 
 — to the goddess Epona, who presided over mules and stables ; 
 
 the favourite deity of the gay jockey in Juvenal (Sat. viii., 155), — 
 
 Interea dum lanatas torvumque juvencum 
 More ISTumse csedit Jo vis ante altaria, jurat 
 Solam Eponam et facies olida ad prsesepia pictas. 
 
 Some of the dedicators, not content with invoking one deity, 
 endeavoured to include them all under one invocation. Thus a 
 praefect of the Dalmatian cohort at Ellenborough, dedicated an 
 altar collectively to the gods and goddesses, diis deabusque. 
 Another altar found at Chesters (Cilurnum), was dedicated to 
 Apollo " and all the deities," deo Apollini et omnibus numinibus. 
 There has been found also in the neighbourhood of Hadrian's 
 wall an altar inscribed, deabus omnibus, to all the goddesses. 
 
 We now come to a class of divinities which have a peculiar 
 interest in connection with the early history of our island, the 
 deities of the auxiliary races who formed so important an element 
 of its population. Among these, we must place, first, a class of 
 deities commonly known by the title of the dem matres. Altars 
 and inscriptions to these deities are very numerous in Belgic 
 Gaul and Germany, and more especially along the banks of the 
 Ehine, where they are often called matron® instead of matres, and 
 they seem to have belonged to the Teutonic race. Not more 
 than one altar to these deities has, I believe, been found in Italy, 
 and we do not trace them in the classic writers. When the dea 
 matres are figured on the altars or other monuments, they are 
 always represented as three females, seated, with baskets or bowls 
 of fruit on their knees, which were probably emblematical of the 
 plenty which they were believed to distribute to mankind. In 
 
'282 THE ROMANS. [char ix. 
 
 the accompanying representation of the upper part of an altar 
 preserved in the museum at Cologne, the group of the three 
 goddesses has suffered less injury than is usually the case with 
 such monuments. 
 
 We are fortunately enabled in this instance to identify the 
 people to whom these deities belonged, for it is an interesting 
 fact that the reverence for the three goddesses who presided over 
 
 The Deas Matves, from an altar at Cologne. 
 
 the woods and fields, pre-arranged the fates of individuals, and 
 dispensed the blessings of Providence to mankind, may be traced 
 down to a comparatively late period both in Germany and 
 England. Among the slight and contemptuous notices of Ger- 
 manic paganism by the Christian writers of the earlier ages after 
 the conversion of the Teutonic tribes, we find allusions to the 
 conjoined images of three deities, but not sufficiently explicit to 
 allow us to identify them completely with those which remain on 
 the Roman altars. When, in the sixth century, Columbanus and 
 St. Gall arrived at Bregenz (Brigantium), in Switzerland, they 
 found that the people there paid adoration to three images placed 
 
chap, ix.] THE BEJE MATRES. 283 
 
 together against the wall of their temple.* Probably this was a 
 monument of the dea? matres in their original country. But it is 
 among the popular superstitions that we shall find the most 
 distinct allusion to the three personages, who are looked upon 
 often as three wood-nymphs, and who are characterised by the 
 same appellations, of dominm, matronce, dames, bonnes dames, &c, 
 which we find on the Roman monuments. f 
 
 They are sometimes regarded as the three Fates — the Norni 
 of the north, the walcyrian of the Anglo-Saxons (the weird 
 sisters, transformed in Shakespeare into three witches) disposing 
 of the fates of individuals, and dealing out life and death. But 
 they are also found distributing rewards and punishments, giving 
 wealth and prosperity, and conferring fruitfulness. They are the 
 three fairies, who are often introduced in the fairy legends of a 
 later period, with these same characteristics. In a story of the 
 Italian Pentamerone, tre fate (three fairies) are described as 
 residing at the bottom of a rocky dell, and as conferring gifts 
 upon children who went down into it. In the collection of super- 
 stitions condemned by Burchard, bishop of Worms, who died in 
 1024, we are told that the German women of his time had the 
 custom, at certain times of the year, of spreading tables in their 
 houses with meat and drink, and laying three knives, that if the 
 three sisters should come (whom Burchard interprets as being 
 equivalent to the Roman Parese), they might partake of their 
 hospitality. J; These were the later fairy women who visited 
 people's houses by night, and whose benevolence was thus con- 
 ciliated. In the older legends, the fairies are most commonly 
 three in number. In later German tales, we have sometimes 
 three females occupied in spinning, described as hateful old 
 women ; sometimes they are old women, but not engaged in this 
 
 * Tres ergo imagines sereas et deauratas superstitiosa gentilitas ibi colebat. 
 — Anon.Vit. S. Gal. — Repererunt autem in templo tres imagines aereas deauratas 
 parieti affixas, quas populus .... adorabat. — Walafrid Strabo 9 Vit. S. Gal. 
 
 ^ It was a feeling of dread in tbe popular superstition of tbe middle ages not to 
 call such beings by their particular names ; and the same sentiment exists still in 
 Ireland, and even in some remote parts of England, where tbe peasantry dare not 
 call the elves and fairies by any other name than the respectful title of the good 
 'people, the ladies, &c. 
 
 % Fecisti ut qusedam mulieres in quibusdam temporibus anni facere solent, ut 
 in domo sua mensam prseparares et tuos cibos et potum cum tribus cultellis supra 
 mensam poneres, ut si venissent tres illae sorores, quas antiqua posteritas et antiqua 
 stuititia Parcas nominavit, ibi reficerentur. 
 
284 THE KOMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 occupation ; in another story, they are two young women sitting 
 spinning, and a third, the wicked one, bound below. In one 
 instance, on a Roman altar, the middle figure seems to be bound. 
 Instances of most of these will be found in the Kinder-Mar chen, 
 and in the Deutsche Sagen, of the Grimms. It may be observed 
 that the Norni and the weelcyrian were represented sitting and 
 spinning. When Fridlaf went to consult the oracle of the fates, 
 he saw, within the temple, three seats occupied by three nymphs,* 
 each of whom conferred a gift upon his son Olaf, two of them 
 giving good gifts and the third an evil one. 
 
 At the beginning of the eighth century, according to a pious 
 legend, a Worcestershire swine-herd, forcing his way through the 
 dense thickets of the forests which then covered that part of the 
 island, in search of a stray swine, came suddenly to a fair open 
 lawn, in the midst of which he saw three beautiful maidens, clad 
 in heavenly garments, and singing sweetly, one being superior to 
 the others ; (we have here the distinction constantly observed in 
 the traditionary legends between two of the goddesses and the 
 third ;) he told his story to the bishop, Egwin, who accompanied 
 him to the spot, and was also favoured with the vision. Egwin 
 decided at once that it was the Virgin Mary, accompanied by two 
 angels ; and he built on the spot a monastery, which was after- 
 wards famous by the name of Evesham.f The vision is repre- 
 sented on the old abbey seal. In ail probability the site of 
 Evesham had been a spot dedicated by the unconverted Saxons 
 to the worship of the three goddesses, and Egwin had seized the 
 popular legend to consecrate it for a Christian establishment. 
 
 A Latin poet of Winchester, the monk Wolstan, who lived in 
 the middle of the tenth century, has left us a singular story 
 relating to the three nymphs who presided over that district, and 
 whom, differing in this from Egwin, but agreeing with the 
 
 * Mos erat antiquis super futuris liberorum eventibus Parcarum oracula con- 
 sultare. Quo ritu Fridlevus Olavi filii fortunam exploraturus, nuncupatis 
 solenniter votis, deoruni sedes precabundus accedit, ubi introspecto sacello ternas 
 sedes totidem nymphis occupari cognoscit. Quarum prima indulgentioris animi 
 liberalem puero formam, uberemque humani favoris copiam erogabat. Eidem 
 secunda beneficii loco liberalitatis excellentiam condonavit. Tertia vero proter- 
 vioris ingenii invidentiorisque studii fcemina sororum indulgentiorem aspernata 
 consensum, ideoque earum donis officere cupiens, futuris pueri moribus parsimoniae 
 crimen affixit. — Saxo Grammaticus, lib. vi. p. 102. 
 
 f MS. Cotton, Nero E. I. fol. 26, v°, where the story is told by bishop Egwin 
 himself. 
 
chap, ix.] THE DE^E MATRES. 285 
 
 generality of ecclesiastical writers when they handled the popular 
 superstitions, he has blackened both in person and character. A 
 citizen of Winchester one day went out to visit his farm, and 
 returning somewhat late towards his home, near the little stream 
 which passes by the city, he was stopped by two dark women in a 
 state of nudity — 
 
 Nam prope prsefatum solus dum pergeret amnem, 
 Haud procul aspiciens furias videt ecce gemellas 
 Ante suam faciem, nullo velamine tectas, 
 Sed piceas totas obsceno et corpore nudas, 
 Crinibus horrendas furvis et vultibus atras, 
 Armatas gelido serpentinoque veneno. 
 Quae super extremam praedlcti fluminis undam 
 Ceu geminae externis furium sedere sorores. 
 Quae mox ut coram sese properanter euntem 
 Conspexere virum, surgunt, et cominus illi 
 Occurrunt, et eum pariter hac voce salutant : 
 " Frater amande, veni ; nostras adtende loquelas ; 
 Hue celer appropria, volumus quia pauca loquendo 
 Verba referre tibi : tu stans ea protinus audi." 
 
 Wolstani Mirac. S. Swiihuni, MS. Reg. 
 15 C. vii. fol. 74, v°. 
 
 The man, instead of paying due respect to the ladies by 
 listening to them, ran away in a fright, and they pursued him, 
 threatening vengeance for the disregard which he had shown to 
 their commands — 
 
 Cur, insane, fugis? quo jam, moriture, recurris 1 ? 
 Non nos incolumis, miser, evasisse valebis, 
 Sed nobis spretis horrenda pericla subibis. 
 
 He now gave himself up for lost, and his terror was increased 
 when a third female, who had lain concealed on the hill, stopped 
 his way. — It is not improbable that these nymphs haunted the 
 deserted fortress of the pagans of old, and the barrow-covered 
 downs which still overlook this ancient city, from which their 
 worship had then been banished by the influence of the gospel. 
 
 Tertia progreditur veniens a vertice collis, 
 Terribilis vultu proceraque corpore vasto, 
 Usa tamen niveo pictoque decenter amictu, 
 Dissimilisque habitu vultuque prioribus extans. 
 Haac etenim latuit post collem fraude reperta, 
 Propter iter per quod cupiit transire viator 
 Quatinus hunc caperet, furvis si intactus abiret. 
 
 In her angry mood, the third nymph struck the inobedient 
 
286 THE EOMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 mortal senseless to the ground, and then they disappeared in the 
 waters of the river — 
 
 Nee mora, cum furiis linquens abscessit in amnis 
 Gurgite, praacipiti saliens ac praepete saltu. 
 
 The man gradually recovered his senses, but he found himself 
 a cripple, and with difficulty crawled to the eastern gate of the 
 city, which was not far distant. 
 
 Another Anglo-Latin poet, but who lived in the latter half of 
 the twelfth century, Nigellus Wireker, has preserved in his 
 Speculum Stultorum, a tale which furnishes a still more remarkable 
 illustration of the character of the three goddesses when they had 
 become mere personages of medieval popular fable. Nigellus 
 still compares them with the Latin Parcce. The three sisters, 
 he says, went out into the world to relieve men from their troubles 
 and misfortunes — * 
 
 Ibant tres hominum curas relevare sorores, 
 
 Quas nos fatales dicimus esse deas. 
 Unus erat cultus tribus his eademque voluntas, 
 
 Naturae vitiis ferre salutis opem ; 
 Et quod avara minus dederat, vel prodiga multum, 
 
 His emendandis plurima cura fuit. 
 
 As they went along, they found, under a shady bank, a beautiful 
 maiden, of a noble family, and rich in the goods of the world, yet 
 in spite of all these advantages, she was weeping and lamenting. 
 Two of the sisters proposed to relieve her of her grief, but the 
 third opposed their desires, and gave them a short lecture on the 
 ill uses some people make of prosperity. 
 
 " Yenimus, ut nostis, nos tres invisere mundum, 
 
 Ut ferremus opem, sed quibus esset opus. 
 Non opus est isti, quia quam natura beavit 
 
 In quantum potuit, et quibus ausa fuit, 
 Cui genus et speciem formse tribuit specialem, 
 
 Debet id et nobis et satis esse sibi. 
 Forsitan auxilium si prsestaremus eidem, 
 
 Posset de facili deteriora pati." 
 
 They left the weeping damsel, and proceeded to a shady wood, 
 where lay another maiden on a couch : she, like the former, was 
 
 * The extracts from this poem taken from an old printed edition, are compared 
 with a copy in MS. Harl., No. 2422. 
 
chap, ix.] THE DE^E MATRES. 287 
 
 beautiful and intellectual, and, as it appears, like her also, rich; 
 but she was lame of her lower extremities, and, unable to walk, 
 she had been brought thither to enjoy the green shade. She 
 courteously addressed the three nymphs, and showed them the 
 way to the most beautiful part of the wood, where a pleasant 
 fountain gave rise to a clear stream. The two sisters now pro- 
 posed to relieve the damsel of her infirmity, but the third again 
 interposed, on the ground that the lady enjoyed advantages 
 sufficient to overbalance this one inconvenience under which she 
 laboured, and which were granted to few of those who are made 
 perfect in their limbs. The nymphs again passed on, and, 
 towards evening, were proceeding towards a town, where, not far 
 outside the gates, they saw a rustic girl, who, unacquainted with 
 the delicacies of more cultivated life, performed an act in public 
 which shocked the two nymphs who had shown so much com- 
 passion on the former occasions. The third nymph drew the 
 others back — 
 
 Erubuere duse, visum vultumqne tegentes, 
 
 Vestibus objectis, arripuere fugam. 
 Tertia subsistens, revocansque duas fugientes, 
 
 " Ut quid," ait, " fugitis ? siste, quseso, gradum." 
 
 She shows them that they have here really an occasion of 
 bettering the condition of one who enjoyed none of the advantages 
 of fortune, and they determine to give her all sorts of riches, and 
 to make her the lady of the town. 
 
 " Quodque nequit fieri, naturam degenerare 
 
 Nolumus, injustas non decet esse deas. 
 Res et opes adjici possunt, extraque liniri 
 
 Naturse salva proprietate sua. 
 Nos igitur quibus est super his collata potestas, 
 
 Demus abundanti munera magna manu, 
 Divitias et opes, census, fundos, et honores, 
 
 Prsedia, montana, pascua, prata, greges ; 
 Urbis et istius dominam statuamus eandem, 
 
 Ut nihil in nostro munere desit ei." 
 
 It may be observed, that from the Poenitentiale of Baldwin, 
 bishop of Exeter, the contemporary of Nigellus Wireker, who 
 composed this work for the use of his own diocese, it would 
 appear then to have been the common practice in England, to lay 
 the table with three knives (at night, of course) to conciliate these 
 
288 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 three personages, that they might confer good gifts on children 
 born in the house.* 
 
 In a fabliau of the thirteenth century, of so indelicate a 
 character that we cannot even mention its title, the three 
 goddesses appear in the character of three beautiful fairies 
 bathing in a fountain, and are still endowed with the same quality 
 of conferring benefits. There was a beautiful shady fountain in 
 the midst of a fair meadow — 
 
 En la fontaine se baignoient 
 Trois puceles preuz et senees, 
 Qui de biaute sembloient fees ; 
 Lor robes a tout lor chemises 
 Orent desor un arbre raises. 
 
 A knight passing that way, very un gallantly seizes upon their 
 dresses; but, softened by their urgent entreaties, he restores 
 them. In return for this courtesy, each of them confer a gift 
 upon him : the gift of the first was that he should be received 
 into favour wherever he went ; that of the second was, that he 
 should always be successful in his suits to the ladies ; and the 
 third, who here again appears as giving something totally contrary 
 in character to that of her two companions, conferred a gift which 
 cannot easily be named. In a manuscript in the British Museum 
 (MS. Harl. No. 2253), there is a different version of this fabliau, 
 w r hich seems to be the one current in England at the beginning 
 of the fourteenth century; in it the scene of the nymphs 
 bathing is thus described : — 
 
 Ce fust en este quant la flour 
 Verdist e dount bon odour, 
 E les oylsels sunt chauntanz, 
 E demenent solas graunz. 
 Come il ererent en une pleyne 
 Qe ert delees une fonteyne, 
 Si virent un petit russhel, 
 Anke petit mes molt bele; 
 Yleque virent treis damoiseles, 
 Sages, cortoises, e tresbeles, 
 Qu'en la russhele se bagnerent, 
 Se desdurent e solacerent. 
 
 Roman monuments commemorative of the dece matres are by 
 no means uncommon in Britain. The lower portion, much 
 
 * Qui mensam prseparavit, cum tribus cultellis in famulatum personarum, ut 
 ibi nascentibus bona prasdestinent. — Liber Pcenitent. Baldw, Iscani Episc, MS. 
 Cotton. Faustina A. viii. fol. 32 ; r°. 
 
CHAP. IX.] 
 
 THE DEM MATRES. 
 
 289 
 
 damaged, of a large sculpture of the deae matres was found in 
 digging to the Roman level in Hart- 
 street, in the City of London, and 
 a good and correct engraving of it is 
 given in Mr. Roach Smith's " Collec- 
 tanea Antiqua." It is now in the 
 Guildhall. Monuments of the three 
 goddesses have been met with at An- 
 caster and at Lincoln. An altar 
 dedicated to them has been found at 
 York; and more northwardly, espe- 
 cially in the Wall districts, where the 
 Teutonic race predominated, they are 
 very common. At Binchester, in Dur- 
 ham (Vinovium), an altar was found 
 dedicated deab mateib q l o, which 
 has been interpreted, deabus matribus 
 qua locum occupant, to the dese matres 
 who occupy the place. This was in 
 accordance with the popular belief of the Germans, that every 
 place had its presiding mothers. An altar found at Risingham, 
 and represented in the annexed cut, is dedicated to the trans- 
 marine mothers, by one who preferred the presiding deities of 
 his native land : — - 
 
 Altar found at Risingham 
 {Habitancum). 
 
 matribv To the mothers 
 
 S trama transmarine, 
 
 rinis ivl Julius Victor 
 
 victor . v . s . L . m performs a vow willingly and dutifully. 
 
 An altar found at Brougham, in Westmoreland, was dedicated 
 to the transmarine mothers by a vexillation of Germans, which is a 
 further indication of the country to which these deities belong : — 
 
 DEABVS MATRIBVS 
 TRAMAR VEX GERMA 
 NORVM PRO SALVTE 
 RP V S L M 
 
 To the goddess mothers 
 transmarine, the vexillation of 
 Germans, for the safety 
 of the state, perform a vow willingly 
 and dutifully. 
 
 A broken tablet found near Old Penrith, in Cumberland, was 
 inscribed by a vexillation, of which the name of the country is 
 
290 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 Jost, to the transmarine mothers, in conjunction with the emperor, 
 Alexander Severus, and his mother, Mammsea : — 
 
 DEABVS MATRIBYS TRAMARINIS 
 ET N IMP ALEXANDRI AVG ET IVL MAM 
 MEAE MATR AVG N ET CASTRORVM TO 
 TI . . . . DOMVI DIVINAE AE 
 .... LATIO .... 
 
 An altar found at York, with a somewhat difficult inscription, 
 has been interpreted as dedicated, matribus Africis, Italicis, 
 Gallicis, to the mothers of Africa, Italy, and Gaul ; but this 
 interpretation is rather doubtful. Another inscription found in 
 England goes still further ; it is a dedication, matribus omnium 
 gentium, to the mothers of all nations. An altar found at 
 Stanwicks, in Cumberland, was dedicated to the domestic 
 mothers, matribus domesticis. Another, found at Cramond, in 
 Scotland, was dedicated by the first cohort of Tungrians to the 
 mothers of Alaterva and of the fields, matribus Alatervis et 
 matribus campestribus. A slab found at Ben well (Condercum) 
 commemorates the erection of a temple to the mothers of the 
 fields — matribus campestribus — by the prefect of the first wing of 
 Asturians from Spain. Curiously enough, an altar found at the 
 same place, and which had, perhaps, been placed in the temple, 
 was dedicated to the three deities under the title of lamice, 
 denoting their noxious qualities, lamiis tribvs. Other altars, 
 dedicated diis Matribus, have been found at Ribchester, South 
 Shields, &c. ; and one at Binchester, with the inscription matribvs 
 sacrvm. Broken sculptures of the deaB matres have been found 
 at Netherby and other places in the north. 
 
 Mr. Roach Smith has given examples, from Germany, of dedi- 
 cations matronis Afliabus (the one engraved in our cut on p. 282), 
 Mahlinehis, Hamavehis, Humanehabus, matribus Treveris, and a 
 great many others, which are evidently named from places ; and 
 he remarks that " it will be observed, that while in Germany the 
 adjective always represents the locality, in those found in England 
 it is merely a general epithet, as though the divinities addressed 
 were those of strangers to the country." 
 
 The worship of the German or other colonists, as far as it was 
 derived from their native countries, seems to have been generally 
 directed to those popular deities which were not known to them 
 by distinctive names. The names of the gods appear to have 
 
CHAP. IX.] 
 
 GODS OF THE AUXILIARIES. 
 
 291 
 
 been regarded as too sacred to be entrusted to every tongue. 
 Hence, in almost all cases where we can trace the origin of the 
 uames of such deities on altars in Roman Britain, they are found 
 to be derived from the names of places, from whence probably the 
 dedicators derived their origin. There are, however, one or two 
 exceptions of names of foreign deities, which, from their frequent 
 recurrence, must have belonged to a national mythology. Thus, 
 in the north of England, several altars have been found dedicated to 
 a god whose name appears to have been Veteres, Vetires, or Vetiris. 
 At Netherby, in Cumberland, which appears to have been occupied 
 by Dacians, two altars have been found, one dedicated deo vetiei 
 sancto, the other deo mogonti vitiees. At Lanchester, in the 
 county of Durham, a small altar bore the simple inscription, deo 
 vit. Another found at Ebchester, in the same county, on one 
 side of which was the figure of a boar, and on the other that of a 
 toad, had the following inscription : — 
 
 DEO 
 VITIEI 
 MAXIMV 
 S V s 
 
 To the god 
 Vitires, 
 Maximus 
 performs a vow. 
 
 Two altars of the same deity have been found at Benwell 
 (Conderciim), in both of which he is distinguished by the epithet 
 
 Roman Altar found at Ben-veil (Condercum) . 
 
 sanctus, or holy ; on the first, which is represented in the accom- 
 panying cut, the inscription is merely deo vetri sanct, to the 
 
 u 2 
 
292 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 holy god Yetris. This altar has the usual figures of the imple- 
 ments of sacrifice. The other has the figure of a hog, with the 
 inscription vitirb v s, which is either vitirbus, or vitirb votum 
 solvit. The station at Benwell was occupied by Asturians. An 
 altar at Thirlwall Castle, also on Hadrian's wall, was dedicated 
 deo sancto veteri. Three altars to this god have been found at 
 Carvoran (Magna), which was occupied by Dalmatians. The 
 inscription on one was : — 
 
 DEO 
 
 To the god 
 
 VITIRI 
 
 Vitires, 
 
 MENI 
 
 Menius 
 
 DABA 
 
 Dada 
 
 V S L M 
 
 fulfilled a vow willingly and dutifully. 
 
 A second had an inscription, of which the commencement 
 was deo vitirine . . . , the last two letters of which may be the 
 commencement of another word, though, I think, there has also 
 been found an altar dedicated deo veterino. The third of the 
 Carvoran altars bore the inscription : — 
 
 DIRVS 
 
 To the rustic gods 
 
 VITIRIBVS 
 
 Vitires, 
 
 DECCIVS 
 
 Deccius 
 
 V . S . L . M 
 
 performs a vow willingly and dutifully. 
 
 I translate it according to a suggestion which has been made that 
 the first line should be read, diis rusticis. On some other altars 
 the name is in the plural, veteribus, and veterubus. As the altars 
 were dedicated apparently by people of widely different countries, 
 they give us no assistance in appropriating this deity. The word 
 has been supposed to be identical with Vithris, one of the names 
 of the northern Odin, the Woden of the Germans. 
 
 Another deity, whose altars are found chiefly in Cumberland, 
 where they are numerous, was named Belatucadrus ; by which 
 name, without any epithet, a small altar found at Ellenborough 
 was dedicated by Julius Civilis. Several other altars dedicated to 
 this deity have been found at Netherby, Castlesteads, Burgh-on- 
 the-Sands, Bankshead, and other places. In some instances, as 
 in an altar found at Drumburgh, the deity is addressed by the 
 epithet, deo sancto belatvcadro. In some altars he is 
 identified with Mars, as on one found atPlumpton Wall, dedicated 
 deo marti belatycadri et nvminib augg. Several attempts 
 
chap, ix.] GODS OF THE AUXILIARIES. 293 
 
 have been made to derive the name from Hebrew, Welsh, or 
 Irish, and it has been hastily taken for granted that this god was 
 identical with the Phoenician Baal. Altars to Belatucadrus have 
 been found at Kirby Thore, at Whelpcastle, and at Brougham, in 
 Westmoreland. The one at Brougham was dedicated by a man 
 named Andagus, which sounds like a Teutonic name. 
 
 In Cumberland also are found rather frequently altars dedi- 
 cated to a god named Cocideus or Cocidius. Four were found 
 at Bankshead and Howgill. One at Netherby — dedicated deo 
 sancto cociDio — gives him the same epithet which has been 
 before applied to Vetires and Belatucadrus. He is also identified 
 with Mars in an inscription at Lancaster, deo sancto mabti 
 cocidio, as well as in another found at Old Wall, in Cumberland. 
 The latter was dedicated by a soldier of the first cohort of 
 Dacians. Of the two found at Bankshead, one was dedicated by a 
 soldier of the second legion, the other by the sixth. An altar was 
 found at Bewcastle dedicated sancto cocideo tavrvnc. It is 
 probable that somewhere in the neighbourhood of Bankshead or 
 Howgill there has been a temple dedicated to this god, important 
 enough to give its name to a small town. The anonymous 
 geographer of Ravenna mentions a town in this part of the country 
 which in the ordinary printed text is called Fanocedi, but one of 
 the manuscripts gives Fanococidi, which is no doubt the right 
 reading. The place was called Fanum Cocidi, from the temple 
 of the deity. An altar to Cocidius at Netherby was dedicated by 
 a tribune of the first cohort of Nervians. 
 
 Another deity, whose altars are found chiefly in Cumberland, 
 is called, in the dative case, Mogonti ; perhaps the nominative was 
 Mogontis. An altar at Netherby, mentioned above, seems to 
 identify him with Vetires. The inscription at Old Penrith, 
 deo mogti, is perhaps only an abbreviation of the name. The 
 name deo movnti, found on an altar at Plumpton Wall, is pro- 
 bably only another form. At Risingham, in Northumberland 
 {Habitancum), an altar was found with the inscription : — 
 
 mogo^tt cad To Mogontis Cad . . . 
 
 et . n . D . N . avg and the deity of our lord the Augustus, 
 
 m . g . secvndinvs Marcus Gaius Secundums, 
 
 bf . cos . habita a beneficiary of the consul, at 
 
 NCI prima sta the first station of Habitancum, 
 
 peo se et svis pos placed it for himself and his family. 
 
294 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 Another altar in the same place was dedicated dec- movno cad. 
 Horsley supposes that Cad refers to the Caledonian tribe of 
 the Gadeni, which I think is at least very doubtful. It appears 
 that a cohort of Vangiones from Belgic Gaul was established 
 here. 
 
 A considerable number of names of gods are found only once, 
 and were, there can be little doubt, taken from the names of 
 places. Thus an altar discovered recently at York was dedicated 
 to a god named Arciaconus, probably from the town of Arciaca, 
 in Gaul : * — 
 
 deo To the god 
 
 arciacon Arciaconus, 
 
 et n . avg si and to the divinity of the Augustus, 
 
 mat vitalis Simatius Vitalis 
 
 ord v . s . m .... performs a vow dutifully. 
 
 A goddess Ancasta is mentioned on an altar found at Bittern, in 
 Hampshire (Clausentum) : — 
 
 DEAE 
 
 To the goddess 
 
 ANCA 
 
 Ancas- 
 
 STAE G 
 
 ta, 
 
 EMINV 
 
 Geminus 
 
 S MANTI 
 
 Mantius 
 
 V S L M 
 
 performs a vow willingly and dutifully. 
 
 At Birrens, in Scotland, is a dedication to a goddess Brigantia, 
 with a winged figure of the deity, holding a spear in her right 
 hand, and a globe in the left. It was supposed that this was the 
 deity of the country of the Brigantes, but I am not aware that 
 this country was ever called Brigantia, and it is not probable 
 that the conqueror would worship the deity of a vanquished 
 tribe. I feel more inclined to suppose the name was taken 
 from Brigantium, in Switzerland, a town which occupied the 
 site of the modern Bregentz. An altar found at Chester was 
 dedicated deae kvmphae brig, which in this case would be " to 
 the nymph goddess of Brigantium." 
 
 * It has been remarked that in other provinces of the empire we find deities 
 characterised by similar appellations. Thus we have among the inscribed altars 
 found in the country on the Rhine, one dedicated " Deae Bibracte," a name 
 perhaps taken from the town of Bibracte, in Roman Britain. 
 
chap, ix.] GODS OF THE AUXILIARIES. 295 
 
 An altar dedicated deo ceaiio, to a deity named Ceajius, was 
 found at Drumburgh, in Cumberland. One found at Gretabridge, 
 in Yorkshire, was dedicated deae nymphae elavnae, to the 
 nymph goddess of Elauna. An altar found at Plumpton Wall, in 
 Cumberland, gave us the name of a god called Gadunus. One 
 found at Thirlwall, on the wall of Hadrian, was dedicated to a 
 dea Hammia, who is supposed by Hodgson to have been named 
 from Hamah, on the Orontes. Perhaps, however, this goddess 
 may have been named from the Hamii, a tribe from the banks of 
 the Elbe, who are found stationed in this part of Britain. A 
 goddess named Harimella — deae harimellae — is mentioned in 
 an inscription found at Birrens, in Scotland. An inscription, deo 
 hercvlenti, occurs at BAbchester ; and one to a goddess called 
 Jalona is said to have been found at Bibchester. An altar at 
 Armthwaite, in Cumberland, presented the following inscription 
 to a god Maponus, dedicated by Germans : — 
 
 DEO 
 
 To the god 
 
 MAPONO 
 ET N AVG 
 DVRIO 
 
 Maponus, 
 
 and to the divinity of the Augustus, 
 
 Durio 
 
 ET RAMI 
 
 and Rami 
 
 ET TRVPO 
 ET LVRIO 
 
 and Trupo 
 and Lurio, 
 
 GERMA 
 
 Germans, 
 
 NI V S L M 
 
 performed a vow willingly and dutifully. 
 
 An altar found at Elsdon, in Northumberland, is dedicated to a 
 god Matunus — deo matvno. A goddess named on an altar found 
 at Birrens, in Scotland, dea Ricagm . . ., is shown by the inscription 
 to have belonged to the Beda pagus, in Germany. Mr. Boach 
 Smith, who first pointed out this fact, has also suggested that a 
 title given to Neptune in an inscription on an altar found in the 
 north of England, Neptuno Sarabo sino, may be explained as 
 referring to the Saravus, now the Sarr, a tributary of the 
 Moselle, commemorated in the lines of Ausonius : — 
 
 Tuque per obliqui fauces vexate Saravi, 
 Qua bis terna fremunt scopulosis ostia pilis. 
 
 A dea Setlocenia is mentioned in an altar found at Ellenborough, 
 in Cumberland. At Ilkey, in Yorkshire (Olicana), was found an 
 altar dedicated to Verbeia — verbeiae sacrvm. Lastly, a goddess 
 
THE ROMANS. Lchap. ix. 
 
 called Viradesthi appears on an altar at Birrens, dedicated by a 
 Tungrian soldier : — 
 
 deae vieades To the goddess Viradesthi, 
 
 thi pagvs con Pagus Condustris, 
 
 dvstris mili a soldier in 
 
 in coh ii. tvn the second cohort of Tungrians, 
 
 or svb sivo under Sivus 
 
 avspice pr Auspex 
 
 aefe the prsefect. 
 
 I Such is a general view of the character of the religious monu- 
 ments of the Boman period found in Britain. It cannot but 
 excite our astonishment that among such an immense number of 
 altars and inscriptions of temples, and with so many hundreds of 
 Boman sepulchres and graves as have been opened in this country, 
 we find not a single trace of the religion of the Gospel, j We must 
 bear in mind, moreover, that a large proportion of ttiise monu- 
 ments belonged to a late period of the Boman occupation ; in 
 many of the inscriptions relating to temples, the building is said 
 to have been rebuilt, after having fallen into ruin through its 
 antiquity — vetustate collapsum ; and the examination of more 
 than one of the more magnificent villas has proved that they were 
 erected on the site of an older villa, which had probably been 
 taken down for the same reason. I We seem driven by these 
 circumstances to the unavoidable conclusion that Christianity was 
 not established in Boman Britain, although it is a conclusion 
 totally at variance with the preconceived notions into which we 
 have been led by the ecclesiastical historians. 
 
 The accounts of the supposed establishment of Christianity in 
 our island at this early period may be divided into three classes. 
 First, we have a few allusions to Britain in the earlier Christian 
 writers, which must evidently be taken as little better than 
 flourishes of rhetoric. Britain was the western extremity of the 
 known world, and when the zealous preacher wished to impress 
 on his hearers or readers the widely extended success of the 
 gospel, he would tell them that it extended from India to Britain, 
 without considering much whether he was literally correct in 
 saying that there were Christians in either of these two extremes. 
 We must probably consider in this light certain passages in 
 Tertullian, Origen, Jerome, and others. In the second class we 
 must place the statements of certain ecclesiastical writers who 
 lived at no great length of time after the Boman period. In the 
 year 314, the emperor Constantine called the first ecclesiastical 
 
chap, ix.] CHRISTIANITY. 297 
 
 council, at Aries, to settle a dispute among the African bishops ; 
 a list of the clergy who attended has been preserved, and is 
 printed in the Collections of Councils, but I am not aware that it 
 reposes upon any good authority ; in it are said to have come from 
 Britain, Eborius, bishop of Eburacum (York) ; Eestitutus, bishop 
 of London ; Adelfius, bishop of Colonia Londinensium ; Sacerdos 
 the priest ; and Arminius the deacon. I confess that the list 
 looks to me extremely suspicious, much like the invention of a 
 later period. In the year 360, under the emperor Constantius, 
 a council was called at Ariminum (Rimini), in Italy, on account of 
 the Arian controversy, and it is said to have been attended by four 
 hundred bishops. The prelates assembled on this occasion were 
 to be supported at the public expense, but we are told by the 
 ecclesiastical historian, Sulpicius Severus, who wrote about forty 
 years afterwards, that " this seemed unbecoming to the bishops of 
 Aquitaine, Gaul, and Britain, and they chose rather to live at their 
 own charge, than at the public expense. Three only from Britain, 
 on account of their poverty, made use of the public provision ; for, 
 though the other bishops offered to make a subscription for them, 
 they thought it more becoming to be indebted to the public purse, 
 than to be a burthen upon individuals." If this account be true, 
 and three bishops really went from Britain, they were perhaps 
 only missionaries, whose converts were too few and too poor to be 
 able to support them."^ 
 
 A third class of authorities is much less valuable, and far more 
 extravagant. When the popes began to claim a sovereign power, 
 they were anxious to make it appear that the whole of the western 
 empire had been converted at an early period, and had been 
 dependent on the Boman see. For this purpose, legendary 
 stories were invented which will not bear criticism. Such were 
 the stories of Joseph of Arimathea and St. Paul, who were each 
 said to have planted Christianity in Britain not long after the 
 death of Christ. It need hardly be stated that there is no 
 authority for either of these legends. According to a legend 
 existing in the time of Bede, Lucius, king of the Britons, in the 
 year 156, wrote to the pope Eleutherius, " beseeching him to issue 
 
 * It seems to me that the three names of British bishops pretended to have 
 been at the council of Aries, had been made to answer to the three bishops men- 
 tioned by Sulpicius Severus. I think it has not been yet satisfactorily ascer- 
 tained when the name Britanni was first applied to the people of the country now 
 called Bretagne. 
 
298 THE ROMANS. [chap. ix. 
 
 a mandate that he might be made a Christian ; and afterwards he 
 obtained the object of his pious petition, and the Britons preserved 
 immaculate and sound, in peace and tranquillity, the faith which 
 they had received, until the reign of the emperor Diocletian." 
 There are anachronisms in this story which have furnished matter 
 for much discussion ; but the whole is quite as inconsistent with 
 history, and with what w r e know of the state of the island, as with 
 chronology. The story of king Lucius can be regarded as 
 nothing more than a Romish fable. The pretended persecution 
 in Britain under Diocletian is a kind of sequel to the history of 
 king Lucius. A persecution of the Christians is not likely to have 
 taken place under the orders of the tolerant Cons tan tius, who was 
 governor of Britain when the persecution of Diocletian commenced, 
 and who became emperor two years later, and in another year left 
 his title to his son Constantine. The outline of the legend of 
 St. Alban was probably an invention of the sixth century, at the 
 latter end of which his name is mentioned by the poet Fortunatus, 
 who enumerates him among the blessed martyrs, — 
 
 Albanum egregium foecunda Britannia profert. 
 
 In the " Biographia Britannica Literaria " (Anglo-Saxon period), 
 I have pointed out, I think, substantial reasons for doubting the 
 authenticity of the work attributed to Gildas, on which chiefly our 
 notions of the establishment of Christianity in Roman Britain are 
 founded ; and the more I examine this book, the more I am con- 
 vinced of the correctness of the views I there stated. If the 
 authority of such writers be worth anything, we must take it for 
 granted that at least after the age of Constantine, Roman Britain 
 was a Christian country ; that it was filled with churches, clergy, 
 and bishops, and, in fact, that paganism had been abolished 
 throughout the land. We should imagine that the invaders, under 
 whom the Roman power fell, found nothing but Christian altars to 
 overthrow, and temples of Christ to demolish. It is hardly 
 necessary to point out how utterly at variance such a statement 
 is with the result of antiquarian researches. I have stated that 
 not a trace of Christianity is found among the innumerable 
 religious and sepulchral monuments of the Roman period found 
 in Britain.* One solitary memorial of the religion of Christ has, 
 
 * In considering questions of this kind we should avoid, as much as possible, 
 conjectures and suppositions, and accept nothing but absolute facts. Writers have 
 
chap, ix.] CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 however, been found, and that under very remarkable circum- 
 stances. On the principal tesselated pavement in the Roman 
 villa at Frampton in Dorsetshire, the Christian monogram (the x 
 and p) is found in the midst of figures and emblems, all of which 
 are purely Pagan. Lysons, who published an engraving of this 
 pavement, attempted to explain this singular anomaly, by supposing 
 that the monogram of Christ had been added at a later period by 
 a Christian, who had become possessed of the old Pagan house. 
 But there seems to have been no appearance in the work of the 
 pavement that it had been a subsequent insertion, and it must 
 be agreed that a Christian of this period was not likely to be so 
 tolerant of heathenism, as to place a Christian emblem among 
 pictures and even inscriptions relating to that profane mytho- 
 logy on which he was taught to look with horror, and which 
 he could not for a moment misunderstand. I am inclined to 
 think it more probable that the beautiful villa at Frampton had 
 belonged to some wealthy proprietor who possessed a taste for 
 literature and philosophy, and with a tolerant spirit which led him 
 to seek to surround himself with the memorials of all systems, he 
 had adopted among the rest that which he might learn from some 
 of the imperial coins to be the emblem of Christ. Jesus, in his 
 e¥es, might stand on the same footing as Socrates or Pythagoras. 
 f We can understand, without difficulty, when we consider that 
 (this distant province was, from its insular position, far more inde- 
 pendent of the central influence of the empire than other parts, 
 why the new faith was slow in penetrating to it, and was not 
 readily adopted. No doubt, among the recruits who were sent to 
 the Roman troops, and the strangers who visited the island as 
 merchants, or settlers, there must have been individuals who had 
 embraced the truths of the Gospel. But we must bear in mind 
 also, that the population of Britain during the later period of the 
 Roman power, seems to have been recruited more and more from 
 the Pagan tribes of Germany aud the North. I 
 
 J 
 at times taken for granted that certain modes of interments, or forms of ornament, 
 indicated the sepulchres of followers of the gospel. Thus some have supposed that 
 the burial of the body without cremation was an evidence of Christianity, which 
 certainly is not the case. Others have insisted that the presence of a wreath, or 
 a palm-branch, among the ornaments of a sepulchral inscription, is a proof that 
 it stood over the body of a Christian. Before, however, we can take this for 
 granted, we must be satisfied that such an ornament could not he employed on a 
 Pagan monumen'. 
 
300 THE ROMANS. [chap x. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ?v!odes of Sepulture in Roman Britain — Cremation, and Urn-Burial — Modes of 
 Interment — Burial of the Body entire — Sarcophagi — Coffins of Baked Clay, 
 Lead, and Wood — Barrows — Sepulchral Chambers — Inscriptions, and their 
 Sentiments — Various Articles deposited with the Dead — Fulgor Divom. 
 
 The burial customs of a people are closely allied to its religious 
 belief; but the settlers in Roman Britain appear to have adopted 
 exclusively the Roman forms of sepulture. We learn from the 
 ancient writers that it was the earlier practice of the Romans to 
 bury the body of their dead entire, and that it was not till the 
 time of the dictator Sylla that the custom of burning the dead 
 was established. From this time either usage continued to be 
 adopted, at the will of the individual, or of the family of the 
 deceased; but in the second century of the Christian era the older 
 practice is said to have become again more fashionable than that 
 of cremation, and from this time it gradually superseded it. f We 
 find that both modes of burial were used indiscriminately in 
 Roman Britain, and it is probable that the different peoples who 
 composed the Roman population adopted that practice which was 
 most agreeable to their own prejudices. The practice of burning 
 the dead and burying the ashes in urns seems, however, to have 
 predominated. 
 
 The earliest code of the Roman laws, that of the Twelve 
 Tables, prohibited the burial or burning of the dead within the 
 city, and it was only in rare instances that this prohibition was 
 evaded or transgressed. The same law was acted upon in the 
 towns of the provinces/ A sepulchral interment, consisting of a 
 skeleton laid in a tomb of Roman tiles, was found a few years ago 
 in Green-street, in the very centre of the city of London ; but it 
 formed an exception to the general rule in Roman Britain, where, 
 as in Italy, the cemetery was always placed outside the town, 
 
chap, x.] BURNING THE DEAD. 801 
 
 usually by the side of the roads which led from the principal 
 gates. In the country we generally find the burial-places in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of the villa, or of the hamlet. 
 
 When a Roman had breathed his last, his body was laid out and 
 washed, and a small coin was placed in his mouth, which it was 
 supposed he would require to pay his passage in Charon's boat. 
 If the corpse was to be burnt, it was carried on the day of the 
 funeral in solemn procession to the funeral pile, which w r as raised 
 in a place set apart for the purpose, called the ustrinum. The 
 pile, called rogas, or joyra, was built of the most inflammable 
 wood, differing in size according to the rank or wealth of the 
 individual; and when the body had been placed upon it, the 
 whole was ignited by the relations of the deceased. Perfumes and 
 spirituous liquids were often poured over it ; and objects of different 
 kinds which had belonged to the individual when alive were thrown 
 into the flames. When the whole was consumed, and the fire 
 extinguished, wine was scattered over the ashes, after which the 
 nearest relatives gathered what remained of the bones and the 
 cinders of the dead, and placed them in an urn, in which they were 
 committed to the grave. The site of the ustrinum has been 
 traced, or supposed to be traced, in the neighbourhood of several 
 towns in Roman Britain. A Roman cemetery, found atLitlington, 
 near Royston, is described in the twenty-sixth volume of the 
 " ArehaBologia ;" it formed a square of nearly four hundred feet, 
 and the wall or boundary was distinctly traced. At two of the 
 corners, where there was no trace of interments, the original level 
 of the ground was covered with a great quantity of ashes, which, no 
 doubt, in each place, marked the site of the ustrinum, or place set 
 apart for burning the dead. I believe the site of the ustrinum 
 has also been discovered outside the walls of the Roman town of 
 Isurium, at Aldborough, in Yorkshire. We are told by Herodian 
 that, on the death of Severus at Eburacum, his sons caused his 
 body to be burnt, and placed the ashes with aromatics in an urn of 
 alabaster, which they carried with them to Rome. Persons of rank 
 were burnt with greater ceremonies than were observed on ordinary 
 occasions, and on a spot chosen for the purpose (bustum) instead of 
 the ordinary ustrinum. A large barrow, about twenty feet high, 
 and about two hundred feet in circumference, stands on the side 
 of a hill in the parish of Snodland in Kent. In 1844, a trench 
 was cut through the middle of the mound, and it was discovered 
 
302 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 that it stood on a level and smooth floor cut in the side of the hill, 
 and covered with a thin layer of wood-ashes. All doubt that 
 these were the remains of an immense funeral pile were set at 
 rest by the circumstance, that numbers of very long nails were 
 scattered about among the ashes. As far as the excavations were 
 carried, there were no traces of a sepulchral deposit; so that, 
 perhaps, this was the scene of the last ceremonial of a Roman of 
 distinguished family, whose ashes had been gathered into an urn 
 and carried to Italy, to be deposited in the tomb of his kindred, 
 while the mound was raised as a memorial over the spot where he 
 had been burnt. 
 
 The cinerary urns found in the cemeteries in Britain are 
 generally plain, large (often holding as much as two gallons), of a 
 hard dark- coloured pottery, and of the form represented in the two 
 large vessels in the back-ground of the accompanying cut. The 
 
 Roman Sepulchral Urns. 
 
 other figures in the same cut are some of the varieties of urns 
 which have been found containing bones and ashes. In some 
 instances, where the regular sepulchral urn perhaps could not be 
 obtained, vessels which were made for domestic purposes have 
 been used as sepulchral urns. Sometimes the ashes are deposited 
 in glass jars, which are usually of the forms represented in the first 
 
chap, x.] SEPULCHRAL URNS. 303 
 
 two figures of our group on p. 226. Among the ashes we often 
 find the coin, the offering to Charon ; and sometimes fragments of 
 different articles which have been burnt with the body. One of 
 the small unguent bottles, usually but erroneously called lachry- 
 matories, is often found within the urn. 
 
 Sometimes the cinerary urn, with its contents, was placed 
 merely in a hole in the ground, and covered with a tile or flat 
 stone. We cannot tell in such cases what sort of memorial, if 
 any, was placed above ground, as every thing of this kind has been 
 long cleared away. Perhaps each was covered with a small 
 mound of earth. But when we open a regular Roman cemetery, 
 we usually find the cinerary urn surrounded by a group of vessels 
 of different descriptions, which perhaps held wine, aromatics, and 
 other such articles. Among these are often elegant cups and 
 paterae of the red Samian ware. In the cemetery of the Kentish 
 Durobrivge (Rochester), the groups consisted generally of three or 
 four vessels ; at Litlington they varied in number from three to 
 five. They have been found similarly grouped in other places. 
 In many cases traces of the decayed material seem to prove 
 that each group of urns had been enclosed in a chest of wood, but 
 they were usually covered above with a large tile or flat stone. 
 The chest, or grave, was itself often formed of tiles or stones, 
 instead of wood ; a tile was laid flat for the floor, one long tile 
 formed each side of the chest, and a shorter one the end, and 
 another large tile formed the cover. Such sepulchral chests 
 are frequently found on the site of the Eoman cemeteries at 
 Colchester. In one, opened about three years ago, which was 
 fifteen inches long and twelve wide, an urn was found in the 
 middle, lying on its side, containing bones, and beside it were 
 three small vessels, which had probably been used for ointments, 
 balsams, and other funeral offerings. Another similar chest of 
 tiles, in the same locality, contained two earthenware ampulla, or 
 bottles, an urn with burnt bones, and a lamp; the spaces between 
 the vessels was filled with a sandy earth. The largest group of 
 sepulchral vessels found in this cemetery consisted of fifteen, 
 comprising two large and two small earthen bottles, six paterae, 
 three small urn-shaped pots, a terra-cotta lamp, a lachrymatory, 
 and the fragments of a large urn, no doubt the one which had 
 contained the bones or ashes. A group of twelve vessels comprised 
 an urn with calcined bones, one large ampulla and three small 
 
304 THE KOMANS. [chap. x. 
 
 ones, two paterae of Samian ware, an earthen lamp, three small 
 urn-shaped pots, and a bottle of blue glass with a long straight 
 handle. We are told that, from the scorched appearance of some 
 of the vessels, it appeared that both of these last-mentioned 
 deposits had been placed on the live embers of the fire of the 
 funeral piles of the persons at whose obsequies they had been 
 used. The practice of enclosing or covering the sepulchral 
 deposits with tiles appears to have been so general, that the word 
 tegula, a tile, was often used to signify a tomb. The reader will 
 at once call to mind the lines of Ovid : — 
 
 Est honor et tumulis ; animas placate paternas, 
 
 Parvaque in extinctas munera ferte pyras. 
 Parva petunt manes ; pietas pro divite grata est 
 
 Munere ; non avidos Styx habet ima deos. 
 Tegula projectis satis est velata coronis, 
 
 Et sparsse fruges, parcaque mica salis. 
 
 It appears from these lines that it was the custom for the 
 relatives to place on the tile, which covered the sepulchral deposit, 
 garlands, fruits, and salt. 
 
 At York, graves have been found made of tiles, in a very 
 peculiar arrangement, which is represented in the upper figure in 
 the accompanying plate, taken from one which is still preserved 
 as originally constructed in the museum of that city. It was 
 found in the February of 1833, at the distance of about a mile 
 from York, on the north-west side of the Koman road from York 
 (Eburacum) to Tadcaster (Calcaria). It was formed of ten roof- 
 tiles, each one foot seven inches long, one foot three inches and a 
 half broad, and an inch and a quarter in thickness. Four of 
 these tiles were placed on each side, and one at each end, with a 
 row of ridge-tiles on the top. Each tile bore the impress, leg vi 
 vi (legio sexta victrix, the sixth legion victorious). No urn or 
 vessel of any kind was found under these tiles ; but there was 
 a layer of the remains of a funeral pile, consisting of charcoal and 
 bones, about six inches thick, mixed with iron nails. Such was 
 not the case with another similar tomb, dug up at a short distance 
 without the city walls, in 1768. It was formed in the same 
 manner, of three tiles on each side, covered where they joined 
 each other by ridge-tiles, and with ridge-tiles on the top. Within 
 had been deposited several urns, containing ashes and earth, 
 standing on a flat-tiled pavement. One of them was nearly 
 
^liS^L^^^ii^ 
 
 Romaa Tombs. 
 
chap, x.] LAMPS IN SEPULCHRES. 305 
 
 entire, but the others were more or less broken. A coin of 
 Vespasian and another of Domitian were picked up near the 
 tomb. On each tile was the inscription leg ix hisp {legio nona 
 Hispanica, the ninth legion, the Spanish). Tombs exactly similar to 
 these have been found at Strasbourg on the Rhine (Argentoratwn), 
 erected over soldiers of the eighth legion, which was stationed 
 there. One of them is represented in an engraving in the tenth 
 volume of the " Histoire de l'Academie des Inscriptions." Each 
 tile in the Strasbourg tomb was stamped with the words leg viii 
 avg (legio octava Augusta, the eighth legion, the Augustan). 
 
 Sepulchral chests made of stone are much more rare in Roman 
 burial-places than those formed of tiles. One of the most 
 remarkable was that found at Avisford in Sussex, in 1817, which 
 is represented in the middle figure (No. 2) in our plate. Avisford 
 is in the immediate neighbourhood of several large Roman villas, 
 not far from that of Bignor, and no doubt this sepulchre contained 
 the last remains of one of their denizens. It appears to have 
 been a chest formed out of a solid stone, and covered with a flat 
 slab or lid. In the middle was a large square vase of fine green 
 glass, like those already alluded to, containing calcined bones. 
 Around it were arranged on the floor of the chest, three elegantly 
 shaped earthen vases with handles, several paterae, a pair of 
 sandals studded with numerous little hexagonal brass nails fanci- 
 fully arranged, three lamps placed on supporting projections of 
 the stone, an oval dish and handle escalloped round the edge, 
 containing a transparent agate of the form and size of a pigeon's 
 egg, and a small double-handled glass bottle placed in one of the 
 paterae. Lamps are frequently found in Roman sepulchres, and 
 popular superstition has given rise to stories which represent 
 them as being discovered still burning in ancient sepulchral 
 vaults. This notion is so absurd, that we cannot but wonder how 
 it ever gained credit : but they were probably burning when 
 placed in the grave. Among other inscriptions relating to this 
 custom, Gruter has published the following, which, it will be seen, 
 was intended to form three lines in verse : — 
 
 have ' septimia Adieu, Septimia; 
 
 sit * tibi * terra ' Levis May the earth, lie light upon you ! 
 
 qvisqve • hvic * tvmvlo Whoever on this tomb 
 
 posvit ■ ardente * lvcernam places a lamp burning, 
 
 illivs • cineres may his ashes 
 
 avrea ' terra ' tegat a golden soil cover ! 
 
 X 
 
306 THE ROMANS. [char x. 
 
 Instances occur of more singular contrivances for producing the 
 sepulchral chest, or tomb. In a Roman cemetery at Cirencester 
 was found a stone which had been cut into the shape of a short 
 cylindrical column ; this had been sawn through the middle, and 
 in the centre of the lower half a cell was cut to contain the urn, 
 which was enclosed by joining the two parts of the column 
 together. This probably had stood above ground. Several 
 instances have been met with in which an amphora has been used 
 for a tomb ; the upper part, or neck, having been sawn or broken 
 off, the cinerary urn, with the other vessels and articles usually 
 deposited with the urns, were placed inside ; and the neck was 
 then rejoined to the body of the amphora, and the whole buried 
 in the ground. An instance of this mode of interment was found 
 at Colchester in 1844. The upper part of a large globular 
 amphora, of a pale red colour, had been sawn off, and replaced 
 after the different articles were deposited inside. These articles 
 were a cinerary urn with a lid, represented in front of our group 
 of sepulchral urns on p. 302, filled with calcined bones, a lachry- 
 matory of pale green glass, a small earthen lamp, and another 
 lamp of a finer clay, a number of iron nails, and a coin of second 
 brass with the head of Faustina Junior. One or two instances 
 have occurred in which, instead of the calcined bones or ashes 
 being placed in an urn, the sepulchral chest was partly filled with 
 a loose heap of ashes. One of the tombs at York described 
 above furnishes an example of this practice. An instance of one 
 of the small rectangular cists of tiles, thus filled with ashes, has 
 occurred, I think, at Colchester. We may perhaps explain this, 
 by supposing that, in consequence of some accident, the ashes of 
 the deceased had been so mixed with those of the funeral pile, 
 that it was not possible to separate them, and that therefore the 
 relations had gathered all the ashes near where the body must 
 have lain, and thrown them into the tomb. 
 
 When the body was buried entire, it was interred in several 
 different manners. The skeleton, as now found, appears often as 
 though it had been merely committed to the earth ; but as it is in 
 most instances accompanied with a quantity of large iron nails, it 
 is probable that in all these cases the body was placed in a chest 
 or coffin of wood. In some places, and especially at York, 
 massive chests, or sarcophagi of stone, have been found, which 
 appear from their forms and inscriptions to have stood above 
 
chap, x.] STONE SARCOPHAGI AT YORK 307 
 
 ground. Several fine examples may be seen in the museum of 
 the Philosophical Society at York ; and examples are given, from 
 the plates to Mr. Wellbeloved's " Eburacum," in the third or 
 lower group in our plate at p. 304. Such sarcophagi have been 
 frequently found at York, and they present a very peculiar mode 
 of sepulture. After the body had been laid, apparently in full 
 dress (those hitherto discovered have generally contained the 
 remains of ladies), on its back at the bottom of the sarcophagus, 
 liquid lime was poured in until the body was covered. This, 
 becoming hard, has preserved, to a certain degree, an impression 
 of the form of the body, of which the skeleton is often found 
 entire. Of one of these sarcophagi, which was found by the side 
 of the road from Heslington to Grimston, and is now in the York 
 museum, Mr. Wellbeloved gives the following description: — " On 
 removing the lid, the coffin appeared to be about half filled with 
 lime, excepting the place in which the head had lain. The lime 
 having been very carefully taken out, the lower surface presented 
 a distinct impression of a human body, over which, with the 
 exception of the face, the lime had been poured in a liquid state ; 
 the body having been first covered with a cloth, the texture of 
 which is still clearly to be seen in the impression on the lime. 
 The feet had been crossed, and covered with shoes or sandals, 
 having nails in the soles ; the marks of which on the lime were 
 distinctly visible, and several of the nails themselves were found 
 in the coffin, in a very corroded state. A very small portion of 
 the bones remained ; sufficient, however, to indicate that they 
 were those of a female, and according to the opinion of a very 
 eminent surgeon, that she had been buried in a state of pregnancy. 
 All the teeth, except one, were found, with the enamel undecayed. 
 Just above the left shoulder a small portion of a gold ring ap- 
 peared, and the lime surrounding it having been carefully scraped 
 away, the remnants of a lady's ornaments were brought to light, 
 consisting of fragments of large jet rings, two earrings of fine 
 gold, two bracelets, several brass or copper rings, one of which 
 resembled a cog-wheel, about two inches in diameter, three 
 finger-rings, one of them of jet, of a modern pattern, and two 
 necklaces. One of the necklaces was formed of glass beads, 
 yellow and green ; the other of small beads of coral, intermixed 
 with smaller beads of blue glass, strung, in both cases, on very 
 slender twisted silver wire. " In a coffin of this description recently 
 
 x 2 
 
308 
 
 THE EOMANS. 
 
 [chap. X 
 
 found at York, and also deposited in the museum, the lime bears 
 the impression of a female with a small child laid in her lap, and 
 the colour, a rich purple, as well as the texture of the cloth 
 which covered her, is distinctly visible in the impression. One of 
 these coffins, found at York, had contained the body of a large 
 man, whose skull was cloven as though by the blow of an axe or 
 sword. The lids of these stone sarcophagi were often fastened to 
 the lower part, or chest, with iron cramps. 
 
 Sarcophagi, for the reception of the body when not burnt, were 
 sometimes made of baked clay, either in one piece with a lid, or 
 in several pieces, so formed as to fit together. Several examples 
 of such clay coffins have been found at York, and the neighbouring 
 town of Aldborough ; in the latter place they are found somewhat 
 resembling violin-cases in form. 
 
 A description of coffin found more frequently in this country was 
 formed of lead. Many examples of these leaden coffins have been 
 met with in the Roman cemeteries at Colchester, York, London, 
 and elsewhere. When these coffins are ornamented, the orna- 
 ments consist almost always of scallop shells and bead-mouldings, 
 sometimes interspersed with small circles. The annexed cut 
 represents one of these coffins dug up, about six years ago, in a 
 Roman cemetery near Colchester. It was four feet three inches 
 
 Leaden Coffin from Colchester (Camulodunum). 
 
 in length, fifteen inches wide at the head, and eleven at the feet, 
 and nine and a half inches deep, exclusive of the lid. It was 
 formed of a sheet of lead cast in a mould, and bent upwards on 
 each side, with square pieces, soldered at the top and bottom to 
 form the ends. The lid was formed by being notched at the 
 head and feet, and then bent down at the edges and soldered, to 
 lap over the coffin. The entire exterior was tastefully ornamented 
 with scallop shells, rings, or circles, and a beaded pattern. All 
 
chap. x.l LEADEN COFFINS. 309 
 
 that is known, of its contents is that, like the stone coffins found 
 at York, it was partly filled with lime. The coffin itself is now 
 in the private museum of Mr. Bateman, of Yolgrave, in Derbyshire ; 
 another leaden coffin, found at Colchester about the same time, 
 was sold for old lead, and melted down ; but from a sketch which 
 was taken of it before it was destroyed, it appears to have been 
 still more elaborately ornamented, chiefly with the same scallop 
 shells, rings, and bead moulding. Morant records the discovery 
 of a similar leaden coffin at Colchester, in the March of the year 
 J 750. It contained what was called a quantity of dust, perhaps 
 lime, but very little of the bones remained. " There lay near 
 the head two bracelets of jet, one plain, the other scalloped, 
 and a very small and slender one of brass wrought, and four 
 bodkins (? hair-pins) of jet. The coffin was cast, or wrought, all 
 over with lozenges, in each of which was an escallop shell. Near 
 it was found an urn, holding about a pint, in which were two coins 
 of large brass, one of Antoninus Pius, and the other of Alexander 
 Sever us." 
 
 Several Roman leaden coffins have been found at different 
 times on the sites of the cemeteries of Roman London. One, 
 dug up in Mansell-street, Whitechapel, in 1843, had contained 
 the body of a child, and resembled in construction and ornament 
 the one engraved above. In the immediate vicinity, and on the 
 same level, were found skeletons, urns with burnt bones, and 
 various articles, such as are usually found in Roman cemeteries. 
 In a leaden coffin dug up at Stratford-le-Bow, in 1844, the 
 remains of a skeleton were found embedded in lime. In 
 Weever's " Funeral Monuments," published in 1631, we are 
 informed that, " within the parish of Stepney in Middlesex, in 
 Ratcliffe-field, where they take ballast for ships, about some four- 
 teen or fifteen years ago, there was found two monuments, the 
 one of stone, wherein was the bones of a man, the other a chest of 
 lead, the upper part being garnished with scallop shells, and a 
 crolister border. At the head of the coffin and the foot, there 
 were two jars, of a three-feet length, standing, and on the sides 
 a number of bottles of glistening red earth, some painted, and 
 many great vials of glass, some six, some eight square, having a 
 whitish liquor within them. Within the chest was the body of a 
 woman, as the chirurgians judged by the skull. On either side 
 of her there were two sceptres of ivory, eighteen inches long, and 
 
310 THE ROMANS. [chap. x. 
 
 on her breast a little figure of Cupid, neatly cut in white stone. 
 And amongst the bones two painted pieces of jet, with round 
 heads in form of nails, three inches long. It seemeth (saith 
 Sir Kobert Cotton, from whom I had this relation,) these bodies 
 were buried about the yeare of our Lord 239 ; besides there were 
 found divers coins of Pupienus, Gordian, and the emperors of 
 that time ; and thus one may conjecture by her ornaments, that 
 this last body should be some prince's or proprietor's wife here in 
 Britaine in the time of the Roman government." Stepney is known 
 to be the site of one of the cemeteries of Roman London. A similar 
 coffin was found towards the close of the last century in a Roman 
 burial-place in Battersea-fields ; it was ornamented with scallop 
 shells and cord mouldings, and contained a skeleton embedded in 
 lime. Another, found in 1811, in the Kent-road, near the 
 Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, is engraved in the " Arehseologia. " 
 It was bordered and divided into five compartments by the band 
 and fillet ornament. In the uppermost compartment were two 
 figures of Minerva, counterparts of each other ; the three inter- 
 mediate compartments were diagonally crossed by the same 
 ornament, and the lowest compartment contained two scallop 
 shells. The remains of a skeleton were found also in this coffin. 
 The leaden coffins found at York are supposed, by Mr. Well- 
 beloved, to have been encased in wood. Wooden coffins appear to 
 have been extensively used in Roman cemeteries in this country. 
 They are traced by the marks of decayed wood, and more especially 
 by the presence of large long nails which had been used to attach 
 the planks of the coffin together. These nails are found in great 
 quantities in the Roman cemeteries at Colchester, and elsewhere 
 on similar sites. In a cemetery in Bourne Park, near Canterbury, 
 several skeletons were recently found, lying near each other, and 
 accompanied with such nails, from six to nine inches long. Four 
 or six nails are said to have been found with each skeleton, near 
 the shoulders, hands, and feet, which are the positions into which 
 they would naturally have fallen from the coffin as it decayed. 
 From the nature of the ground, here, as in many other places under 
 similar circumstances, after such a great length of time, the decay 
 of the wood had been so complete, that no further trace of it was 
 perceived ; and it was rather hastily supposed that the presence 
 of these nails proved that the skeletons were the remains of 
 crucified martyrs. 
 
chap, x.] SEPULCHRAL VAULT AT YORK. 311 
 
 In some cases, the sepulchral chest was expanded into a spacious 
 chamber. One found at York, in the time of Thoresby, is described 
 by that antiquary as large enough to contain two or three corpses ; it 
 was carefully paved with bricks, eight inches square and two inches 
 thick, and covered with bricks two feet square. When discovered, 
 it was found to be empty. Another sepulchral chamber, larger 
 than this, was found, as Mr. Wellbeloved informs us, " by some 
 workmen in the year 1807, when digging for the foundation of a 
 house, near the Mount, without Micklegate-bar. It is a small 
 room or vault, about four feet below the present surface, eight 
 feet in length, five feet in breadth, and six feet in height ; the 
 roof being arched and formed of Eoman tiles, each of about one 
 foot square, and two and a half inches in thickness. In this vault 
 was found a sarcophagus, of a single grit-stone, covered with a 
 blue flag-stone, containing a skeleton, in remarkable preservation ; 
 arising, probably, from its being immersed in water, which had 
 filtered through the earth ; the head elevated by being placed on 
 a step. At the north end of the vault there was an aperture, too 
 small to have admitted the sarcophagus, and carelessly closed by 
 large stones. On each side of the skull a small glass vessel, 
 usually called a lachrymatory, was found, one of them perfect, the 
 other broken. The sarcophagus was without an inscription. The 
 other sides of the vault were not seen, except that through which 
 the workmen broke, and by which visitors are now admitted to 
 view this interesting sepulchral antiquity." Perhaps, if the 
 whole were uncovered, an inscription would be found on the out- 
 side of the building. A large sepulchral chamber of rather a 
 different description, and containing a variety of amphorae, 
 paterae, and other articles, was found in 1849, at Mount Bures, 
 near Colchester. 
 
 Sepulchral chambers, like that found at York, no doubt 
 stood above ground, forming conspicuous ornaments by the 
 side of the highway. We find in Britain very few traces 
 of sepulchral buildings of this kind, because where they existed 
 they were no doubt cleared away during the middle ages for their 
 materials. 
 
 In some cases, particularly at a distance from large towns, the 
 sepulchral chamber was inclosed in a mound of earth, or barrow. 
 The mound of earth was a form of monument which belonged to 
 an early age, and was perhaps adopted in the case of Romans 
 
312 THE KOMANS. [chap. x. 
 
 who died in the provinces, as more durable than the sepulchre of 
 stone — 
 
 Ergo instauramus Polydoro funus, et ingens 
 Aggeritur tumulo tellus. — Virg. J$n., iii. 62. 
 
 The most remarkable Roman tumuli, or barrows, in Britain, are 
 the group called the Bartlow hills, in the parish of Ashdon, on 
 the northern border of Essex. They were opened a few years 
 ago, and the different modes in which the internal tombs were 
 constructed seemed to show that they were not all erected at the 
 same time. In form they are all conical. The height of the 
 largest is forty-five feet, and its diameter a hundred and forty- 
 seven. Six others, which complete the group, are of somewhat 
 smaller dimensions. When the largest barrow was opened, it was 
 found that the sepulchral chamber in the centre had been 
 constructed of wood ; it contained a large glass vessel resembling 
 the second figure in our group on p. 226 : a bronze patera, with 
 a reeded handle terminating in a ram's head ; a bronze dish ; a 
 lamp, also of bronze ; a beautiful bronze enamelled urn with 
 handle ; a folding stool or seat ; and a pair of strigils. A large 
 amphora, filled with earth, ashes, and fragments of bones, was 
 placed outside this wooden chest. • In the centre of one of the 
 smaller Bartlow barrows was found a closed vault, built of brick, 
 six feet three inches long, two feet three inches and a half wide, 
 and about three feet high, standing north and south on a bed of 
 chalk, about a foot below the natural surface. The covering was 
 formed of flat tiles overlapping each other. When these were 
 removed, the tomb was found to contain a large glass vessel, 
 which is the first figure in our group just alluded to, and which 
 contained bones and ashes ; a small glass vessel of the same 
 form, containing a dark-coloured fluid : and a vessel of wood, 
 formed like a pail, with a handle at the side. 
 
 In these barrows the body had undergone the process of 
 cremation, but in a very remarkable one, called Eastlow hill, at 
 Rougham in Suffolk, opened by Professor Henslow, in the year 
 1844, the body of the deceased had been buried entire. The 
 tomb in this case was a miniature Roman house, of strong 
 masonry, with a roof peaked and tiled on the outside. It was 
 built upon a platform, fifteen feet square, formed of a concrete 
 of large flints and very hard mortar mixed with sand. The 
 
chap, x.] ROMAN BARROWS. 313 
 
 length of the tomb, or house, on the exterior, was twelve feet, 
 and its width six feet and a half. The thickness of the walls was 
 two feet, and their height at the sides the same ; the height of 
 the roof, from the ground to the ridge, was five feet. The interior 
 was found to be a cylindrical vault. In the middle of the floor 
 stood a leaden chest or coffin, six feet nine inches long, one foot 
 five inches broad, and one foot four inches deep. It had been 
 formed of a sheet or sheets of lead, by turning up the sides and 
 ends, after cutting out the piece at the corners. The edges were 
 soldered on the inside. The lid was a loose sheet of lead, turned 
 in at the edges in the same way. Within this chest lay the 
 skeleton, which was in a tolerably good state of preservation. The 
 leaden chest appeared to have been enclosed in wood-work, for a 
 great many nails, from two to twelve inches long, were found 
 lying by its side, among a mass of decayed wood. A Roman coin 
 was found within the leaden tomb — Professor Henslow seems to 
 say in the mouth of the skeleton — the obolus to propitiate Charon. 
 A little chamber at one end, outside the vault, appeared to have 
 contained glass and other vessels, which were broken to pieces. 
 This large tumulus was one of a group of four; the others 
 had been opened in the previous year, and had presented 
 the usual appearance of urns, &c, which characterise Roman 
 sepulture. 
 
 The tomb at Eastlow lay north-east and south-west. That in 
 the Bartlow hill stood north and south. The most common posi- 
 tion of the skeletons in Roman cemeteries is east and west, the 
 feet usually towards the east, but this is by no means always the 
 case. 
 
 The Roman sepulchral inscriptions, found in this country, pos- 
 sess much interest. They are generally met with in the cemeteries 
 near towns, and consist usually of a slab of stone, which appears to 
 have been fixed in the ground like our common churchyard grave- 
 stones. At York, the inscriptions are found on the sides of some 
 of the large stone sarcophagi. Some of the slabs appear by their 
 form to have been placed against a larger sepulchre of masonry. 
 The inscription is often surmounted by a sculptured figure, 
 intended sometimes to represent the individual commemorated by 
 it. The usual inscriptions are dedicated at the beginning to the 
 gods of the shades, perhaps meaning to tbe shades of the departed, 
 diis manibus, which is most frequently expressed merely by the two 
 
314 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. X, 
 
 letters d.m.* The name of the deceased is then stated, with his 
 age, and, if a soldier, the number of years he had served. This is 
 usually followed by the name of the person who has raised the 
 tomb. The age is often stated with great precision, as in the 
 following simple memorial found on a sepulchral slab at 
 Ellenborough in Cumberland : — 
 
 D M 
 
 IVL MAEITIM 
 
 A VIX AN 
 
 XII. M. Ill D. XXII 
 
 To the gods of the shades. 
 Julia Maritima 
 lived twelve years, 
 three months, twenty-two 
 
 Another common form of inscription, omitting sometimes the d.m. 
 
 at the beginning, closed with the 
 words hie situs est, is placed, 
 or laid here. We may quote 
 as an instance of this formula 
 a rather well-known tombstone 
 found, a few years ago, at 
 Cirencester, and represented in 
 the annexed cut. The figure 
 above is one often met with 
 on the monuments of soldiers 
 in the Eoman cavalry. The 
 inscription must be read, — 
 
 RVFVS * SITA • EQVES * CHO VI 
 TRACVM ' ANN * XL STIP XXII 
 HEREDES * EXS " TEST * F * CVRAVE 
 H S E 
 
 It may be translated, "Rufus 
 Sita, a horseman of the sixth 
 cohort of Thracians, aged forty 
 years, served twenty-two years. 
 His heirs, in accordance with 
 his will, have caused this monu- 
 ment to be erected. He is laid 
 here." In a monument found 
 at Caerleon, the formula is 
 varied as follows : — 
 
 RVFVS-SlTAEttVES-CHOVI 
 TRMiVhA'ANMXLSriPXXll 
 HEREDES-EXSTESTTORAVE 
 H S/VE 
 
 Tombstone from Cirencester (Corinium). 
 
 * At Carrawburgh, in Northumberland (Procolitia) , was found an altar dedi- 
 cated to tbe del manes, with the inscription d. m. d. tranqvila severa pro se 
 
 ET SVIS V. S. L. M. 
 
chap, x.] SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS. 315 
 
 D m iyl iylianys To the gods of the shades. Julius 
 
 Julianus, 
 mil leg n avg stip a soldier of the second legion, the 
 
 Augustan, served 
 xvni annor XL eighteen years, aged forty, 
 
 hic sitys est is laid here, 
 
 cyea agente by the care 
 
 amanda of Amanda 
 
 coniyge his wife. 
 
 A sepulchral monument, found at Ellenborougk in Cumberland, 
 
 begins with the words hic exsegeke fata, here have undergone 
 
 their fates. We see in these inscriptions how cautiously a direct 
 
 allusion to death is avoided. We find an exception to this remark 
 
 in an inscription found of late years at Caerleon, in which one of 
 
 the persons commemorated is said to have died in a war in 
 
 Germany. 
 
 dm To the gods of the shades. 
 
 tada * valla yntvs YiXTT Tadia Yallaunius, who lived 
 
 ajsos • lxy • et tadiys ■ exypertys sixty -five years, and Tadius 
 
 Exupertus, 
 EiLiYS • yixit • ann . xxxvii ' defyn her son, who lived thirty-seven 
 
 years, and 
 
 tys ' expeditione germanica died in the German expedition. 
 
 tadia * exyperata * filia Tadia Exuperata, a daughter 
 
 matri * et • eratri * piissima to her mother and brother most 
 
 attached, 
 secys tymylym near the tomb 
 
 patris posyit of her father placed this. 
 
 In another inscribed slab, found at Caerleon, the tomb is called 
 
 a momonentum, and another phrase is used, — 
 
 d • m To the gods of the shades. 
 
 iylia * yeneri Julia Veneria, 
 
 a * an * xxxn aged thirty-three years. 
 
 i • alesan • con Alexander, her husband 
 
 pientissima most attached, 
 
 et * i • belicianys and Julius Belicianus, 
 
 E • monime her son, this monument 
 
 F ' c caused to be made. 
 
 In a sepulchral inscription, given by Camden as found at Sil- 
 chester, the tomb is dedicated to the memory of the deceased, — 
 
 memoriae To the memory 
 
 el • victori of Flavia Yictorina, 
 
 nae • t • tam Titus Tamphilus 
 
 victor Victor, 
 
 coniynx her husband, 
 
 posyit placed this. 
 
316 THE ROMANS. [chap. x. 
 
 In some instances, as in an inscription at York and another found 
 at London, memoria is used for monumentum, and the phrase 
 memoriam posuit, is adopted in the sense of " raised a monument." 
 An inscription found at Bibchester, in Lancashire, which has 
 been often quoted, commenced with the words his terris tegitur 
 Aelia Matrona, with this earth is covered iElia Matrona. It was 
 the custom among the Romans for men of family or wealth to 
 build up their own sepulchres before they died, which was usually 
 expressed in the inscription by the letters v. F.(vivus fecit), v. f. c. 
 (yivus faciendum curavit), or v. s. p. (yivus sibi posuit). Inscriptions 
 of this kind were placed on monuments of a more ostentatious 
 character, which were raised by the road-side, near large towns. 
 An inscription was found at York, commemorating one of the 
 magistrates of the city, which, from the form of the stone, must 
 have been built in the wall of a large sepulchre. The inscription 
 has been given as follows : — 
 
 M VEREC DIOGENES IIIIIIVIR COL 
 EBOR IBIDEMQ MORT CIVES BITVRIX 
 CVBVS HAEC SIBI VIVVS FECIT 
 
 which may be translated, " Marcus Verecundus Diogenes, sevir 
 of the colonia of Eburacum, and who died there, a citizen of 
 Biturix Cubus, caused these to be made for him 'during his life- 
 time." Biturix Cubus, it appears, referred to the district of 
 Avaricum in Gaul (Bourges), as the native country of Marcus 
 Verecundus Diogenes. 
 
 Many of the Roman sepulchral inscriptions found in this 
 country display feelings of the tenderest and most affectionate 
 description. They are addressed to the deceased by near relatives, 
 who apply to them loving epithets. Sometimes they are 
 addressed from parents to a child. Thus a large sarcophagus 
 found at York, was made to receive the body of an infant, whose 
 father was a soldier in the sixth legion. The inscription is 
 
 D " M • SIMPLICIAE * FLORENTINE 
 ANIME INNOCENTISSIME 
 QVE ' VIXIT * MENSES " DECEM 
 FELICIVS ' SIMPLEX * PATER * FECIT 
 LEG * VI * V 
 
 " To the gods of the shades. To Simplicia Florentina, a most 
 innocent thing, who lived ten months, her father, of the sixth 
 legion, the victorious, made this." A monument in the form of 
 
CHAP. X.] 
 
 SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 317 
 
 an altar was found at 
 with the inscription, — 
 d m s 
 
 FABIE HONOR 
 ATE FABIYS HON 
 ORATIVS TRIBVN 
 COH I VANGION 
 
 ET AVRELIA EGLIC 
 IANE FECER 
 VNT FILIE D 
 VLCISSIME 
 
 Chesters in Northumberland {Cilumum)> 
 
 Sacred to the gods of the shades. 
 
 To Fabia Honorata, 
 
 Fabius Honoratius, 
 
 tribune 
 
 of the first cohort of Vangiones, 
 
 and Aurelia Egliciane, 
 
 made this 
 
 to their daughter 
 
 most sweet. 
 
 A stone slab found at Bath, and which seems also to have been 
 placed on a building, bore the following inscription : — 
 
 dm To the gods of the shades, 
 
 svcc • petroniae vix To Succia Petronia, who lived 
 
 ANN • in • m • nn • d • ix * v petro three years, four months, nine days, 
 
 Valerius 
 nivlvs * et tvictia sabina Petroniulus and Tuictia Sabina, 
 
 FiL * ear * fec to their dearest daughter, made this. 
 
 Several other such inscriptions to children, chiefly to little girls, 
 have been met with in this country, as well as others from children 
 to their parents. A stone found at Great Chesters in Northum- 
 berland, presented, under the rude sculpture of a female figure, 
 the short and simple inscription, — 
 
 To the gods of the shades. 
 
 To Pervica, her daughter made this. 
 
 On another, found at the same place, was an inscription from a 
 sister to her brother, — 
 
 DIS M 
 
 PER VIC AE FILIA F 
 
 D M 
 
 AEL * MERCV 
 RIALI CORNICVL 
 VACIA ' SOROR 
 FECIT 
 
 To the gods of the shades. 
 To iElius Mercurialis, 
 a trumpeter, 
 his sister Vacia 
 made this. 
 
 A wife is often found raising the monument to her husband. The 
 following inscription was found on a sepulchral slab at Stan wicks 
 in Cumberland : — 
 
 DIS MANIBV 
 
 S MARCI TROIANI 
 
 AVGYSTINn TVM FA 
 
 CIENDVM CVRAVI 
 
 T * AEL ' AMMIL LVSIMA 
 
 CONIVX KARISS 
 
 To the gods of the shades. 
 
 Of Marcus Trojanus 
 
 Augustinius the tomb 
 
 erected 
 
 ^Elia Ammilla Lusima, 
 
 his most dear wife. 
 
318 
 
 THE KOMANS. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 An inscription found on this line of the wall in Northumberland, 
 also addressed by a wife to her deceased husband, a native of 
 Pannonia, furnishes us with an undoubtedly Teutonic name ; the 
 inscription is imperfect, — 
 
 D *M 
 
 DAGVALD * MI . 
 PAN * VIXIT * A 
 . . . PVSINNA 
 XTITVL 
 
 To the gods of the shades. 
 Dagvald, a soldier 
 of Pannonia, lived years . . 
 . . . Pusinna, his wife, 
 placed this monument. 
 
 This last line is not very distinct in the original, but it appears to 
 be part of conjux titnlum posuit. Several examples have been 
 found of affectionate addresses from a father to a wife and several 
 children. A sepulchral monument at Old Penrith, given by 
 Camden, bore the inscription, — 
 
 D M 
 
 AICETVOS MATER 
 
 VIXIT A XXXXV 
 
 ET LATTIO FIL'VIX 
 
 A XII ' LIMISIVS 
 
 CONIV ET EILIAE 
 
 PIENTISSIMIS 
 
 POSVIT 
 
 To the gods of the shades. 
 
 Aicetuos, the mother, 
 
 lived forty -five years, 
 
 and Lattio, the daughter, lived 
 
 twelve years. Limisius, 
 
 to a wife and daughter 
 
 most affectionate, 
 
 placed this. 
 
 In an inscription on a broken stone, found in the Koman cemetery 
 at Bulmore, near Caerleon, a deceased lady is apostrophised by 
 her husband and three sons : — 
 
 D M 
 
 CAESOBIA CQRO 
 
 CA V A XLVIII REM * 
 
 S CONTVX * * * * S ET 
 
 MVNAT • • • ' LEST 
 
 NVS E * ' * EONTI 
 
 VS EECERVNT 
 
 EILI EIVS 
 
 To the gods of the shades. 
 
 Csesoria Coroca, 
 
 who lived forty-eight years. 
 
 Eemus, her loving husband, and 
 
 Munatius, and Lestinus, 
 
 and Leontius, 
 
 her sons, 
 
 made this. 
 
 A slab found at Carvoran in Northumberland (Magna), bears the 
 following affectionate inscription : — 
 
 D M 
 
 AVRE FAIAE 
 
 D SALONAS 
 
 AVR MARCVS 
 
 OBSEQ CON 
 
 IVG * SANCTIS 
 
 SIMAE QVAE VI 
 
 XIT ANNIS XXXIII 
 
 SINE VLLA MACVLA 
 
 To the gods of the shades. 
 To Aurelia Faia, 
 a native of Salona, 
 Aurelius Marcus, 
 a centurion, out of affection 
 for his most holy wife, 
 who lived 
 thirty-three years 
 without any stain. 
 
chap, x.] SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS. 319 
 
 Gruter has recorded a Eoman sepulchral inscription, by one 
 Marcus Aurelius Paullus, conjugi incomparabili, cum qua vixit 
 annis xxvii, sine ulla querela, to his incomparable wife, with 
 whom he had lived twenty-seven years, without any dispute. 
 
 When there was no near relation left, the tomb was erected by 
 the heirs to the property of the deceased, generally, it would 
 appear, by direction of the will. Many of the sepulchral monu- 
 ments in Britain were thus raised by the heirs. The following 
 inscription, found at Ardoch in Scotland, will serve for an example 
 of the ordinary formula used under such circumstances : — 
 
 dis manibvs To the gods of the shades. 
 
 ammonivs da Ammonius Damion, 
 
 miosis o coh centurion of cohort 
 
 I hispanorvm the first of the Spaniards, 
 
 stipendiobvm having served 
 
 xxvii heredes twenty-seven years. His heirs 
 
 F c caused this to be made. 
 
 In an inscription found at Ellenborough, in Cumberland, the sons 
 of the deceased acted under the name of his heirs/ 1 ' — 
 
 d m To the gods of the shades. 
 
 mori regis Of Morus Rex 
 
 EiLii heredes the sons, his heirs, 
 
 Eivs svbstitve substituted this. 
 
 rvnt vix a lxx He lived seventy years. 
 
 We have several instances of the desire among members of the 
 same family to be buried beside each other. A soldier slain in 
 Germany was brought to Isca (Caerleon) to be interred beside his 
 father. A broken inscription in one of the stations along the wall 
 of Hadrian commemorates a native of Galatia, whose father having, 
 as it appears, died in Britain, the son, who died in his native 
 country, wished on his death-bed to be carried into Britain to 
 be laid in his father's grave. 
 
 * Horsley observes on this inscription, " It was customary with the ancients to 
 erect sepulchral monuments for themselves and families, while they were living ; 
 which might possibly be the case here, with respect to this Morus Rex. But 
 the monument he built might have fallen to decay, or by some accident have been 
 demolished, before his death, and his sons, upon his decease, have rebuilt it. The 
 word substituerunt seems to intimate something like this, which signifies the 
 putting of some person or thing in the room of another which was there before. 
 So we say substituere judicem; and by the Roman law the usufructuary was 
 obliged substituere pecora, or arbores, in the room of such as died. It would be 
 very difficult to put any other meaning upon substituerunt in this inscription ; for, 
 to take it in the sense of constituerunt, is perhaps without example." 
 
320 THE ROMANS. [chap. x. 
 
 . . . . il ser .... son of Servius, 
 
 QYI NANAT who, bom 
 
 galatia DEO in Galatia, 
 
 bvit gala .... died in Galatia ; 
 
 xit ann .... lie lived .... years ; 
 
 moritv .... on his death-bed 
 
 desider .... he desired 
 
 eis int .... in his father's tomb to be buried.* 
 
 It has been remarked that, to judge from the ages set forth in 
 these sepulchral inscriptions, the Romans in Britain generally 
 died young. The average age seems to be not much more than 
 thirty. We find, however, one or two instances of longevity. A 
 decurion, or municipal magistrate, of the city of Glevum 
 (Gloucester) was buried at the fashionable watering place of Aquae 
 Solis (Bath), who died at the age of eighty-six. Length of years 
 had perhaps increased his attachment to life, and he went thither 
 to seek new vigour from the medicinal waters of the place. From 
 the form of the stone, we may suppose that it was placed on the 
 wall of a tomb of some magnitude. The following is all that 
 remains of the inscription : — 
 
 dec coloniae glev Decurion of the colonia of Glevum ; 
 
 vixit an • lxxxvi he lived eighty-six years. 
 
 One instance has occurred of an age still more patriarchal. In a 
 cemetery at Bulmore, near Caerleon (Isca), one or two monuments 
 connected with the same family were found. On one was the 
 inscription, — 
 
 ivl * valens * vet Julius Valens, a veteran 
 
 leg • ii • avg • vixit of the second legion, the Augustan, 
 
 lived 
 
 annis • C ' ivl a hundred years. Julia 
 
 secvndina * conivnx Secundina, his wife, 
 
 et ivl martinvs * filivs and Julius Martinus, his son, 
 
 F • c caused this to be made. 
 
 Close by this stone, another was found with an inscription 
 recording the death of the wife of this aged veteran, and raised by 
 their son. The inscription famishes us with another formula, 
 dis manibus et memorice, of which we have an example in Gruter, 
 found on the continent. It is interesting to find this identity of 
 
 * The translation of this inscription is made after the ingenious restoration of 
 Mr. Roach Smith, who (Collectanea, ii. p. 202) explains it , I helieve correctly, as 
 follows : — . . . fllulUS SER/m qvi sxtus galatia decwbvit galatia w'xit annos . . . 
 MoniTvrws DEsiDER.cm£ pafaus in Tumulo sepeliri. In the second line, nanat 
 appears to be an error of the stone-cutter for nat. 
 
chap, x.] SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS. 321 
 
 expression and sentiment in different parts of the Roman world. 
 The inscription on the Caerleon monument runs as follows :— 
 
 D m et To the gods of the shades, and 
 
 memoriae to memory. 
 
 ivliae . secvndi To Julia Secundum, 
 
 nae . matri . pi a most affectionate mother. 
 
 issimae . vixit . an who lived years 
 
 nis . lxxv . c . ivl seventy-five, Caius Julius 
 
 martixvs . fil Martinus, her son, 
 
 f . c caused this to be made. 
 
 Few inscriptions have yet been found referring to persons of 
 any rank in society, or to officials, except officers in the army. 
 We have seen inscriptions commemorative of a decurion of 
 Glevum and a sevir of Eburacum. A monument found at 
 Wroxeter (Uriconium), mentions an office, the exact character of 
 which seems to be doubtful, though the curator agrorum, or 
 agrarius, may have been the overseer, or bailiff, of the town lands. 
 The monument consists of a tablet in three columns, or com- 
 partments ; that in the middle contains an inscription to the 
 officer ; the one on the left has an inscription to the wife ; the 
 other is blank, and it has either been left so for a son, or has 
 become erased. The central inscription is : — 
 
 D . m To the gods of the shades. 
 
 devccv Deuccus, 
 
 s . v . an . xv lived fifteen (?) years, 
 
 cvr. ag he was overseer of the lands 
 
 ra tre of Trebonius (?) 
 
 The number of years is perhaps not correctly read from the stone, 
 which seems to be in bad condition. The other inscription is : — 
 
 D . m To the gods of the shades. 
 
 placida Placida, 
 
 ax . lv lived fifty-five years, 
 
 cvr . ag of the overseer of the lands 
 
 cox. i a she was the wife 
 
 xxx thirty years. 
 
 A lingering sentiment of attachment to the living, caused the 
 Romans to select for the sites of their tombs spots by the side of 
 the high-roads. The inscription on the grave of a Roman named 
 Lollius, quoted from Gruter, said that he was " buried by the 
 road-side, that they who pass by may say, Farewell, Lollius." It 
 was from this circumstance that the inscription is not unfrequently 
 addressed to the way-faring traveller, with such phrases as siste 
 
322 THE ROMANS. [chap. x. 
 
 viator (stop, traveller); aspice viator (look, traveller); or cave, 
 viator (beware, traveller). They were, nevertheless, anxious to 
 protect the last dwellings of the dead from neglect or disrespect, 
 and warnings to those who might be inclined to offer indignities 
 to the tombs are not unfrequently incorporated in the monumental 
 inscription. It seems to have been considered necessary to tell 
 people that they should not throw dirt or rubbish against the 
 tombs, or treat them otherwise in an unseemly manner. * In 
 Italy, it is sometimes expressly forbidden by the inscription to 
 raise a funeral pile against a tomb — ad hoc monumentum ustrinum 
 applicare non licet. Sometimes a notice was given that punish- 
 ment aw 7 aited the intruder who should bury any other body in a 
 sepulchre already occupied. Warnings of this kind belonged 
 more properly, perhaps, to family sepulchres. A broken stone 
 found at Watercrook, in Westmorland, contained an inscription 
 of which a few letters at the end of each line were wanting, and 
 the last line was not distinctly legible — it appears, by the form of 
 the stone, to have been placed against the wall of a large tomb : — 
 
 P . AEL . P . F SERG . BASS 
 
 Q D LEG . XX . VV . VIX .AN 
 
 ET . P . RIVATVS LIBE . ET . HERO 
 
 M . LEG . VI . VIC . FEC . SI Q 
 
 SEPVLC . ALIVM MORT 
 
 ERIT . INFER . F . D . D . N . N 
 
 As filled up and explained by Horsley, it may be translated : 
 Publius iElius, the son of Publius, of the tribe Sergia Bassus, 
 quaestor designatus of the twentieth legion, the valiant and 
 
 victorious, who lived .... years and Publius 
 
 Eivatus, his freedmen, and Hero .... a soldier of the sixth 
 legion, the victorious, caused this to be made. If any one shall 
 intrude another corpse into this sepulchre, he shall pay as a fine 
 
 into the treasury of our lords 
 
 A superstition, deeply imprinted in the minds of the people, 
 taught that articles of various kinds burnt or interred with the 
 deceased would add to the comfort of the departed spirit in the 
 world of shades. The dead were, therefore, clothed in their Ml 
 dress, with their jewellery and personal ornaments, and they carried 
 
 * Horsley gives an inscription in which a still greater profanation is spoken of 
 
 C . CAECIL1VS . C. ET . 0. L. Ff.ORVS . VIXIT . ANNOS . XVI . ET MENSIBVS . VII . QVI . 
 
 H1C . MIXERIT . AVT . CACARIT . HABEAT . DE0S . SVPER0S . ET . INFEROS . IRATOS. 
 
chap, x.] ARTICLES BURIED WITH THE DEAD. 323 
 
 with them the coin or coins to pay their passage. They were often 
 furnished with wine or provisions. The occupant of the tomb at 
 Avisford, in Sussex, carried with him or her a pair of sandals 
 nailed with bronze instead of iron. A mirror was found in a 
 Roman grave at Colchester. In the sepulchral chest, in one of 
 the Bartlow hills, a folding stool and a strigil were found. 
 Fictile vases and vessels of glass seem, in many instances, to have 
 been interred as useful for domestic purposes. Amphorae were 
 added probably for a similar reason Sometimes we meet even 
 with culinary utensils. In one instance, an iron tripod, for 
 placing over a fire, was found with a chain and pot-hooks in the 
 middle. Almost the only articles not found in Roman graves are 
 arms, and I am not aware that in any example yet known in 
 Britain, a Roman was buried with his warlike weapons. It must 
 also be remarked that Roman graves, rich in such articles as 
 are mentioned above, are not very common. 
 
 Branches and garlands of box and palm, as well as of other 
 trees or shrubs, appear to have been also deposited in the grave. 
 Such objects were also sculptured on the grave-stones, and they 
 were perhaps borrowed as emblems by the Christians from their 
 heathen predecessors. It has been rather hastily supposed by one 
 or two writers that the presence of such sculptures — garlands and 
 branches of palm — proves that the tombstones on which they occur 
 were raised over converts to the faith of the gospel. Mr. Gage 
 (Rokewood), in his account of the opening of one of the Bartlow 
 hills, published in the twenty-eighth volume of the Archseologia, 
 has made the following remarks on the traces of vegetable 
 substances found there: — "In the observations made in 1832 
 upon the objects found in the brick bustum" he says, " some 
 conjectures were offered on a dark incrustation seen upon the 
 cinerary urn. A branch of yew, or other dark vegetable substance, 
 was supposed to have been the origin of it. This receives 
 confirmation from the actual finding, on the present occasion, of 
 vegetable remains scattered in the tomb, and adhering to several 
 of the objects. Leaves were found adhering to the bottom of the 
 cinerary urn, from which it would appear that some had been 
 thrown in before the urn was deposited ; while round the handle 
 of the lamp a wreath would seem to have been entwined. ' These 
 vegetable remains,' remarks Mr. Brown, F.R.S., who has had the 
 kindness to examine them, ' appear to consist of the epidermis 
 
 t 2 
 
324 THE ROMANS. [chap. x. 
 
 of leaves and ultimate branches of box, the vascular part and 
 parenchyma being in most cases entirely removed ! I judge the 
 leaves to belong to box {buxus sempervirens), from their insertion 
 as indicated in the ramuli, from their outline, size, thickened 
 margin, and arrangement, and form of stomata, which in most 
 cases, however, are removed, leaving round apertures of the form 
 and size of the whole stoma.' Professor Henslow informs the 
 writer of this memoir, that a skeleton was lately found in or near 
 Chesterford churchyard, together with a Koman vase, and that box- 
 leaves lay loose in the soil near the skull and vase. Some of the 
 leaves are in my possession, and they are similar to those found 
 at Bartlow," Mr. Gage cites, in illustration of these discoveries, 
 the beautiful epigram of Martial (i., 89), in which the box and the 
 palm are connected with the last home of mortality. 
 
 Alcime, quern raptum domino crescentibus annis 
 
 Labicana levi cespite velat humus, 
 Accipe non Phario nutantia pondera saxo, 
 
 Quae cineri vanus dat ruitura labor; 
 Sed fragiles buxos et opacas palmitis umbras, 
 
 Quseque virent lacrymis roscida prata meis. 
 Accipe, care puer, nostri monumenta laboris ; 
 
 Hie tibi perpetuo tempore vivet honor. 
 Cum mihi supremos Lachesis perneverit annos, 
 
 Non aliter cineres mando jacere meos." 
 
 It is, of course, to be supposed that the sepulchres, which we 
 have been describing, belonged to the better orders of society. 
 The process of cremation was an expensive one, and it was prob- 
 ably this circumstance which gradually led to its abolition. People 
 of the lower class of society were regarded contemptuously, and 
 were thrown into trenches in the ground with little ceremony or 
 respect. The public burial grounds for the poor were called, in 
 Italy, puticuli, from puteus, a pit, on account of the unceremonious 
 manner in which the dead were thrown into the shallow pits or 
 trenches. The ground was not even looked upon as consecrated, 
 and it was without difficulty turned to other purposes. A burial 
 ground of this kind, at the Esquiline gate of Kome, was given 
 by Augustus to his favourite minister, Maecenas, to be turned into 
 a garden, and the change was celebrated by Horace : — 
 
 Nunc licet Esquiliis habitare salubribus, atque 
 Aggere in aprico spatiari ; quo modo tristes 
 Albis informem spectabant ossibus humum. 
 
 Lib. i., Sat. viii., I. 14. 
 
CHAP. X.] 
 
 FVLGVR DIVOM. 
 
 325 
 
 We have not sufficient information to enable us to trace the 
 gradual disappearance of the practice of cremation, but we are 
 told by Macrobius,* who wrote at the beginning of the fifth 
 century, that the custom of burning had been then so long 
 discontinued, that it was only from books he could gather any 
 information relating to it. Persons who had committed suicide 
 were never allowed to be burnt, and the same prohibition 
 extended to those who died in their infancy. Those who were 
 struck dead by lightning were believed to have suffered under the 
 special visitation of the gods, and they were interred as they 
 died, and on the same spot, if it were not a place where it was 
 unlawful to bury. On the continent, several Roman inscriptions 
 have been found, commemorative of the effects of the " lightning 
 of the gods," and perhaps marking the place where some unfor- 
 tunate mortal has been thus launched into eternity. One at 
 Florence bears the inscription fvlgvr divm ; a similar inscription 
 found at Nimes (Nemausus) has fvlgvr divom ; another at 
 Palermo (Panormus), fvlgvr conditvm ; and another at Oderzo 
 on the Adriatic (Opitergium), de caelo tactvm et conditvm. 
 We have here another interesting link between the manners of 
 the Romans in Britain and in their native Italy. A little to the 
 west of the ancient town of Hunnum (Halton- Chester s) on the 
 wall of Hadrian, has been found a stone, represented in the 
 annexed cut, with the identical inscription mentioned above, 
 fvlgve divom. Perhaps one of the soldiers of the station here 
 met his death from heaven. 
 
 Inscribed stone at Halton-Cliesters {Hunnum), 
 
 * u Deinde, licet nrendi corpora defunctorum usus nostro sseculo nullus sit, 
 lectio tamen docet eo tempore quo igni dari honor mortuis habebatur," &c. — 
 Macrob. Satumal., lib. vii. c. 7. 
 
326 THE ROMANS. [chap. xi. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Domestic Life among the Romans in Britain as Illustrated by their Remains — 
 Dress and Personal Ornaments — the Toilette — the Household ; Furniture 
 and Utensils — Female Occupations — Cutlery — Styli — Scales — Ornamental 
 Articles Weapons, &c. 
 
 If the numerous articles belonging to the ordinary usages of 
 life, which have been found on Eoman sites in different parts of 
 the country, were collected together and arranged, they would, no 
 doubt, go far towards giving us a perfect picture of the manners of 
 the population of Britain under the Romans. Unfortunately, in 
 times back, great quantities have been lost or destroyed after their 
 discovery, and those which remain are scattered about, mostly in 
 private hands, from the want of any really national museum in 
 which to depose them. They uniformly give evidence to the fact 
 that the civilisation of Britain, during the whole of this period, 
 was purely Roman, and that whatever races settled here under 
 the banner of Rome, they accepted unreservedly its dress and 
 manners as well as its language and laws. 
 
 The dress of the Romans appears not to have varied much in 
 its general character until the later period of the empire. It was 
 simple in its forms, and the principal distinction between the 
 garments of classes and individuals consisted in the richness of 
 the material and in the brilliance of the colours. The dress of 
 the male sex continued to be composed of the tunic, worn next to 
 the skin, and the toga, over it ; though in later times it was not 
 unusual to wear more than one tunic, and the pallium or mantle, 
 a garment borrowed from the Greeks, was thrown over the toga, 
 or rather substituted in its place. The tunic worn by men 
 reached generally to the middle of the thighs, or not, at all events, 
 below the knees. Females had a longer tunic reaching to the 
 
CHAP. XI.] 
 
 ROMAN FIBULAE. 
 
 327 
 
 feet, and over it they wore the stola, reaching a little below the 
 knees, instead of the toga, and over it the pallium, or mantle/" 
 In the formation of these dresses there was not much " tailoring ;" 
 they consisted of little more than pieces of cloth, linen, or 
 silk, with fringes and borders, wrapped loosely round the body. 
 Almost the only fastenings appear to have been fibulas, or 
 brooches, which, from the numbers that are continually found on 
 all Roman sites, must have been used in great profusion. We 
 scarcely ever meet with even the smallest collection of Roman 
 antiquities, but a considerable proportion of them consists of 
 fragments of fibulae. The annexed cut represents the general 
 
 Roman fibulae. 
 
 forms of these articles, which are sometimes more ornamental, 
 but they always, with the exception of the circular brooches, 
 follow these designs. The first on the left was found at Caerleon ; 
 the second, which is in my own possession, came from Boulogne ; 
 the third was found near Maidstone ; the fourth, at Caerleon ; 
 the fifth, at Stroud in Kent ; and the one to the extreme right, at 
 Cirencester. The material is usually bronze, though Roman 
 fibulae in silver and gold have been found. A fibula of the form 
 of the last to the right in our group, of a large size, and made 
 of solid gold, was found at Odiham in Hampshire, in 1844. 
 The round fibulas appear, from figures in coins and pictures, to 
 have been used for fastening the pallium over the shoulder. 
 They are often more ornamental than the bow-shaped fibulas, and 
 are sometimes enamelled. Lysons has published an engraving of 
 a beautiful circular fibula, in gold, with figures of griffons on one 
 
 * For the forms of their articles of dress, the reader ma}' refer to any of the 
 general treatises on the history of costume, such as that by Mr. Fairholt, which 
 I would especially recommend. 
 
328 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. XI. 
 
 side, and bears on the other ; it was found at Old Penrith, in 
 Cumberland. 
 
 Bracelets (armillw) for the wrists are also articles of common 
 occurrence, in bronze, silver, and gold. They consist generally 
 of a simple narrow ring, seldom much ornamented, and often 
 without any ornament at all. Roman rings, which are more 
 frequently of gold, are so varied in form that it would not be 
 possible to give any general description of them. They some- 
 times contain engraved stones, but these are more frequently found 
 without their mounting. The frequency with which Roman 
 engraved stones, or intaglios, are met with show that they were 
 very much in use in all parts of the empire. Roman ear-rings 
 are usually in gold, though they sometimes occur in bronze ; it 
 would be as difficult to give a general description of them as of 
 fingerings. The beads of the Romans, which were mostly of 
 glass, have already been described ; they are found with various 
 fittings and adjuncts, some of which were no doubt looked upon 
 as amulets. 
 
 Among the articles of female ornament that occur in the 
 greatest abundance are pins (acus), generally of bone or bronze, 
 which were used for fastening the knot of the hair behind the head, 
 
 Bone Pins and Needle. 
 
 and are represented as thus employed in ancient busts and 
 statuettes. Those figured in the annexed cut are all of bone, 
 
chap, xl] HAIR-PINS; THE TORQUES. 329 
 
 and are represented half the size of the originals. They are 
 in the museum of Mr. Eolfe, of Sandwich, and are here taken 
 from Mr. Roach Smith's work on RAchborough. Mr. Smith's own 
 museum presents a large and varied collection of such pins. They 
 have sometimes large heads, and were elaborately ornamented, 
 terminating, in some instances, in a bust, or in a figure. Some 
 very curious Roman hair-pins, made of coloured glass, were found 
 near Dorchester, in Dorsetshire, in 1850. Martial has left us a 
 short epigram which illustrates the use of the hair-pin, — 
 
 Acus aurea. 
 Tenuia ne madidi violent bornbycina crines ; 
 Figat acus tortas sustineatque comas. 
 
 JSpig. lib. xiv. 24. 
 
 An article of personal ornament, worn by men, the torques, 
 torquis, or collar, must not be overlooked in speaking of the 
 subject which now occupies our atteDtion. The torques is said, 
 by ancient writers, to have been originally used by the Persians 
 in the east, arid by the nations of northern and western 
 Europe. Virgil describes it as worn by the Trojans, when they 
 came to colonise Italy. — 
 
 Omnibus in morem tonsa coma pressa corona. 
 Cornea bina ferunt prsefixo hastilia ferro; 
 Pars leves humero pharetras ; it pectore summo 
 Flexilis obtorti per collum circulus auri. 
 
 It is first mentioned in Roman history in the year 360 B.C., 
 when Manlius, having torn a torques of gold from the neck of a 
 vanquished Gaul, placed it on his own, and received, from this 
 circumstance, the name of Torquatus. From this time, in the 
 wars with the Gauls, the example of Torquatus Manlius was often 
 imitated, and the torques was adopted among the Romans as the 
 reward of military merit. Torques are not unfrequently found in 
 our island, and appear, in some instances, to be of British manu- 
 facture, though in others they are undoubtedly Roman. The 
 Roman writers speak of them as worn by the Britons, and the 
 queen of the Iceni, Boadicea, is described by Dion Cassius as 
 having a torquis of gold round her neck. This was the metal of 
 which they were usually made. They consisted of a long piece of 
 gold, twisted or spiral, doubled back in the form of a short hook at 
 each end, and then turned into the form of a circle. The usual 
 form is represented in fig. 1 in the cut on the next page. The 
 
330 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. XI. 
 
 gold was sometimes worked with more elaborate ornament into 
 twisted cords, &c., and ended in serpents' heads, instead of plain 
 hooks. An inscription found in France, and published by 
 Montfaucon, mentions a torques dedicated to iEsculapius, which 
 was made by twisting together two golden snakes. A very 
 remarkable torquis of fine gold was found in Need wood Forest, in 
 Staffordshire, in 1848, where it had been turned up out of the earth 
 by a fox. It was formed of eight platted cords of gold, weighing 
 together lib. 1 oz. 7 dwts. and 10 grains. At Pattingham, also 
 in Staffordshire, a gold torques was found in the year 1700, 
 which weighed no less than 3 lbs. 2 oz. It is described as being 
 " curiously twisted and wreathed, with two hooks at each end, cut 
 even, but not twisted." Its value, probably, hindered it from 
 being preserved. The torques found in Needwood Forest is now 
 in the possession of her Majesty; and an engraving of it was 
 given in the thirty- third volume of the " Archaeologia," from 
 which the one in our cut (2) is taken. The torques was some- 
 
 Torques and Armillae. 
 
 times bent into a spiral, instead of a circular, form, in which case 
 it was intended for the arm, not the neck ; it was in this case 
 denominated torquis brachialis, and was usually of bronze. In 
 some instances it is merely a piece of metal like that in fig. 1, 
 twisted into a spiral form for the arm ; but it is often much more 
 massive. The elegant bronze armlet (fig. 3 in our cut), found on 
 the coast of Murrayshire, in Scotland, weighed nearly two pounds 
 and a half. Another description of bronze armlet, or bracelet, 
 
chap, xl] TORQUES; SANDALS. 331 
 
 intended, like the one last-mentioned, for the military, probably 
 as a mark of honour, was formed of a triangular bar of bronze, 
 first doubled, with a lobe, and then twisted round into the form 
 represented in fig. 4 in our cut. The example here given was 
 found in Northumberland, on the line of Hadrian's Wall, and 
 weighs about three-quarters of a pound. 
 
 The only part of the dress of the Romans in Britain which has 
 come down to us entire, is the sandal or shoe (caliga). Many of these 
 sandals, taken chiefly from the bed of the Thames opposite London, 
 are in the possession of Mr. Roach Smith. They are of leather, of 
 various sizes, and the soles are cut as in our modern right-and-left 
 shoes. The layer of leather next to the sole of the foot is close 
 sewn to the lower portions, and then forms an exterior ridge, from 
 which, at the sides, rise strong loops for fastening the sandals over 
 the instep with straps or fillets. In nearly all instances this ridge 
 folds a little way over, and protects the extremities of the toes. 
 Other examples, apparently intended for women and children, 
 have reticulated work, also in leather, round the heels and sides, 
 of various degrees of fineness, and more or less elegant in design. 
 The Roman sandals found in Britain have the soles almost always 
 covered with nails, which are often very large and clumsy, though 
 sometimes, as in those found in the tombs at York and Avisford, 
 smaller and finer. In these nails we have another link between 
 the manners of Roman Britain and those of Italy. Pliny, 
 describing the scales of a peculiar fish, tells us that they resemble 
 the nails of sandals ; * and Juvenal, alluding to the profusion of 
 nails with which the sole of the caliga was covered, says : — 
 
 Dignum erit ergo 
 Declamatoris mulino corde Vagelli, 
 Quum duo crura habeas, offendere tot caligas, tot 
 Millia clavorum. — Sat. xvi., I. 22. 
 
 The sandals are here used to represent the soldiers who wore 
 them, and we know that the caliga was the proper shoe of 
 the military. The nailed soles from the tombs just alluded to 
 belonged no doubt to the shoes of ladies ; but the upper covering, 
 whether of leather or other still more perishable material, is no 
 longer remaining, and we cannot even guess at its form. The 
 
 * "Squamis conspicui crebris atque peracutis, clavorum caligarum effigie." — 
 Plin. Hist. Nat., lib. ix. c. 18. 
 
332 THE ROMANS. [chap. xi. 
 
 shoe (calceus or caleeamentum), worn by the better classes of 
 society, appears to have differed little in form from those made in 
 modern times ; they were of different colours, and of various 
 materials. The ladies, and even men of fashion, appear to have 
 worn them of linen, or silk, and sometimes ornamented with 
 jewellery ; the shoes of a female in a picture at Herculaneum are 
 painted yellow. 
 
 Among the Eoman antiquities found in this island, instruments 
 of the toilette are by no means unfrequent. Among these was 
 the mirror, or speculum, which consisted usually of a round plate 
 of polished metal, set in a frame of the same shape, with a handle. 
 For, when used, it was held up to the person using it by a servant. 
 Several such mirrors of polished metal have been found in the 
 cemeteries at Colchester ; and one, found in an extensive Eoman 
 burial-place near Deverill-street, South wark, is engraved in the 
 twenty-sixth volume of the " Archaeologia. " They are usually 
 small ; those found at Colchester were between three and four 
 inches in diameter. I am not aware that any other description of 
 Roman mirror has been met with in this country ; rare examples 
 of square ones have been found in Italy, and we know that the 
 Romans used mirrors of glass, and that they even placed large 
 mirrors on their walls and ceilings. 
 
 .The Roman comb (pecten) was usually toothed on both sides, and 
 the common material in Italy was box- wood. This was so generally 
 the case, that Martial, speaking ironically of the uselessness of 
 such an instrument in the hands of a woman who was bald, adopts 
 the name of the wood for the comb : — 
 
 Quid faciet nullos hie inventura capillos, 
 Multifido buxus quse tibi dente datur ? " 
 
 Ep., lib. xiv. 25. 
 
 Bone and metal were also used. The museum of Mr. Roach 
 Smith contains fragments of Roman combs in wood and bone 
 found in London. In one of the Roman rubbish pits at 
 Chesterford in Essex, a comb of bronze, with a double row of 
 teeth, was found. It is now in the museum of the Hon. 
 Mr. Neville, at Audley End. Mr. Neville also possesses a 
 similarly shaped Roman comb of iron, found on the site of the 
 railway station at Chesterford, Small tweezers (volsellce) are also 
 frequently met with among the Roman remains in this country, 
 
chap, xl] THE TOILETTE ; LOCKS AND KEYS. 833 
 
 and evidently formed a necessary part of the toilette of the ladies ; 
 their use, no doubt, was to pluck superfluous hairs from the body. 
 Small articles in bronze have been dug up at Cirencester, and 
 elsewhere, which, from their form, appear to have been used for 
 cleansing and dressing the nails. 
 
 We have very few remains that throw any light on the manner 
 in which the houses of the Eomans in Britain were furnished, 
 and we can only assume, from the resemblance in other things, 
 that the fashions of Italy, in this respect, also prevailed here. 
 It has been already stated that the not unfrequent occurrence, in 
 the remains of Boman houses, of walls which seem to run into 
 apartments, and of projections at the lower parts of the walls in- 
 ternally, would induce us to suppose that these were intended 
 to serve permanently as seats. Moveable furniture was generally 
 made of perishable materials, and consisted of articles least likely 
 to be left among the ruins of the houses when abandoned. The 
 only article of this description, that I can call to mind as having 
 been found in Britain, was the metal frame of a folding seat found 
 in one of the Bartlow hills. From the great number of keys of 
 all sizes, which are found scattered about the floors of Boman 
 houses, when they are excavated, there must have been many 
 chests, coffers, and caskets with locks, independently of the locks 
 of the doors. The interment of small caskets of this kind in graves 
 has been, in some instances, traced by the existence of decayed 
 wood, and the presence among it of ornamental nails and frag- 
 ments of metal. Several Boman locks, mostly of bronze, have been 
 found in the cemeteries at Colchester, of which one of the most 
 perfect is represented in the cut on the next page. The plate of 
 this lock was four inches broad by two and three-quarters deep, and 
 it has evidently belonged to a chest. The key-hole was covered 
 by a guard, as in modern locks of the same description. The 
 forms of Boman keys are so extremely varied that it would be 
 difficult to give any notion of them in a general description. They 
 are most commonly, especially the smaller ones, of bronze. 
 Many resemble closely the keys of the present day. Others 
 present fanciful shapes, with a good deal of ornament. One form 
 of key, of very frequent occurrence, evidently intended to be 
 placed on the finger like a ring, is represented in our cut. The 
 ring is at right-angles to the axle of the key, which is always 
 very short. These keys are generally so small and delicate, that 
 
334 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. XI. 
 
 they can only have been used for locks of small caskets, which 
 required the least possible force to turn them. The larger keys 
 are often of iron, and they are sometimes found of a form 
 
 mm^ ^=k^i 
 
 Roman Lock and Keys, from Colchester (Camulodunum.) 
 
 resembling our modern latch-keys, and were no doubt used in the 
 same mariner. Two of these Roman latch-keys, found at 
 Colchester, are represented in our last cut ; they are both of iron, 
 the upper example eight inches long, and the other five inches 
 and a half, so that they probably belonged to doors. Similar 
 latch-keys were found in the Roman villa at Hartlip in Kent ; 
 and they have been met with elsewhere on Roman sites in this 
 country. The padlock was also in use among the Romans, who 
 termed it sera pensilis, a hanging lock ; it was formed not like 
 those at present in use, but somewhat like the cylindrical locks, 
 which were in more general use some years ago, but are now 
 becoming obsolete. 
 
 It has already been shown how the Roman houses were warmed 
 by means of hypocausts, and no traces have yet been found of 
 fire-places in the interior of the rooms. We know, however, that 
 in the south, the Romans had portable fire-places, or braziers, of 
 metal, which they could bring into the room when wanted, and 
 which might be used equally for warming the guests, or for 
 keeping warm the plates or viands ; and we would fain believe 
 that the exhortation of Horace, — 
 
 Dissolve frigus, ligna super foco 
 Large reponeus, — 
 
 was as applicable in Britain as in the land of the snow-clad 
 
chap, xl] COOKING UTENSILS. 335 
 
 Soracte. The appeals so frequently repeated in the Roman 
 writers, that people should amare focos, love their fire-sides, and 
 that they should pugnare pro focis et arts, fight for their hearths 
 and altars, had doubtless some substantial foundation in the 
 manners of the people. Mr. Roach Smith has given an engraving 
 in the second volume of his " Collectanea" of a pair of andirons, 
 or fire-dogs, of iron, discovered in 1839, in a sepulchral vault at 
 Mount Bures, near Colchester. Each consisted of a frame, the 
 two upright sides of which were crowned with heads of oxen, with 
 a brass knob on the tip of each horn. Two very similar imple- 
 ments, also of iron, had been found near Shefford, in Bedfordshire, 
 in 1832, and an engraving of them has also been given by 
 Mr. Roach Smith. Articles of the same character, but smaller, 
 have been found at Pompeii, and in a tomb at Pa3stum. Tho 
 Italian antiquaries seem to consider that they were used, not like 
 the mediaeval fire-dogs, to support the fuel, but that they were 
 cooking utensils, intended to support iron-bars to serve as a 
 gridiron over the fire for cooking meat. The two fire-dogs found 
 near SbefTord terminated in stags' heads. The gentleman who 
 found them, Mr. Inskip of SherTord, has given the following 
 account of the discovery, which seems to confirm the opinion of 
 the antiquaries of Italy : — " I employed two men," he says, "to 
 dig on the spot, and we quickly found an iron fire-dog of simple 
 construction, and doubtless used by the Romans for cooking. 
 After this we met with a stout iron-bar, one end of which was 
 curved somewhat like a pump-sweep or handle, having a hole 
 through it at the ends ; for this I could at first assign no apparent 
 use ; I dug further, and found a second fire-dog, a duplicate of the 
 former ; they were both in a small degree mutilated, yet I was 
 led to admire the grace and spirit with which all articles of 
 Roman manufacture were executed. Their designs are still more 
 striking ; and, even in these homely utensils, the imitations of 
 nature are of the boldest order ; the graceful turn of the stags 
 neck, and the outline of the head, which form the ornamental 
 part of each end, are singularly, effective ; and it is a matter of 
 admiration, the simplicity of contrivance in these fire-dogs for 
 cooking the greatest quantity of victuals at one and the same fire. 
 To effect this, the bar before alluded to was laid longitudinally on 
 one side of the stag's head ; betwixt that and one of his horns, 
 another bar lay parallel, on the opposite side ; from both of which 
 
336 THE ROMANS. [chap. xi. 
 
 descended two rows of hooks, to supply the means of boiling or 
 roasting, the curved ends of the bars having holes through each 
 of themu into which might be thrust pivots of iron, so contrived, 
 that upon necessitous occasions, they would form four bars, and 
 thus multiply the means of making the most of one fire. The 
 end of each bar also turned up gracefully as a hook, from which 
 might depend additional pots and kettles." Mr. Inskip's expla- 
 nation may perhaps be altogether fanciful ; but it is remarkable 
 that an utensil undoubtedly intended for cooking was found at 
 the same place. This was an iron tripod, consisting of three 
 curved legs turning on a swivel at the top, under which was 
 fixed a massive iron ring. Near it was found a chain and pot- 
 hooks, which evidently belonged to the ring at the top of the tripod. 
 We have other examples of such tripods used by the Romans 
 to support culinary vessels over the fire ; but a great portion of 
 their cooking appears to have been performed on stoves, and the 
 few supposed culinary vessels that have been found in this country 
 partake rather of the character of saucepans and frying-pans than 
 of kettles. The vessels found in Britain most decidedly belonging 
 to the Roman kitchen, are the earthenware mortaria already 
 described, and metal strainers or colanders. The former were 
 used for pounding or mincing meats and vegetables, and, from 
 the profusion in which they are found, seem to show that the 
 Romans in Britain were very partial to made dishes. The 
 strainer (colum) was used in Italy for many purposes, the chief of 
 which was that of cooling wine. This sort of strainers were called 
 cola nivaria ; they were formed like basins, and filled with snow 
 or ice, and the wine was passed through them. Those found in 
 this country consist generally of a rather deep bowl, perforated 
 with small holes, and a long handle, and were evidently intended 
 for taking cooked meats, &c, out of the boiler, without carrying 
 the water with them — in fact, a ladle and strainer combined. 
 Utensils of this kind were termed trua, or trulla. They 
 are found not unfrequently in this island. One was found at 
 Chesterford, in Essex, in 1847, with the bowl partly filled with 
 brass coins. One, exactly similar, even in pattern, and. of the 
 same material (bronze), was found some years ago at Whitfield, in 
 Northumberland, along with three kettles or boilers, resembling 
 camp-kettles, which were evidently intended to be placed over a 
 fire. They are all now preserved in the museum at Newcastle-upon- 
 
chap, xl] KITCHEN UTENSILS. 337 
 
 Tjne. The kettles are also of bronze, but of extremely thin 
 metal, so that they would readily feel the fire. They have been 
 patched in several places. One of them has three feet to stand 
 upon, which was a form of boiler invented to supersede the use of 
 a simple pot placed over the fire upon a tripod. 
 
 A general description has already been given of the earthenware 
 used for culinary and other domestic purposes ; but it would 
 be extremely difficult to point out the purposes for which each 
 particular form of vessel was designed, though it is probable 
 that most of them were intended for the table. The mortarium, 
 as I have just stated, belonged peculiarly to the kitchen. The 
 amphora was used to contain wine, and also olives, oil, or honey. 
 The amphora contained these articles in large bulk, and occupied 
 the place of our modern barrels ; the liquids were served at table 
 in the ampulla, or bottle, which was made of earthenware or 
 glass, and was always distinguished by its narrow neck and 
 swollen body. Hence the term ampulla was applied metapho- 
 rically to anything swollen, even to turgid language ; for Horace 
 talks of — 
 
 ampullas et sesquipedalia verba. 
 
 The other description of earthen vessel, which had the mouth 
 not much less wide, or even wider, than the body, was designated 
 by the general term ofolla, pot or jar. The olla had sometimes a 
 lid ; it was used to hold solids rather than liquids, but it was often 
 made large, to be placed on the fire for culinary purposes. Great 
 quantities of vessels, answering all these descriptions, are found 
 among the Roman remains in Britain. They are sometimes made 
 of bronze, with very elegantly ornamented handles. Another article 
 belonging to the Roman kitchen, was the quern, or handmill, for 
 grinding corn. It consisted of a couple of round stones, one forming 
 a sort of socket to the other, and by turning the upper one round, 
 the corn was pounded — a rude method of manufacturing meal. 
 Corn appears to have been kept in the house in grain, and to 
 have been thus ground by the hand whenever it was necessary to 
 bake. These stone querns are found frequently on Roman sites 
 in this country. In the back-yard of one of the houses of ancient 
 Isurium (Aldborough, in Yorkshire), represented in our plate at 
 p. 163, the querns were found in the situation in which they had 
 been used. 
 
338 THE ROMANS. [chap. xi. 
 
 Among other articles which belonged to the culinary depart- 
 ment of the Koman house, was the water-cock (epistomium). It 
 is an article, as might be expected, of not very frequent occurrence; 
 but Mr. Roach Smith possesses, among his numerous relics of 
 Roman London, an ornamental bronze water-cock, which issues 
 from the mouth of a dog's head. It is rather a singular combi- 
 nation of names, that it was found in excavations in Philpot Lane, 
 Fenchurch Street. 
 
 Before we leave the kitchen, we must speak of a class of remains 
 intimately connected with its purposes. Attached to Roman villas 
 and towns, we invariably find large heaps of the remains of pro- 
 visions, consisting especially of the shells of fish and of the bones 
 of animals. These organic remains are worthy of study in many 
 points of view ; they make us acquainted with the various classes 
 of animal food consumed by the Romano-British population of our 
 island ; and they are particularly interesting to the naturalist, 
 from the circumstance that they show the existence of some 
 animals — such as the bos lonyifrons — which have now loDg been 
 extinct. The proximity of Roman sites is almost always shown 
 by the presence of immense quantities of oyster-shells, which 
 show that there was a great consumption of oysters in Roman 
 Britain ; and the shells of cockles and mussels are also abundant. 
 It has been supposed that the Romans fed snails as delicacies for 
 the table, and it is a curious circumstance, that a large species of 
 snail is often found still existing about Roman stations. In exca- 
 vating on Roman sites, large quantities of shells of snails are not 
 unfrequently found ; at Lymne, in Kent, (Portus Lemanis,) I have 
 seen them dug up at the foundations of the walls, in masses 
 almost as large as ordinary buckets, and completely embedded 
 together. The snails may, however, have thus collected together 
 in such places at a much more recent period than that with which 
 their connexion with the ruins around would seem to identify them. 
 
 Among the animal remains found among relics of the Roman 
 period in Colchester, are horns of a short-horned ox, of the stag, 
 and of a very large goat, as well as of the bos longifrons, just men- 
 tioned, a species of ox, named from the length of its frontal bone, 
 which is found by geologists among fossil remains, but which does 
 not exist at present ; bones of the ox, sheep, and goat ; jaws, 
 teeth, and tusks of wild hogs; and teeth and jaws of dogs, and 
 apparently of wolves. The different forms of the horns discovered in 
 
chap, xi.] ANIMAL REMAINS. 839 
 
 different localities, show that there must have heen many varieties 
 of oxen in Britain. The hones and horns of animals found with 
 Roman remains in London, include the bos longifrons, sheep, 
 goats, deer, and swine. A deep pit attached to the Roman villa at 
 Hartlip, in Kent, contained a large quantity of the hones of the 
 sheep, hog, horse, and also of the bos longifrons. At a Roman 
 villa at Dursley, near Gloucester, were found remains of the 
 horse, stag, fox, wild boar, hares, rabbits, mice, wild ducks, 
 chickens, goats, pigs, sheep, kids, lambs, rooks, and small birds, 
 cats, polecats, and of a small kind of ox. The Rev. Mr. Layton, 
 of Sandwich, who watched the opening of the rubbish pits at 
 Richborough, furnished Mr. Roach Smith with the following 
 account of the animal remains found there. " The major part 
 consists of the common bones of the ox, sheep, and roebuck — 
 especially the first. I have seen one head also of the ox, with 
 the frontal bone broken through, as if with a pole-axe, just as by 
 a butcher of the present day. It may be noticed, too, that the 
 oxen and sheep were small when compared with ours ; and one is 
 pleased with finding the account of Tacitus, in his ' Germany,' 
 (jpecorum fecunda, sed plerumque improcera,) so well illustrated by 
 the dirt-pits of Richborough." Pieces of the horns of deer, and 
 other animals are found sawed off, no doubt for the purpose of 
 manufacturing the different articles which were abundantly made 
 of such materials. Boars' tusks are often found fitted up for 
 ornaments, and sometimes apparently designed to be suspended 
 on the person — perhaps trophies of the chase. 
 
 An article found very frequently on the sites of Roman buildings, 
 is the small bell (tintinnabulum), which was probably used to 
 summon the slaves and attendants when their services were wanted. 
 These bells are as frequently square as round, and are usually 
 made of bronze. One, in the cabinet of Mr. Roach Smith, is so 
 well preserved, that it still produces a clear and sharp sound ; it 
 was found in the ruins of one of the houses of Roman London. 
 
 Another article of very frequent occurrence is the lamp (lucema), 
 made usually of terra-cotta. It has been already stated that lamps 
 are frequently found in sepulchres. They were also used in 
 lighting houses, apparently in considerable profusion, and it is 
 evident that it would require a considerable number to illuminate 
 a room effectively. In one corridor of the public baths of Pompeii, 
 upwards of five hundred lamps were found ; and in the course of 
 
 z 2 
 
340 THE ROMANS. [chap. xi. 
 
 excavating the different parts of the same building, more than a 
 thousand were collected. The terra-cotta lamp is usually circular, 
 from two inches and a half to three inches in diameter, with a 
 projecting spout for the wick. A hole, or two holes, in the circular 
 body, allowed the air to pass, and the spout was sometimes double 
 or treble, to admit of two or three separate wicks. The annexed 
 cut represents two examples of terra-cotta lamps, selected from 
 
 Roman Lamps, from Colchester (Camulodimum). 
 
 several found at Colchester. The field, often plain, is, however, 
 frequently ornamented with figures, which are no less varied and 
 interesting than those on the red Samian pottery. Our two 
 examples represent a centaur carrying an amphora of wine, and 
 what appears to be a fuller at work. Others have theatrical 
 masks, busts, mythological figures, gladiatorial subjects, domestic 
 and sometimes licentious scenes, &c. Mr. Roach Smith has 
 several examples of a terra-cotta lamp, on which is the represen- 
 tation of a mill for grinding corn, turned by an ass. Lamps 
 made of metal, usually bronze, are of rarer occurrence. One, in 
 Mr. Smith's museum, which was taken from the Thames, has been 
 made from a bronze cup, of a very elegant pattern, by breaking in 
 one side and adding a spout. An engraving of this curious relic 
 is given in the Archaeological Album. When used for domestic 
 purposes, the lamp was placed on a little disc, raised on a shaft— 
 a candelabrum. The metal ones, which have frequently fanciful 
 and grotesque forms, were often suspended by chains, or by a rod. 
 
chap, xi.] LARES; THE HOUSEHOLD GODS. 841 
 
 One of these, with the rod which suspended it, was found in one 
 of the Bartlow hills. 
 
 Among the articles of household furniture peculiar to the 
 Romans, there is one class which deserves particular notice. 
 These are the images of the household gods, the penates and lares, 
 which answered in some respect to our mediaeval fairies. They 
 were supposed to watch over the prosperity of the house and 
 its occupants, and visitors were in the habit of saluting them, for 
 which purpose their images were placed in the house in conspicuous 
 places. When iEneas had first experienced hospitality on the 
 shores of Italy, he is represented as paying his respects to the 
 household gods — 
 
 Hestermimqiie larem, parvosque penates 
 Lsetus adit. — Virgil, JEn. viii. 543. 
 
 They were called the little deities (dii minuti), and it was usual to 
 propitiate them with offerings of the remnants of provisions, or 
 other small articles, a custom to which Juvenal refers in the 
 following lines : — 
 
 parvi nostrique lares, quos thure minuto, 
 
 Aut farre, et temii soleo exorare corona. — Sat. ix. 137. 
 
 In accepting such offerings they were supposed to exhibit a sort of 
 goodfellowship towards the people of the house, and in this re- 
 sembled the brownies and clnrieaunes of modern times. They were 
 supposed to show themselves at times in various forms, often of a 
 grotesque description, and sometimes as animals, such as dogs, and 
 even as serpents. A bronze figure of a lar, or household god, found 
 at Herculaneum, represents him as a little old man sitting on the 
 ground, with his knees up to his chin, a large head, ass's ears, a 
 long beard, and a droll roguish face. There can be little doubt 
 that many of the numerous bronze images of the Roman period 
 found in this country, were intended for such household gods. 
 Others probably owed their existence to the same love of ornament 
 which loads our chimney-pieces with figures in plaster or porcelain. 
 Others, again, of the smaller bronze images, were probably mere 
 toys — playthings for children. We must distinguish from all 
 these the bronze statuettes of the Roman deities, which are also 
 not unfrequent, and which were perhaps placed in some corner of 
 the house set apart for private worship. 
 
342 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. XI. 
 
 The traces of the domestic occupations of the female part of the 
 household, found among Roman remains in Britain, are not very 
 numerous. Much of their time was probably employed in spinning 
 and weaving. In Mr. Roach Smith's museum may be seen a 
 number of small implements of wood, found in excavations in the 
 city of London, which, from the circumstance that when brought 
 to light, the remains of wool were still attached to them, were no 
 doubt used in the manufacture of cloth. Needles for sewing are 
 of frequent occurrence. Several are in the collection of Mr. Roach 
 Smith. One, made of bone, and found at Richborough, is repre- 
 sented in our cut in p. 328. The Roman scissors (for/ex) was 
 usually of the form still common among clothiers ; an example, 
 found at Richborough, is represented in the accompanying cut. 
 A more complete example, but differing somewhat in shape, 
 is engraved in Mr. Lee's " Roman Antiquities of Caerleon." 
 Scissors of the same construction as those now in common use, 
 are also found, but much less frequently. Our cut presents also 
 some of the commoner forms of Roman knife-blades found in this 
 country; they are all represented one-fourth of the real size. 
 
 Knives and Scissors, from Richborough. 
 
 The knife {cutter) was generally straight on the cutting edge, and 
 curved on the back. These probably have had handles of wood ; but 
 
CHAP. XL] 
 
 SCISSOES AND KNIVES. 
 
 343 
 
 they are not unfrequently found with bone handles, well preserved. 
 Several knives, with handles of bone, are in the museum of 
 Mr. Roach Smith ; some of which have the ring at the end, like 
 that in our example to the left in the cut, just escaping from the 
 handle. This ring was no doubt intended for suspending the 
 knife to the girdle. Juvenal, when describing the frugality of 
 his country-house, speaks of bone handles to knives as a mark of 
 poverty : — 
 
 Adeo nulla imcia nobis 
 
 Est eboris, nee tessellse, nee calculus ex hac 
 
 Materia ; quin ipsa raanubria cultellorum 
 
 Ossea. — Sat. xi v 131. 
 
 The handle (capulus) was often made of bronze, and very 
 elegantly ornamented. It not unfrequently terminated in 
 the head of an animal ; in an example in the possession of 
 Mr. Roach Smith it is the head of a horse, while in two found at 
 Caerleon and York it is that of a dog. Roman clasp-knives are 
 by no means uncommon ; and one shape, representing a dog in 
 close pursuit of a hare, seems to have been a great favourite, from 
 the numerous examples which have been found in this country. 
 The one given in the annexed cut was found at Hadstock, in 
 
 The Handle of a Clasp-knife. 
 
 Essex, and is now in the museum of the Hon. Mr. Neville, at 
 Audley End ; it has the remains of the steel blade shut into the 
 handle. It is here represented the size of the original. Two, 
 exactly similar, were found at Reculver, in Kent, (Eegulbium) ; 
 and another at Kenchester, in Herefordshire (Magna). Mr. Smith 
 possesses what appears to be a Roman fork, and I believe that 
 other examples of that instrument have been found. There is, 
 also, in Mr. Smith's collection, a steel for sharpening knives, 
 taken from Roman London, exactly resembling those used by 
 butchers at the present day, and still retaining the ring by which 
 it was suspended to the girdle. 
 
M4 THE EOMANS. [chap xi. 
 
 Spoons, of different shapes and sizes, are also of frequent 
 occurrence. The one with the larger bowl {cochlear) has almost 
 always a handle terminating in a point, and illustrates the epi- 
 grammatic description in Martial, who speaks of it as being applied 
 to two purposes, for picking periwinkles or snails out of the shell 
 (with the pointed end), or for eating eggs (with the bowl) — 
 
 Sum cochleis habilis, sed nee minus utilis ovis, 
 ISTumquid scis potius cur cochleare vocer ] 
 
 Martial, Ep. xvi. 121. 
 
 The bowl of the cochlear is more usually circular than oval. One 
 found at Reculver was made of silver, but they are generally of 
 bronze. The two examples of the diminutive spoon (ligula), 
 given from Mr. Rolfes collection of Richborough antiquities, in 
 the accompanying cut (figs. 1 and 3), are also of bronze. It is 
 not easy to explain the exact purposes of these last mentioned 
 
 ^^»«33fe3l£. 
 
 Ligulse and a Stylus. 
 
 articles, but they have been supposed to be designed for taking 
 ointments or prepared oils out of long-necked bottles. 
 
 The article between the ligulse in the last cut (fig. 2), is an 
 example of the Roman stylus, used for writing on the waxed 
 tablet {tabula). The tablet was composed of two or more thin 
 pieces of wood, fastened at the back with wires, like a book. Wax 
 was spread over the wood internally, and on this the person using 
 it wrote with the pointed end of the stylus. The flat end was 
 used for erasing what had been written, and smoothing the wax 
 for writing again. Hence vertere stylum, to turn the stylus, for 
 the purpose of erasing and correcting what had been ill or 
 incorrectly written, became a proverbial expression : — 
 
 Ssepe stylum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint 
 Scripturus ; neque te ut miratur turba labores, 
 Contentus paucis lectoribus. 
 
 Says the poet Horace, {lib. i., Sat. x., 72). It is from the same 
 
chap, xi.] SPOONS; STYLI; COMPASSES. 345 
 
 usage that we derive the modern word style, applied primarily to 
 the character of a man's writing, and thence to other charac- 
 teristics. A painting, found in Herculaneum, represents a lady 
 with a stylus, closely resembling the one in our cut, in her right 
 hand, and the tablet in her left. The tablet and its styli was a 
 very necessary article in the houses of educated people, for, among 
 other purposes, it served for that of letter-writing. The letter 
 was written upon the wax, the tablet was then closed and tied with 
 a thread and sealed, and so dispatched to the person to whom it 
 was addressed, who could rub it out, and write the answer on the 
 same tablet, which was then returned to its original owner. 
 Hence, when one of Plautus's characters wants to write a letter, 
 he calls for a tablet, stylus, wax, and thread : — 
 
 Effer cito stylum, ceram ; et tabellas, et linum. 
 
 Bacchid., iv. 4, 64. 
 
 This accounts for the number of styli which are found in all 
 Eoman sites in Britain. They are usually of bronze. As the 
 tablet was made of more perishable materials, it is seldom found : 
 but Mr. Roach Smith possesses one of these tablets, made of wood, 
 found in London, from which, however, the wax has perished. 
 Other instruments, bearing some analogy to the stylus, are also 
 frequently found on Roman sites, especially in London, which, 
 from a comparison with the tools used at the present day by 
 sculptors, appear to be modelling tools. 
 
 Among instruments connected with the Roman arts in Britain, 
 we must not overlook the compass (circinus). Two Roman 
 compasses have been found at Cirencester, exactly representing 
 those in use at the present day, and an engraving of one of them 
 will be found in Buckman and Newmarch's work on ancient 
 Corinium. Similar instruments have been found on other 
 Roman sites. 
 
 The steelyard (statera, or trutina), is also frequently met with 
 among other Roman antiquities found in this island, and bears a 
 perfect resemblance to those now in use. The two examples in our 
 cut on the next page, were found at Richborough. A weight, found 
 in the same place, is attached to one of them. The weights are 
 always more or less ornamental ; they often consist of highly-finished 
 busts of emperors, or distinguished personages, deities, or fabulous 
 heroes, or of figures of birds and animals. On another example 
 
346 THE ROMANS. [chap. xi. 
 
 of the statera, found at Richborough, the yard is notched into 
 fractional divisions, and is furnished with two hooks. In examples 
 found at Pompeii, sometimes a hook, at others a scale, is sus- 
 pended to the end of the yard.* Scales (libra, bilanx) were 
 
 Roman Steelyards, from Richborough (Rutupice). ( 1 // l/j 
 
 also in use among the Romans from a very early period, and are 
 often figured on coins and other works of art, but they are 
 rarely met with in antiquarian excavations in this country. 
 
 Among other miscellaneous articles in use among the Romans 
 in Britain, strigils are not unfrequently found, an additional 
 proof how extensively the manners of Italy had been translated 
 to our clime. The strigil was a curved instrument generally 
 of bronze or iron, with which the bather in the hot-baths, 
 after having put himself into a sweat, was scraped- — somewhat in 
 the manner that ostlers scrape a horse when he comes in hot. 
 While this operation was performed, the patient sat upon a seat 
 which was under the water — a seat of this kind is generally dis- 
 covered in baths in Roman villas in Britain. Sometimes the 
 bather performed the operation himself, but if he was rich enough 
 he had a slave for the purpose. Public baths were provided with 
 strigils for the use of the bathers ; but people of respectability had 
 
 * Yitruvius gives us the names for the different constituent parts of the 
 Roman steelyard : — the scale (lancula), hanging from the head (caput), near which 
 was the point of revolution (centrum), and the handle (ansa) ; on the other side 
 of the centre from the scale was the beam (scopus), with the weight or equipoise 
 (cequipondium), which was made to move along the points (per puncta) express- 
 ing the different weights. 
 
 It should be observed that in the upper figure in our cut, the steelyard is 
 turned the wrong way up. 
 
chap, xl] STEELYARDS ; STRIGILS. 347 
 
 their own strigils at home, which their slave carried after them 
 when they went to bathe. Hence Persius, — 
 
 I, puer, et strigiles Crispini ad balnea defer. — Sat., v. 126. 
 
 This is sufficient to warn us against supposing that the dis- 
 covery of strigils among the remains of buildings, is any proof that 
 those buildings were baths. Two strigils of bronze were found in 
 one of the Bartlow tumuli, which resemble the generality of those 
 found in Italy, in having a hole in the handle through which the 
 hand was passed in using them. One of the same material 
 found at Beculver, in Kent, more than a century ago, and engraved 
 in Mr. Boach Smith's " Antiquities of Bichborough," had a straight 
 handle to grasp in the hand. This latter discovery furnishes 
 a remarkable instance of the danger of forming hasty opinions 
 on such objects, without the previous knowledge arising from 
 careful comparison. An antiquary of the time, Aubrey, who 
 examined the bronze strigil found at Eeculver, immediately 
 judged it to be one of the golden sickles with which the British 
 Druids cut their mistletoe ! * The strigil had, indeed, a sharp 
 edge turned inward, which might lead a person ignorant of its real 
 use to suppose that it was a cutting instrument. The operation 
 of being scraped with it could not have been an agreeable one ; 
 and we are told that the emperor Augustus was subjected to 
 considerable suffering by an over violent application of it. It 
 was on this account customary to soften the edge by the application 
 of oil. 
 
 We find fewer remains of Eoman weapons and armour in 
 Britain than almost any other article. As I have observed 
 before, it is more than probable that the bronze swords which 
 have been usually described as British, are purely Roman. The 
 same may be said of the bronze spear-heads. A considerable 
 number of spear-heads and arrow-heads of iron were found in the 
 Boman camp on Hod Hill, in Dorsetshire. They are found also 
 from time to time on other Boman sites. A few fragments of 
 what was supposed to be Boman armour, formed both of scales 
 and of rings, have also been found, and some remains of military 
 
 * It is remarkable that the Roman bronze, under certain circumstances, 
 especially when it has lain in the water where it was subjected to friction, bears 
 an extraordinary resemblance to gold. 
 
348 THE KOMANS. [chap. xi. 
 
 standards. Very remarkable remains of one of the latter articles 
 were found near Stoney Stratford at the beginning of the present 
 century, and have been engraved and published by Samuel Lysons. 
 Among the extensive Roman remains found in the camp at Hod 
 Hill, already alluded to, were found several spurs of iron, which 
 resemble so closely the Norman prick-spurs, that they might be 
 easily mistaken for them. I suspect that many of the prick-spurs 
 which have been found on or near Roman sites, and hastily judged 
 to be Norman, are, especially when made of bronze, Roman. As 
 far, however, as comparison has yet been made, the Roman 
 and the Saxon spurs are shorter in the stimulus than those of 
 the Normans. 
 
chap, xii.] GOVERNMENT OF ROMAN BRITAIN. 349 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Roman Province — Its Divisions and Officers — the Military Force — Cen- 
 turial and other inscriptions— Towns and their Municipal Constitution — 
 the Coinage — -Roman Coins relating to Britain— Spurious Coinage — > 
 Different methods of Hoarding Money. 
 
 The importance of Roman Britain is shown by the circumstance 
 that it was constituted a separate province of the empire. From 
 the first, Britain was governed by a propraetor, who is stated, in 
 inscriptions, to have been a legatus Augusti, or vicegerent of the 
 emperor, from which we are to conclude that it was a province of 
 the Caesar, and not a province of the people. At the close of the 
 Boman occupation, when the " Notitia Imperii" was compiled, the 
 governor of Britain was called a vicarius, and was honoured with 
 the title of vir spectabilis. It is at this period only that we 
 obtain any distinct information on the political divisions of the 
 province and on its officers, and these had probably under- 
 gone considerable modifications. According to the " Notitia," 
 the province of Britain was divided into five departments, 
 called Britannia Prima, Britannia Secunda, Flavia Caesariensis, 
 Maxima Caesariensis, and Valentia. The first of these consisted 
 of the country to the south of the Thames and the Bristol 
 Channel ; Britannia Secunda answered to the modern Principality 
 of Wales ; Flavia comprised the middle portion of the island, 
 from the Thames to the Humber and the Mersey ; the country 
 beyond this, extending twenty-five mi]es north of Hadrian's Wall, 
 formed the department of Maxima Caesariensis ; while the low- 
 lands of Scotland were comprised under the title of Valentia. It 
 is stated on the single and dubious authority of Richard of 
 Cirencester, that the country to the north of the Wall of 
 
S50 THE ROMANS. [chap. xn. 
 
 Antoninus was formed into a sixth department under the name 
 of Vespasiana. After the time of Constantine, the first three 
 were governed by presidents, while the two northern departments 
 were placed under the jurisdiction of consulares. These officers 
 were under the vicarius, who probably resided in Londinium, or 
 London. 
 
 The vicarius of Britain was himself subject to the prsefectus 
 praBtorio Galliarum, who resided first at Treviri (Treves), and 
 afterwards at Arelatum (Aries). His official establishment con- 
 sisted of a princeps, or chief officer; of two agents (de schola 
 agentum in rebus), chosen out of the ducenarii, or judges ; a chief 
 secretary (cornicularius);* two accountants or auditors (numerarios 
 duos) ; a master of the prisons (commentariensis) ; a notary (ab actis) ; 
 a secretary for despatches (curam epistolarum) ; an assistant (adju- 
 tor) ; under assistants (subadjuva) ; clerks for appeal (exceptores) ; 
 Serjeants, and other officers (singular es, et reliquos officiales).\ 
 For the revenues of the country, which were under the control of 
 a superior officer in Gaul, entitled the comes sacrarum largi- 
 tionum, there were a collector for the whole of Britain (rationalis 
 summarum Britanniarum) ; an overseer of the Augustentian 
 treasures in Britain (propositus thesaurorum Augustentium in 
 Britannias) ; procurators of the cynegia, or hunting establish- 
 ment (procuratores cynegiorum) ; and another officer, entitled 
 procurator cynegii in Britannia Biennensis. Under the count of 
 the private affairs of the western division of the empire (comes 
 rerwn privatarum) was a collector of private affairs in Britain 
 (rationalis rei private per Britannias). The military affairs of the 
 province also came at this time directly under the management 
 of the government in Gaul, without the intermediation of the 
 vicarius, or governor, of Britain. They were divided between 
 three chief officers, the count of the Saxon shore (comes litoris 
 Saxonici), the count of Britain (comes Britanniarum), and the 
 duke of Britain (dux Britanniarum). The garrisons of nine 
 fortresses along the coast from Portchester to Brancaster in 
 
 * In a sepulchral inscription found near Great Chesters in Northumberland, 
 a cornicularius is commemorated, but whether he belonged to the departmental 
 court, or not, is uncertain. The inscription reads : — d . m . ael . mercvriali 
 
 CORNICVL VACIA SOROR FECIT. 
 
 + In the interpretation of these various official titles I have chiefly followed 
 Horsley ; it is not easy to explain the exact duties of them all. 
 
chap, xil] INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. 851 
 
 Norfolk, were placed under the command of the first of these 
 officers, who had an official establishment composed of a chief 
 officer from the office, or court ; of the general of foot in ordinary 
 attendance (principem ex officio magistri prasentalium a parte 
 peditum) ; two auditors (iiumerarii) and a master of the prisons 
 {commentariensis) from the same office ; a secretary ; an assistant, 
 and under-assistant ; a registrar (regerendarius) : clerks of appeals, 
 Serjeants, and other officers. The count of Britain had an official 
 establishment exactly similar, but apparently without any military 
 command. The duke of Britain had under his command the 
 sixth legion, which was at Eburacum (York), where, probably, the 
 duke held his court, and all the garrisons in the north of Britain 
 and along the Wall of Hadrian. His official establishment 
 consisted of the same officers as the others. 
 
 This rather complicated system of officials, combined with the 
 numerous secondary employes who must have been scattered over 
 the island, shows us the regularity of administration which at this 
 late period prevailed still in Roman Britain. We have no means 
 of knowing the details of government, or the character or amount 
 of the taxes which were raised from the island. The military 
 force, as we have before stated, was fixed soon after its reduction 
 to a province, at three legions, and it was now reduced to two, the 
 second and the sixth. These were also at the time of the com- 
 position of the " Notitia " (the beginning of the fifth century) directly 
 under the command of the imperial government in Gaul. The 
 military force in Britain at this time has been estimated, from 
 the information given in the "Notitia," at nineteen thousand two 
 hundred infantry and seventeen hundred cavalry. 
 
 This is the amount of the direct information we can at present 
 obtain relating to the internal administration of the government 
 in Britain and the amount of its military establishment. The 
 Roman troops have fortunately left us abundant memorials of 
 their presence in the numerous inscriptions commemorating their 
 burial, their religious worship, or their labours. Both the legions 
 and the auxiliary troops seem to have been constantly employed 
 in works of public utility, and the share each legion, or cohort, or 
 century took in them, is often indicated by their names and titles 
 inscribed on tiles or stones. The latter are usually termed 
 centurial stones, as they bear the name of the centuria, or troop, 
 by which the building or other work, to which they were attached, 
 
352 THE ROMANS. [chap. xit. 
 
 was executed. This is often expressed in the simplest possible 
 form. Thus, a centurial stone found near Cilurnum {Chester s\ 
 in Northumberland, is inscribed* — 
 
 COH V 
 
 The fifth cohort, 
 
 CAECILI 
 
 The century of Caecilius 
 
 PROCOLI 
 
 Proculus. 
 
 Similar stones with such inscriptions as centvria peregrini, 
 
 CENTVRIA ARRII, CENTVRIA HERENNIANI, COH VI DELIVJANA, are 
 
 found frequently along the line of Hadrian's Wall, and in Cum- 
 berland, and sometimes in other parts of the country. Sometimes, 
 especially in the legionary inscriptions, there is more of ornament, 
 the name being placed within a wreath or tablet, surrounded with 
 
 A Roman Legionary stone. 
 
 the emblems of the legion and other figures. One of these, found 
 at Halton Chesters, in Northumberland (Hunnmn), is represented 
 in the accompanying cut, and is to be read thus, — 
 
 leg Legion 
 
 ii the second, 
 
 avg the Augustan, 
 
 F made it. 
 
 An inscription of this kind, found at Whitley Castle, in 
 
 * The words centurio and centuria are generally figured on the stones by a 
 mark which is here represented by a c reversed, but in reality it is more like 
 a >, though it was no doubt intended for a o. A cut is given a little further on 
 which shows how oddly, at least at one period, the cutters of the Roman inscrip- 
 tions joined letters together. 
 
chap, xil] CENTUEIAL STONES. 353 
 
 Northumberland, speaks of the rebuilding, or making again of 
 some temple or other work : — 
 
 vex . leg A vexillation of legion 
 
 xx vv the twentieth, the valiant and victorious, 
 
 refec remade it 
 
 Sometimes the name of the officer who directed the work is 
 added, as in the following inscription found at Eisingham 
 {Habitancum) : — 
 
 coh . i . vang The first cohort of the Vangiones 
 
 fecit cvrante made it, under the direction of 
 
 ivl . pavllo trib Julius Paullus the tribune. 
 
 On a similar stone found at Rochester, in Northumberland 
 (Bremenium), the name of the tribune only is given : — 
 
 P . AEL . ERAS PubliuS iEliuS 
 
 invs trib Erasinus, the tribune. 
 
 The soldiers frequently dedicated their work to the reigning 
 emperor, or contrived to introduce his name into the inscription. 
 Thus, along the line of the wall in Northumberland, inscriptions 
 to Hadrian are very frequent, which leave no doubt on our mind 
 that the great military works there were executed under that 
 emperor. In the same manner the neighbourhood of the more 
 northern wall presents us with numerous inscriptions commemo- 
 rative of Antoninus. As an example of the inscriptions to 
 Hadrian along the Northumberland wall, we may cite the 
 following, found at Milking- gap : — 
 
 imp caes traian Of the emperor Caesar Trajanus 
 
 hadriani avg Hadrianus Augustus, 
 
 leg n avg the second legion, the augustan, 
 
 A platorio nepote leg PR pr Aulus Platorius Nepos being legate 
 
 propraetor. 
 
 Similar inscriptions are found in other places in nearly the same 
 words. The inscriptions along the Ante nine wall are more 
 precise, detailing the quantity of work performed in each case by 
 those who set up the inscription, and often very elaborately 
 ornamented. They occur, moreover, in greater numbers. The 
 following was found at West-Kilpatrick : — 
 
354 THE KOMANS. [chap. xn. 
 
 imp. c To the emperor Caesar 
 
 T. ae. hadria Titus iElius Hadrianus 
 
 no. antonino. avg. Pi. p. p. Antoninus Augustus Pius, father 
 
 of his country. 
 vex A vexillation 
 
 leg xx of the twentieth legion, 
 
 vv. ee the valiant and victorious, made 
 
 pp mi cdxi four thousand four hundred and 
 
 eleven paces. 
 
 In this instance the slab of stone is sculptured into the repre- 
 sentation of a Corinthian portico ; the emperor's name and titles 
 are inscribed on the tympanum ; the name of the legion is placed 
 within a wreath or garland, held by a winged Victory between the 
 supporting columns ; while the number of paces is given at the 
 foot, on each side of a boar, the ensign of that legion. 
 
 Inscriptions of the reigning emperors, or commemorative of 
 them, are found in other places, where they have originally 
 appeared on public buildings or other monuments. As we have 
 before had occasion to observe, the emperors' names were always 
 placed on the milliaria, or milestones. They are historically 
 important as showing us the interest which the people in this^ 
 distant province took in all the changes and movements of the 
 Koman empire. We find now and then an inscription to an 
 emperor w 7 hose reign was so short and insignificant that we could 
 hardly suppose the influence of his name could have been 
 felt here. A fragment of an inscription to Numerianus, on 
 which remained the words imp c mar avr nvmeeiano, 
 were found at Kenchester, in Herefordshire (Magna). Nume- 
 rianus was the brother of Carinus, and reigned conjointly with 
 him about two years (from 282 to 284). It is the only inscription 
 yet found in Britain in which his name occurs. At Castor, in 
 Northamptonshire (DurobrivcB,) & cylindrical stone, apparently a 
 milliarium, was found with an inscription to Florianus, the brother 
 of the emperor Tacitus, who reigned not more than two or three 
 months, in ad. 276. It is imperfect, but appears to read as 
 follows : — 
 
 imp caes To the emperor Caesar 
 
 M. annio Marcus Annius 
 
 floriano Florianus, 
 
 p. f. invicto the pious and faithful, unconquered, 
 
 avg. the Augustus. 
 
 M. P. ii Two miles. 
 
chap, xil] INSCRIPTIONS TO THE EMPERORS. 355 
 
 An inscription found at Ancaster (Causennce), commemorates 
 the emperor Constantine the Great (308 — 337) : — 
 
 imp c To the emperor Caesar 
 
 PL val Flavius Valerius 
 
 Constantino Constantinus, 
 
 p p inv the pious and faithful, unconquered, 
 
 avg the Augustus. 
 
 divi of the deified 
 
 constanti Constantius, 
 
 pii avg the pious, the Augustus, 
 
 FiLio the son. 
 
 A milestone found in Cumberland was dedicated to Flavius 
 Julius Crispus, a son of Constantine the Great, and therefore 
 belonged to the earlier part of the fourth century. One found 
 near Old Carlisle was dedicated to the emperor Marcus Julius 
 Philippus, and is fixed by the mention of his consulship to the 
 year 247. Another, found near the Roman road at Gretabridge, 
 in Yorkshire, was dedicated to the emperors G alius and Volusianus, 
 in the year 252. 
 
 At Bittern, in Hampshire (Clausentum), no less than six stones 
 have been found with inscriptions to various emperors. Three of 
 these are dedicated to Gordian the Younger, to Gallus and 
 Volusianus, and to Aurelian. The other three are all dedicated 
 to Tetricus, and are particularly interesting as being the only 
 inscriptions yet found in Britain to any of the local usurpers, with 
 the exception of one to Victorinus, found near Neath, in Wales. 
 It is remarkable that we have no such memorial now remaining of 
 Carausius or Allectus, although they reigned during ten years, 
 and their numerous coinage proves that they were not neglectful of 
 commemorating themselves. The want of inscriptions with their 
 names can only be explained by the great care which was probably 
 taken to destroy or erase them, after the island was restored to 
 its dependence on Borne. There are several instances among the 
 inscriptions found in Britain of the erasure of the name of an 
 emperor by his successor or rival. An interesting inscription 
 found at Hexham had contained the name of Severus and his two 
 sons, but that of Geta had been subsequently and carefully 
 erased, no doubt after that prince had been murdered by his 
 brother, Caracalla. An inscribed slab was discovered some 
 years ago at Chesters, in Northumberland (Cilurnum), of which a 
 
356 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. XII. 
 
 representation is given in the accompanying cut, and on which 
 also were clearly traced some intentional erasures. The inscription 
 
 Inscription at Chesters (Cilumum). 
 
 may be given, by comparing and supplying from similar con- 
 temporary inscriptions, as follows : — 
 
 imp caes Marc avrel . . . 
 
 avg pont max 
 
 TRIB p cos . . pp divi Antonini fil 
 
 DIVI SEVER NEP 
 
 cesar imper ....... duplares 
 
 alae ii. astorvm templvm vetvstat conlapsum restitu- 
 ervnt per marivm VALERiAnum leg. avg. pr pr 
 
 INSTANTE SEPTIMIO NILO PRAE . . . 
 
 DEDICATVM III KAL NOVEM GRATO ET SELEUCO COSS. 
 
 which may be translated : — To the emperor Marcus Aurelius 
 
 Augustus Pontifex Maximus, with the tribunitian power, 
 
 fourth time consul, father of his country, son of divine Antoninus, 
 
 grandson of divine Severus, to Caesar our emperor the 
 
 duplares of the second wing of Asturians restored this temple, 
 through age dilapidated, by command of Marius Valerianus, legate 
 of the Augustus and propraetor, under the superintendence of 
 Septimius Nilus the Prsefect. It was dedicated on the third 
 kalends of November (the 30th of October), Gratus and Seleucus 
 being consuls. 
 
chap, xil] VALUE OF INSCRIPTIONS. 357 
 
 Mr. Bruce, from whose work on the Roman wall I take this 
 inscription, makes the following illustrative remarks, which deserve 
 to be impressed on the minds of all students of our early anti- 
 quities. "Hutton," he observes, "who has done such good 
 service to the wall, underrated the value of inscriptions. ' When 
 the antiquary,' says he, ' has laboured through a parcel of 
 miserable letters, what is he the wiser?' Let this fractured 
 and defaced stone answer the question. 1. This dedication was 
 made by soldiers of the second wing of the Astures; — we 
 thus learn the name of the people who garrisoned the fort, and 
 by a reference to the Notitia, ascertain with certainty that this 
 was Cilurnum. 2. We acquire the fact that a temple, which 
 through age had become dilapidated, was restored; — learning 
 thereby, not only the attention which the Romans paid to what 
 they conceived to be religious duties, but their long occupation of 
 this spot. It has been already observed, that some of the pillars 
 of the hypocaust have been portions of a prior building ; — the 
 ruin and inscription thus corroborate each other. 3. The date of 
 the dedication is given ; the third of the kalends of November 
 falls upon the thirtieth of October, and the year which Gratus 
 and Seleucus were consuls corresponds to a.d. 221 ; — the data on 
 which antiquaries found their conclusions are not always so vague 
 as some imagine. 4. Even the erasures are instructive. By a 
 reference to the date, we find that Heliogabalus was reigning at 
 the time of the dedication of the temple ; we find that what 
 remain of the names and titles on the stone apply to him ; he, 
 consequently, is the emperor referred to. The year following he 
 was slain by his own soldiers, his body dragged through the 
 streets, and cast into the Tiber. The soldiers in Britain seem to 
 have sympathised with their companions at Rome, and to have 
 erased tbe name of the fallen emperor from the dedicatory slab. 
 Human nature is the same in every age. How often have we, in 
 modern times, seen a name cast out with loathing, which yesterday 
 received the incense of a world's flattery ! " * 
 
 This inscription also furnishes us with a name of a propraetor 
 or governor of Roman Britain, who is not mentioned elsewhere. 
 Other inscriptions have added to our list of propraetors, or 
 
 * It may be observed that tbis inscription affords a remarkably good example of 
 the combining of letters together, so common in Roman inscriptions, especially of 
 this age. 
 
358 THE ROMANS. [chap. xii. 
 
 confirmed the names of those who are mentioned in history. 
 Thus :— 
 
 Aulus Plautius, the first propraetor, who came over under the 
 emperor Claudius, is mentioned in an inscription found in Italy, 
 and published by Gruter. 
 
 Licinius Priscus, who governed Britain under Hadrian, is com- 
 memorated in an inscription found at Bewcastle, in Cumberland, 
 as well as on a monument found at Borne. 
 
 Lollius Urbicus, the celebrated propraetor of Antoninus Pius, 
 is mentioned in an inscription found in Scotland. 
 
 Platorius Nepos is mentioned as propraetor under Hadrian in 
 inscriptions found at more than one place along the line of the 
 Northumbrian wall. 
 
 C. Valerius Pansa occurs as holding the same office under Trajan, 
 in an inscription found at Novarra, in Italy, published by Muratori. 
 
 Quintus Calpurnius is mentioned in an inscription found in 
 Northumberland, believed to be of the age of Commodus. 
 
 Virius Lupus, the propraetor of the emperor Severus, occurs on 
 an inscription found at Ilkey, in Yorkshire {Olicana), and another 
 found at Bowes (Lavatrce). 
 
 Claudius Xenophon, whose date is doubtful, is mentioned in an 
 inscription found at Little Chesters, in Northumberland. 
 
 Marius Valerianus, under Heliogabalus, is mentioned in the 
 inscription given above. 
 
 Maecilius Fuscus, propraetor under Gordian, occurs in an 
 inscription at Lanchester, in Durham 
 
 Gnaeus Lucilianus, propraetor under the same emperor, occurs 
 in another inscription found at the same place. 
 
 Claudius Paulinus, propraetor, is mentioned in an inscription 
 found near Caen, in Normandy, of the date of a.d. 240. 
 
 Nonnius Philippus, propraetor also under Gordian, is mentioned 
 in an inscription found at Old Penrith, in Cumberland, and in 
 another at Old Carlisle, of the date 242. 
 
 As far as we can perceive, the military, civil, and fiscal depart- 
 ments of the administration of Britain were united, at first, in 
 the' office of the propraetor ; but, as we have seen above, after 
 Constantine had divided the empire into four governments, the 
 different departments of administration in this island were each 
 placed separately under the praefect of the west in Gaul. His vicar 
 (vicarius) had the management of the civil government of the 
 
chap, xil] MUNICIPAL TOWNS. 359 
 
 island. But there was another, and an independent jurisdiction, 
 that of the towns, which it is of the utmost importance we should 
 not overlook. The very doubtful treatise attributed to Richard of 
 Cirencester, which, however, I believe in this case offers us correct 
 information, states that there were in Britain two municipal 
 towns (municipia), Verulamium (St. Albans), and Eburacum (York). 
 The same authority enumerates nine colonic, Londinium (London), 
 Camulodunun (Colchester), Rutupise (Richborough), Aquae Solis 
 (Bath), Isca (Caerleon), Deva [Chester), Glevum (Gloucester), 
 Lindum (Lincoln), and Camboricum (Cambridge) ; ten cities under 
 the Latian law (civitates Latio jure donatce), Durnomagus, con- 
 sidered to be another name for DurobrivaB (Castor), Cataracto 
 (Catterick), Cambodunum (Slack), Coccium (Ribchester), Lugu- 
 ballium (Carlisle), Ptoroton (Burgh-head), Victoria (Dealgin Ross), 
 Theodosia (Dumbarton), Corinium (Cirencester), Sorbiodunum 
 (Old Sarum) ; and twelve stipendiary towns, of less consequence,* 
 Venta Silurum (Caerwent), Venta Belgarum (Winchester), Venta 
 Icenorum (Caistor, near Norwich), Segontium (Caer Segont), 
 Maridunum (Caermarthen), Ratse (Leicester), Cantiopolis (Can- 
 terbury), Durinum (Dorchester), Isca (Exeter), Bremenium 
 (Rochester), Vindonum (in Hampshire), and Durobrivse (Rochester). 
 In earlier times the colonics were the cities out of Italy which 
 possessed in the most perfect degree the rights of Roman 
 citizens, but at a later period the municipia and colonic appear 
 to have been nearly identical with each other. The Latian law 
 was a modification of the municipal privileges and forms, which it 
 is not necessary here to enter upon. The stipendiary towns are 
 said to have been distinguished by the payment of their taxes in 
 money, instead of giving a certain proportion of the produce of 
 the soil. All these towns enjoyed the civitas, or rights of Roman 
 citizens ; they consisted of the town and a certain extent of land 
 around it, and had a government of their own, republican in form, 
 resembling the ancient constitution of Rome, and exempt from all 
 control of the imperial officers. As soldiers, they were obliged 
 only to defend their own town, and were not liable to serve else- 
 where. They possessed, in fact, their own free constitution and 
 officers, perhaps differing at times from one another; but, 
 speaking generally, the Roman municipium, or town corporation, 
 
 * Deinde xii. stipendiarise minorisque momenti. 
 
360 THE ROMANS. [chap. xii. 
 
 consisted of the people at large and the curia or governing body. 
 The members of the curia were called curiales, decuriones, or 
 senators ; the rank was hereditary, the son of a curialis becoming 
 a member of the curia by right of birth. Persons who were not 
 of senatorial birth might, however, be elected into that body. 
 The curiales received various emoluments, and possessed important 
 privileges ; they alone had the right of electing the magistrates 
 and officers of the municipium. These officers were, first, two 
 duumviri, or chief magistrates, who answered to the consuls at 
 Rome, and whose authority extended over the civitas, or territory 
 surrounding and depending upon the town. Sometimes the 
 municipium had only one duumvir. The duumviri were chosen 
 from among the curiales, no person not a member of the senatorial 
 body being capable of election to that office. They were obliged 
 to accept office, if elected ; a curialis refusing to act as duumvir, 
 or concealing himself to escape election, was punished by con- 
 fiscation of his property. After the duumviri, a certain number 
 of officers, termed principales, were elected out of the body of the 
 curia, who were the administrators of the municipal affairs, and 
 formed the permanent council of the curia. The duumviri were 
 in general elected yearly; the principales continued in office 
 during fifteen years. Besides these, there were different inferior 
 officers, equally elected by the curia. The whole body of the 
 citizens — the plebs — elected an important officer, called the 
 defensor civitatis, who was not to be a member of the curia, and 
 whose duty it was to protect the populace against the senatorial 
 body, when the latter acted unjustly or tyrannically ; he was to the 
 municipium what the tribune had been in Rome. There were also 
 corporations or colleges of the different trades in the Roman muni- 
 cipia, who chose their patrons among the senators or curiales. 
 
 At present we have unfortunately few inscriptions found in 
 Britain which illustrate the municipal constitution of the towns 
 under the Romans, probably because most of those which were 
 thus constituted are now covered with modern towns, and the 
 others have never been properly explored. The few which have 
 been found leave no doubt that the Roman laws in this respect 
 were firmly established here. We have already (p. 320) given 
 an inscription commemorating a decurion of the colonia of Glevum 
 [Gloucester), who died at Aquse Solis (Bath). Another inscription 
 (p. 316), mentions a sevir of the colonia of Eburacum (York). 
 
chap, xil] MUNICIPAL CONSTITUTIONS. 361 
 
 This word is generally understood as belonging to a military 
 officer, but it must here refer to a municipal one. Several 
 instances occur in which the collegia are mentioned in inscriptions 
 in Britain. The collegium ligniferorum mentioned in inscriptions 
 found at Castle Cary, in Scotland, has been conjectured to be of a 
 religious character. A collegium fabrorum is mentioned in a 
 celebrated inscription of an early date found at Chichester.* A 
 still more celebrated inscription found near Bath, mentions a 
 collegium fabric ensium, a guild of smiths, or, as we should say 
 now, smiths' company. This inscription relates to a member of 
 this college who belonged to the twentieth legion, and is read as 
 follows : — 
 
 iylivs vita Julius Vitalis, 
 
 lis fabricies smith of the 
 
 is . leg . xx . v . v . twentieth legion, the valiant 
 
 and victorious, 
 
 stipexdior who served nine years, 
 
 VM ix annor xx lived twenty- 
 
 IX . natione be nine, by nation a Belgian, 
 
 lga ex . collegio by the college 
 
 eabrice . elatv of the smiths carried to burial, 
 
 s . h s e He is placed here. 
 
 Gruter has published an inscription, found on the site of the 
 ancient Nomentum, in Italy, which commemorates an individual 
 who held the office of censitor (or censor) of the citizens of 
 Camulodunum (Colchester) : — 
 
 cn . munativs . M . f . pal Cneius Munatius, 
 
 avrelivs bassvs Aurelius Bassus, 
 
 pr^f . coh . II prsefect of the second cohort 
 
 astvrvm . censitor . civivm of the Asturians, censitor of 
 
 the 
 
 romanorvm . coloniae . victri- Roman citizens of the colonia 
 
 censis victrixf 
 
 quae . est . in . Britannia which is in Britannia 
 
 camolodvni .... at Camulodunum. 
 
 At first the rights of citizenship were given as a mark of honour 
 and the reward of merit, chiefly to soldiers, for the Roman 
 
 * I have already given this inscription in a note to p. 29. It will be under- 
 stood that, in the inscription which follows, fabriciesis is merely contracted or 
 mis-written for fabriciensis. 
 
 + This epithet applied to the colonial town of Camulodunum, coincides with 
 the account of Tacitus that it was placed under the auspices of Victory, whose 
 temple served as a refuge to the inhabitants when attacked by the insurgent Britons. 
 
362 THE ROMANS. [chap. xii. 
 
 municipalities in the provinces were all originally military 
 foundations ; but subsequently they were granted more lavishly, 
 and almost all the free population of the empire became 
 eventually Roman citizens. In earlier times the grants of 
 citizenship were duly registered at Rome, and copies of the 
 grant, inscribed on plates of copper or bronze, appear to have 
 been sent to the place where these new citizens resided. Several 
 such plates have been discovered in Britain, as well as in other 
 parts of the empire. One of these was dug up in the parish of 
 Malpas, in Cheshire, in 1812 ; fragments of two others were 
 found in a gravel-pit on Sydenham Common, in Kent, in 1806 ; 
 and another was found at Stainington, in Yorkshire, in 1761. 
 They are all decrees of the emperor Trajan, in favour of certain 
 veterans serving in the troops in Britain, and conferring upon 
 them the civitas, or rights of citizenship, and the consequent 
 connubivm, or civil rights belonging to legitimate marriage.* 
 The inscription found at Malpas, as the most perfect, may be 
 given as an example of this important class of inscriptions : — 
 
 IMP . CAESAR . DIVI . NERV^]. F. NERVA . TRAIANVS 
 AVGVSTVS . GERMANICVS . DACICVS . PONTIFEX . MAX 
 IMVS . TRIBVNIC . POTESTAT VIT IMP IIII COS . V . PP. 
 EQVITIBVS . ET . PEDITIBVS . QVT MILITANT . IN ALIS 
 QVATVOR . ET . COHORTIBVS . DECEM . ET . VNA . QVAE . AP 
 PELLANTVR . I . THRACVM . ET . I . PANNONIORVM . TAM 
 PIANA . ET . II . GALLORVM SEBOSIANA . ET . I . HISPA 
 NORVM VETTONVM . C . R . ET . I . HISPANORVM . ET . I 
 VALCIONVM . MILLIARIA . ET . I . ALPINORVM . ET . I . 
 MORINORVM . ET .1 . CVGERNORVM . ET . I . BAETASI 
 ORVM . ET . I . TVNGRORVM . MILLIARIA . ET . II . THRA 
 CVM . ET . Ill . BRACAR . AVGVSTANORM . ET . IIII. 
 LINGONVM . ET . IIII . DELMATARVM . ET . SVNT 
 IN BRITANNIA SUB . I . NERATIO MARCELLO 
 QVI QVINA ET VICE N A PLURAVE STIPENDIA 
 MERVERVNT . QVORVM . NOMINA . SVBSCRIPTA 
 SVNT IPSIS LIBERIS POSTERISQVE EORVM . CIVITA 
 TEM DEDIT ET CONVBIVM . CVM . VXORIBVS . QVAS . 
 TVNC HABVISSENT . CVM . EST . CIVITAS . IIS . DATA 
 AVT . SI . QVI . COELIBES . ESSENT . CVM . IIS QVAS 
 POSTEA . DVXISSENT . DVMTAXAT . SINGVLI . SIN 
 GVLAS . AD XIII K FEBR 
 M . LABERIO MAXIMO II 
 
 * The Romans termed a discharge from military service, missio ; and these 
 inscribed plates, as honourable discharges, are called by antiquarians tabula honestce 
 missionis. Those found at Malpas and Sydenham were published by Samuel 
 Lysons ; the other is given in Gough's " Camden, 1 ' edition of 1806. 
 
chap, xii.] TABULA HONESTY MISSIONIS. 363 
 
 Q GLITIO ATILIO AGRICOLA II CO 
 
 ALAE . I . PANNONIORVM . TAMPIANAE . CVI PRAEEST 
 
 C VALERIVS CELSVS . DECVRIONI 
 
 REBVRRO SEVERI . F . HISPAN 
 
 DESCRIPTVM . ET . RECOGNITVM . EX TABVLA . AENEA 
 
 QVAE . FIXA . EST . ROMAE . IN MVRO . POST . TEMPLVM 
 
 DIVI AVGVSTI AD MINERVAM . 
 
 Q . POMPEI HOMERI 
 
 C . PAPI EVSEBETIS 
 
 T . FLAVI SECVNDI 
 
 P . CAVLI V IT ALTS 
 
 C . VETTIENI MODESTI 
 
 P . ATINI HEDO^ICI 
 
 TI. CLAVDI MENANDRI 
 
 The date of this record is fixed by its internal evidence to the 
 20th day of January a.d. 103. The other similar monuments 
 found in Britain are all of the same year. The example given 
 above may be translated thus : — The emperor Caesar, deified 
 Nerva's son, Nerva Trajanus Augustus, the German, the Dacian, 
 Pontifex Maximus, invested with the tribunitian power the seventh 
 time, emperor the fourth year, consul the fifth time, father of his 
 country, to the cavalry and infantry who serve in the four alse and 
 eleven cohorts, which are called the first of the Thracians, and the 
 first of Pannonians termed the Tampian, and the second of Gauls 
 termed the Sebosian, and the first of Spanish Vettones, Roman 
 citizens, and the first of Spaniards, and the first of Valciones, a 
 milliary one, and the first of Alpini, and the first of Morini, and 
 the first of Cugerni, and the first of Baetasii, and the first of 
 Tungrians, a milliary one, and the second of Thracians, and the 
 third of Braccae x\ugustani, and the fourth of Lingones, and the 
 fourth of Dalmatians, and they are in Britain under Julius 
 Neratius Marcellus, who have served twenty-five or more years, 
 whose names are written below, to themselves, their children, and 
 posterity, has given civitas and connubium (the rights of citizen- 
 ship and marriage) with their wives, whom they might then have 
 when citizenship was given to them, or if any of them were 
 unmarried, with those whom they might afterwards take, that is 
 to say, each with each. On the 13th kalends of February. To 
 M. Laberius Maximus twice, and Q. Glitius Atilius Agricola twice 
 consuls, to the first ala of the Pannonians, termed the Tampian, 
 which is commanded by C. Valerius Celsus, to the decurion 
 Reburrus, son of Severus, the Spaniard. Copied and revised 
 from the tablet of brass which is fixed at Rome on the wall behind 
 
364 THE ROMANS. [chap. xii. 
 
 the temple of divine Augustus near that of Minerva. Quintus 
 Pompeius Homerus, Caius Papius Eusebes, Titus Flavius 
 Secundus, Publius Caulus Vitalis, Caius Vettienus Modestus, 
 Publius Atinius Hedonicus, and Titus Claudius Menander. 
 
 We have no traces of a Roman mint in Britain until the reign 
 of Dioclesian and Maximian, on the exergue or vacant space on 
 the reverse of some of whose coins we find the letters lon and 
 ml, which numismatists seem agreed in interpreting Londinium, 
 and moneta Londinensis, and in considering as an indication of 
 the place at which they were minted. It is, however, far from 
 certain that Roman money was not coined in the island before it 
 was thought necessary to indicate the circumstance by such letters, 
 and we cannot but be astonished at the extraordinary activity of 
 the Eoman mint in Britain during the usurpation of Carausius 
 and Allectus. The great mass of their coins appear to have been 
 struck in Britain. Those of Carausius bear in the exergues 
 various combinations of letters, which, there can be little doubt, 
 refer to different Roman towns in this island where they were 
 minted. One of the more common forms is ml, which is inter- 
 preted moneta Londinensis, money of Londinium (London). In 
 other examples there is simply an l for Londinium. Another 
 common form is r s, which is believed to signify Rutupiis signata 
 (moneta), money coined at Rutupiae (Richborough). The most 
 common form of all is rsr, which is also supposed to mean 
 money struck at Richborough, though the meaning of the second 
 r has not been satisfactorily explained. The letters mrs, found 
 on some coins of Carausius, may also signify moneta Rutupiis 
 signata. Two different types of the same usurper have on the 
 exergue the letters rsp, which are perhaps the initials of Rutupiis 
 signata pecunia. The letter c is found singly on a considerable 
 number of different types of the coinage of Carausius, and is believed 
 to refer to Clausentum (Bittern), one of the great naval stations on 
 the southern coast of Britain ; and other similar inscriptions, such 
 as mc, sc, msc, spc, are believed to refer to the same place, and to 
 admit of the interpretations moneta Clausenti, signata Clausenti, 
 moneta signata Clausenti, and signata pecunia Clausenti. The 
 letters rsa, found in the exergue of at least one type, may refer to 
 Rutupiae. Other types exhibit the letters ms, or msp, or simply m, 
 which may possibly refer to Magna (Kenchester),Y?here a remarkable 
 quantity of the money of Carausius is constantly found. The 
 
chap, xil] EOMAN MINT MARKS. 365 
 
 letters may thus be interpreted, Magnis signata, Magnis signata 
 pecania, or giving merely the name of the place, Magnis. Many 
 examples have numerals added to the name of the place, but their 
 meaning is very doubtful. Thus we have many types of coins of 
 Carausius bearing on the exergue the letters mlxxi, which seems 
 to stand for moneta Londinii xxi ; a combination of letters equally 
 common is cxxi, which may stand for Clausenti xxi; and we 
 have some which are marked simply with the numerals xxi. We 
 have on other examples mlx {moneta Londinii x), and x by itself ; 
 lvii (Londini vii) ; and the numerals xx and xxxx, without any 
 indication of the name of the place. On the coinage of Allectus 
 we find in the exergues the letters ml (moneta Londinensis), which 
 is the most common ; msl (moneta signata Londinii) ; c (Clausenti), 
 which is also very common ; m (Magnis ?) ; cl, ql, and qc, which 
 have not been explained. A few of the coins of Constantine 
 the Great have in the exergue p lon (pecunia Londinensis), but 
 they are far more common with the continental mint-marks. The 
 inscription p lon is also found on the coins of Constan tine's 
 empress Fausta, of his sons Crispus and Constantine, and of his 
 daughter-in-law (as it is supposed) Helena ; but after Allectus 
 there are no indications of other towns in Britain in which money 
 was minted ; and even the simple p lon disappears after the 
 reigns of the sons of Constantine. There may, however, have 
 still remained a local mint, which, as far as is yet known, has 
 left no distinguishing mark on its coinage.* 
 
 It is to be remarked that the insular coins of Carausius are not 
 in general inferior in purity of metal and in execution to the con- 
 temporary coinage of the continent. But it is no less true that 
 among the Roman money found in this country we find a great 
 mass of debased or adulterated coinage, and, which is still more 
 curious, that very extensive manufactures of spurious money 
 have been traced. A few years ago, during the excavations for 
 laying the foundations of King William-street, in the city of 
 London, a considerable quantity of coins made of iron plated with 
 silver, intended to pass as silver, w r ere found packed up in tiers, as 
 they had been imported into Britain, probably to pay the troops. 
 The latest of them were of the emperor Claudius, which was perhaps 
 
 * It must be remarked that many of the foregoing explanations are conjectural, 
 and they may perhaps admit of other interpretations. The c 9 for instance, may 
 stand for Camulodimum, instead of Clausentum. 
 
366 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 [chap. XII. 
 
 the time when they were brought over hither. Most of these coins 
 are in the cabinet of Mr. Eoach Smith, who also possesses a number 
 of Roman forged coins cast in lead, found chiefly in the Thames. 
 Amongst the numerous coins found at Maryport, in Cumberland, 
 a great quantity are forged denarii of Trajan and Hadrian, mostly, 
 like those in Mr. Smith's museum, 'cast in lead. It has been 
 remarked that " genuine coin must have been exceedingly scarce 
 among the soldiers of this camp, and their credulity very great, to 
 allow of the circulation of such base imitations." 
 
 Extensive remains of manufactures of spurious money under 
 the Romans have been found in several places in this island, but 
 more especially at Lingwell Gate, near Wakefield, in Yorkshire, 
 at Edington, in Somersetshire, at Ruyton, in Shropshire, and at 
 Castor, in Northamptonshire. The last two places were the sites 
 of well-known Roman towns, Rutunium and Durobrivae. The 
 manner of casting the coins was a very simple process. A fine 
 clay, found on the locality, was formed 
 into small round tablets, of uniform 
 size and thickness. A coin of one 
 of the emperors was pressed between 
 each two tablets, so as to leave a 
 perfect impression, and the latter were 
 then arranged upon one another in 
 files or columns, the upper and lower 
 tablets being impressed only on one 
 side. A notch was broken into the 
 side all the way down, which admitted 
 the metal into each impression. Two, 
 or three, of these columns, as the case 
 might be, were placed side by side, 
 with the side notches joined to- 
 gether, and these were enclosed in a 
 clay case, with a hole at the top, 
 through which the melted metal ran 
 down the opening left by the notches, 
 by which it entered into all the 
 impressions. The arrangement, as 
 observed in the moulds found at 
 Lingwell Gate, is exhibited in our woodcut, where the upper 
 figure represents the faces of three impressed tablets as they 
 
 Moulds for Coining. 
 
chap, xil] MANUFACTURE OF FORGED MONEY. 367 
 
 were joined together in the columns. It was only necessary 
 that care should be taken to place the tablets on one another, 
 so that the reverse might correspond with the head belonging to 
 it. Their misplacement would produce those wrong reverses 
 which are sometimes found among ancient Roman coins, and which 
 have often puzzled the numismatist. 
 
 From the number of these moulds which are found on the 
 sites where they occur, we might imagine that after being used two 
 or three times, they were thrown aside as waste, and new ones 
 formed. In an account of those found at Edington, in Somerset- 
 shire, printed in the fourteenth volume of the " Archseologia," the 
 writer informs us that " the field in which they were found is a 
 meadow that bears no marks of ever having been ploughed ; which 
 accounts for the moulds remaining so long undiscovered. It is 
 situated at the north edge of Polclen Hill, at about a quarter of a 
 mile to the north of the village of Chilton. We were led to this 
 particular spot by a person who had some time before cut through 
 a bed of them in digging a drain. They were lying promis- 
 cuously scattered over a space about four feet square, and from six 
 inches to a foot below the surface of the ground." He adds that 
 in the space of an hour they picked up several hundred moulds. 
 They are found also scattered about very plentifully at Lingwell. 
 In some instances pieces of metal have been found, and at 
 Lingwell Gate an earthen crucible for melting it was met with. 
 Some moulds have even been found to contain the forged coins as 
 the metal had been poured in, which had never been taken out. 
 
 Moulds of the same kind have been found in France, especially 
 in Lyons, and at Damery, near Epernay, in the department of 
 the Marne. This latter place occupied the site of a Roman 
 station. Excavations made there in the winter of 1829 brought 
 to light, under a heap of burnt matter, the remains of extensive 
 buildings which had evidently been destroyed by fire, and 
 appeared to have consisted of baths and a moneyer's workshop. 
 In some of the apartments were found vases full of coins. The 
 first contained at least two thousand pieces of base silver, more 
 than fifteen hundred of which bore the head of Postumus ; the 
 remainder presenting the series which is generally found from the 
 elder Philip down to that reign. The fabric was bad, and the 
 metal much alloyed. Another vase contained a silver coin of 
 Antoninus ; five small brass of the money of Treves, with the 
 
THE ROMANS. [chap. xn. 
 
 types of Rome and Constantinople ; a hundred other small brass 
 of the money of Treves, Lyons, Aries, Aquileia, and other towns, 
 with the heads of Constans and Constantius, sons of Constantine ; 
 and nearly four thousand pieces in small brass of the fourth size, all 
 of the same emperors, Constans and Constantius. All these 
 coins were so fresh, that it seemed evident they had been made 
 in the place where they were found, and that they had never been 
 in circulation. This circumstance was soon explained by the 
 discovery in an adjoining room of a manufactory of money, which, 
 at the time the buildings were destroyed, must have been in full 
 activity. " There, under a heap of ashes and tiles, were found 
 together, shears and the remains of other instruments suitable for 
 the making of money ; and several collections of moulds of baked 
 earth, still containing the pieces which had been cast in them, and 
 the ingot formed by the superfluous metal. These moulds were 
 moulded from the money which they were intended to reproduce, 
 by pressing the models between discs of worked clay of larger 
 diameter, in order to form ledges, and were then placed one upon 
 another, so that, with the exception of the first and last, they 
 received on the two faces the stamp of the obverse and the reverse 
 of a piece. The cavities and the impressions being obtained by 
 this process, both easily and accurately, the discs composing the 
 moulds were notched, in order to form a passage for the fused 
 metal ; they were then hardened in the fire, and replaced on one 
 another, notch over notch, in the same order as when moulded." 
 
 It has been a question rather learnedly and warmly discussed, 
 whether these workshops were those of private forgers, or whether 
 they were establishments under the direction of the imperial 
 government. The latter supposition seems to be authorised by 
 the fact that they are found in large towns, and apparently, in 
 some instances, in public buildings. The moulds found at 
 Polden Hill, in Somersetshire, were of Severus and his wife Julia, 
 of Caracalla, Geta, Macrinus, Elagabalus, Alexander Severus, 
 Maximinus, Maximus, Plautilla, Julia Paula, and Julia Mammsea. 
 These, compared with other circumstances, seem to show that the 
 forgeries were carried on after the reign of Severus, and that it 
 was probably one scheme of the fiscal administration to raise 
 money by the issue of debased coin, which, to protect the 
 reigning emperor from odium, was cast from moulds of the coins 
 of previous emperors. Of course, it does not follow necessarily 
 
chap, xil] COIN'S RELATING TO BRITAIN. 369 
 
 that some of the moulds which have been found in other places 
 may not have belonged to private forgers, who thus enriched 
 themselves by defrauding the public. 
 
 Mr. Akerman has published a very useful volume under the 
 title of " Coins of the Romans relating to Britain." The series 
 of Roman coins which come under this denomination have a 
 peculiar interest connected with the history of our island. From 
 the moment when Claudius set his foot on our shores, there was 
 a regular series of imperial coins commemorative of victories in 
 Britain by the emperors or by their military commanders. Those 
 of Claudius, bearing on the reverse a triumphal arch with the 
 inscription de britann (over the Britons), are well known. The 
 expedition of the emperor Hadrian was commemorated by a coin 
 in large brass, struck in the year 121, on the reverse of which is 
 the inscription, adventvs avg britanniae (the advent of the 
 Augustus to Britain). The same emperor commemorated his 
 exploits by another coin, bearing on the reverse a figure of a 
 female seated on a rock, holding a spear on her arm, with a 
 shield resting by her side, and the inscription Britannia. There 
 are several different coins of Hadrian with this device, from 
 which they are usually known as the Britannia types, and similar 
 coins were struck under Antoninus Pius ; but in the latter the 
 figure is more frequently a male than a female. It is from these 
 Roman coins that the figure of Britannia was taken for our 
 modern English mintage. Coins of Severus bear the inscription 
 victoriae britannicae, to commemorate the expeditions of that 
 emperor against the Caledonians. Similar inscriptions appear on 
 those of his sons, Caracalla and Geta. The mintage of the 
 usurpers Carausius and Allectus furnished the most important 
 monuments of the history of Britain during that period ; while 
 those of their successors are chiefly connected with our island by 
 the marks of the London mint. 
 
 The great quantities of Roman coins which are found in this 
 island, and which have been continually found for many ages, 
 prove that there was no want of money in Roman Britain. They 
 are usually found hoarded up in earthen vessels, each containing 
 sometimes several thousand pieces. These had, no doubt, been 
 concealed by the original proprietors, who were, by some 
 accident or other, prevented from taking them from their hiding- 
 places. The great numbers of pots of Roman money found in 
 
370 THE ROMANS. [chap. xn. 
 
 almost every part of Britain, show that this was the ordinary 
 manner of storing up money which was not in circulation. It was no 
 doubt buried in the ground within the limits of the residence of 
 its proprietor, or in some spot where it was not likely to be 
 intruded upon. Large urns of this kind are sometimes turned up 
 by the ploughshare, and thus made to display their contents to 
 the wondering eyes of the modern husbandman. Eoman urns 
 filled with coins have been found, in some instances — chiefly in 
 the mining districts — concealed in crevices of rocks. The re- 
 ceptacle of the treasure was not always, however, an earthenware 
 vessel. In the year J 837, a quantity of gold and silver coins of 
 Eoman emperors, from Nero to Hadrian, was found in a bronze 
 vessel, formed like a shallow basket, and covered with a lid, con- 
 cealed in the crevice of a rock at Thorngrafton, near Hexham, in 
 Northumberland. Several instances have also occurred, where 
 the coins had been placed in receptacles of a much more singular 
 description. At Cirencester, in the time of Leland (under 
 Henry VIIL), a quantity of Roman silver coin was found con- 
 cealed in the shank bone of a horse, which was closed at the end 
 with a peg ; * and ten British gold coins were found by a boy 
 tending sheep, a few years ago near High Wycombe, in Buck- 
 inghamshire, in a hollow flint. A still more remarkable circum- 
 stance is the manner in which coins are spread over almost all 
 Roman sites. In excavating a town, or a villa, we find them 
 scattered in the houses and courts, about the streets, and over the 
 fields around. In the partial excavations at Lymne, where few of 
 the usual articles of Roman antiquity were found, coins occurred 
 everywhere. In the ploughed land on the hill round the walls of 
 Richborough, one cannot walk long without picking up a Roman 
 coin : and on many other long-deserted sites there is scarcely 
 a cottager in the neighbourhood who has not a collection of 
 coins, which he has picked up in his garden, or when at work in 
 the adjoining fields. Any one would imagine that the Romans in 
 Britain amused themselves with throwing their money away ; and 
 I am not aware that any probable explanation of this circumstance 
 has yet been given.f The coins found thus scattered about are 
 
 * " By the town nostris temporibus was found a broken shank bone of a horse, 
 the mouth closed with a pegge, the which was taken owt, a shepard founde yt 
 fillid nummis argenteis" — Leland 's Itin., vol. v., p. 61. 
 
 + Great quantities of Roman coins have been brought up from the bed of the 
 river Thames at London by dredgers. 
 
chap, xil] PKOPORTIONAL NUMBERS OF ROMAN COINS. 371 
 
 generally, as might be expected, in much worse condition than 
 those which are found in hoards. 
 
 The mass of the Roman coins found in Britain are of very 
 common types, and of small intrinsic value; but a few rarer 
 specimens are generally found even in small hoards, and now and 
 then an unique or nearly unique example occurs. This is more 
 frequently the case with the coins of Carausius. Coins are found 
 of all periods, from the consular series to the time when the 
 Roman legions abandoned the island, and in collections of any 
 extent, in whatever part of the island they are made, the pro- 
 portional quantities of the coins of the different emperors are 
 generally much the same. There are some local exceptions to 
 this rule, more especially with regard to the coinage of Carausius 
 and Allectus, which are found to predominate in one or two places, 
 which were no doubt chief stations of their troops. More 
 than eleven hundred Roman coins found of late years at Rich- 
 borough, and described by Mr. Roach Smith, presented the fol- 
 lowing proportional numbers for each emperor or empress : — 
 
 British 1 
 
 Consular . . . . . 3 
 Augustus (b.c. 27 — a.d. 14) . 7 
 Agrippa (B.C. 9 — a.d. 30) . . 1 
 Tiberius (a.d. 14—37) . . 2 
 Antonia (wife of Drusus senior) 1 
 Caligula (a.d. 37—41) . . 2 
 Claudius (a.d. 41—54) . . 15 
 
 Nero (a.d. 50—68) . . .11 
 Vespasian (a.d. 69—79) . . 13 
 Titus (a.d. 69—81) ... 1 
 Bomitian (a.d. 69—96) . . 10 
 Nerva (a.d. 96—98) . . 1 
 
 Trajan (a.d. 98—117) . . . 7 
 Hadrian (a.d. 117—138) . . 5 
 Sabina (wife of Hadrian) . . 1 
 ^Elius Csesar (a.d. 136—138) . 2 
 Antoninus Pius (a.d. 1 38—161) 5 
 Faustina the Elder (wife of 
 
 Antoninus) .... 3 
 Marc. Aurelius (a.d. 161 — 180) 4 
 Faustina the Younger (wife of 
 
 M. Aurelius) . . .5 
 
 Lucius Verus (a.d. 161—169) . 2 
 Lucilla (wife of Lucius Verus) 1 
 Commodus (a.d. 166—192) . 2 
 
 105 
 
 Brought forward 
 Severus (a.d. 197—211) . . . 
 Julia Domna (wife of Severus) . 
 Caracalla (a. d. 196—217) . . 
 Julia Msesa (sister of Julia 
 
 Domna) ..... 
 Severus Alexander (a.d. 221 — 
 
 235) . 
 
 Gordianus (a.d. 238—244) 
 Philippus (a.d. 244—249) , 
 Valerianus (a.d. 254 — 260) 
 Valerianus junior 
 Gallienus (a.d. 253—268) 
 Salonina (wife of Gallienus) 
 Postumus (a.d. 260—267) 
 Victorinus (a.d. 265—267) , 
 Marius (a.d. 267) . 
 Tetricus (a.d. 267—272) 
 
 105 
 5 
 3 
 3 
 
 Claudius Gothicus (a.d. 268—270) 15 
 
 -275) 
 
 Quintillus (a.d. 270) 
 Aurelianus (a.d. 270- 
 Tacitus (a.d. 275) 
 Florianus (a.d. 276) 
 Probus (a.d. 276—282) 
 Carinus (a.d. 282—285) . 
 Numerianus (a.d. 282—284) 
 
 b b 2 
 
 2 
 
 . 4 
 
 . 5 
 
 . 1 
 
 . 7 
 
 . 1 
 
 . 2 
 
 236 
 
872 
 
 THE EOMANS. 
 
 [chap. xn. 
 
 Brought forward . 
 
 Diocletianus (a.d. 284—313) . 
 
 Maximianus (a.d. 286 — 310) . 
 
 Carausius (a.d. 287—293) . . 
 
 Allectus (a.d. 293—296) 
 
 Constantius I. (a.d. 293—306) 
 
 Helena (wife of Constantius) . 
 
 Theodora (second wife of Con- 
 stantius) .... 
 
 Galerius Maximianus (a.d. 292 
 —311) 
 
 Maxentius (a. d. 306—312) . 
 
 Romulus (son of Maxentius) . 
 
 Licinius (a.d. 307—324) . . 
 
 Licinius junior 
 
 Constantine the Great (a.d. 
 306—337) . . 
 
 Fausta (wife of Constantine) . 
 
 Crispus (a.d. 317—326) . 
 
 Delmatius (nephew of Con- 
 stantine) . . . . 
 
 Constantine II. (a.d.317— 340) 
 
 236 
 
 8 
 
 16 
 
 94 
 
 45 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 12 
 1 
 
 149 
 
 2 
 18 
 
 Brought forward . . . 709 
 
 Constans (a.d. 333—350) . . 77 
 
 Constantius II. (a.d. 323 —361) . 42 
 UrbsBoma . . . .52 
 
 Constantinopolis . . . . 60 
 
 Magnentius (a.d. 350 — 353) . 21 
 
 Decentius (a.d. 351—353) . . 4 
 
 Julianus II. (a.d. 355—363) . 7 
 
 Helena (wife of Julian) . . 1 
 
 Jovianus (a.d. 363—364) . . 1 
 
 Valentinianus (a.d. 364—375) . 22 
 
 Valens (a.d. 364—378) . . . 39 
 
 Gratianus (a.d. 375—383) . . 49 
 
 Theodosius (a.d. 379—395) . . 14 
 Magnus Maximus (a.d. 383 — 
 
 388) . ... 6 
 
 Victor (son of Maximus) . . 3 
 
 Eugenius (a.d. 392—395) . . 1 
 
 Arcadius (a.d. 383—408) . . 27 
 
 Honorius (a.d. 393—423) . . 8 
 
 Constantine III. (a.d. 407) . . 1 
 
 Total . . . 1144 
 
 709 1 
 
 Of these Richborough coins, seven (including the British coin) 
 are of gold, fifty-six of silver, fifteen of billon or debased silver, 
 and the rest of brass. The coins of billon, like most of the 
 debased silver, belong to the immediate successors of Severus. 
 Silver coins are often found in much larger proportions to the 
 others ; and the gold coins are too often carried away separately, on 
 account of their value, and they have thus frequently found their 
 way direct to the melting-pot. Among two hundred and sixty- 
 eight Roman coins found at Caerleon, and described in Mr. Lee's 
 work on that ancient city, there were two of gold, forty-four of 
 silver, eleven plated, and three of billon or debased metal. These 
 coins belonged to the different emperors in the following 
 proportions : 
 
 Claudius 
 Nero . 
 Vespasian 
 Titus . 
 Domitian 
 Nerva 
 Trajan . 
 Hadrian 
 Antoninus Pius 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 13 
 1 
 5 
 2 
 
 12 
 9 
 
 11 
 
 55 
 
 Brought forward 
 Faustina, the elder . 
 Marcus Aurelius 
 Faustina the younger . 
 Lucius Verus . 
 Lucilla 
 Mammsea 
 Julia Sosemias . 
 Commodus 
 
 55 
 3 
 3 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 
 71 
 
chap, xil] PROPORTIONAL NUMBERS OF ROMAN COINS. 373 
 
 Brought forward 
 Severus 
 
 Julia .... 
 Caracalla . 
 
 Geta .... 
 Julia Msesa 
 Macrinus 
 
 Severus Alexander 
 Elagabalus (Heliogabalus) 
 Gordiauus . 
 Philippus 
 Valerianus 
 Gallienus 
 Salonina 
 Postumus 
 Victorinus . 
 TheTetrici . 
 Claudius Gothicus 
 Probus .... 
 Maximianus 
 
 . 71 
 
 . 11 
 . 2 
 . 7 
 . 3 
 . 1 
 . 1 
 . 1 
 . 1 
 . 3 
 . 2 
 . 1 
 . 1 
 . 2 
 . 2 
 . 4 
 . 7 
 . 7 
 . 2 
 . 5 
 
 134 
 
 Brought forward 
 
 134 
 
 Carausius 
 
 . 21 
 
 Allectus 
 
 . 4 
 
 Constantius . 
 
 . 1 
 
 Helena 
 
 . 1 
 
 Galerius Maximianus 
 
 . 2 
 
 Licinius 
 
 . 4 
 
 Constantine the Great . 
 
 . 28 
 
 Fausta 
 
 . 1 
 
 Crispus .... 
 
 . 4 
 
 Constantine II. . 
 
 . 8 
 
 Constans 
 
 . 13 
 
 Constantius II. . 
 
 . 6 
 
 UrbsRoma 
 
 . 13 
 
 Constantinopolis 
 
 . 5 
 
 Magnentius . 
 
 . 12 
 
 Decentius . 
 
 . 1 
 
 Valens .... 
 
 . 7 
 
 Gratianus . 
 
 . 2 
 
 Arcadius 
 
 . 1 
 
 Total . 
 
 . 268 
 
374 THE ROMANS. [chap. xm. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Declining State of the Roman Empire after the age of Julian — Theodosius sent 
 to Britain — Revolt and Career of Maximus — Stilicho — Marcus and Gratian 
 Revolt in Britain — The Usurper Constantine — Honorius — Britain independent 
 of the Empire and harassed by the Northern Barbarians — The Britons 
 receive assistance from Rome — The last Roman Legion withdrawn — The 
 Angles and Saxons come in — The Angles settle in Northumbria — The Jutes 
 in Kent — Hengest and Horsa — iElla in Sussex — Cerdic arrives in Hampshire 
 — Essex and the Angles — Mission of St. Augustine and Conversion of 
 the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. 
 
 At the period when we have to resume our sketch of the history 
 of Britain, the vast empire of the Caesars, harassed on all sides 
 by its outward enemies, was approaching fast towards a dissolution. 
 It had required all the courage and vigilance of Julian to keep 
 the Teutons at bay on the northern frontier, and the Saxons were 
 becoming every day more formidable in the western seas. The 
 governor or vicar of Britain at the time when Julian ascended the 
 imperial throne was an officer named Alypius, who was recalled 
 by the emperor, in order to be intrusted with the charge of 
 directing the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, which Julian 
 had determined to restore from a feeling of hostility to the 
 Christians. We know nothing of the state of Britain during 
 Julian's reign, but soon after the accession of Jovian it was fear- 
 fully harassed by the joint attacks of the Picts, Scots, and 
 Attacots from the north, and of the Saxons from the sea. They 
 seem to have met with little resistance until the reign of his 
 successor Valentinian, who, giving up the empire of the east to 
 his brother Valens, employed his own energy in restoring security 
 and order to the west. It was in the year 368, as Valentinian 
 was on his way from Amiens to Treves, that he received intelli- 
 gence from Britain of a new and terrible irruption of the 
 
chap, xiil] TEOUBLES IN BRITAIN". 375 
 
 barbarians, who bad defeated and slain tbe count of the maritime 
 district (tbe Saxon coast), Nectaridus, while tbe duke Fullofaudes 
 (no doubt the same officer called in the Notitia duke of Britain), 
 had fallen into an ambush. In his first moment of indignation, 
 the emperor dispatched Severus, the count of the domestics or 
 steward of the household, to take the command in the island ; 
 but, on reflection, he recalled this appointment, and substituted 
 in his place Jovinus, who instantly sent Provertuides to Britain 
 to assemble the troops, that they might be ready on his arrival. 
 Further consideration seems to have opened Valentinian's eyes 
 still more to the gravity of the crisis, and the appointment was 
 changed again, the command of Britain being finally entrusted to 
 one of the ablest of the imperial generals, the celebrated Theodosius. 
 Theodosius hastened to Boulogne, which was at this time called 
 Bononia, and he soon landed at Kutupise with a strong force, 
 composed of the Batavii, the Eruli, the Jovii, and the Victores. 
 We are told by the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, the brief 
 narrator of these events, that the Picts, who at this time were 
 divided into two great tribes (the Dicalidones and the Vecturiones), 
 had joined with the Scots and the fierce nation of the Attacotti, 
 in this invasion, and we can understand its grave character when 
 we are assured that at the time of the landing of Theodosius at 
 Rutupiae, the enemies were plundering the country around London, 
 the name of which had then been changed to Augusta. The 
 Roman commander immediately marched against them, and, sub- 
 dividing his forces, defeated their numerous predatory bands with 
 great slaughter, and deprived them of their booty, a great part of 
 which was restored to those from whom it had been taken. The 
 citizens of London joyfully opened their gates to their deliverer, 
 and he remained there a short time to give repose to his troops, 
 and to consider the difficulties with which he had to contend. 
 He soon learnt from deserters and captives the character of the 
 enemy with which he had to deal, and he came to the conclusion 
 that they might be conquered by policy as much as by arms. He 
 issued a proclamation offering a pardon to all who would desert 
 from their ranks, and " on this promise a great number returned 
 to their duty." It is evident from this, that there was an insur- 
 rection of the subject population combined with the invasion. 
 Theodosius next sent a report on the state of Britain to the 
 emperor, and recommended that an officer named Civilis, 
 
376 THE KOMANS. [chap. xiii. 
 
 distinguished for his energy and honesty, should be sent to him 
 as governor of Britain, accompanied by a distinguished military 
 commander, duke Dulcitius.* 
 
 After remaining some time at London, to wait the effect of his 
 proclamation, and the arrival of Civilis and Dulcitius with 
 reinforcements, Theodosius left that city at the head of a brave 
 and well-appointed army, and by his rapid and great success soon 
 justified the high military character for which he was previously 
 known. " He always anticipated the enemy in occupying the 
 most important positions, and gave no orders to the common 
 soldiers which he was not himself the first to execute. In this way, 
 discharging the duties both of an able general and brave soldier, 
 he routed the various tribes whose insolence, prompted by security, 
 had led them to attack the Roman province, and he re-established 
 the cities and fortresses, which had suffered severely by their 
 manifold losses, but which in their foundation had been calculated 
 for preserving the island in permanent tranquillity." f Among 
 the auxiliary troops sent into Britain by the emperor Valentinian, 
 and probably at this time, was a body of Germans (numerus 
 Alemannorum), with a king or chief (rex) named Fraomarius, who 
 received the title and office of tribune. 
 
 The first successes of a commander like Theodosius were 
 sufficient to discourage the opponents with whom he had to deal ; 
 and he not only cleared the southern districts of their invaders, 
 but he recovered from the Picts and Scots the country between 
 the walls of Hadrian and Antoninus, which he found in the 
 undisturbed possession of the enemy, and to which he now gave 
 the name of Valentia, in honour of the emperor. He repaired 
 and strengthened the forts and garrisons which protected the 
 northern frontier, and the island appears to have been restored 
 to a degree of peace and prosperity which it had not enjoyed 
 for many years. For this Britain was probably indebted in 
 some degree to the indulgence of Valentinian, whose constant 
 
 * Denique edictis propositis impunitateque promissa, desertores ad procinctum 
 vocabat, et multos alios per diversa libero commeatu dispersos. Quo monitu ut 
 rediere plerique, incentivo percitus, retentusque anxiis curis, Civilem nomine 
 recturum Britannias pro prsefectis ad se poposcerat mitti, virum acrioris ingenii, 
 sed justi tenacera et recti ; itidemque Dulcitium ducem scientia rei militaris 
 insignem. — Ammianus Marcel., lib. xxvii. c. 9. 
 
 + In integrum restituit civitates et castra, multiplicibus quidem damnis afflicta, 
 sed ad quietem temporis longi fundata. — Ammianus Marcel, lib. xxviii., c. 3. 
 
chap, xiil] THE ARCANI. 377 
 
 study it is said to have been to ease the provinces by relieving 
 them of taxes, and protecting their frontiers. 
 
 Indeed, when we consider the brief and imperfect account of 
 these events given by the old historian, we become convinced 
 that there was something more than a mere invasion of barbarians, 
 and that these had been joined, if not called in, by a large portion 
 of the population of the Eoman province. We have seen many 
 instances of the readiness with which the cities in Britain rose up 
 in rebellion against the imperial authority, and it is not impro- 
 bable that they looked upon the change which had turned their 
 governor into a mere vicar under the government of Gaul as a 
 serious diminution of their independence. Perhaps, under the 
 new regime, their taxes and services had become more burthen- 
 some. It is certain, however, that Ammianus Marcellinus, in 
 resuming briefly the character of the emperor Valentinian, blames 
 him for an habitual inattention to the complaints of his subjects 
 in the distant provinces, and accidentally informs us that it was 
 this circumstance which had caused the tumults in Britain.* 
 The people of Britain had therefore asked for a redress of 
 grievances, and the emperor had turned a deaf ear to their 
 complaints. Another incident mentioned by the historian shows 
 us that there was intelligence between the insurgents and the 
 invaders. There was, we are told, in the province a class of men 
 employed who were entitled, according to the text of Ammianus as 
 now printed, Areani, but which is supposed to be an error for 
 Arcani, secret agents ; for he informs us that their duty was to 
 travel as spies among the different peoples on the frontiers of the 
 empire, and bring early intelligence of their movements and 
 designs. These men, we are told, in Britain, had entered into 
 communication with the enemies, and had given them information 
 which enabled them to make their invasions with the greater 
 security and advantage. The Arcani had become so dangerous, 
 that Theodosius found it necessary to deprive them of the power 
 of doing further evil, and, as far as we can gather, the office itself 
 appears to have been abolished. f 
 
 * In hoc tantum deerrans, quod, quum gregariorum etiam levia puniret errata, 
 potiorum ducum fkgitia progredi sinebat in majus, ad querelas in eos motas 
 aliquoties obsurdescens ; unde Britannici strepitus et Africanse clades et vastitas 
 emersit lllyrici. — Ammianus Marcel., lib.xxx. c. 9. 
 
 + Ammianus had given a further account of these Arcani, or Areani, in a part 
 of his book which is now lost. The manuscript which preserved his history 
 
378 THE ROMANS. [chap, xiil 
 
 Another occurrence related by the same historian gives us a 
 passing glance of the divisions and intrigues which at this time 
 reigned in the province of Britain. There was in Britain at this 
 time a man named Valentinus, a native of Valeria, in Pannonia, 
 notorious for his intrigues and ambition, who had been sent as an 
 exile to Britain in expiation of some heavy crime. This practice 
 of banishing political offenders to Britain appears to have been, at 
 the time of which we are now speaking, very prevalent ; for we learn 
 from the same annalist that a citizen of Rome named Frontinus was 
 at the time of the revolt just described sent into exile in Britain for 
 a similar cause. Men like these no sooner arrived in the island 
 than they took an active part in its divisions, and brought the 
 talent for political intrigue which had been fostered in Italy to 
 act upon the agitation already existing in the distant province. 
 Such was the case with Valentinus, who, as the brother-in-law of 
 one of the deepest agitators of Borne, the vicar Maximinus 
 (described by Ammianus as Me exitialis vicarius), had no doubt 
 been well trained for the part he was now acting. As far as 
 we can gather from the brief notices of the historian, this 
 individual seems, when Theodosius arrived in Britain, to have 
 been actively engaged in some ambitious designs, which the 
 arrival of that great and upright commander rendered hopeless. 
 Theodosius had not been long in Londinium, when he received 
 private information that Valentinus was engaged with the other 
 exiles in a formidable conspiracy, and that even many of the military 
 had been secretly corrupted by his promises. * With the vigour 
 which characterised all his actions, Theodosius caused the arch- 
 conspirator and his principal accomplices to be seized suddenly, 
 at the moment when their designs were on the point of being 
 carried into execution, and they were delivered over to duke 
 Dulcitius, to receive the punishment due to their crimes ; but, 
 aware of the extensive ramifications of the plot in which they had 
 
 through the destructive period which followed the fall of the empire had heen 
 much mutilated ; and it happens unfortunately that, as in the case of Tacitus, the 
 very hooks which would have given us important information on the history and 
 condition of Britain were those which have perished. 
 
 * Quietis impatiens malefica hestia ad res perniciosas consurgebat et novas, in 
 Theodosium tumore quodam, quern solum resistere posse nefandis cogitationibus 
 advertebat. Multa tamen clam palamque circumspiciens, crescente flatu cupidi- 
 tatis immensse exsules sollicitabat et milites, pro temporis captu ausorum illece- 
 brosas pollicendo mercedes. 
 
chap, xiil] REVOLT OF MAXIMUS. 379 
 
 been engaged, and believing tbat it had been sufficiently crushed, 
 Theodosius wisely put a stop to all further inquiries, fearing lest 
 by prosecuting them he might excite an alarm, which would only 
 bring a renewal of the scenes of turbulence and outrage which his 
 presence had already in a great measure appeased.* The 
 prudence as well as the valour of Theodosius were thus united in 
 restoring Britain to peace and tranquillity ; and we are assured 
 that when, in 369, he quitted the island, he was accompanied to 
 the port where he embarked by crowds of grateful provincials. 
 
 The spirit of discontent and rebellion, which appears to have 
 been so widely spread among the inhabitants of the island province, 
 was only suppressed by Theodosius to break out a few years after- 
 wards in a more alarming form. The emperor Valentinian died 
 in the November of the year 375, and left the empire to his two 
 sons, Gratian, who had already partaken in its cares, and 
 Valentinian, a mere child. Theodosius had already fallen a 
 victim to the jealousies of the court, but he had left a son, also 
 named Theodosius, to inherit his greatness. The empire of the 
 east having been made vacant by the death of Valens, Gratian 
 chose the young Theodosius as his successor, in 379 ; he had 
 already divided the empire of the west, by placing Italy and the 
 countries bordering on the Mediterranean, under his younger 
 brother, while he retained for himself the more difficult task of 
 governing Gaul, Spain, and Britain. The elevation of Theodosius 
 to the imperial dignity was the signal for a general revolt in the 
 latter province. There was at this time in Britain a young 
 officer, a native of Spain, named Magnus Maximus, who had 
 served in the island along with young Theodosius, and who 
 was now a great favourite with the troops, although we are not 
 informed what command he held. It is said that his jealous 
 mind was profoundly wounded at the honours showered upon 
 Theodosius, and that he w r as easily induced to join in a con- 
 spiracy for wresting the western division of the empire from 
 Gratian. In the year 383, the soldiers in Britain, who are 
 characterised by the almost contemporary historian as the most 
 arrogant and turbulent of all the imperial troops, f rose, it appears, 
 
 * De conjuratis quasstiones agitari prohibuit, ne formidine sparsa per multos, 
 reviviscerent provinciarum turbines compositi. 
 
 + Ofa rwu 'aAXcov andpTcau irKeov avdadtia Kal Bu/jLCf viku>u.$vqvs. — Zosimus, 
 lib. iv., c. 35. 
 
380 THE ROMANS. [chap. xiii. 
 
 unanimously, and proclaimed Maximus their emperor. Maximus 
 at once placed himself at the head of the British army, and 
 passing over to the continent, landed at the mouth of the Rhine. 
 The troops in Germany immediately revolted to his standard, and 
 the new emperor marched triumphantly into Treves, which he made 
 his capital. 
 
 Of the events which followed, the accounts of different writers 
 are very contradictory ; but, according to that which appears to 
 be entitled to most credit, Gratian was residing at Paris, without 
 any suspicion of the danger which threatened him, when he 
 received intelligence of this dangerous revolt. Perceiving that he 
 was deserted by the troops in Gaul, whose hostility he had pro- 
 voked, and having ascertained that it was in vain to attempt to 
 resist the usurper, he fled towards Italy, accompanied by a faithful 
 body of cavalry. But treason seemed to beset him on all sides. 
 The governor of the province of Lugdunum (Lyons), treacherously 
 persuaded him to remain in Gaul, and amused him with deceitful 
 stories of armies that were rising up to support his cause, until the 
 general of the cavalry of Maximus, the unscrupulous Andragathius, 
 arrived with a strong body of troops, to whom Gratian was 
 delivered, to be sacrificed immediately by the hand of an assassin. 
 
 The triumph of Maximus was now complete, and having no 
 longer any formidable rival to contend with in the west, he 
 assumed all the insignia and attributes of empire, conferred the 
 rank of Caesar on his son Victor, still a child, and sent an ambas- 
 sador to the court of Theodosius, instructed to represent to the 
 eastern emperor that he had been compelled by the army to 
 assume the purple, to express his grief for the murder of Gratian, 
 which he pretended had been done without his knowledge, and 
 to offer Theodosius the choice of war or peace. Theodosius, con- 
 sidering it prudent to temporise, chose the latter, and it was 
 agreed that Maximus should retain Britain, Gaul, and Spain, 
 leaving to the young emperor Valentinian the provinces which 
 had been assigned to him by his brother. Maximus now took up 
 his residence in Treves, where he displayed the cruelty of his dis- 
 position in persecuting some Christian heretics, with the object, it 
 is said, of conciliating the more orthodox Christians in Italy, that 
 they might assist him in his ultimate designs of reducing Italy to 
 his obedience. At length, when the moment appeared favourable 
 for this enterprise, he began by treacherously obtaining possession 
 
chap, xiil] FATE OF MAXIMUS. 381 
 
 of the fortresses which guarded the passes of the Alps. This 
 was no sooner effected, than the usurper, by a secret and rapid 
 march, came unexpectedly with his formidable army before the 
 gates of Milan. Yalentinian fled with his mother, the empress 
 Justina, and his court, and succeeded in reaching in safety the domi- 
 nions of Theodosius ; while Maximus, who had met with no serious 
 opposition, entered Aquileia as emperor of the undivided west. 
 
 Theodosius was now roused to resist and revenge this bold 
 usurpation, and having despatched a body of foreign auxiliaries 
 under Arbogastes, to march along the shores of the Danube, he 
 placed himself at the head of another army which marched 
 through Pannonia, while a numerous fleet conducted Valentinian 
 and his mother back to Italy. Maximus had hitherto succeeded 
 by treason and fraud, and not by arms, and he seems to have 
 been overcome with the consciousness of the superior military 
 talents of the adversary with whom he had now to contend. His 
 troops were defeated whenever they attempted to oppose the 
 advance of the enemy, and Aquileia itself, in spite of its im- 
 pregnable walls, was soon obliged to throw open its gates to 
 Theodosius. Maximus was taken, and immediately put to death ; 
 and Arbogastes having by this time advanced into Gaul, the 
 child Victor was also taken, and fell an innocent victim to the 
 ambition of his father. 
 
 The expedition of Maximus has been made by the old historians 
 of Britain a fertile source of fable. It is pretended that the island 
 was so entirely drained of its population, that it was never again 
 able to defend itself against its barbarian invaders ; that the vast 
 host of Britons who followed Maximus into Gaul settled in 
 Armorica after his defeat, and caused that country to receive the 
 name of Brittany; and that the eleven thousand virgins, who 
 afterwards figured so prominently in the Romish martyrology, were 
 maidens sent over from the island of Britain to serve as wives to 
 these adventurers. Such stories have no foundation in accurate 
 history ; and we have no good reason for supposing that the 
 usurpation of Maximus had led to any very formidable invasion of 
 the province in which he had assumed the purple, although it is 
 not probable that the Picts and Scots would allow such an oppor- 
 tunity to pass without a renewal of their predatory incursions. 
 All that we know is, that after the death of Maximus, Theodosius 
 marched into Gaul, where he appointed one of his eastern officers, 
 
882 THE ROMANS. [chap. xm. 
 
 Chrysanthus, to the government of Britain. The new vicar 
 probably carried back with hirn most of the British troops, and 
 perhaps he took reinforcements. He is said to have restored 
 the island to a state of tranquillity. After ruling Britain for a 
 short period, Chrysanthus returned to the east, where he was 
 made praefect of Constantinople ; and by a singular change of pro- 
 fession, this minister of the imperial will was subsequently made 
 a bishop. 
 
 We are now again left in utter darkness as to the internal 
 condition of Roman Britain, but it seems to have been exposed to 
 continual attacks from the Picts and Scots, or from the Saxons. 
 The emperor Theodosius died in 395, and left his western 
 dominions to be ruled by the feeble Honorius, while Arcadius 
 governed the east. For a time the talents of Stilicho arrested the 
 fate of the empire, and it appears that Britain owed to this great 
 general some years of unusual tranquillity. In the Notitia Imperii, 
 composed in this reign, we learn the military force which was 
 then employed for the protection of the island.* The twentieth 
 legion, which had been so long stationed at Deva (Chester), 
 had then been entirely withdrawn ; it is believed to have been 
 taken away towards the end of the fourth century, to be employed 
 in the Getic war. Two legions, however, still remained, with 
 numerous bodies of auxiliaries ; and as these legions were the 
 same that had always been in Britain, they furnish evidence of 
 the inaccuracy of the statement that the island had been exhausted 
 of its defenders. The sixth legion remained in its old quarters 
 at Eburacum, but the second legion had been removed from Isca 
 to RutupiaB, in order, no doubt, that it might be ready to act 
 against the Saxon marauders, or, in case of need, to be transported 
 into Gaul. The south-eastern and eastern coasts were strongly 
 guarded, and in the latter several fortresses appear to have been 
 newly erected, which are not mentioned at an earlier period ; 
 such as Othona, on the coast of Essex (the Saxon Ythanceaster, 
 the site of which is supposed to be now covered by the sea), 
 Gariannonum, in Suffolk (now Burgh Castle), and Branodunum, 
 in Norfolk (the site of which is now called Brancaster).^ The 
 cities and municipal towns no doubt retained their military 
 organisation ; and in the invasions to which the island was at 
 this time exposed, they had to provide for their own defence. 
 
 * See before p. 351. 
 
chap, xiil] THE USUEPER CONSTANTINE. 383 
 
 In the beginning of the fifth century, the soldiers in Britain 
 revolted, and conferred the title of emperor on a man named 
 Marcus. Soon tired of his rule, they slew him in 407, and chose 
 in his place Gratian, a burgher of one of the towns in Britain.* 
 This shows the prominent part which the towns took in the 
 political troubles which then prevailed. Gratian was allowed to 
 reign four months, and then he also was slain. The lot next fell 
 upon an obscure soldier, who is said to have been chosen merely 
 because his name was Constantine, which was imagined to be 
 a good omen. It is probable, however, that he possessed other 
 qualities, for he was no sooner invested with the purple than he 
 showed a vigour and decision of character equal to the task he 
 had undertaken. He at once collected his army and passed into 
 Gaul, where he was received as a deliverer, and acknowledged as 
 the emperor of the west. His reputation and popularity increased, 
 when the Germans, who had harassed the country, were reduced 
 to submission by his two praefects, Justinus and Neviogastes. 
 
 At this moment (the earlier part of the year 408), the death of 
 the emperor Arcadius, and the elevation to the throne of the east 
 of Theodosius II., occupied the attention of the western emperor ; 
 but, on the arrival of news of Constantine's revolt, Stilicho, 
 who was still alive, proceeded to Rome to concert measures for 
 suppressing it. He began by sending one of his generals, Sarus, 
 into Gaul, who defeated the prsefect Justinus in battle, and slew 
 him and a great part of his men. He then laid siege to Valentia, 
 where he had been informed that Constantine was holding 
 his court. Here Neviogastes offered to negotiate, but he was 
 entrapped by Sarus, and treacherously put to death. Constantine, 
 not discouraged, appointed two new prefects, Edovinchus,a Frank, 
 and count Gerontius, a native of Britain, whose military talents 
 were so well known, that Sarus raised the siege of Valentia, and 
 made so hasty a retreat before Constantine's troops, that he was 
 obliged to give up his plunder and baggage to the Bacaudi, who 
 held the passes of the Alps. 
 
 Constantine now felt secure in his power, and he proceeded to 
 strengthen the frontiers of his territories with garrisons and 
 military posts. He next conferred the dignity of Caesar on his 
 
 * Apud Britannias Gratianus, municeps ejusdem insulse, tyrannus creatur et 
 occiditur. — Orosius, Sist. t lib. vii. c. 40. 
 
384 THE ROMANS. [chap. xiii. 
 
 eldest son Constans, whom, it is said, he took from a monastery 
 to associate with him in the empire. Constans marched with a 
 part of his father's army into Spain, and, not without some 
 difficulty, reduced that province also to his sway, and then, 
 leaving count Gerontius to command it, returned to Gaul, at a 
 moment when the death of Stilicho seemed to have relieved the 
 usurper from all danger. Constantine now followed a policy 
 similar to that of Maximus, in sending an embassy to Ravenna to 
 entreat the forgiveness of Honorius for accepting an empire which 
 he said had been forced upon him by the soldiery. Honorius, 
 pressed by difficulties on all sides, reluctantly permitted him to 
 retain the title he had usurped. Constantine afterwards sent 
 Jovius, a man of learning and talent, as his envoy to the imperial 
 court, to ask forgiveness for the murder of Didymus and 
 Verinianus, two near relations of Honorius, who had been taken 
 prisoners by Constans in Spain, and he succeeded in obtaining 
 a formal recognition of his title. 
 
 The successful rebel had now to contend with a rebellion 
 against himself. Constans returned to Spain, carrying with him 
 a new general, named Justus, whose appointment was so offensive 
 to count Gerontius, that he revolted with the army under his 
 command, and by means of his agents procured a new invasion of 
 Gaul by the barbarians. Instead of assuming the purple himself, 
 Gerontius conferred the dignity of emperor on a man named 
 Maximus, and leaving him to reign in Spain, pursued Constans 
 across the Pyrenees, and having captured him at Vienne, imme- 
 diately put him to death. He then marched to besiege the father 
 in the city of Aries. At this time (a.d. 411) occurred the death 
 of Alaric, and Honorius, relieved from the terror which the 
 name of the Gothic king had so long inspired, sent count Con- 
 stantius with a powerful army to assert his authority in Gaul and 
 Spain. Constantius approached Aries at the moment when 
 it was closely besieged by Gerontius, whose soldiers raised 
 the siege tumultuously, and rising furiously against their com- 
 mander, put him to death. Gerontius being thus disposed of, 
 Constantius, with the troops of Honorius, continued the siege of 
 Aries, and, after defeating a body of troops which had come to the 
 assistance of Constantine, compelled him to surrender. He made 
 conditions for his life, and was sent a prisoner to Italy; but he 
 was privately put to death before he reached Eavenna. 
 
chap, xiil] THE CITIES OF BRITAIN. 385 
 
 The triumph of Constantius did not restore Gaul to obedience, 
 and from this time its western provinces, as well as Spain and 
 Britain, threw off all subjection to Rome, and began to rule them- 
 selves in their own way. This was not in itself a difficult task, for 
 the cities had always been accustomed to govern themselves, and 
 the superior government consisted principally of the fiscal depart- 
 ment and the military command. It appears by the narrative of 
 Zosimus, that while the usurper was establishing himself in Gaul, 
 Britain had been again visited by the Saxon invaders, and we are 
 assured that the British cities took up arms to defend themselves, 
 and that they drove away their assailants. * Their freedom was 
 acknowledged by Honorius, who, in 410, sent letters to the cities 
 of Britain exhorting them to provide for their own safety.f 
 
 We now approach a period, the real history of which is involved 
 in profound obscurity, and to understand it at all, we must glance 
 back on what has been already said of the state of the island under 
 Roman rule. The municipal cities, as it has been seen, were 
 founded for the security and protection of the province, and by 
 their constitution each was a little republic in itself, governed by 
 itself, while they were linked together only by the superior fiscal 
 administration which took from them certain fixed taxes, by the 
 judicial administration which regulated the relations between them, 
 and by the military command which held the province and defended 
 it. , During four centuries, the original population of the island 
 must have been much diminished, and perhaps, except in particular 
 parts, consisted of little more than the servile peasantry ; J the 
 population of the cities had been recruited by the natural increase 
 of the inhabitants and by arrivals from the continent, and we 
 have already seen by the inscriptions and other monuments that 
 the latter class of recruits were becoming more and more Teutonic. 
 In fact, there can be little doubt that German blood predominated, 
 to a great extent, in many of the Roman cities in Britain, at the 
 
 * OiVe ovv £k tt)s Bperra'Aas oirXa ivdovTes, (Kpcvv avrcoy irpoKivfivvevcravTES) 
 i]\€v6epcaaay rcou iTriKeifMevoov (Sapfiapoov ras ttoXels. — Zosimus, lib. vi. c. 6. 
 
 f 'Ovooptov 5e ypajAixavi irpos tcls hf Bperravia x? y \ (Ja '\ x * vov ^o\els 9 (pvXdr- 
 recrdai TvaparyyeXXovai. — Zoshmis, lib. vi. c. 10. 
 
 X Some confusion has been created by misunderstanding the term Britons as 
 used by the later historians, who apply it to the Roman population born in the 
 island, and not to the original Celtic race. In the same way the later writers apply 
 the term Celtic to the Romano-Gallic population of Gaul, to distinguish it from 
 the Teutonic invaders from the other side of the Rhine. 
 
386 THE SAXONS. [char xiii. 
 
 time when Honorius gave them entire independence. J They were 
 thus left somewhat in the position of the free cities of the middle 
 ages, each ruling itself internally, within its own massive walls 
 and surrounding territory, and, in external affairs, either acting 
 by itself or joining in confederacy with other towns. 
 
 The invasions of the Saxons had resembled much that of the 
 Danes at a later period. At first mere predatory attacks, they had 
 gradually made their leaders acquainted with the island and its 
 inhabitants, and these appear to have attempted soon to form per- 
 manent settlements, selecting just the same coast districts as were 
 chosen by the Danes for the same purpose. It seems to be the re- 
 ceived opinion that the title littus Saxonicum, applied to the coasts 
 of Suffolk and Norfolk during the later Roman period, indicates that 
 there was a Saxon population there, subject of course to the Roman 
 government. It was perhaps also the case in other parts of the 
 kingdom. When new invasions took place, these settlers probably 
 often rose to join their brethren. The latter, during the divisions 
 of the island under the later emperors, were frequently called in by 
 one party in the island as allies, and they took part in the attempt to 
 throw off the yoke of Rome. | When, therefore, the British cities 
 were left to themselves, it is natural that they should become more 
 intimately connected, either as friends or foes, with the Teutons 
 from the Rhine and the Elbe. It seems certain that in some 
 parts, especially in some of the cities, the transition from Roman 
 to Saxon was gradual, and that the two races mixed together. At 
 Canterbury, Colchester, Rochester, and other places, we find Roman 
 and Saxon interments in the same cemetery ; and in the extensive 
 Saxon burial-ground at Osengal in the isle of Thanet, a Roman 
 interment in a leaden coffin was met with. The result of the 
 discoveries which have been made in the researches among the 
 Saxon cemeteries, has been to render it more and more probable, 
 that the Saxons were gradually gaining a footing in the island 
 before the period at which the grand invasions are understood to 
 have commenced. 
 
 The Picts appear to have entered the Roman provinces, not by 
 scaling the wall, according to the vulgar notion published under 
 the name of Gildas, but from the Solway, where they were joined 
 by the Scots, or Irish, and thence^they spread themselves over 
 the north-eastern parts of England. I When we excavate the sites 
 of Roman towns in this part of the country, we still meet with 
 
chap, xhl] RAVAGES OF THE BARBARIANS. 387 
 
 traces of their destructive progress. Thus, when the interior of 
 the station at Maryport, in Cumberland, was excavated in 1766, 
 the workmen found the arch of the gate beaten violently down 
 and broken ; and on entering the great street, they discovered 
 evident marks of the houses having been more than once burnt to 
 the ground and rebuilt, as though the place had been several 
 times taken and recovered. At Ribchester, in Lancashire, the 
 important Roman town of Coccium appears to have been destroyed 
 in one of these later inroads. In the course of excavations 
 made there in the earlier part of the present century, the ruins of 
 the temple of Minerva were discovered; they presented indis- 
 putable proofs of its having been burnt, and among the debris were 
 found skeletons, no doubt those of soldiers who had here 
 made their last stand against the assailants. It was a parallel story 
 to that of the destruction of Camulodunum by the fierce troops of 
 Boadicea. It is also, worthy of remark, that all the Roman towns 
 on the Welsh border to the north of Gloucester were destroyed 
 before the period of the Saxon invasion. 
 
 Such are the slight and rather vague notions we can form 
 of what took place in Britain after the cities were left to take 
 care of themselves. It was not an independent state, but a 
 number of small independent republics, which of course had a 
 common interest against invaders, but which would most probably 
 be soon divided into hostile confederacies amongst themselves. 
 In these intestine wars, the prevalence of Teutonic blood in the 
 population of so many of the towns, would naturally lead them to 
 call in Teutonic allies, and we can thus easily understand how 
 Angles and Saxons were gradually establishing themselves on the 
 eastern and south-eastern coasts, while the western districts were 
 harassed by continual invasions of Picts and Scots. The only 
 allusion to these events by a contemporary writer; is found in 
 the Chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine, about a.d. 455, who 
 states that in the eighteenth year of the reign of Theodosius the 
 Younger (a d. 441), Britain, after many slaughters and revolutions, 
 was reduced under the rule of the Saxons. * 
 
 The period which intervened, left a blank by contemporary 
 annalists, was at a later period filled up with fable. According 
 to the tract which goes under the name of Gildas, when Maximus 
 
 * Britanniae usque ad hoc tempus variis cladibus eventibusque latae, in ditionem 
 Saxonum rediguutur. 
 
 c c 2 
 
388 THE SAXONS. , [chap. xiii. 
 
 carried with him the soldiery of Britain to establish his usurpation 
 in Gaul, he left the island not only destitute of military, but 
 without men capable of bearing arms, and it was thus exposed 
 in a state of helplessness to the attacks of the barbarians. The 
 British* soldiers and youths, we are told, never again returned, 
 and " for many years" the Britons groaned under the cruel 
 oppressions of the Picts and Scots.* At length, their power of 
 forbearance being exhausted, they sent an embassy to Rome, 
 offering as suppliants to submit to the authority of the emperor if 
 he would render them assistance. In his compassion for their 
 sad condition, the emperor forgot their past rebellion, and sent a 
 legion to help them, who defeated the invaders with terrible 
 slaughter. Before the legion returned, they showed the Britons 
 how to build a wall across the island from sea to sea, as a defence 
 against the barbarians ; but they were so unskilful as to build it of 
 nothing but turf, and the Roman soldiers were no sooner gone, 
 than the Picts and Scots, despising such a barrier as this, spread 
 themselves again over south Britain, and committed greater 
 havoc than ever. " And now again," says the writer we are 
 quoting, " the Britons sent suppliant ambassadors, with their 
 garments rent and their heads covered with ashes, imploring 
 assistance from the Romans, and, like timorous chickens, crowding 
 under the protecting wings of their parents, that their wretched 
 country might not altogether be destroyed, and that the Roman 
 name, which now was but an empty sound to fill the ear, might 
 not become a reproach even to distant nations. Upon this, the 
 Romans, moved with compassion, as far as human nature can be, 
 at the relation of such horrors, send forward, like eagles in their 
 flight, their unexpected bands of cavalry by land and mariners by 
 sea, and planting their terrible swords upon the shoulders of their 
 enemies, they mow them down like leaves which fall at the 
 destined period." ( On this occasion the Romans were more gene- 
 rous than before, for they helped the natives to build a stone wall, 
 from sea to sea (the Wall of Hadrian); and they raised fortresses 
 at stated intervals along the south-eastern coast. When they were 
 gone, the Picts and Scots reappeared. Throwing up hooks, they 
 pulled the Britons down from the top of their wall, and slew them, 
 
 * Exinde Britannia, omni armato milite, militaribusque copiis, rectoribus lin- 
 quitur immanibus, ingenti juventute spoliata, qnas comitata vestigiis supradicti 
 tyranni domum nimquam ultra rediit ; &c. — Gildas, § 14. 
 
chap, xiii.] HISTORICAL LEGENDS. 389 
 
 and then, passing the wall, they destroyed the cities and murdered 
 the inhabitants. \ At length the Britons made a third appeal to 
 Eome, and addressing themselves to "a powerful Roman citizen" 
 named iEtius, in a letter entitled " the groans of the Britons," 
 they implored assistance in the most piteous terms. This, how- 
 ever, could no longer be given, and the Britons were left to the 
 accumulated evils of invasion and famine. After a while, how- 
 ever, came peace and plenty, and then the Britons fell into luxurious 
 habits, became proud and turbulent, and quarrelled among them- 
 selves. " Kings were anointed, not according to God s ordinance, 
 but such as showed themselves more cruel than the rest ; and 
 soon after, they were put to death by those who had elected them, 
 without any inquiry into their merits, but because others still 
 more cruel were chosen to succeed them." At length rumours 
 came of a new and terrible invasion of the Picts and Scots, and 
 the British chiefs held a council under their proud tyrant 
 Gurthrigern (Vortigern), and came to the fatal resolution of 
 calling in the Saxons. These, though brought in peaceably, be- 
 came worse tyrants than the Picts and Scots, until at length the 
 Britons rose under Ambrosius Aurelianus, " the only one of the 
 Roman nation who had been left alive" in the island, and then 
 followed a long struggle between the Britons and the Saxons, 
 until the latter finally established themselves in the land. 
 
 Such is the narrative which has been usually taken for the 
 history of Britain during the first half of the fifth century. Its 
 composer was ignorant of the events which followed the usurpation 
 of Maximus, as well as of the early Saxon invasions ; he adopted 
 later and vulgar legends relating to the two walls, and he evidently 
 misunderstood and misplaced the usurpations of Marcus, Gratian, 
 and Constantine, who were probably the cruel kings to whom he 
 alludes. In fact, the whole story, built apparently on some slight 
 notes in an old continental chronicler, displays the most profound 
 ignorance of the period to which it relates. All we know relating 
 to the book ascribed to Gildas is, that it existed before Bede — the 
 st}de of its Latinity appears to me to be of the latter part of the 
 seventh century, and these brief notices of history seem to be 
 founded partly on Saxon traditions. This, however, is not the 
 place to discuss the question of its authenticity. 
 
 Bede has adopted the narrative of Gildas, only adding to it 
 some circumstances from more authentic historians, and the 
 
390 THE SAXONS. [chap. xnr. 
 
 account of the Saxon invasion from the traditions of his own 
 countrymen. Here he is unfortunately very brief. He tells us 
 that the Teutonic settlers came hither under their two chiefs, 
 Hengest and Horsa, in the year 449, and that they were received 
 in peace, and allowed to settle in the isle of Thanet. Their 
 success, he says, induced others to follow in greater numbers, 
 who were also received into the island as friends and allies. 
 They consisted of three of the bravest of the Teutonic 
 tribes — the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes. The Jutes formed the 
 population of Kent, the isle of Wight, and the opposite coast 
 district. The Saxons established themselves in Essex, Middlesex, 
 and Wessex. The Angles occupied East-Anglia, the country of 
 the Middle- Angles, Mercia, and all the northern parts of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 The ordinary notion, that the first settlement was that under 
 Hengest and Horsa, has arisen from the circumstance that the 
 Anglo-Saxon accounts of these events were founded on the 
 traditions of Kent. It is probable, however, that they had been 
 preceded by the Angles in the north, for w 7 hen we first become 
 acquainted with them, this tribe appears to have been long in undis- 
 puted possession of the w 7 hole country, from the Humber to the 
 wall of Antoninus, which was formed into two kingdoms, 
 that of Bernicia and that of Deira. Eburacum, to which the 
 Angles gave the name of Eofor-wic, afterwards corrupted into 
 York — the important town on the wall, Pons jElii, which 
 was under the Saxons still a great commercial town, known 
 by the name of Munuces-ceaster (Monk's-chester), — with others 
 of the Eoman towns in Yorkshire, appear to have passed 
 peaceably or by treaty under the rule of the settlers ; while 
 others, more especially in Northumberland and the lowlands of 
 Scotland, had perhaps been destroyed before their arrival. The 
 presumption, however, is, that the settlement of the Angles in 
 the north had begun at a very early period after the island had 
 been abandoned by the Eomans, and that they had been called in 
 to the assistance of the northern towns. 
 
 The Saxon Chronicle, composed ages afterwards, gives us the 
 first narrative of the wars between the Saxons and the Britons 
 in the south, after the former had gained a footing there ; it is 
 founded on the Anglo-Saxon traditions, perhaps on poems, and 
 there are many circumstances about it which would lead us to 
 
chap, xiil] FIRST SAXON INVASIONS. 391 
 
 believe that it is partly romance. Even the names of Hengest 
 and Horsa are supposed to be mythic.''' The Saxon Chronicle 
 informs us, that in the year 455, or six years after the arrival of 
 Hengest, a battle was fought at iEgeles-threp in Kent (Ayles- 
 ford), between the Saxons under Hengest and Horsa, and the 
 Britons under Vortigern, in which Horsa was slain; and according 
 to Bede, who also mentions this battle, his tomb was still shown 
 at a place which was called by his name, — it is said to be the 
 modern Horsted. After this, the Chronicle tells us, Hengest and 
 iEsc, his son, obtained the Kentish kingdom. The roval race of 
 Kent was called, after the latter, iEscingas. Xext year, Hengest 
 and zEsc defeated "four troops" of Britons at a place called 
 Crecganford (Craijford), with great slaughter. In 457 there was 
 another battle at Crecganford, in which the Saxons slew four 
 thousand men, "and the Britons then forsook Kent, and in great 
 terror fled to London/' Eight years afterwards, in 4G5, Hengest 
 and iEsc are said to have fought " against the Welsh " at 
 Wippedes-fleot, a place of which we are not acquainted with the 
 modern representative, but which is said to have received that 
 name from Wipped, a Saxon chief who was slain on this occa- 
 sion. We are informed that " twelve Welsh ealdormen," or 
 chiefs, were slain in this battle. After eight years again, in 
 473, there was another war between the Kentish Saxons and 
 the Britons, and "the Welsh fled from them like nre."f After 
 this date, we hear no more of the Kentish kingdom and its 
 wars, except that iEsc succeeded to the kingdom in 488, until 
 the accession of king Athelbert, or Ethelbert, in 565. The 
 
 * On the un-historic character of the narratives of the Saxon invasion of Britain, 
 the reader is referred to a rather long dissertation in Lappenberg's " England under 
 the Anglo-Saxons." (Translation), and to Kemble's {t Saxons in England." 
 
 f The reader mast bear in mind, that Britons and Welsh are merely general 
 terms applied by the Saxons to the Romanised population of the island. The 
 former was, of course, merely the Roman name, as they adopted it. The word 
 "Welsh (ifilisc, wcelise) meant simply a foreigner, one who was not of Teutonic 
 race, and was applied especially to nations using the Latin language. In the 
 middle ages the French languages, and, in fact, all those derived from Latin, and 
 termed on that account linguce Romance, were called in German Welsch. France 
 was called by the mediaeval German writers daz welsche hint, and when they 
 wished to express {i in the whole world," they said in alien welschen unci in 
 tiutschen nchen, in all Welsh and Teutonic kingdoms. In modern German the 
 name Walsch is used more especially for Italian. It was in its primitive sense 
 that the Saxons applied the name to the Britons, and from them it has come 
 gradually to its present restricted use. 
 
392 THE SAXONS. [chap. xin. 
 
 principal Rornan towns of Kent seem to have passed into the 
 possession of the Saxons peacefully. Hengest and Horsa are 
 said to have first landed at Ypwines-fleet (Ebbs-fleet), and the 
 Saxons no doubt immediately received Rutupise (RicJiborough) 
 into their hands. Durovernum they made their capital, and on 
 that account it received the name of Cantwara-byrig, the city 
 of the Kentishmen, now Canterbury; Dubrae and Regulbium 
 retained their original names, slightly changed into Dover and 
 Reculver; and Durobrivse was called, it is said, from a chief who 
 ruled over it, Hrofes-ceaster, the Chester or city of Hrof, now 
 Rochester. 
 
 Leaving the history of Kent, the Saxon Chronicle, taking up 
 another set of traditions, tells us, that in the year 477, the 
 Saxons, under iElla and his three sons, Cymen, Wlencing, and 
 Cissa, landed on the southern coast, at a place named, after one 
 of the sons, Cyinenes-ora (Keynor on Selsea), " and there they slew 
 many Welsh, and some they drove in flight into the wood that is 
 named Andrecles-leah," the Roman Silva Anderida. iElla and 
 his sons, like Hengest and Horsa, came in three ships. Here, 
 again, eight years passed until the next great struggle between 
 the followers of iElla and the Britons. In 485, iElla fought 
 against the Britons near the banks of the Mearcraedes-burna, and 
 the battle is represented, in traditions gathered by a later writer, 
 to have been obstinately fought, and to have had a doubtful result. 
 For six years both parties seem to have remained in peace; and 
 then, in 491, in consequence, it is said, of new arrivals from the 
 continent, the Saxons recommenced the war, and iElla and Cissa 
 laid siege to the ancient Roman city of Anderida, which was called 
 by the Saxons Andredes-ceaster. It is said to have been reduced 
 by famine, and the Saxons, irritated at its long and obstinate 
 defence,' slew all the inhabitants. The massive walls of the 
 ancient city are still seen at Pevensey. Thus was established 
 the kingdom of the South-Saxons, or Sussex. Here the country 
 was evidently dependent on the Roman city, and was only con- 
 quered when that city was taken. The other Roman city, 
 Regnum, probably submitted without a siege, and received the 
 name of Cissan-ceaster, the Chester or fortified town of Cissa, 
 since softened down into Chichester. 
 
 The Saxon Chronicle next informs us, that, in 495, another 
 body of Saxons, under two chiefs, Cerdic and his son Cynric, 
 
chap, xhl] WARS OF THE SAXOXS. 393 
 
 landed from five ships at a place called Cerdices-ora, on the coast 
 of Hampshire, " and the same clay they fought against the 
 Welsh." Six years after, another Saxon chief, named Port, with 
 his two sons, Bieda and Maegla, landed at a place named, it is 
 pretended, from him Portsmouth,* and there fought with the 
 Britons, and "slew a young British man of high nobility." In 
 508, another great battle was fought by Cerclic and Cynric, in 
 which a British king named Natan-leod and five thousand men 
 were slain. "After that the country was named Natan-lea, as 
 far as Cerdices-ford (Cliarford)" In six years again (a.d. 514), 
 Cerdic 's two nephews, Stuf and Wihtgar, came with three more 
 ship-loads of Saxons, and landed at Cerdices-ora. The Britons 
 were still there to oppose them, but the new-comers were 
 victorious in battle. Cerdic and Cynric are stated to have 
 established the kingdom of the West-Saxons in 519, in which 
 year they defeated the Britons in a great battle at Cerdices-ford. 
 In 5 27 they gained another great battle at a place called 
 Cerdices-leah. During the intervening years, Cerdic was, no 
 doubt, occupied in strengthening and regulating his conquest; 
 the Koman city of Venta had passed over to him, and under the 
 name of Wintan-ceaster (Winchester), which, no doubt, means the 
 Chester of Venta, was made the capital of the West Saxons. The 
 last exploit of Cerdic and Cynric recorded in the Chronicle, is 
 the conquest cf Wight from the Jutes; Cerdic died in 534, and 
 his son gave the isle of Wight to Stuf and Wihtgar, who had 
 probably been instrumental in its conquest. 
 
 Cynric soon sought to extend his kingdom. In 552 he defeated 
 the Britons in a battle near the Eoman city of Sorbiodunum, 
 called by the Saxons Searo-byrig (now Old Sarum). He died in 
 560, and was succeeded by his son Ceawlin, whose power ex- 
 tended into Surrey, and he was engaged in resisting an attack 
 from Athelbert, king of Kent; after which he extended his con- 
 quests northwards, so far as to make himself master of some of 
 the principal towns in the modern counties of Bedford, Bucking- 
 ham, and Oxford. He next pushed his conquests westward; and, 
 in 577, Ceawlin and his brother Cuthwine, or Cutha, defeated the 
 Britons in a great battle at Deorham (Derham) in Gloucestershire, 
 
 * This is most undoubtedly a legendary derivation, and should make us the 
 more cautious in receiving the statements of the Chronicle with regard to these 
 early events. 
 
394 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiii. 
 
 and obtained possession of the three great Roman cities of Glevum, 
 Corinium, and Aquas Soils, which became known to the Saxons 
 by the name of Glev-ceaster or Gleow-ceaster [Gloucester), Cyren- 
 ceaster {Cirencester), and Bathan-ceaster (Bath). 
 
 We have no information to enable us to judge on what authority 
 the dates of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle during this period rest; 
 but the singular manner in which one kingdom begins to be 
 founded, after the preceding kingdom had been established, 
 cannot fail to arrest our attention. It seems as though the 
 brief narrative had been abridged from some memorial poem, 
 where the compiler mistook the order in which the establish- 
 ment of the different kingdoms w 7 as told, as indicating the suc- 
 cession of dates at which they took place. It certainly appears 
 more probable that the invasion of the Teutonic tribes took 
 place nearly at the same time, or in rapid succession one 
 after another. 
 
 The Saxon Chronicle, compiled in Wessex, gives little in- 
 formation on the progressive establishment of the kingdoms 
 founded by the Angles. We are merely informed that, in 547, 
 Ida began to reign in Northumbria, and that he built a town which 
 was called, in honour of his wife Bebba, Behhsai-bjiig(BamborougJi). 
 In 560 Ida died, and was succeeded by his son iElla. According to 
 an obscure tradition, the Saxons first landed in Essex, under 
 their king iEscwine or Ercenwine, as early as the year 527 ; 
 they probably only came to strengthen the older settlements on 
 what had long been known as the Saxon coast. Camulodunum 
 and other towns seem to have been occupied without any resist- 
 ance. The coasts to the north of them were seized by the Angles, 
 W'ho appear to have consisted of two tribes, distinguished by their 
 positions as the North-folk and the South-folk^or/bZ/c and Suffolk). 
 Their power extended over Cambridgeshire and into Lincolnshire. 
 It w^as from settlements in the north of the latter county that 
 another branch of the Angles extended themselves so rapidly 
 through the heart of England, until they reached the borders of 
 Wales, and intrenched upon the West Saxons to the south. 
 They took the name of Myrce, which has been Latinised into 
 Mercians. The great extent of ground which the Angles occu- 
 pied in Britain is quite sufficient to explain the statement of the 
 old historians, that they had completely evacuated their native 
 land, and left it uninhabited. From them, as the earliest 
 
chap, xhl] POPE GREGOBY AND THE ANGLES. 395 
 
 settlers, and the most numerous, the island became known among 
 foreign writers by the names of Anglia and Anglorum terra, and 
 among the Saxons themselves it was usually called Engla-land 
 (England), and the language of its inhabitants Englisc (English). 
 The population of the Teutonic portion of the island is still known 
 by no other name than that of Englishmen, 
 
 The Teutons who had come into the island at an earlier period 
 as auxiliaries, had always, as a matter of course, conformed to the 
 religious forms and laws of the Romans ; but now they preserved 
 their own religion and their own institutions. Saxon paganism 
 was everywhere substituted for Roman, and it w r as only perhaps in 
 a few cases — chiefly, we may suppose, in the towns — that indi- 
 viduals preserved for a w r hile their respect for Roman gods or 
 their attachment to Roman ceremonies. The latter are some 
 times traced in Saxon cemeteries, where a Roman interment 
 is found in the midst of graves of undoubted Teutonic cha- 
 racter. This is the only indication we have of the transition, 
 and it would be difficult to point out an exact date when pure 
 Saxon interments began. We have less difficulty in fixing the 
 other limit. 
 
 The traffic in slaves prevailed very extensively among all the 
 Teutonic peoples, and it is frequently mentioned or alluded to in 
 the early historical records of Saxon England. We are told that, 
 during the pontificate of Pelagius II., some boys from Saxon 
 Britain, distinguished by their beauty, were exposed for sale in 
 the slave-market at Rome. The priest Gregory, as he passed 
 through the ancient forum, was struck with their appearance, and 
 on being told that they were Pagans from Britain, he lamented that 
 people having such bright countenances should remain a prey to 
 the spirit of darkness. Continuing the conversation, with the 
 same play upon words, he was told that they were called Angles, 
 upon which he observed that it was a just name, for they had 
 angelic faces, and ought to be the co-heirs of angels in heaven. He 
 then asked the name of the province from which they came, and 
 was told that it was the kingdom of Deira. " It is well," he said, 
 " they shall be cle ira ernti, snatched from the wrath and brought 
 to the mercy of Christ." He was next told that the name of their 
 king was iElla. " That," he said, " is Alleluiah, and it is right 
 that the praise of God should be sung in that land." Full of pro- 
 jects of conversion, Gregory hastened to the pope, and begged to 
 
396 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiii. 
 
 be employed on this distant mission ; but the citizens, with whom 
 he was extremely popular, were unwilling to allow of his absence. 
 Nothing further, therefore, was done towards the conversion of the 
 Anglo-Saxons, until, in 590, Gregory himself was elected to the 
 papal see. The Anglian children were then remembered, and 
 Gregory dispatched missionaries under the guidance of St. Augus- 
 tine to visit the distant island. Their zeal, however, was not 
 equal to that of their employer ; for they had proceeded no further 
 than Provence, when they were so alarmed by the descriptions of 
 the barbarous character of the Anglo-Saxons, that Augustine was 
 sent back to Rome to obtain the revocation of their mission. 
 Gregory exhorted him to persevere, gave him letters of recom- 
 mendation to the Frankish kings, Theoderic and Theodebert, and 
 to their grandmother Brunhilda, as well as to the Frankish 
 bishops, who furnished them with interpreters. In the year 597, 
 Augustine, with, it is said, above forty monks, landed in the 
 isle of Thanet, no doubt in the old Roman port of Rutupiae ; 
 from whence he sent a messenger to Athelbert, king of Kent, to 
 announce the object of his mission. 
 
 It happened that Athelbert had married Berta, the daughter of 
 Charibert, king of Paris ; and it was one of the terms of the 
 marriage contract that, as a Christian princess, she should be 
 allowed the free exercise of her faith, and that she should retain 
 for that purpose the Frankish bishop Liudhard, who had accom- 
 panied her to England, and who now officiated in the little 
 church of St. Martin, near Canterbury. Christianity was not 
 thus totally unknown among the Kentish Saxons. Athelbert 
 received the message of the missionaries with favour, and directed 
 that they should remain for the present in Thanet. A few days 
 after he went to visit them, and gave audience in the open air ; 
 for, influenced by the ancient superstitions of his forefathers, he 
 feared that if he received them in a house, they might get the 
 better of him by magical arts. It is recorded, that when the 
 king had patiently listened to what they had to say, he replied, 
 " Your words and promises are very fair, but as they are new to 
 us, and of uncertain import, I cannot so far approve of them, as to 
 forsake that which I have so long followed with the whole English 
 nation. But because you are come from afar into my kingdom, 
 and, as I. conceive, are desirous to impart to us those things 
 which you believe to be true, we will not molest you, but give you 
 
chap, xih.] CONVERSION OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. :_:.■: 
 
 favourable entertainment, and take care to supply you with your 
 necessary sustenance ; nor do we forbid you to preach and gain as 
 many as you can to your religion.'' The Roman monks marched 
 in solemn procession to Canterbury, where they established 
 themselves, and of which city Augustine was subsequently made 
 the first bishop. 
 
 The new faith was ultimately accepted by king Athelbert, 
 and soon spread with extraordinary rapidity over Kent, and 
 through the other kingdoms wherever that king's influence ex- 
 tended. The East-Saxons received baptism in 604 : and in 
 
 ;he year of the battle near Chester, rendered celebrated by 
 the slaughter of the Welsh monks, the faith of the Gospel must 
 have been established far towards the west. With the mass of 
 the people conversion was at first a mere change of forms, and 
 they easily resumed their old customs : and it naturally took some 
 years to make the change permanent. Thus Augustine had 
 appointed Mellitus bishop of London, and he is said to have 
 selected there the site of a ruined temple of the Roman period to 
 build a church, no doubt because it furnished an unoccupied place 
 and ready materials. The Saxon Chronicle informs us, that after 
 Mellitus became bishop of Canterbury, an event which is gene- 
 rally placed in the year 619, ;; then the men of London, where 
 Mellitus had been formerly, became heathens again.'' The 
 example had already been set them by the East-Saxons, and even 
 
 7 Kentish men, after the death of their first Christian kings. 
 Tress of the Christian faith among the Anglo-Saxons 
 was, on several occasions, materially assisted by intermarriages 
 among their chiefs. Athelbert of Kent, before the arrival of the 
 missionaries, had married a Christian lady, the daughter of a 
 Frankish king. The king of Essex, who first received the 
 Gospel, had married a daughter of king Athelbert, who was also a 
 Christian. Another daughter of Athelbert, Athelberga, was married 
 to Edwin, king of the Northumbrians, and she no doubt paved 
 the way for the preaching of Paulinos. The conversion of king 
 Edwin took place in the year 626. The West-Saxons were converted 
 by Birinus in 635; the East-Angles had embraced the new faith 
 under their king Earpwald, about the year 632 ; but the Middle- 
 Angles were not converted until the reign of Peada, the son of 
 Penda, about the year 05 3. This king became a Christian on 
 niarrving a daughter of the king of the Northumbrians, and 
 
THE SAXONS. [chap, xiil 
 
 from Lincolnshire, the country of the Middle-Angles, the faith 
 soon spread through the extensive dependencies of Mercia. At 
 this time the faith of Christ had penetrated into every part of the 
 island, except the small and secluded kingdom of the South- 
 Saxons, which was cut off from the other Saxon states, and pro- 
 tected in its independence, by the ancient forest of Anderida, the 
 impervious Andredes-weald. As late as the year 681, the people 
 of Sussex remained pagans. Their condition became known to 
 Wilfred, archbishop of York, who, in returning from the conti- 
 nent, was driven by stress of weather on the coast, and who 
 subsequently founded a monastery on the little island of Selsea. 
 
chap, siv.l ANGLO-SAXON ANTIQUITIES. 399 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Antiquities — Barrows, or Graves, and the general Character of 
 their Contents — Arms — Personal Ornaments; Fibulae, &c. — Anglo-Saxon 
 Jewellery — Pottery — Glass — Other Articles found in the Barrows ; Bowls, 
 Buckets, &e. — Coins — Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage. 
 
 We derive our antiquities of the period of Anglo-Saxon paganism 
 almost entirely from one source, the graves. It happens, how- 
 ever, fortunately for the study of the history of this period, that 
 the contents of the Anglo-Saxon graves are particularly rich and 
 interesting, and that we are enabled, from the various articles 
 found in them, to form a tolerable estimate of the civilisation of 
 our ancestors before the days of St. Augustine. The Anglo- 
 Saxon graves occur generally in extensive groups, and on high 
 ground. They are found thickly scattered over the downs of 
 Kent, Sussex, and the Isle of Wight. Extensive cemeteries 
 have also been found in Gloucester and Oxfordshire, as well as in 
 Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, 
 Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk, and in York- 
 shire. They exist, no doubt, in other counties, where they have 
 not yet been explored/' 1 " 
 
 * The largest and most important collections of Anglo-Saxon antiquities are 
 those of Lord Londesborough, Dr. Faussett of Heppington near Canterbury, and 
 Mr. W. II. Rolfe of Sandwich, all taken from barrows in Kent. Smaller private 
 collections are found in different parts of England, and a few articles belonging 
 to this class are met with in most local museums; but there is as yet no public 
 collection of early Anglo-Saxon remains of any importance. The most valuable 
 work on the subject is the "Nenia" of Douglas, a folio volume published in 
 1793. An interesting volume on the Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Gloucestershire, 
 has been recently published by Mr. "W. M. Wylie, under the title of (( Fairford 
 Graves ;" and extensive materials for the archaeology of this period will he found 
 in Mr. Roach Smith's " Collectanea," and in some of the volumes of the 
 " Archaeologia." 
 
400 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiv. 
 
 An Anglo-Saxon poem belonging, no doubt, to this primitive 
 period — the adventures of Beowulf — has been preserved ; and, 
 although it has been considerably modified in the transition, it 
 still gives us glimpses of the manners of our forefathers before 
 they had turned from the worship of Woden. * In this poem, but 
 unfortunately in a part of it which is imperfect in the manuscript, 
 we find a description of the ceremonies attendant on the burial of 
 the hero. Beowulf's dying request was, that his people should 
 raise a barrow " on the place of his funeral pile/' proportionate in 
 size to the celebrity of his deeds. They accordingly raised a 
 mighty funeral pile to burn his corpse ; it was — 
 
 hung round with helmets, 
 
 with boards of war (shields), 
 
 and with bright byrnies (coats of mail), 
 
 as he had requested. 
 
 Then the heroes, weeping, 
 
 laid down in the midst 
 
 the famous chieftain, 
 
 their dear lord. 
 
 Then began on the hill 
 
 the warriors to awake 
 
 the mightiest of funeral fires : 
 
 the wood-smoke rose aloft, 
 
 dark from the fire ; 
 
 noisily it went, 
 
 mingled with weeping. 
 
 After the burning of the body had been completed, Beowulf's 
 people proceeded to raise — 
 
 a mound over the sea ; 
 
 it was high and broad, 
 
 by the sailors over the waves 
 
 to be seen afar. 
 
 And they built up 
 
 during ten days 
 
 the beacon of the war-renowned. 
 
 They surrounded it with a wall 
 
 in the most honourable manner 
 
 that wise men 
 
 could desire. 
 
 They put into the mound 
 
 rings and bright gems, 
 
 all such ornaments 
 
 * The Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf was published with an English trans 
 lation by Mr. J. M. Kenible, in 1837. 
 
chap, xiv.] ANGLO-SAXON BARROWS. 401 
 
 as from the hoard before * 
 
 the fierce-minded men 
 
 had taken ; 
 
 they suffered the earth to hold 
 
 the treasure of warriors, 
 
 gold on the sand, 
 
 where it yet remains 
 
 as useless to men 
 
 as it was of old. — Beowulf, line 6268. 
 
 When the mound was completed, the war-chiefs rode round it, 
 chanting the praises of their departed king. 
 
 In England we find in the graves of the Saxon period the same 
 mixture of the two modes of interment, cremation and the burial 
 of the body entire, as among the Romans, but in different and 
 varying proportions. The custom in this respect appears to have 
 varied with the different tribes who came into the island. In the 
 Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Kent, cremation is the rare exception 
 to the general rule ; while it seems to have been the predo- 
 minating practice among the Angles, from Norfolk into the centre 
 of Mercia. The poem of Beowulf was perhaps derived from the 
 Angles, and it thus describes the mode of burning the dead as it 
 existed among them. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon barrows in general have a character very 
 distinct from those of the Romans or Britons. They were the 
 prototypes of our modern graves in country churchyards. A 
 rectangular cist, or pit, was cut in the ground, varying in depth 
 from three or four feet to seven or eight, on the floor of which the 
 body was laid on its back in full dress, surrounded with a variety 
 of articles which, no doubt, the deceased had valued when alive ; 
 the grave was then filled up, and a mound of earth raised above. 
 This mound was termed hlaw, a hillock, the modern word low, 
 which is still used in Derbyshire, and beorh, beorg, or bearw, a 
 word having the same signification, from which is derived our 
 modern name of barrow. In Sussex they are still called burghs. 
 Generally, each grave contains the remains of one body ; but 
 instances occur where more than one body has been interred in 
 the same grave, and under circumstances which show that they 
 must have been buried simultaneously. We can only account for 
 this, by supposing that they were members of the same family 
 
 * Beowulf had signalised himself by killing a dragon which guarded a hoard 
 of treasures, of which, as a matter of course, he took possession. 
 
 D D 
 
402 THE SAXONS. [chap xiv. 
 
 who had been carried off by an epidemic disease or slaughtered in 
 a sudden invasion of plunderers. In the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at 
 Osengal, in the isle of Thanet, one grave contained a male and a 
 female skeleton, laid side by side, with their faces turned towards 
 each other ; and another contained three skeletons, a lady in the 
 middle, a man, no doubt her husband, on her right side ; and a 
 child, apparently a little girl, on her left ; they lay arm-in-arm. 
 More than one instance has occurred where a grave contained 
 all the articles usually interred with a body, but no traces of the 
 body. A remarkable instance of this was found in a large Anglo- 
 Saxon grave in the cemetery in Bourne Park, near Canterbury. 
 The grave was nearly fourteen feet long, about half that width, 
 and somewhat more than four feet deep. The floor was very 
 smoothly cut in the chalk, and surrounded by a narrow 7 gutter ; 
 and the grave was filled up with fine mould brought from a 
 distance, and not, as in most other cases, with the chalky soil of 
 the spot. At the foot of the grave, in the right-hand corner, had 
 stood a bucket, of which the bronze hoops, in perfect preservation, 
 occupied their position one above another as if the wood had been 
 there to support them. A little higher up in the grave, in the 
 position generally occupied by the right leg of the person buried, 
 was found a considerable heap of fragments of iron, among which 
 were the boss of a shield of the usual Saxon form, a horse's bit, a 
 buckle, and other fragments which appeared to have belonged to 
 the shield, a number of nails with large ornamental heads, with 
 smaller nails, the latter mostly of brass. From the position of 
 the boss, it appeared that the shield had been placed with the 
 convex (or outer) surface downwards. Not far from these articles, 
 at the side of the grave, was found an iron ring with two smaller 
 ones attached to it, apparently belonging to the horse's bridle, 
 or to a belt. On the left-hand side of the grave was found a 
 small piece of iron resembling the point of some weapon. At the 
 head of the grave, on the right-hand side, was an elegantly shaped 
 bowl, about a foot in diameter, and two inches and a half deep, 
 of very thin copper, which had been thickly gilt, and with handles 
 of iron. It had been placed on its edge leaning against the wall of 
 the grave, and was crushed and broken by the weight of the super- 
 incumbent earth. Two small round discs, resembling counters, 
 about seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, were found near the 
 head of the grave. They were flat on one side and convex on the 
 
chap, xiv.] ANGLO-SAXON BARROWS. 403 
 
 other, the one of bone, while the other had been cut out of a piece 
 of Samian ware. There was not the slightest trace of a body 
 having ever been deposited in this grave ; the appearances were 
 decisive to the contrary. This may be explained by supposing 
 that the person for whom the grave was made had been a chief 
 killed in battle in some distant expedition, and that his friends 
 had not been able to obtain his body. It was, in fact, an 
 Anglo-Saxon cenotaph. This view of the case seemed to be 
 supported by the fact that, although so many valuable articles 
 were found in the grave, there were no traces of the long sword 
 and the knife generally found with the bodies of male adults in the 
 Saxon barrows. These would have been attached to the body 
 itself as a part of the dress. 
 
 It is a singular circumstance connected with the Anglo-Saxon 
 graves that human bones are often found among the earth at the 
 top, sometimes in the mound above, and the unexperienced 
 excavator is discouraged by this discovery, in the belief that the 
 grave has been previously broken up, whereas, when he reaches 
 the bottom, he finds that the original deposit has not been dis- 
 turbed.* I can only explain this by the supposition that they are 
 the bones of slaves or captives, slain as a propitiation to the 
 shades of their master or mistress, and thrown upon the grave. 
 We know that the immolation of slaves at funerals was a common 
 practice among the Teutonic races. In the northern Edda, 
 when Brynhild, like Dido, slew herself for her faithless lover, 
 we are told that she ordered that at her funeral pile two immo- 
 lated slaves should be placed at her head, and two at her feet. 
 
 As I have said, the xAnglo-Saxon barrows are generally found in 
 large groups or cemeteries, and the mound which covers each grave 
 is very low, but this is perhaps to be attributed to the effect of time, 
 as they are generally placed in exposed situations. But we some- 
 times find isolated Anglo-Saxon barrows, which we can only appro- 
 priate by the Saxon character of the articles they contain. Several 
 of these are found in the peak of Derbyshire ; but they are met 
 with chiefly on elevations near the sea. A bold conical hill 
 overlooking Folkestone, in Kent, is crowned by a fine Saxon 
 barrow. The sentiment which led to the choice of such positions 
 
 * In a few instances the "bones in the upper part of the mound have heen found 
 so much less decomposed than those underneath, that we can hardly avoid coming 
 to the conclusion that they belonged to some later interment. 
 
 DD 2 
 
404 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiv. 
 
 may be gathered from more than one passage in the poem of 
 Beowulf. It was the hero's dying request to his people, — 
 
 command the war-chiefs 
 
 to make a mound, 
 
 bright after the funeral fire, 
 
 upon the nose of the promontory ; 
 
 which shall for a memorial 
 
 to my people 
 
 rise high aloft 
 
 on Hronesness ; 
 
 that the sea-sailors 
 
 may afterwards call it 
 
 Beowulf's barrow, 
 
 when the Brentings 
 
 over the darkness of the floods 
 
 shall sail afar. — Beowulf, line 5599. 
 
 The hill of Osengal, overlooking Pegwell bay near Kamsgate, 
 and furnishing a magnificent view of the channel with the distant 
 coast of France, is perforated like a honeycomb with the graves 
 of an immense Saxon cemetery. Here time has entirely obli- 
 terated the barrows which once covered the graves, and the latter 
 were only discovered accidentally in the course of the railway 
 cutting. Many of them have been since opened by Mr. Eolfe, of 
 Sandwich, and have added considerably to the richness of his 
 museum. The Anglo-Saxons generally placed their cemeteries 
 on elevated spots, when they could be found in the neighbour- 
 hood of their settlements. People seem to have been carried for 
 burial there from the country at a distance around ; we generally 
 also find Saxon cemeteries in the immediate neighbourhood of 
 a Eoman city or town, where it continued to be occupied in 
 Saxon times, and it is not unfrequently placed on the site of 
 the older Roman cemetery of the town. Such is the case at 
 Canterbury, Colchester, and other places. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon was buried in his full dress, with all his arms 
 and accoutrements. By his side we generally find the long iron 
 sword, the presence of which is, in itself, an unfailing evidence of 
 the people to whom the grave belonged. These swords are often 
 nearly a yard long, and were evidently intended rather for cutting 
 than for thrusting. They appear usually to have been double- 
 edged, and the blades are plain, and nearly uniform in shape. 
 The one represented in our plate (fig. 5), found in the cemetery 
 at Osengal in Thanet, appears to have had but one edge, with a 
 
Anglo-Saxon Weapons, &c. 
 
chap, xiv.] THE ANGLO-SAXON SWORD. 405 
 
 blunt back. The hilts appear to have been made of wood or 
 some other perishable material ; but sword-hilts of metal have 
 also been found, and they are then extremely ornamental. Their 
 general form may be understood by fig. 10. in our plate, which 
 represents the hilt of a sword found in a barrow at x\sh, near 
 Canterbury, and now in the possession of Mr. Rolfe. The metal 
 appears to have been gilt, or silvered. A very handsome hilt of 
 the same description, found with the sword in the parish of 
 Coombe, in Kent, is engraved in the second volume of Mr. Roach 
 Smith's Collectanea ; the ornamental parts in this instance were 
 of bronze-gilt. Mr. Rolfe also possesses the extremity of a Saxon 
 sword-hilt of silver, ornamented, and bearing an inscription in 
 rudely formed runes, which nobody has yet been able to decipher. 
 This curious relic, which was found also in the parish of Ash, is 
 engraved in the Arch geological Album. In the poem of Beowulf, 
 swords are not unfrequently described as having richly ornamented 
 hilts. Thus one of the heroes, — 
 
 gave his ornamented sword, 
 
 the costliest of irons, 
 
 to his servant. — Beowulf, line 1338. 
 
 And in another passage it is said, — 
 
 and with it the hilt, 
 
 variegated with treasure. — Beowulf, line 3228. 
 
 And a little further on there is a description particularly inter- 
 esting as illustrating the description of the sword-hilts just given, 
 especially of the silver hilt with the runic inscription. A sword, 
 described as follows, bore not only the name of the possessor 
 inscribed in runes, but also an episode of the ancient Saxon 
 mythology, — 
 
 He looked upon the hilt, 
 
 the old legacy, 
 
 on which was written the origin 
 
 of the ancient contest ; 
 
 after the flood, 
 
 the pouring ocean, 
 
 slew the race of giants ; 
 
 daringly they behaved; 
 
 that was a race strange 
 
 to the eternal Lord, 
 
 therefore to them their last reward 
 
 through floods of water 
 
406 THE SAXONS. [chap. xvi. 
 
 the ruler gave. 
 
 So was on the surface 
 
 of the bright gold 
 
 with runic letters 
 
 rightly marked, 
 
 set and said, 
 
 for whom that sword, 
 
 the costliest of irons, 
 
 was first made, 
 
 with twisted hilt and variegated like a snake. 
 
 Beoivulf, line 3373. 
 
 The sheath appears to have been generally of wood, tipped with 
 metal, and it was sometimes covered with, or made entirely of, 
 leather. One found at Stroud, in Kent, was covered externally 
 with a substance resembling shagreen. A Saxon sword found at 
 Fairford, in Gloucestershire, had its wooden scabbard partly- 
 remaining, protected at the top and bottom with bronze. 
 
 On the opposite side of the body from the shield, and simi- 
 larly attached to the girdle, we usually find one, or even more 
 knives. These are usually of not very large dimensions, though 
 they probably served the purposes of a dagger as well as those of 
 a knife. In former days, people did not keep knives for the use 
 of their guests, but the latter always carried their knives with 
 them. A small knife is usually found with the other articles 
 which appear by their position to have been suspended at the 
 girdles of the Anglo-Saxon ladies. Mr. Roach Smith has 
 engraved an interesting collection of Anglo-Saxon knives in the 
 second volume of his Collectanea. The four represented in our 
 plate, figs. 13 to 16, are from the Saxon cemetery at Osengal. 
 Some antiquaries have supposed that these knives are the seaxas, 
 from which the Saxons were pretended to have derived their 
 name. 
 
 The figures in our plate, Nos. 6 to 9, are examples of Saxon 
 spear-heads, obtained from the cemetery of Osengal; they represent 
 the usual forms of this weapon. The position of the shaft in the 
 grave may generally be traced by a long line of black, decomposed 
 wood, and a ferule, with a knob or spike, is sometimes found at 
 the bottom. The spear appears in some cases to have been seven, 
 or even eight, feet long. A remarkable spear-head, with four 
 edges, was found in the Saxon cemetery at Fairford. The spear- 
 heads are usually from ten to fifteen inches long. Arrow-heads 
 are occasionally found, but they are rare. 
 
chap, xyl] ANGLO-SAXON WEAPONS. 407 
 
 The shield was generally laid flat over the middle of the corpse. 
 It has been traced in some instances to have been round, and 
 not of large dimensions. It was usually formed of wood, 
 generally of the linden tree, which was of a yellow tint. Hence, 
 the poem of Beowulf speaks of "the broad shield, yellow-rimmed," 
 and it is sometimes called a " war-board " (liilde-bord). In one 
 instance we are told — 
 
 he seized his shield, 
 
 the yellow linden-wood. — Beowulf, line 5215. 
 
 The wood of the shield seems to have been sometimes covered 
 with leather ; and mention is made in Beowulf of a shield of iron. 
 It may be suspected that the round metal shields which have 
 been pronounced to be British, are really Saxon. The principal 
 relic of the shield found in the graves, is the iron boss wdiich 
 occupied the centre externally, and which has usually attached to 
 it all or some of the rivets which fixed it to the wood. The usual 
 form of the boss is that of a small basin, tapering at the bottom 
 to a point, and ending in a knob. Some of our old writers on 
 antiquities have indeed taken the Saxon bosses for basins, and 
 others have thought them to be skull- caps, so little observation 
 was made on the circumstances of their discovery. Fig. 1, in our 
 plate of Anglo-Saxon weapons, is also rather a common form of 
 the boss of the shield. The three other bosses represented in 
 the plate are unusual forms ; fig. 2 was found in a barrow on the 
 Breach clowns, and is in the collection of Lord Londesborough, 
 and fig. 3 w T as found at Sittingbourne, also in Kent. Fig. 4 is a 
 very singular boss, which was found among Anglo-Saxon graves 
 near Driffield, in the East Riding of Yorkshire ; the boss itself is 
 not of an unusual form, but it has four circular discs arranged round 
 it, as represented in the cut. 
 
 Strips of iron, formed into different shapes, but evidently designed 
 to be held by the hand, are often found in Saxon graves, among the 
 remains of the shield, and were supposed by Douglas to be the braces 
 of bows. This explanation, however, had been long doubted, when, 
 in opening the graves at Osengal,in Thanet,a more careful observa- 
 tion cleared up the mystery. In every instance, the article referred 
 to was found in the centre of the shield, just under the boss, and 
 in such a position that there could be no longer any doubt of its 
 having been the handle of the shield. Two of these handles, 
 
408 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiv. 
 
 from the graves at Osengal, are represented in the annexed cut. 
 The lower example retains the rivets by which it was fixed to the 
 wood of the shield, in which there was, no doubt, in the middle, 
 
 Braces of Anglo-Saxon Shields. 
 
 a hole to receive the hand, which was covered by the boss on the 
 outside. We thus learn the importance of very careful observation, 
 even of the minute circumstances connected with antiquarian 
 discoveries. 
 
 The discovery of buckles of different forms shows clearly that 
 the swords and knives were suspended to a girdle drawn tight 
 round the body. Two such buckles, from the cemetery at 
 Osengal, are represented in figs. 11 and 12 of our plate at p. 404. 
 These buckles are often highly ornamented, and they are some- 
 times enamelled. We find very little traces of dress in the 
 graves, though a fragment of the material found sometimes im- 
 pressed in decomposed metal, seems to show that it was generally 
 of rather coarse texture. We know from passages in the poem 
 of Beowulf, that the early Saxons wore armour, apparently com- 
 posed of rings, but no very distinct traces of it have yet been 
 found in the graves. This may, perhaps, be accounted for by the 
 rapid decomposition which articles made of iron undergo in the 
 ground. Perhaps, moreover, it was not the custom to equip the 
 body in armour and helmet when it was buried. The ribs, or 
 framework, in bronze, of a defensive cap of some kind or other, 
 supposed to be Saxon, were discovered on a skull dug up at 
 Leckhampton Hill, near Cheltenham, and are preserved in the 
 museum of that town. A framework of a helmet, not very unlike 
 that at Cheltenham, was taken by Mr. Bateman from an Anglo- 
 Saxon barrow in Derbyshire, and his description of it is sufficiently 
 curious to be given in his own words. It had been formed, he 
 says, "of ribs of iron, radiating from the crown of the head, and 
 coated with narrow plates of horn, running in a diagonal direction 
 
chap, xiv.] ANGLO-SAXON ARMOUR. 409 
 
 from the ribs, so as to form a herring-bone pattern ; the ends 
 were secured by strips of horn, radiating in like manner as the 
 iron ribs, to which they were rivetted at intervals of about an inch 
 and a half; all the rivets had ornamented heads of silver on the 
 outside, and on the front rib is a small cross of the same metal. 
 Upon the top or crown of the helmet, is an elongated oval brass 
 plate, upon which stands the figure of an animal, carved in iron, 
 now much rusted, but still a very good representation of a pig ; 
 it has bronze eyes. There are also many smaller decorations, 
 abounding in rivets, all which have pertained to the helmet, 
 but which it is impossible to assign to their proper places, as is 
 also the case with some small iron buckles." Mr. Bateman adds, 
 that there was found with the helmet a mass of chainwork, 
 formed of " a large quantity of links, of two descriptions, attached 
 to each other by small rings, half an inch in diameter ; one kind 
 is flat and lozenge-shaped, about one inch and a half in length ; 
 those of the other sort are all of one pattern, but of different 
 lengths, varying from four to ten inches ; they are simply pieces 
 of square rod iron, with perforated ends, through which are passed 
 the rings connecting them with the diamond-shaped links. Along 
 with them was a six-pronged instrument, similar to a hay-fork, 
 with the difference that the fang, which, in a fork, is inserted 
 into the shaft, is in this instance flattened and folded over, so as 
 to form a small loop, as for suspension. All the iron articles, 
 except this and the helmet, were amalgamated together from the 
 effects of rust; they also present traces of cloth over a great part 
 of their surface ; it is therefore not improbable that they may 
 have originally constituted some kind of defensive armour, by 
 being sewn upon or within a doublet." Mr. Roach Smith has 
 quoted, in illustration of the swine or boar on this helmet, 
 passages from Tacitus, and from the Anglo-Saxon poem of 
 Beowulf, which show that that animal was a favourite ensign on 
 the helmets and arms of the ancient Saxons. * 
 
 Another weapon found in Anglo-Saxon graves, though it is of 
 very rare occurrence, must not be overlooked. This is the axe, 
 which seems to have been more common among the Franks, 
 than among the Saxons in England. The lower of the two 
 
 * Cuts of these helmets will be found in Mr. Roach Smith's " Collectanea/' 
 vol. ii., p. 238. 
 
410 
 
 THE SAXONS. 
 
 TCHAP. XIV. 
 
 \ — 
 
 examples given in the accompanying cut, was taken from a Saxon 
 barrow in the isle of Thanet, and is preserved in the museum of 
 Mr. Eolfe ; the axe represented in the upper figure was found in 
 a grave of this same period, from a cemetery discovered at Selzen, 
 in Rhenish Hesse, * and is here given for the sake of comparison. 
 Their identity of form is remarkable. A similarly shaped axe 
 
 was found in a grave at iVsh, near 
 Canterbury ; Mr. Roach Smith 
 possesses one which was obtained 
 in Berkshire ; and two or three 
 others have been found in different 
 parts of England. 
 
 It will be seen by what has 
 been already said, and by the ex- 
 amples given, that the weapons of 
 our Anglo-Saxon forefathers were 
 purely Teutonic, and that so far 
 they had borrowed nothing of 
 the Eomans. In war, they fought 
 as Saxons ; and it was only 
 when they came in social contact with the people who had pre- 
 ceded them, that they felt the superiority of the Romans in 
 the arts of peace. The personal ornaments found in our Anglo- 
 Saxon barrows are numerous, especially in Kent, where the 
 discoveries hitherto made show a greater degree of wealth and 
 refinement than in the other Saxon or Anglian kingdoms. Of 
 all the articles of personal ornament found in the Anglo-Saxon 
 interments, the fibulae are the most remarkable, and at the same 
 time the most characteristic ; and they have a peculiar interest from 
 the circumstance that there are several distinct varieties, and that 
 the difference arose evidently not from individual caprice, but from 
 the distinctive fashions of the different races who came into the 
 island. They help to corroborate the statements of the early 
 Anglo-Saxon annalists of the positions of these various tribes in 
 Britain. We have given examples of these different varieties in 
 the accompanying plate. 
 
 Saxon Axes. 
 
 The first and the richest variety of these ornaments are the 
 
 * A very interesting account of this cemetery, which resembled closely the 
 Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in England, was published at Maintz, in 1848, by the 
 brothers W. and L. Lindenschmit. 
 
chap, xiv.] ANGLO-SAXON FIBULAE. 411 
 
 circular fibulae found in the barrows in Kent, of which some very fine 
 examples are preserved in the museums of Lord Londesborough, 
 Dr. Faussett, Mr. Kolfe, and other collectors. They are more 
 usually of gold than any other material, are generally ornamented 
 with filigree work, and are set with stones, usually garnets, or with 
 glass or vitreous pastes, and sometimes with enamel. One of the 
 finest examples of this class of fibulae was found a few years ago at 
 Sittingbourne, in Kent. The form of the ornament was that of a 
 double star, set with garnets, or coloured glass, upon chequered 
 foils of gold. The rays of the inner star were of a blue stone. 
 Between the rays of the larger star were four studs, with a ruby 
 in each, surrounded with a circle of garnets, the spaces between 
 being filled up with gold filigree. 
 
 A much diminished sketch of this fibula is given in the upper 
 figure to the left in our plate. In another very handsome round 
 fibula in the collection of Lord Londesborough, found in a barrow 
 at Wingham, in Kent, the outer rim is bronze, but all the rest gold, 
 set with garnets and blue stones, as usual, over thin gold foil, which 
 was indented with cross lines, to give greater brilliancy; the 
 spaces between the limbs of the cross or flower formed by the 
 stones was here also filled up with the twists of gold filigree, 
 which are so common in Anglo-Saxon jewellery. These round 
 fibulae appear to have been worn by ladies, and from the position 
 in which they are found they appear to have been placed on the 
 breast. They were evidently peculiar to the people of Kent and 
 to the kindred inhabitants of the isle of Wight, where examples 
 have been found. It is very unusual to find them in other parts 
 of England ; though a very rich gold fibula of this description was 
 found some years ago at Sutton, near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, 
 which was covered with filigree work, and had been set with 
 stones and enamel.* 
 
 The second class of Anglo-Saxon fibulae present a totally 
 different type ; they are generally made of bronze or brass, though 
 they appear in almost every instance to have been gilt. They 
 have been usually termed cross-shaped, a term which is not 
 alwavs correct, and we must be careful not to imagine that the 
 
 * This "beautiful fibula is given in colours, and of the size of the original, with 
 several other examples of the round Kentish fibula, in a plate in the " Archaeological 
 Album." Other examples will be found in Douglas's " Nenia." 
 
412 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiv. 
 
 approach to the form of the cross has any connexion with Chris- 
 tianity, for there can he no douht that all these barrows belonged 
 to the pagan Saxons. Several examples of this class of fibulas 
 are given in our plate. The upper one to the right was found 
 at Ingarsby, ten miles from Leicester. It has been broken, 
 and, as will be seen by comparison with the other examples, the 
 upper part only remains. When perfect, it must have been very 
 large, for the part here represented is five inches in length. 
 The figure immediately below it represents one of this class of 
 fibulas, of a rather different type, found at Stowe Heath, adjoining 
 to Icklingham, in Suffolk. The original is six inches in length, 
 and it is ornamented, like others of the same class, with attempts 
 at representing monstrous heads. The ornamentation of the 
 large fibulas of this class is often very elaborate, though rude in 
 character. The fibulas of this form are found in large quantities 
 in the counties of Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Northampton, 
 and thence through Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk, as well 
 as in Yorkshire. They were evidently peculiar to the Angles, 
 who formed the population of Mercia, East-x\nglia, and Nor- 
 thumbria. As shown in the examples just described, some of the 
 more ornamental ones were of very large dimensions; but others, 
 and that by much the most numerous class, are smaller, and 
 plainer. The two examples given in our plate, between the 
 circular fibulas, both from Stowe Heath, in Suffolk, are 
 types of rather a numerous class of the smaller fibulas, found 
 chiefly in Mercia and East-Anglia. Many similar fibulas 
 were recently found by Mr. Neville in the Anglo-Saxon 
 cemetery at Wilbraham, in Cambridgeshire. Sometimes in 
 these smaller fibulas, the head was formed into plain trefoil, 
 or clover leaf, as in the example found in Yorkshire, which is 
 given in fig. 1, in the cut in the next page. Fibulas of this form 
 were found in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Barrow Furlong 
 in Northamptonshire, described in the thirty- third volume of 
 the Archasologia. Others with square heads were found in 
 the last-mentioned cemetery, one of which is represented in 
 fig. 2, in our cut. This class of fibulas is found much more 
 rarely out of the Anglian districts. Some have been found in 
 Kent, differing a little in form and ornament, and by no means 
 so common as the circular ones. We find also in Kent a fibula 
 of this class, but of a peculiar pattern, having its head semicircular 
 
CHAP. XIV.] 
 
 ANGLO-SAXON FIBULA. 
 
 413 
 
 One of these, found near the turnpike road at Folkestone-hill, 
 between Folkestone and Dover, is represented in fig. 3 in the 
 annexed cut. The body was of bronze-gilt, the central band had 
 been ornamented with slices of garnet, one of which still remains 
 at the bottom in a silver rim ; and the projecting buttons in the 
 upper part had also been set with stones, or with some kind of 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Fibulae. 
 
 glass. A fibula exactly similar to this was found at Osengal in 
 Thanet, and is now in the collection of Mr. Rolfe. Precisely the 
 same type has been found in Germany and in France. In fact, 
 the class of fibulae we are now describing is that usually found 
 in the graves of the same period on the Continent, especially in 
 those of the Franks in Gaul. 
 
 The third variety of Anglo-Saxon fibulas is, as far as has yet 
 been discovered, peculiar to the counties of Gloucester, Oxford, and 
 Buckingham; whether they belonged to the West-Saxons, or to 
 the Mercians, it is difficult to say, as they lay on the borders of 
 the two kingdoms, but very little accurate observation has yet 
 been made of Anglo-Saxon remains found in the purely Saxon 
 districts. These fibulas, which are also of brass or bronze, are 
 circular, and deeply concave, or, rather, formed like a saucer. 
 The rim, or side, is usually plain, but the flat bottom is 
 ornamented with Saxon tracery. The example represented in 
 our plate at p. 411, is now in the museum of Mr. Neville, who 
 bought it at the sale at Stowe, in Buckinghamshire ; it is said to 
 have been found with a skeleton at Ashendon, in that county, 
 
414 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiv. 
 
 along with a smaller fibula of the same description, which is also 
 in Mr. Neville's collection.* In Mr. Neville's example, which is, 
 I believe, in this respect unique, the centre and the four points of 
 the cross of the ornament, are set with coloured glass on gold 
 foil, like the circular fibulae of Kent, from which, in other respects, 
 it differs widely. It is much larger than the Kentish fibulae, 
 measuring in diameter nearly three inches and a half. Others of 
 equal and of smaller dimensions have been found in the counties 
 above-mentioned. The field is always covered with ornamentation 
 of the same class, in some instances with rude figures of faces 
 and animals, and resembling in style and character that of the 
 cross-shaped fibulae. The only instance I know at present of the 
 discovery of one of these fibulae out of the counties mentioned, 
 occurred in an Anglo- Saxon burial-place in Yorkshire. 
 
 Other small circular fibulae of a much plainer and less charac- 
 teristic description are also found with Saxon remains in different 
 parts of the island. Sometimes they consist of a circular plate, 
 at others of a mere circular rim, or flat ring, the material being 
 generally of bronze. They are sometimes ornamented in the 
 style of the fields of the saucer-shaped fibulae, while in many 
 instances they are merely marked with small circles, or lines, or 
 are left quite plain. Fibulae of more fanciful forms are also 
 found with Anglo-Saxon remains, and not unfrequently shaped 
 into the rude figure of a bird. Circular fibulae, apparently of the 
 early Anglo-Saxon period, made of lead, have also been found, 
 hut they are very rare, and possess many peculiarities. Of three 
 which I have examined, one was found in Yorkshire, and the 
 other two in London. The first is in the collection of Mr. Har- 
 grove, of York ; it is a thin circular plate of lead, exactly an inch 
 and a half in diameter, ornamented with three concentric circles, 
 and a rude figure in the centre. The outer circle, or rim, is of a 
 chain or cable pattern; the two inner circles are hatched in 
 square compartments ; while the central figure was intended to 
 represent a dragon, with its tail twisted and inserted in its mouth. 
 In one of the London specimens, the field in the centre, which is 
 raised above the rest, bears the figure of a lion ; it is surrounded 
 
 * It is a proof of the low state of antiquarian science in England till a very 
 recent date, that, while this fibula was in the collection at Stowe, it was con- 
 sidered to he one of a pair of scales, and as such it was described in the sale 
 catalogue. 
 
chap, xiv.] PERSONAL ORNAMENTS. 415 
 
 with a series of concentric rings of formed ovals and circles of 
 various sizes. The other London example, which is in the museum 
 of Mr. Roach Smith, is still more curious, from the circumstance 
 that the ornament of the central field is made of a confused mass 
 of letters, exactly resembling those marked on the earlier Anglo- 
 Saxon coins. 
 
 We have no very distinct notion of the particular use of the 
 Anglo-Saxon fibulas in attaching the dress, though the larger and 
 more ornamental ones were probably employed in fastening a mantle. 
 The Kentish circular fibulae are usually found on the breast, and 
 the others are often in front of the body, somewhat nearer the 
 girdle. In East-Anglia and Mercia, the cross-shaped fibulae, and, 
 more to the south-west, the saucer-shaped fibulae, are often found 
 in pairs, either over the breast, or, especially in the case of the 
 saucer-shaped fibulae, on the shoulders. It may be observed, that 
 the buckle of the belt or girdle is often ornamented in the same 
 style as the fibulae, and sometimes it bears some resemblance in 
 form to the cross-shaped variety. The use of other personal 
 ornaments is more exactly defined by their form and position. 
 Amongst these the most remarkable and numerous are rings, 
 armlets, ear-rings, hair-pins, pendents to the neck, and beads. 
 
 Eings and bracelets are not found so abundantly as we might 
 expect from the manner in which they are spoken of in the old 
 Anglo-Saxon poetry, and they are seldom of better material than 
 bronze. Finger-rings of silver have been found in Kent, but, 
 from their character, it is not improbable that they were of Roman 
 workmanship. In the cemetery at Barrow Furlong, in North- 
 amptonshire, only one ring was found, which was on the finger- 
 bone of one of the skeletons ; it was made simply of a bit of 
 silver wire, bent into a circle, and tied at the two ends by twisting 
 the wire. In the graves at Fairford, in Gloucestershire, were found 
 several rings of bronze, all of them unornamented. A rather 
 massive bronze spiral ring, perhaps of Roman workmanship, was 
 found in a Saxon grave, in the same county. The Saxon ladies 
 were evidently more anxious to adorn their heads and necks, than 
 their hands and arms. Ear-rings are not very uncommon, but 
 they are extremely varied in form. Sometimes they consist, like 
 the finger-rings, merely of a bit of silver-wire, either bent 
 into a plain ring, or twisted in a spiral form. In the Anglo- 
 Saxon cemetery at Chavenage, in Gloucestershire, was found a 
 
416 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiv. 
 
 pair of ear-rings, formed of thin plates of silver, shaped like 
 crescents, the ends drawn out fine and twisted together. Hair- 
 pins are common, and resemhle in character those of the Eomans. 
 They are usually of bronze, a metal the use of which the 
 Saxons probably derived from the people on whose lands they 
 came to reside. They are often ornamented, and in some cases 
 they seem to have been enamelled. A hair-pin with the head set 
 with jewels, was found in a barrow at Wringham, in Kent. A very 
 highly ornamented hair-pin, of bronze gilt, found in a Saxon grave 
 at Gilton, in East Kent, and now preserved in the Canterbury 
 museum, is engraved in the second volume of the " Collectanea 
 Antiqua" of Mr. Roach Smith, who considers it to be of 
 late Roman workmanship. These pins were no doubt intended, 
 like the Roman ones, for fastening up the hair behind the head. 
 The greater number are mere pins of bronze, or sometimes of 
 bone ; but it is remarkable that these plain hair-pins have almost 
 always a ring at the top, or, at least, the head pierced for one, 
 which was, no doubt, intended for attaching some part of the head- 
 dress with which we are unacquainted. The jewellery suspended 
 round the neck was often rich and highly ornamented. A 
 beautiful necklace of stones set in gold, pendent to a gold band, 
 was found by Mr. Bateman, in an Anglo-Saxon barrow in Derby- 
 shire. Sometimes a gold ornament in the form of a cross, or a 
 circular bulla, or, in place of these, a gold Roman or Merovingian 
 coin, w 7 as suspended to the necklace. Examples of all these 
 ornaments are found abundantly in the Kentish barrows, but they 
 are rare in other parts of the kingdom. There can be no doubt 
 of their being of native workmanship, and they show us to what 
 a high state of perfection the art of the goldsmith was carried 
 among our forefathers at this early period. At a later date, 
 the Anglo-Saxons were celebrated throughout Europe for the 
 beauty of their jewellery. A poem on the various fortunes of 
 men, in the valuable collection of Anglo- Saxon poetry called the 
 Exeter Book, describes the high consideration in which the 
 Saxon goldsmith was held : — 
 
 For one a wondrous skill 
 
 in goldsmith's art 
 
 is provided, 
 
 full oft he decorates 
 
 and well adorns 
 
chap, xiv.] BEADS. 417 
 
 a powerful king's nobles, 
 and he to him gives broad 
 land in recompense. 
 
 Beads are found in the Anglo-Saxon barrows in great variety, 
 and they present a mixture of the common Roman types and of 
 others which were doubtless of Saxon manufacture. Perhaps the 
 Roman manufactories of beads continued to exist after the settle- 
 ment of the Saxons ; but whether this were the case or not, it is 
 certain that almost every variety of Roman beads are found in the 
 Saxon interments. The Roman beads are generally of glass, 
 while of those which are purely Anglo-Saxon, a large proportion 
 are of terra-cotta or earthenware, and these are sometimes incrusted 
 wdth vitreous substances. The Saxons introduced the same kind 
 of ornament into their earthenware beads which had been used by 
 the Romans in beads of glass, and we find them often tastefully 
 variegated with stripes of different colours. These colours are 
 often very brilliant. Two examples of these striated earthenware 
 beads from the cemetery at Osengal, in Thanet, are given in the 
 annexed cut. Other substances used very extensively by the 
 
 Beads from OsengaL, 
 
 Anglo-Saxons in the manufacture of beads, were amethystine 
 quartz, which is of a lilac colour, and amber. Beads appear 
 to have been worn round the neck very generally by persons of 
 both sexes ; and it is probable that they were not only considered 
 as personal ornaments, but that they were looked upon with a 
 superstitious feeling as preservatives against danger, and especially 
 against witchcraft. This was peculiarly the case with amber, 
 which, according to the belief of the ancients, protected the 
 person who bore it about him against the evil spirit. Hence we 
 find continual instances of interments in which the deceased had 
 merely one bead of amber attached to the neck, and sometimes it 
 
418 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiv. 
 
 appears to have been simply placed in the grave by the side of 
 his head. The lumps of amber were generally made into beads 
 by drilling a hole through them, without attempting to shape them 
 into regular form. 
 
 At the girdle of the Saxon lady was suspended a bunch of 
 various small implements, answering to what in modern times is 
 called a chatelaine, and which appears to have been usually buried 
 with the person to whom it belonged. These articles appear 
 to have been very numerous, but, unfortunately, from the cir- 
 cumstance of many of them being small, and of iron, which 
 decomposes rapidly, they are often reduced to mere shapeless bits 
 of rust. Sometimes, however, they are more perfect, and articles 
 of bronze are always better preserved. We usually find among 
 these articles a small knife — sometimes more than one — and a 
 pair of scissors. The scissors, or rather shears, are almost always 
 of the description represented in our cut on page 342, which were 
 no doubt borrowed from the Komans ; but one or two instances 
 have been met with in Anglo-Saxon barrows of scissors of the 
 same construction as those used at the present day. Scissors of 
 this latter description were found in the Saxon burial-place at 
 Driffield, in Yorkshire. Needles and pins, made of bronze or 
 bone, are sometimes found ; they had probably been placed in a 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Tweezers. 
 
 case or sheath. Of articles of the toilet found attached to the 
 chatelaine, if we may adopt the word, the one of most frequent 
 occurrence is a pair of bronze tweezers, used, no doubt, for 
 extracting superfluous hairs from the body. This instrument is 
 so perfectly identical in form and character with the Eoman 
 tweezers, that we might suppose it to be a mere relic of the Roman 
 period preserved by one of the Saxon conquerors, if it were not of 
 such common occurrence in Anglo-Saxon graves, that it must 
 have been an article in general use. One of these bronze 
 tweezers, from the cemetery at Osengal, is represented in our cut. 
 A number of small implements resembling bodkins, are often 
 
CHAP. XIV.] 
 
 ANGLOSAXOX CHATELAIXE. 
 
 419 
 
 found attached together by a ring ; some of them seem to have 
 been intended for tooth-picks and others for ear-picks, and 
 they all show that the Anglo-Saxon 
 ladies paid considerable attention to 
 personal cleanliness. As I have be- 
 fore observed, it would be impos- 
 sible, from the state in which they 
 are generally found, to particularise 
 all the various articles which the 
 Anglo-Saxon lady carried at her girdle. 
 Some are almost inexplicable. The 
 three implements suspended by two 
 rings, represented in the accompanying 
 cut, were found in the cemetery at 
 Osengal, and are now in the collection 
 of Mr. Rolfe. The only explanation 
 that can be offered is, that they may 
 have been latch-keys ; but I believe 
 that nothing exactly similar to them 
 has been found elsewhere to assist in 
 explaining them, though they may 
 be compared with the Roman latch 
 keys which we have given at p. 334. 
 Another class of articles, found always 
 with the articles hung to the lady's 
 girdle, and invariably in pairs, has 
 furnished a puzzle to antiquaries. 
 
 Several pairs of them were found in the recently excavated Anglo- 
 Saxon cemetery at Wilbraham, in Cambridgeshire, in most cases 
 attached together by a ring, or small frame, at the top. One of 
 these is given in our next cut, of the form which seems to have 
 been most common. The extremities of others were of the form 
 represented by the figure at the side. A number of other 
 examples, found at Stowe Heath, in Suffolk ; near Swaffham, in 
 Norfolk ; at Scaleby, near Caistor, in Lincolnshire ; and at an 
 unascertained locality in Leicestershire ; are given in the second 
 volume of Mr. Roach Smith's " Collectanea." They seem to be con- 
 fined to the Anglian districts, and I am not aware of any example 
 found in Kent ; but, curiously enough, they are not uncommon in 
 the Frankish cemeteries in France. They have puzzled the few 
 
 EE 2 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Latch-keys (]) 
 
420 
 
 THE SAXONS. 
 
 [chap. XIV. 
 
 antiquaries, who have observed them, extremely. They were sup- 
 posed at first to be latch-keys, but their being found in pairs, 
 
 and the thinness of the metal 
 (bronze), seemed to militate against 
 this explanation, which was quite 
 exploded when other examples 
 were found with the ends per- 
 forated for small rings, and in 
 some the rings were still found 
 in the perforations. The most 
 probable explanation seems now 
 to be, that each pair either formed 
 the framework of a bag or purse ; 
 or that they belonged to a frame, 
 to which the various articles the 
 lady carried by her side were 
 attached. In some cases they are 
 slightly ornamented. 
 
 Among other articles of the 
 toilette, we must not forget to 
 mention combs, which have been 
 found in several instances in 
 Anglo-Saxon graves. A double- 
 toothed comb, of bone, with rivets 
 of iron, was found in an urn in 
 the cemetery at Barrow Furlong, in Northamptonshire ; and a 
 single one, of the same material, was found in a grave in 
 Kent. 
 
 Remains of various smaller articles are found scattered about 
 the Anglo-Saxon graves, many of which, made of perishable 
 materials, are only indicated by decayed matter. Thus we often 
 trace the place once occupied by a small box, or coffer, and find 
 hinges, or clasps, or metal guards, which have belonged to it. 
 A very remarkable small bronze coffer, or box, was found in the 
 Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Stroud, in Kent. It was made of two 
 thin plates of bronze, riveted together, and bound round at the 
 lower part with a narrow band of the same metal ; on one side 
 was a ring, which appeared to have been intended for hanging it 
 to the girdle. It was stamped with Christian figures and emblems, 
 and was, doubtless, of foreign manufacture ; perhaps obtained in 
 
 Articles from Wilbraham. 
 
CHAP. XIV.] 
 
 ANGLO-SAXON POTTEEY. 
 
 421 
 
 barter or in war, for the interment was clearly a pagan one.* It 
 is unnecessary to attempt an enumeration of all the small miscel- 
 laneous articles found in the Anglo-Saxon graves. In one of 
 those, at Osengal, a pair of compasses was found, and in another 
 lay a pair of scales, the scales of which were very neatly made of 
 thin bronze ; along with them were the weights, which were 
 formed of Roman coins, carefully adjusted by rubbing away the 
 surface. It is not unusual to find in the Anglo-Saxon graves in 
 Kent, sea-shells, and even snail-shells, and we sometimes meet with 
 cowries, which must have been brought from the East. These, 
 with the occurrence of Byzantine coins, and articles like the coffer 
 described above, show to what extent the early xAnglo-Saxon settlers 
 held communication with foreign and even distant nations. 
 
 The larger portion of the pottery found in the Anglo-Saxon 
 graves in Kent, is Roman, often cups and paterae, sometimes in 
 fragments, of the red Samian ware. The pottery of Saxon manu- 
 facture found in this country occurs chiefly in the cemeteries where 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Pottery. 
 
 cremation was practised, that is in Mercia and East Anglia, and 
 consists of burial urns. These were long classed indiscriminately 
 as British, and it is not till lately that their distinctive charac- 
 teristics have been pointed out. The cut given above presents 
 
 * This very curious relic is engraved in Mr. Roach Smith's " Collectanea 
 Antiqua," vol. ii. plate 36. 
 
422 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiv. 
 
 five examples of Anglo-Saxon earthenware vessels. The two to 
 the left, taken from a Saxon cemetery at Kingston, near Derby, 
 are the ordinary types of burial urns found in interments of this 
 period in England. They are usually made with the hand, without 
 the use of the lathe, of a dark-coloured clay, and are not w 7 ell 
 baked ; their colour is generally a dark brown, passing either to a 
 black or to a dark green tint. Their distinguishing characteristics 
 are projecting knobs or bosses at the sides, peculiar zigzag patterns, 
 and a still more usual ornamentation of circles or squares, which 
 have the appearance of having been stamped with the end of a 
 notched stick. The small unornamented vessel on the right was 
 found in the same cemetery, but without bones, and it was pro- 
 bably a cup for domestic purposes ; it exactly resembles one found 
 in a grave in Kent. The long-necked 
 
 # ampulla in the middle was found in an 
 Anglo-Saxon grave in Kent. The vessel 
 at the bottom, to the right, from the same 
 cemetery at Kingston, was also used as a 
 burial urn. An Anglo-Saxon burial urn, of 
 a somewhat different pattern, but similar 
 in general character, is represented in the 
 annexed cut. It was found by Mr. Bloxam, 
 at Chestersover, in Warwickshire, filled 
 Anglo-Saxon Urn. w ^ n asnes ' an ^ accompanied with an iron 
 
 sword, a spear-head, and other articles, 
 all undoubtedly Saxon. The articles constantly found with the 
 urns of this class, leave no room for doubt that they have been 
 correctly appropriated to the early Saxon settlers in our island ; 
 and this appropriation is corroborated in a very remarkable 
 manner by discoveries made on the continent. In 1848, two 
 German antiquaries, the brothers Lindenschmit, published an 
 account of the opening of an ancient Teutonic cemetery of the 
 pagan period, at Selzen, in Rhenish Hesse, the articles found in 
 which presented exactly the same character as those in our Anglo- 
 Saxon barrows. There was a similar mixture of the two kinds of 
 interment, but the practice of burying the body entire seemed to 
 prevail. The pottery was of precisely the same character ; it was 
 similar in form, and was ornamented with the same bosses on the 
 sides, and the same impressed notches as in the Anglo-Saxon pottery 
 described above. For the sake of comparison, four examples of 
 
chap, xiv.] CINERARY URNS.— DRINKING-GLASSES. 
 
 423 
 
 the pottery from Selzen are given in the annexed cut : the two to 
 the left are cinerary urns, like those found in Derbyshire. 
 
 Germano-Saxon Pottery. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon glass, which is not uncommon, differs from 
 the Roman in being thinner, not so fine in texture, and more 
 subject to that kind of decomposition, which destroys its trans- 
 
 parency, and gives it a variegated tint. It is probable that the 
 Saxon glass-workers derived the art from their Roman predeces- 
 sors, and they certainly possessed very great skill, although the 
 
424 
 
 THE SAXONS. 
 
 [chap. XIV. 
 
 form and ornament of their work differed entirely from Roman 
 work. The glass vessels found in Anglo-Saxon graves are generally 
 drinking cups, the forms of which will be best understood by the 
 cut on the preceding page. When ornamented, they are usually 
 ribbed, or striated. The forms were evidently derived from the 
 imitation of drinking-horns. * The examples given in our cut 
 were all taken from barrows in East Kent, and are in the collec- 
 tions of Lord Londesborough and Mr. Eolfe. The ornamentation 
 answers sufficiently well to the epithet of twisted, which is applied in 
 Anglo-Saxon poetry to drinking- cups. Thus in Beowulf (line 983), 
 we are told that — 
 
 the thane observed his office., 
 he that in his hand bare 
 the twisted ale-cup. 
 
 The small cup-shaped glass vessel at the bottom of our cut is also 
 the type of a class of not uncommon occurrence in Kent. A re- 
 markable characteristic of the early Anglo-Saxon glass manufacture 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Glass vessels. 
 
 is an ornamentation formed by separate threads of glass twisted 
 round the vessel after it had been formed ; and sometimes of large 
 knobs added to the glass, these latter assuming very singular shapes. 
 It is difficult to say how far this kind of ornament was derived from 
 
 * It will be observed that these drinking cups are so made that they could not 
 stand upright ; each guest was expected to drink his glass off at a draught. It is 
 said that this custom of making drinking-cups which would not stand, in order to 
 compel the drinkers to empty it at once, was the origin of the modern name of 
 tvmblers, given to glasses which are not now placed in the same predicament. 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 DRIXKING-VESSELS. 
 
 425 
 
 the late Roman period, but there is in the little museum at Lewes, 
 in Sussex, a glass ampulla, said to have been found among purely 
 Eoman remains, which is ornamented with the same strings twisted 
 round the neck. I give, on the preceding page, two examples 
 of Anglo-Saxon glass vessels, with these singular ornamenta- 
 tions. The one with knobs attached was found at Reculver, 
 in Kent, and is now preserved in the museum at Canterbury : it 
 is about six inches high, of a colour varying from olive green to 
 yellow (the variations perhaps caused by decomposition), the pro- 
 jections being of a dark green — it is also ornamented with the 
 strings mentioned above. The other vessel represented in the 
 cut was found at Ash, in Kent, in 1849, and is in the collection 
 of Mr. Rolfe ; it is a curious specimen of the application of the 
 thread ornament. Other examples of glass vessels, resembling 
 the first of these, with the projecting claws, have been found in 
 different parts of Saxon England. One is given in Mr. Wylie's 
 account of the Fairford graves, in Gloucestershire, where it w r as 
 found. Another was found in a Saxon grave in Hampshire, and 
 
 Germano-Saxon Drinking vessels. 
 
 a fourth at Coombe, in East Kent, Another was found at Castle 
 Eden, in Durham, and was engraved in the fifteenth volume of the 
 Archseologia. 
 
 It is a very remarkable circumstance, and shows us the neces- 
 sity of comparing the antiquities of cognate races, that one of 
 these cups with the projecting claws, so similar to those found in 
 England that we might suppose it had come from the same work- 
 shop, was found in a grave in the ancient cemetery at Selzen, in 
 
426 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiv. 
 
 Rhenish Hesse. * To show the close similarity between the glass 
 vessels found in the Selzen graves and those of the Anglo-Saxons, 
 which is the best evidence we could have of their purely Teutonic 
 character, I give in the last page three drinking-glasses copied from 
 the work of the brothers Lindenschmit. One of the cup-shaped 
 glasses, like those in our Saxon graves, with two earthenware jugs, 
 also from Selzen, are given in our cut on the present page. These 
 two vessels are evidently the original type of our modern pitcher. 
 
 Germano-Saxon Pottery and Glass. 
 
 They are not often found in Anglo-Saxon barrows, but examples 
 have occurred, and others probably have been passed over unob- 
 served. A good specimen is preserved in the museum of Dover; 
 it is said to have been dug up in that neighbourhood. Mr. Roach 
 Smith extracted fragments of another from a barrow on the 
 summit of the hills behind Folkestone. 
 
 Although there is no doubt much of purely Teutonic character 
 in the ornamentation of the pottery and glass, and of many of 
 the other articles manufactured by the Anglo-Saxons, it is pro- 
 bable that much of it also originated in attempts, more or less 
 rude, to imitate that which they saw on Roman work. In some 
 of the jewellery we observe an evident design to imitate late 
 Roman and Byzantine ornaments, and perhaps if we compared 
 more closely the ornamental pottery, we should find it was the 
 
 * Mr. Roach Smith has given engravings of this Selzen specimen, along with 
 the different examples found in England, in his " Collectanea Antiqua," vol. ii. 
 
CHAP. XIV.] 
 
 ANGLO-SAXON BOWLS. 
 
 427 
 
 same. This is observable more distinctly on the Frankish pottery, 
 
 which differs somewhat in character from that of the Anglo-Saxons. 
 
 The accompanying cut represents a prevailing type of the Frankish 
 
 burial urns, which have often, however, much more ornament. 
 
 The ornament here is evidently 
 
 a rude imitation of that found on 
 
 the Roman red Samian wares ; 
 
 it may be compared with that of 
 
 some late Roman pottery found 
 
 in Britain, of which w r e have 
 
 already given a cut at p. 221, 
 
 and also with the ornament of a 
 
 Roman altar given in p. 289. 
 
 The comparison of these examples 
 
 shows how an elegant ornament, 
 
 in passing through, successive 
 
 imitations, degenerates into a 
 
 very rude one. 
 
 There are two classes of house- 
 hold utensils found frequently 
 
 in Anglo-Saxon interments, which are worthy of particular notice. 
 Bowls of bronze, highly gilt, are met with in the cemeteries in 
 Kent, and generally so elegant in form, that we can hardly 
 
 A Frankish Urn. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Bowls. 
 
 hesitate in looking upon them as the work of Roman manufac- 
 turers. Three examples of these bowls are given in our cut, the 
 first of which was found in a barrow at Wingham, in Kent; the 
 
428 
 
 THE SAXONS. 
 
 [chap. xiy. 
 
 lower example was found at Bourne Park, near Canterbury; and 
 the one in the middle, on Barham Downs. They are of different 
 sizes, from five or six inches to thirteen in diameter. 
 
 Another article, found very frequently in Anglo-Saxon graves, 
 is a bucket, which generally retains sufficient proofs of having 
 been more or less highly ornamented. 
 These buckets are found in Anglo- 
 Saxon cemeteries in all parts of 
 England. Many of them have been 
 found at different times in Kent, and 
 traces of others, which had been formed 
 of more perishable materials, have 
 been met with. One found in a grave 
 in Bourne Park, near Canterbury, 
 had been of rather large dimensions ; 
 the hoops only remained perfect, but 
 they were of bronze, and very ele- 
 gantly formed ; the lower hoop was a 
 foot in diameter, the upper hoop 
 ten inches, and the whole height of 
 the bucket appeared to have been 
 about a foot. The hoops are represented in the annexed cut 
 as they must have stood on the wood, which had perished ; 
 the hooked feet of the lower bronze hoop appear to have been 
 intended to turn over the woodwork and hold it firm. The bucket 
 on the right, in our next cut, was found in a grave on the Chatham 
 
 Bucket from Bourne Park. 
 
 AiiQ'lo-Saxon Buckets. 
 
 lines, and is engraved in Douglas's " Nenia." It was made of 
 iron and brass, and was, therefore, better preserved. This bucket 
 was only seven and a half inches in height, by eight inches in 
 
CHAP. XIV.] 
 
 BUCKET-FORMED VESSELS. 
 
 429 
 
 diameter. Buckets found in the East- Anglian cemeteries are 
 often of still smaller dimensions. Several were found by Mr. 
 Neville, at Wilbrakam, in Cambridgeshire. The bucket on the 
 left in the last cut was found in a barrow near Marlborough, in 
 Wiltshire, opened by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, who erroneously 
 supposed it to be Roman. The metal hoops, in this case, were 
 embossed or stamped with figures of animals. Our next cut 
 represents one of these bucket-formed vessels found in a grave at 
 Fairford, in Gloucestershire, formed as usual of wood, with brass 
 hoops, and ornaments ; it was only four inches in diameter, and 
 between three and four inches high. These buckets are, as far as 
 
 Bucket from Fairford, 
 
 I have observed, always found in the graves of men, and they 
 were evidently vessels which served for something more than 
 ignoble purposes. The only explanation I can suggest is, that they 
 were for containing the ale, mead, or wine, which was to be 
 served in the Saxon hall. They are probably the vessels alluded 
 to in the words of the poem of Beowulf, which describes how 
 
 cup-bearers gave 
 
 the wine from wondrous vats. 
 
 Beoiculf, line 2316. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon translation of the book of Judges, (vii., 20), 
 
430 THE SAXONS. [chap. xiv. 
 
 rendered hydrias confregissent, by " to-brsecon ]?a bucas," they 
 broke the buckets. A common name for this vessel, which was 
 properly called hue, was cescen, signifying literally a vessel made 
 of ash, the favourite wood of the Anglo-Saxons. 
 
 Roman coins not unfrequently occur in Anglo-Saxon graves, and 
 in some instances a single coin has been found, as though the 
 deceased, or his relatives, had retained some of the older Koman 
 customs. A few later Byzantine, and also Frankish, coins, have 
 been found, but they are much rarer than the Roman coins, which 
 no doubt, continued in circulation under the Saxons.'" The earlier 
 history of the Anglo-Saxon coinage is very obscure. On many 
 Roman sites, especially such as are known to have been occupied 
 down to a very late period, are found very small coins in brass, 
 which appear, from their rude character and imperfect design, to 
 have been late imitations of the Roman coins of the size deno- 
 minated third brass. These coins, from their diminutive size, are 
 termed by numismatists minimi, and are supposed to have been 
 struck during the period between the abandonment of the island 
 by the imperial government, and the establishment of the Saxon 
 kingdoms. Among the coins found of late years at Richborough, 
 in Kent (RatupicB), are no less than two hundred of these minimi, 
 which show that that post continued to be occupied as a place of 
 importance during the period just mentioned. These coins were 
 followed by a different coinage, which was undoubtedly Saxon, but 
 which also was imitated from that of the Romans, and it is not 
 improbable that the old minting establishments continued to exist. 
 These early Saxon coins, for the classification of which very 
 little has yet been done, are called sceattas. \ It is remarkable, 
 that while the Roman minimi are all in brass, the sceattas are 
 invariably in silver. The devices may generally be traced to be 
 rude imitations of Roman types, especially of the coinage of 
 Constantine and his family, which are found in great abundance 
 
 * It is by no means uncommon to find coins, especially of gold, both Roman, 
 Byzantine, and Merovingian, with loops attached to them, for the purpose of 
 suspension as ornaments. It was a custom which prevailed among the 
 Romans themselves. 
 
 + The sceattas were the common coins of the Anglo-Saxons at an early period ; 
 and the name was often used as a general term for money. The word, in the 
 singular, is sceat or sccet, and to pay your sceat, was literally to pay your reckoning. 
 This has been by course of time corrupted into the modern ale-house phrase of 
 paying your shot. 
 
CHAP. XIV.] 
 
 EARLY ANGLO-SAXON COINS. 
 
 431 
 
 in this country. Of the two examples given in our cut, the upper 
 
 has on one side a copy of a very common reverse of the coins of 
 
 the Constantine period, which are usually classed under the head 
 
 of urbs Roma, representing Romulus 
 
 and Remus suckled by the wolf. The 
 
 second has a head on one side, and on 
 
 the other, a device which is probably 
 
 copied from the altar which occurs on 
 
 the coins of the Constantine family. 
 
 Many are copied from the coins of 
 
 Arcadius, Honorius, and others of that 
 
 period. The sceattas have been found 
 
 at Richborough, Reculver, and other 
 
 places in East Kent, in considerable 
 
 numbers, as well as in the north of England. They are met 
 
 with occasionally in Anglo-Saxon barrows or graves, which fixes 
 
 the period to which they belong. The mouldering remains of 
 
 what appeared to have been a small purse, with four sceattas of 
 
 silver, were found by the side of a skeleton in a barrow on the 
 
 Breach Downs, in Kent. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Sceattas from 
 Richborough. 
 
432 THE SAXONS. [chap. xv. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Settlement — Division of the Land— Population of the Country and 
 of the Towns — Continuance of the Roman Municipalities — Traces of Muni- 
 cipal Privileges in the Anglo-Saxon Towns; Canterbury, Rochester, Dover, 
 Exeter, London, 
 
 The remains of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, as described in the 
 preceding chapter, present sufficient evidence that society then 
 consisted of two very distinct elements : one purely Teutonic, the 
 other derived from intercourse with the Roman population. The 
 Teutonic settlers took possession of the land, which the various 
 chiefs divided among themselves by lots; and it was held by a 
 totally different tenure to that which existed under the imperial 
 government. The characteristic of Teutonic society was a deeply 
 implanted aristocracy, that of the heads of clans, or tribes, and 
 there was very little tendency to the centralisation which was 
 exhibited in the Roman imperial constitution. Each chief received 
 his share of land, on which he settled with his household and 
 followers, and which descended in his family as a freehold. We 
 still trace these original allotments of land in the names of places 
 in every part of England, which are composed of the patro- 
 nymic of the family or race. Thus, when we find such a name 
 as Birmingham, we may be sure that it was originally the ham, or 
 residence, of the Beormingas, the descendants or clan of Beorm. 
 Thus, we have Badlingham in Cambridgeshire, the seat of the 
 Baedlingas ; Buckingham, of the Bucingas ; Warmingham, in 
 Cheshire, of the Wearmingas ; Littlington, the tun or head resi- 
 dence of the Lytlingas; Elvington, the seat of the Elfingas ; 
 Killinghall, the hall of the Cylingas ; and a vast number of 
 similar names. The family or clan did not always take its name 
 from the chief who obtained the allotment of land ; it was often 
 
chap, xv.] ANGLO-SAXON SETTLEMENT. 433 
 
 but a branch of a much older family in the land from which the 
 settler came. Hence we find the same patronymics in distant parts 
 of England, which would seem to indicate that different members 
 of the same original family had joined in various separate expe- 
 ditions to Britain, and it is still more curious that this identity 
 of name is found in districts peopled severally by the different 
 races, Angles, or Saxons, or Jutes. This admits of two explana- 
 tions : it shows the close relationship between the three races 
 themselves ; and it proves, probably, that when a great chieftain 
 of one race, an Angle, for instance, planned an expedition to 
 Britain, subordinate leaders from the other races, Saxons, Jutes, 
 or others, were ready to enlist among his followers. Thus we 
 find the Billingas at Billingham, in Durham ; at Billingley, in 
 Yorkshire ; at Billinghay, in Lincolnshire ; at Billington, in the 
 counties of Bedford, Stafford, and Lancaster ; as well as at other 
 places, all within the districts occupied by the Angles. We find 
 a settlement of the same family at Billingshurst, in Sussex; and 
 some of them appear to have established themselves in the 
 outskirts of London, and to have given their name to Billingsgate. 
 The Bosingas are found at Bossingham, in Kent, and again at the 
 two Bossingtons, in Hampshire and Somerset. The Scearingas are 
 found at Sharrington, Sheringford, and Sharringham, in Norfolk; 
 at Sheering, in Essex ; at Scarrington, in Nottinghamshire ; and 
 at Sherrington, in Buckingham, and in Wiltshire. We have the 
 Haningas at three places named Hannington, in Northampton- 
 shire, Hampshire, and Wiltshire, and also probably at Hanning- 
 field, in Essex. When we examine further we find in these 
 patronymics names which belong to the great families whose 
 history is mixed up in the earliest Teutonic mythology. The 
 Waslsings, who are found at Walsingham, in Norfolk, at 
 W'alsingham, in Durham, and at Woolsington, in Northum- 
 berland, appear to have been offsets of the great family of the 
 Volsungar of the Edda, the Volsungen of the old German 
 romances. The Harlings (Herelingas), who are found at three 
 places named Harlington, in Middlesex, Bedfordshire, and York- 
 shire, as well as at Harling, in Norfolk, are also connected with 
 the ancient Teutonic mythology, and their name is found at 
 Harlingen, in Friesland. The Swaefas, a tribe who are known to 
 have dwelt on the borders of the Angles, on the continent, appear 
 to have given their name to Swaffham, in Norfolk. Mr. Kemble, 
 
434 THE SAXONS. [chap. xv. 
 
 quoting other well-known names from the mythic and half mythic 
 history of the continental Teutons, points out, as further instances, 
 that the Brentings of northern romance are found in England, at 
 Brentingley, in Leicestershire, and at Brantingham, in Yorkshire. 
 The Scyldings, and Scylfings, celebrated northern races, gave 
 their names to Skelding, and to two places named Skillington, 
 in Northumberland and Dorset ; the Ardings, who are found at 
 Ardington, in Berkshire, and at Ardingly, in Sussex, are, he says, 
 the Azdingi, the royal race of the Visigoths and Vandals ; and 
 the Banings of the continent, over whom, when the curious 
 Anglo-Saxon fragment called the Traveller's Song was written, a 
 prince named Becca ruled, are recognised in Banningham, in 
 Norfolk. The Helsings gave name to Helsington, in West- 
 moreland, and to Helsingland, in Sweden; and we find the name 
 of the Bleccingas as well in Bleckingen, in Sweden, as in Blet- 
 chington, in Oxfordshire, and Bletchingley, in Surrey. In the 
 Gytingas, found at Guyting, in Gloucestershire, we perhaps trace 
 the Jutungi of Germany ; and another Alamannic tribe, the 
 Scudingi, are supposed to be traced in the Scytings, who gave their 
 name to Shuttington, in Warwickshire. In these instances, conjec- 
 ture is, perhaps, carried too far, as well as in the supposition that the 
 Wirings, who left their name in two Warringtons, in Lancashire 
 and Buckinghamshire, and to the same number of Werringtons in 
 Northamptonshire and Devon, belonged to the same race as the 
 Varangians (VaBrinjar), so celebrated in Byzantine history; but 
 there can be no doubt that the careful study of the Anglo-Saxon 
 names of localities is calculated to throw a light upon the history 
 and condition of the first settlers which we can hope to derive 
 from no other source.* Many of these names point directly to 
 the state of the country itself, at the time the Teutonic population 
 came in, and we can have no doubt that then the site of Beverley 
 was a plain so unfrequented by man, that it was occupied only 
 by beavers, or that places with names compounded of those of 
 wolves, boars, &c, were the usual resorts of wild beasts. 
 
 The Teutonic settlers established themselves chiefly in the 
 country, where they retained all their old national feelings. We 
 know that they were averse to living in towns, and, from a super- 
 stitious feeling which led them to believe that the houses built by 
 
 * Extensive materials on this interesting subject have been collected by 
 Mr. Kemble in the first volume of his "Saxons in England." 
 
chap, xv.] THE ANGLO-SAXON LANDHOLDEKS. 435 
 
 other peoples might be rendered dangerous for them by means of 
 charms and magic, they preferred the houses which they built 
 for themselves. Moreover, the country villas of the Romans, 
 and the smaller and unfortified towns, had been mostly burnt or 
 overthrown, and their plan and construction were not those to which 
 the Saxons were accustomed. However, we do meet with instances 
 of Roman villas occupied and altered by the Anglo-Saxon settlers, 
 and in some instances we find that the residence of the Saxon 
 chief did occupy a Roman site. This was the case with the two 
 seats of the Iclings ; Icklingham, in Suffolk, and Ickleton, or 
 Icklington, in Cambridgeshire, in both which places have been 
 found extensive traces of Roman settlement. One of them is 
 supposed to occupy the site of the Roman station of Iciani, and 
 it is not quite impossible that the Saxon name in this case may 
 have arisen from mistaking the Roman name for a patronymic. 
 The Anglo-Saxon landholders held a position totally different from 
 that of the Romans ; they were lords over their own allotment of 
 soil and its population, and the principle of centralisation existed 
 so little amongst them, that, rather than look up to a superior 
 head for justice, the landlords formed associations among them- 
 selves, to manage their own affairs, and administer justice in their 
 mutual transactions. Such mutual associations formed the ground- 
 work of the subsequent division of the country into hundreds, 
 shires, &c. Each landholder, nevertheless, acknowledged a certain 
 dependence upon, or subjection to, the chief under whom he had 
 come into the island, and the latter assumed the title of king over 
 his chieftains and their people. These kings were soon tempted 
 by the splendour of the old Roman rule, and they tried to establish 
 and increase their authority by imitating Roman forms, and adopting, 
 as far as they could, the Roman principles of administration. They 
 were wealthy, by the extensive landed estates which they had 
 reserved to themselves in the division of lands, and by the pos 
 session of the old Roman towns, which fell into their share ; and 
 they had a natural influence over the other chiefs who had followed 
 their banner from the first, because they belonged to the great 
 families of supposed divine blood, who alone commanded that sort 
 of confidence and respect which was necessary to insure obedience. 
 The population of the country consisted of two elements — the 
 chiefs and their followers, who had obtained possession and 
 lordship of the lands, and the agriculturists and labourers, who 
 
 F F 2 
 
436 THE SAXONS. [chap. xv. 
 
 were in the position of serfs and bondmen, and comprised chiefly 
 the old Eomano-British population, which under the Saxons was 
 probably quite as well off as under the Romans. The Saxons thus 
 held the country, while the Roman citizens continued to hold the 
 towns as tributaries of the Saxon kings, within whose bounds they 
 stood. The country thus exhibited Teutonic rudeness, while the 
 towns were the representatives of Roman civilisation, and though the 
 intercourse between the two, and the gradual infusion of Saxon 
 blood into the towns, laid the foundation of modern society, there 
 was a feeling of hostility and rivalry between town and country, 
 which has hardly yet disappeared. Between the aristocratic feeling 
 of the Saxon landholders, and the republican principles that existed 
 in the towns, arose, under the balancing influence of the crown, the 
 modern political constitution. 
 
 We can understand best the mode and forms in which the 
 Anglo-Saxons established themselves here, by comparing them with 
 what took place, under similar circumstances, in other parts of 
 Europe, where our historical accounts are more detailed and 
 precise. There, also, the barbarian settlers seized on the lands, 
 while the cities were generally left in the hands of the old citizens. 
 On a former occasion I have described briefly the internal con- 
 stitution of the Roman towns, with their curiales, or senators, and 
 their various municipal officers, which, we know, were all preserved 
 after the Teutonic conquests in the cities in Gaul and the other 
 Roman provinces on the continent, and which were, no doubt, also 
 preserved in Britain.* In Italy, where, in the mixture, the 
 spirit of the Roman institutions prevailed most over the barbarian 
 population, the cities, relieved from the imperial power to which 
 they had been previously subjected, became in the middle ages 
 powerful republics, and the curia was the prototype of those bodies 
 of patrician princes, whose personal feuds led in the end to their 
 subversion. In other parts of Europe, amid the general wreck, 
 some powerful commercial cities retained a complete independence, 
 and became known as free cities, and some of them have continued 
 so to the present day. In France, M. Raynouard has traced the 
 existence of the municipal officers by their original titles, even 
 the defensor civitatis, during several centuries after the fall of the 
 Roman power. We have unfortunately few documents which 
 
 * The following remarks were first published in a paper communicated to the 
 Society of Antiquaries, and printed in the thirty-second volume of the Archaeologia. 
 
chap, xv.] THE TOWNS; CANTERBURY. 437 
 
 throw any light on the condition of the towns in England during 
 the Saxon period of our history ; but we cannot help recognising 
 in the Roman curia the origin of the elective body in our medieval 
 towns, the prohi homines or honi homines of the older records, the 
 burgesses, who, like the curiales or senators, obtained their rank 
 by birth or election. The duumviri answered to the two ballivi or 
 bailiffs, or, as the Saxons called them, prcefecti or reeves, who were 
 the chief magistrates in most of our medieval boroughs. The 
 principales were the scabini (echevins) of the continental towns, in 
 England generally known by the Saxon name of aldermen. We 
 might go on to point out a number of minor points of resemblance 
 between the constitutions of the municipium and of the medieval 
 borough at the time when we become fully acquainted with the 
 domestic affairs of the latter ; but I will only now point out a few 
 circumstances which tend to throw a light upon the condition of 
 these boroughs under the Anglo-Saxons, when they have commonly 
 been supposed by legal writers to have had no corporate existence. 
 It strikes us at the first glance, that the few historical facts 
 relating to the condition of our towns during the Saxon period, 
 preserved by the older annalists, exhibit them in a state of im- 
 portance and independence, which they could hardly have reached, 
 had it not been derived from municipal constitutions already 
 existing when the Saxons settled in this country, and which is 
 observed most distinctly in those places which are known to have 
 occupied the sites of the more powerful Roman towns. * All 
 traditions (for our history of the first Saxon invasion is nothing 
 more than tradition, and that very vague) represent East Kent as 
 having been occupied by the Saxons under a pacific arrangement, 
 when they took Durovernum, or Canterbury, as their capital. 
 Recent discoveries show that the Saxons not only continued to 
 inter their dead on the site of the Roman burial-places around 
 the ancient city, down to the time of their conversion, but that 
 they afterwards erected Christian churches on the same spots ; 
 one of the strongest proofs we could have of the gradual change 
 from Roman to Saxon in that city. We find Canterbury at an early 
 period governed by a prefect, or reeve, who gives land to the monks ; 
 and in a later charter confirming his grant, dated in 805, there is 
 
 * It may be observed that the destruction of Roman towns is rarely mentioned 
 in our earlier historians. The Saxon Chronicle speaks of the destruction of 
 Andredesceaster in 491 as though it were a remarkable occurrence. 
 
438 THE SAXONS. [chap. xv. 
 
 a remarkable distinction between the villa or town, and the civitas 
 or corporate body, such as we might naturally expect in the 
 transmission of the Roman principle to the Saxon people.* 
 
 Rochester [Hrofescester) derived its Saxon name, according to 
 Bede, from one of its early rulers or prefects named Hrof, who, 
 for some circumstance or other, had probably gained greater 
 notoriety than most persons of his class and rank.f In the reign 
 of king Athelred (in the latter half of the tenth century), on 
 account of some dissensions with the bishop, the king besieged 
 this city with an army, but, being unable to take it, he in revenge 
 laid waste the surrounding and dependent district. J; We here find 
 the body corporate of the city taking part with its bishop, engaged 
 in open war with the king, and successfully resisting him. The 
 anger of the king is said to have been finally appeased by a sum 
 of money given by the archbishop of Canterbury (Dunstan). 
 
 Dover occupies the site of the Roman Dubree. It is not often 
 mentioned by our earlier historians, because Richborough (Rutiipia) 
 was the more usual port in landing from France ; but an incident 
 occurred in the reign of Edward the Confessor which throws 
 some light on the position of its municipal body. In 1048, 
 Eustache count of Boulogne, Edward's brother-in-law, visited 
 the king at Gloucester, where he was then holding his court. On 
 his return, when at a short distance from Dover, Eustache and his 
 men put on their armour, and, entering the town in a rude manner, 
 they proceeded to take forcible possession of the lodgings which 
 pleased them best.§ This was a right which the feudal barons of 
 the continent claimed under the title of the droit de gite, and which 
 was always expressly provided against in the English municipal 
 
 * Hanc prsenominatam terram quidam homo bonus nomine Aldhun, qui in hac 
 regali villa inlustris cimtatis prsefectus fuit, pro intuitu internee mercedis fratribus 
 nostris ad mensam tradidit. Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus Anglo-Sax on um, 
 vol. i. p. 231. 
 
 *f Quam gens Anglorum a primario quondam illius, qui dicebatur Hrof, 
 Hrofescestir cognominat. Bede, Hist. Ecel. lib. ii. c. 3. In another place, 
 lib. ii. e. 6, Bede calls the city, in Latin, civitas Hrofi. 
 
 J Osborn's Life of Dunstan, in the Act. SS. Benedict. Ssec. V. p. 683. 
 W. Malmsb. de Gest. Reg. p. 63. (Ed. Savile.) 
 
 § Da hi ]?ider comon, J?a woldon hi innian hi \>ser heom sylfan ge-licode. Sax. 
 Chron. From the circumstance of their arming before they came to the town, we 
 might be led to suspect that Eustache and his men had had a previous dispute 
 with the townsmen of Dover on this subject, perhaps when they first came to 
 England. 
 
chap, xv.l ROCHESTER AND DOVEE. 439 
 
 charters subsequent to the Conquest. One of Eustache's men 
 went to the dwelling of a townsman, and wounded the house- 
 holder because he refused to admit him. The latter seized his 
 own weapon and slew the intruder. " Then," to use the words of 
 the contemporary Saxon chronicler, " Eustache got upon his 
 horse, and his companions upon theirs, and they went to the 
 householder and slew him within his own dwelling; and then 
 went up towards the burgh, and slew, as well within as without, 
 more than twenty men. And the townsmen slew nineteen of the 
 count's men, and wounded they knew not how many, and 
 Eustache escaped with only a few companions." Eustache re- 
 turned to the king, gave a partial account of the affair, and made 
 him so " wroth with the townsmen," that he ordered Godwin, in 
 whose earldom of Kent the occurrence had taken place, to pro- 
 ceed with an army against the men of Dover. But earl Godwin, 
 knowing that Eustache had begun the quarrel, espoused the cause 
 of the townsmen, and an irruption of the Welsh seems to have 
 turned the king's attention in another direction. Four years 
 after this, in 1052, count Eustache again visited king Edward, 
 and on his landing at Dover the old feud was renewed. " Then," 
 says the chronicler, " went his men inconsiderately after lodgings, 
 and slew a certain man of the town, and then another, until 
 seven lay slain. And much harm was then done on both sides, 
 both with horse and with weapons, until the people gathered 
 together, and then Eustache's men fled away till they came to the 
 king at Gloucester." On this second occasion, Godwin more 
 openly took part with the townsmen of Dover, and, raising a con- 
 siderable army, marched towards the king, demanded that count 
 Eustache and his men should be delivered into his hands. We 
 have here a town virtually claiming a very important municipal 
 right, and defending it by force ; while the king proceeds, not 
 judicially against the individuals who had offended, but against 
 the whole corporate body, as though it were an independent 
 state.* We learn, also, from the Domesday Survey, that in 
 this same reign, the burgesses of Dover had purchased certain 
 
 * The above version of the story is taken from the Saxon Chronicle as printed 
 in the text and in the notes of the Collection of Historians edited by order of the 
 Record Commission, which appears to be the best authority. The subsequent 
 historians have confounded the two riots, and made only one. See Florence of 
 Worcester, sub an. 1051 ; W. Malmsb. de Gest. Reg. p. 81, &c. 
 
440 THE SAXONS. [chap. xv. 
 
 immunities of the king, for the condition of serving him with twenty 
 ships for fifteen days in the year.* 
 
 We have another instance of municipal responsibility in the 
 case of Thetford, in Norfolk. In 952, the people of that town 
 were engaged in hostilities with the monks (probably in defence 
 of some of their privileges), in the course of which they slew 
 their abbot Eadhelm. King Ed red appears to have taken no 
 steps to discover the persons immediately concerned in this act of 
 violence, but he sent an army, and caused " a great slaughter " to 
 be made of the townsmen. f 
 
 In 1040, king Hardacnut imposed a very heavy tribute on his 
 English subjects. Two of the king's hascarles were sent to 
 enforce its payment by the citizens of Worcester, who rose against 
 them, and slew them in the cathedral. The king, in revenge, 
 sent an army to ravage the neighbourhood and destroy the city, 
 but the inhabitants had taken shelter, with their most valuable 
 effects, in an island in the river Severn, and there they set their 
 persecutors at defiance. J W T e here find a town asserting its right 
 to exemption from extraordinary taxation ; another of the muni- 
 cipal privileges guaranteed by the charters of a later period. 
 
 The city of Exeter affords a remarkable instance of the manner 
 in which the Roman municipal institutions were preserved. In 
 other towns the Romano- British population gradually disappeared; 
 but we learn, from William of Malmsbury, that, down to the 
 reign of Athelstan, Exeter was inhabited by English and Welsh, 
 who lived on an equality of rights (cequo jure§), which they could 
 only have done by virtue of an original composition with the 
 Saxon conquerors. It may be cited as a proof of the correctness 
 of this view of the mode in which the Roman corporations out- 
 lived the shock of invasion, and thus became a chief instrument 
 in the civilisation of subsequent ages, that even the Danes, in 
 their predatory excursions, often entered into similar compositions 
 with the Saxon towns, as with Canterbury, in 1009. It may be 
 
 * Burgenses dederunt xx. naves regi una vice in anno ad xv. dies ; et in 
 unaquaque navi erant homines xx. et unus. Hoc faciebant pro eo quod eis 
 perdonaverat sacam et socam. 
 
 f Saxon Chron. sub an. 
 
 X Saxon Chron. Florence of Worcester. 
 
 § Illos [Cornewallenses] quoque impigre adorsus, ab Excestria, quam ad id 
 temporis aequo cum Anglis jure inhabitarant, cedere compulit. W. Malmsb. de 
 Gest. Reg. p. 50. , 
 
chap, xv.] INDEPENDENCE OF THE TOWNSMEN. 441 
 
 added, that there is no greater evidence of the independence and 
 strength of the towns under the Saxons, than the circumstance 
 that, while the king and his earls, with the forces of the counties, 
 were not able to make a successful stand against the Danish 
 invaders, it frequently happened that a town singly drove a pow- 
 erful army from its gates, and the townsmen sometimes issued 
 forth and defeated the enemy in a pitched battle. The Saxon 
 Chronicle furnishes many examples. In 855, the townsmen of 
 Rochester made a brave defence against the Danes, till they were 
 relieved by Alfred. The inhabitants of Exeter opposed the 
 invaders with success on several occasions ; the townsmen (burg- 
 ware) beat them in battle in 895. In 918, the men of Hereford 
 and Gloucester went out, and defeated the Danes in a pitched 
 battle. In 921, the Danes were beaten by the men of Bedford, 
 and also by the inhabitants of Maldon in Essex. In 1001, the 
 people of Exmouth drove away the Danish army w T hich came to 
 attack that town. When the Saxons began to obtain the ascend- 
 ancy by the abilities of the family of Alfred, we find the towns 
 revolting from the Danes in a manner which can hardly leave a 
 doubt of their acting as free corporate bodies. The Saxon 
 Chronicle, under the year 918, speaking of Athelfleda, tells us, 
 " in the early part of this year, by Gods help, she got into her 
 power, by treaty, the burgh of Leicester, and the greater part 
 of the army which owed obedience thereto (]?e J?aer-to hyrde) 
 became subject to her; and the people of York (Eforwicin gas) had 
 also covenanted with her, some having given a pledge, and some 
 having bound themselves by oath, that they would be at her 
 command." And again, in the same year, " Thurcytel the eorl 
 sought king Edward to be his lord, and all the holdas and almost 
 all the chief men who owed obedience to Bedford, and also many 
 of those who owed obedience to Northampton." In the year 
 following, " those who owe obedience to Bedford " are called 
 burgwara, burgesses. In 921, "the army which owed obedience 
 to Cambridge " chose king Edward to be their lord. 
 
 We can trace the power and independence of the citizens of 
 London from the earliest period of our annals. We have no 
 reason for believing that this city, which was a powerful com- 
 mercial port, was ever taken and ravaged by the Saxon invaders. 
 It appears to have afforded a shelter to the people of West Kent, 
 when that district was overrun by the Saxons in their first 
 
442 THE SAXONS. [char xv. 
 
 inroads.* At the end of tbe sixth century, London was considered 
 as the capital of the East- Saxons, although Athelbert, king of 
 Kent, appointed Mellitus to the bishopric, and built there for 
 him the church of St. Paul.f At that period it was still a rich 
 trading town, J and it appears to have experienced no check to its 
 prosperity. After the relapse of the East- Saxons to idolatry, the 
 Londoners refused to receive back their bishop, and neither the 
 king of Kent, nor the two East- Saxon kings, had power to force 
 him upon them.§ About the year 635, Wini bought of Wulfhere, 
 king of the Mercians, the see of the city of London, and remained 
 bishop thereof till his death. At a subsequent period, archbishop 
 Theodore appointed bishops of the East-Saxons u in the city of 
 London," and Essex has been ever since included in the diocese. 
 In 679, we hear of Friesland merchants in London, and it appears 
 to have been then a great mart of slaves, || A comparison of these 
 different circumstances gives us some grounds for believing 
 that, although nominally the metropolis of the kings of the East- 
 Saxons, London was in the fullest sense of the word a free- 
 trading town, neutral to a certain degree between the kingdoms 
 around, although each king exercised a greater or less degree of 
 influence over it according as he was more or less powerful than 
 his neighbour, and perhaps each had his officers there to look 
 after the interests of his own subjects. This would explain in 
 some degree an obscure law of the Kentish kings, Hlothhere 
 and Edric (673 — 685), made at a time when we should expect 
 London to have been under the power of the kings of Mercia : — 
 " If any Kentish-man buy a chattel in Lunden-wic, let him then 
 have two or three true men to witness, or the king's ivic-reeve. 
 If it be afterwards claimed of the man in Kent, let him then 
 vouch the man who sold it him to warranty, in the wic (town) at 
 the king's hall, if he know him and can bring him to the warranty ; 
 if he cannot do that, let him prove at the altar, with one of his 
 witnesses, or with the king's wic-reeve, that he bought the chattel 
 openly in the wic, with his own money, and then let him be paid 
 its worth: but if he cannot prove that by lawful averment, let 
 
 * See the Saxon Chron. sub an. 457. 
 
 + Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 3. 
 
 % Et ipsa multorum emporium populorum terra marique venientium. 
 
 Bede, ib. 
 § Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 4. 
 |"| Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. c. 7, and lib. iv. cc. 6, 12, 22. 
 
char xvj LONDON. 443 
 
 him give it up, and let the owner take possession of it."* The 
 king's ivic-reeve appears to have been an officer of the king of 
 Kent who exercised a jurisdiction over the Kentish men trading 
 with or at London, or who was appointed to watch over their 
 interests. When the different Saxon kingdoms became consoli- 
 dated into one, the influence of the sole monarch over the 
 metropolis would be of course greatly increased, but we still meet 
 with remarkable proofs of its power and independence. Athelstan 
 was one of the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs of 
 England; yet under his reign, soon after the year 900, we find 
 " the bishop and reeves, who belong to London," making in the 
 name of the citizens laws, which were confirmed by the king 
 (because they had reference to the whole kingdom), and are pre- 
 served in the Anglo-Saxon code. These laws prove that the 
 body corporate of the city of London exercised an independent 
 jurisdiction in matters which concerned themselves far beyond 
 the limits of their own territory, and the necessity of making this 
 power known throughout the kingdom was the cause that their 
 laws on this subject were entered among the public laws of the 
 land, which circumstance has led to their preservation, while 
 every document relating to the internal government of the city at 
 this early period has perished. These laws relate chiefly to 
 robberies committed by strangers, to which a large commercial 
 city was naturally exposed, and against which it could provide 
 itself with no redress unless it could pursue the offenders to a 
 distance. One of the clauses provides, " if it then should happen 
 that any kin be so strong and so great, within land or without 
 land, whether twelve-hynde or two-hynde, that they refuse us our 
 right, and stand up in defence of a thief, that we all of us ride 
 thereto with the reeve within whose district (m anting) it may be ; 
 and also send on both sides to the reeves, and desire from them 
 aid of so many men as may seem to us adequate for so great a 
 suit, that there may be the more fear in those culpable men for 
 our assemblage, and that we all ride thereto, and avenge our 
 wrong, and slay the thief, and those who fight and stand with him, 
 unless they be willing to depart from him."f The power of 
 making a law like this, implies something like an understood 
 
 * Thorpe's Anglo-Saxon Laws, p. 14. Some antiquaries have supposed, very 
 erroneously, that Idinden-wic is here another name for Sandwich. 
 *t* Judicia eivitatis Lundoniee, viii. §. 2, 3. Thorpe, p. 100. 
 
Ui THE SAXONS. [chap. xv. 
 
 agreement or treaty between a free commercial city and the 
 states which surround it, whereby those states are allowed 
 commercial privileges on condition of giving the citizens the right 
 of pursuing offenders through their territories ; and it agrees 
 perfectly with the interpretation given to the earlier law of the 
 kings of Kent. 
 
 This also explains to us why, at a very early period after the 
 Norman Conquest, the privileges of the city of London are 
 excepted and protected in charters given to corporate towns in 
 far distant parts of the kingdom. In a dispute with the abbot of 
 Bury, in the twelfth century, the citizens of London, so far from 
 admitting (as Brady supposed), that their privileges were newly 
 acquired from their Norman sovereigns, professed to have enjoyed 
 them from the first foundation of their city, which they carried as 
 far back as the time of the foundation of Rome.* 
 
 We learn from the Saxon Chronicle that, in the Danish invasion 
 of the year 994, " Anlaf and Swegen came to London, on the 
 Nativity of St. Mary (Sept. 8), with ninety-four ships ; and they 
 then continued fighting stoutly against the town, and would eke 
 have set fire to it. But they there sustained more harm and evil 
 than they ever imagined that any townsmen (buruhwaru) would be 
 able to do unto them." In 1009, the men of Canterbury bought 
 a peace with the Danish invaders, and then, as we learn from the 
 contemporary authority just quoted, the latter " fought oft against 
 the town of London ; but, praise be to God, that it yet stands 
 sound, and they there ever fared ill." In 1013, king Athelred 
 sought shelter in London, which was besieged by Swegen : 
 "When he came to the town," says the chronicle, " the townsmen 
 (seo burhwaru, la bourgeoisie, it is a collective noun in the singular 
 number) would not submit, but held out against him with all their 
 might." Although the Danes now overrun without opposition the 
 rest of the kingdom, the Londoners defended the Saxon king, 
 until at length he deserted his protectors, and then, Swegen being 
 generally acknowledged as king of England, " the townsmen of 
 London submitted, and delivered hostages, because they dreaded 
 lest he should utterly undo them."t When king Athelred 
 
 * Et dicebant cives Lundonienses fuisse quietos de theloneo in omni foro, et 
 semper et nbique, per totam Angliam, a tempore quo Roma primo fimdata fuit, et 
 eivitatem Lundonise eodem tempore fimdatam. Josceline de Brakelonde, p. 56. 
 
 f Compare W. Malmsb. de Gest. Reg. Arigl. p. 69, with the Saxon Chronicle. 
 
chap, xv.] LONDON. 445 
 
 returned, after the death of Swegen, he was again received by the 
 Londoners, who formed his surest defence. In 1016, Edmund 
 Atheling collected his forces against Cnut . " When the forces 
 were assembled, then would it not content them, except it so were 
 that the king were there with them, and they might have the help 
 of the townsmen of London." As the townsmen would not go, 
 Edmund's army dispersed itself. On king Athelred's death, 
 which occurred the same year, " all the witan who were in 
 London, and the townsmen (seo burhwaru, William of Malmsbury 
 calls them the proceres Lundonm) chose Edmund to be king." 
 The Danes soon afterwards laid siege to London, but the citizens 
 again defended themselves with obstinacy, until Edmund came 
 and relieved them. They sustained a second siege the same year, 
 but, after Edmund's defeat at Assandun, " the men of London 
 made a truce with the army."* 
 
 It appears from the foregoing statements of a contemporary 
 chronicler, that the men of London were brave and experienced 
 warriors ; but they were evidently, like the citizens of the Roman 
 municipium, not liable to be called out of their own walls to fight, 
 even when the country was on the brink of ruin by a successful 
 invader; and the power of the monarch over them was very 
 limited. In the course of the history I have just recited, they 
 act in every respect as a small independent state. Another 
 incident occurred at this period, which illustrates in a remarkable 
 degree the extent of their power. When archbishop Alfey had 
 been slain by the Danes in 1012, the Londoners purchased his 
 body of the murderers, and deposited it in St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 After Cnut had obtained the crown by conquest, and peace was 
 restored, archbishop Agelnoth (Alfey 's successor) applied to the 
 king to give up the body of the martyr to the monks of Canter- 
 bury. Cnut, who was then holding his court in London, consented, 
 but he would only undertake to get away the body by deceiving 
 the citizens. He gave orders to his huscarles, or household 
 soldiers, to disperse themselves in parties, some on the bridge and 
 along the banks of the river, whilst others went to the gates of 
 the city, and there raised tumults and riots, f By dint of 
 
 * Saxon Chronicle. 
 + Mandans oinuibus familias suae militibus, quos lingua Danorum Jmscarles 
 vocant, ut alii eorum per extremas civitatis portas seditiones concitent, alii pontem 
 
446 THE SAXONS. [chap. xv. 
 
 promises and persuasions, the men who had the care of the body 
 of Alfey were prevailed upon to assist in the plot, and, whilst the 
 attention of the citizens was called to the disturbances at the 
 gates, the sacred deposit was carried by stealth to the river and 
 there placed in a boat, which was rowed in all haste beyond the 
 limits of the capital, and then landed in Kent. The king stood 
 on the bank of the Thames, and watched its progress with anxious 
 eye, for lie was afraid of the citizens* When the latter discovered 
 the trick which had been played upon them, they sent out a party 
 in pursuit of the fugitives, who, however, had reached a place of 
 safety before they were overtaken, f 
 
 This anecdote gives us a curious glance at London manners at 
 the beginning of the eleventh century. About half a century 
 after, at the entry of the Normans, we find the citizens of London 
 again holding the same bold position ; and the conqueror of 
 Hastings was obliged to make conditions w 7 ith them before they 
 would acknowledge him as king. It is not necessary to enter into 
 their subsequent history ; but it must be stated to their glory that, 
 if we begin with their defence against the Danes, in the tenth 
 century, the citizens of London have been, through at least nine 
 centuries, the constant, powerful, and unflinching — perhaps, 
 sometimes, turbulent — champions of the liberties of Englishmen. 
 
 To return again to the more general subject, we trace by 
 various allusions during the Anglo-Saxon period, that in these 
 corporate towns there was, independent of the municipal officers, 
 an officer of the king, or king's reeve, who took certain tolls or 
 dues which were reserved for the king on sales, manumissions, 
 judicial executions, &c, and which the king had obtained in the 
 transmission of the municipal system from the Roman to the 
 Saxon government. Thus at Exeter, as we learn from the entries 
 on the fly-leaves of the now well-known " Codex Exoniensis," 
 such duties were regularly paid to an officer " for the king's 
 hand," to use the phrase of the original; as, for instance, Alfric 
 Hals took the toll in Tovie's house " for faes kynges hand " 
 
 et ripas fluminis armati obsideant, ne exeuntes eos cum corpore sancti Lundanus 
 populus prsepedire valeat. 
 
 * Timebat namque civium interruptiones. 
 
 f Translatio S. Elphegi, by Osborn, ap. Act. SS. Ordinis Benedict, ssec. VI. 
 part. i. pp. 124 — 126. Osborn received his account from people who were 
 present, see p. 125. 
 
chap, xv.] MUNICIPAL PRIVILEGES. 447 
 
 (fol. 6, r°); Widfet took the toll " for fas cinges hand "(fol. 6, v°), 
 and so forth. When we hear of a Saxon king giving a town to a 
 queen, or to a bishop, or to an abbey, it means, of course, that the 
 king gave to those persons merely the duties which accrued to 
 him from the towns in question. 
 
 Although the municipal privileges were all derived directly 
 from the Romans, it does not of course follow that such privileges 
 were enjoyed only by towns which had been founded in Roman 
 times. As the Saxons became established throughout the island, 
 and adopted, to a certain degree, the manners of their Roman 
 predecessors, they founded other towns, and they naturally 
 imitated the forms presented to their view in the Roman models 
 already existing. Most of these were, as the Roman towns had 
 become, royal towns, that is, they had no superior lord but the 
 king. But others, after the conversion of the Saxons to 
 Christianity, gradually sprung up about, and under the protection 
 of, episcopal sees and abbeys, and these eventually received their 
 rights and privileges at the hands of their ecclesiastical protectors. 
 Numerous instances of such towns might be pointed out, such as 
 St. Alban's, Dunstable, Beverley, &c. It was more common for 
 the early Saxon and Frankish monarchs to give towns to bishops 
 and abbots, than to any other class of persons, or, at least, gifts 
 to ecclesiastical dignitaries were always of a more permanent 
 character. Hence it arises that, at a later period of medieval 
 history, we find so many corporate towns whose charters are 
 derived from ecclesiastical, and not from lay, lords. On the con- 
 tinent, one or two towns became, in this manner, ecclesiastical 
 principalities. 
 
 We trace in these ecclesiastical towns of the Anglo-Saxon 
 period the existence of a municipal government, and the same 
 jealousy of their privileges, as in the more perfect models derived 
 from Roman times. When the Danish king Swegen, then at 
 Gainsborough, ignorant or careless of local privileges, demanded 
 a tax of the people of Bedricsworth, or Bury St. Edmunds, the 
 latter pleaded their exemption from royal taxes, and refused to 
 pay. The monks of St. Edmund's of course took their part, 
 because to them the regular taxes of the town had been given. 
 Swegen was furious, and threatened with his vengeance both the 
 monks and the townsmen; but the ecclesiastics have recorded, 
 exultingly, that that same night the hand of death was laid upon 
 
448 THE SAXONS. [chap. xv. 
 
 the proud and scornful Dane, and that the country was thus 
 delivered from one ferocious enemy.' 1 " 
 
 In the foregoing remarks, my object has been to bring together 
 a few historical incidents which, in the entire absence of more 
 explicit documents, seem to show clearly that the municipal 
 government and privileges of corporate towns, derived from 
 Roman civilisation, had existed in this country, as on the conti- 
 nent, uninterruptedly from Roman times. In these incidents we 
 trace here and there the preservation of Roman forms and Roman 
 principles, and we trace still more distinctly almost every muni- 
 cipal right and municipal power which were at a later period 
 guaranteed by royal or other charter, and which, by comparison 
 with the privileges and government of corporate towns in France 
 and Italy, and elsewhere on the continent, we know to have been 
 derived from the political constitution of the Romans. From 
 these circumstances we are justified in concluding that our muni- 
 cipal corporations were not the creations of the royal will in 
 Norman times, but that they had existed in a perfect form 
 throughout the Saxon period. By these considerations, also, we 
 are enabled to understand better the entries relating to the towns 
 in Domesday book. We find there that in many of these towns 
 the king received Ms rates by his receiver (the propositus regis), 
 from each particular person from whom they were due individually, 
 and in each individual case. In such towns the numbers of 
 burgesses paying rates are enumerated, both in the time of king 
 Edward and in that of king William. The propositus regis, or 
 king's reeve, is frequently mentioned, as at Dover, Lewes, 
 G-uildford, &c. In other instances, and these are not few, we 
 find that the municipality, to escape the too officious interference, 
 and sometimes oppressive conduct, of a collecting officer who was 
 not under their own jurisdiction, had compounded for the king's 
 taxes, by the yearly payment of a certain sum of money. Such 
 was the case with Dorchester, Bridport, Wareham, Shaftesbury, 
 Hertford, and other places. It was a very necessary safeguard, 
 especially for smaller towns, whose revenue the king might let 
 out to farm to some one who paid a certain sum, and made as 
 much of it as he could, and would probably practise every kind of 
 
 * An interesting account of this affair is given among the miracles of St. 
 Edmund, MS. Cotton. Tiber. B. II. fol. 25 and 26. See also W. Malmsb. de 
 Gest. Reg. p. 71. 
 
chap, xv.] CHARTER OF TOWNS. 449 
 
 extortion to enrich himself. This was experienced more severely 
 in Norman times ; and when the towns obtained charters, they 
 invariably bought the farm of the king's dues for ever, which was 
 called the fee-farm of the town. 
 
 The judicial entries on the fly-leaves of the Exeter manuscript, 
 written before and after the Conquest, show us that the municipal 
 forms and conditions of that city underwent no change upon the 
 transfer of the English crown to a Norman line of sovereigns ; 
 and such was probably the case in all other cities and towns then 
 in existence. But, although their privileges and constitution 
 were in principle untouched, in practice they were frequently 
 trespassed upon. A new race of feudal lords had entered upon 
 the land, who were ignorant of the customs of the people over 
 whom they had intruded themselves, and who had little respect 
 for any customs which stood as obstacles in the gratification of 
 their views of aggrandisement. This must have led to continual 
 riots and disturbances in the old Saxon towns, and to infringe- 
 ments of their privileges where they had little power to obtain 
 permanent redress. After undergoing all these vexations during 
 a few years, they saw the advantages — or we may perhaps better 
 say the necessity — of purchasing from the king written charters 
 confirming their old rights, which became an effective pro- 
 tection in a court of law. Thus originated municipal charters, 
 which are rather to be considered as a proof of the antiquity, 
 than of the novelty, of the privileges they grant. They were 
 given most abundantly under Henry II. and his sons, when 
 it became the policy of the English monarchs to seek the 
 support of the independent burghers against a turbulent feudal 
 aristocracy. 
 
 Perhaps we may be thought to have wandered a little from our 
 immediate subject in the preceding remarks ; but in the absence 
 of all contemporary information on the state of the Roman towns 
 in Britain after they had fallen under the subjection of the 
 Saxons, it is only by these traces of their condition at a subse- 
 quent period that we can perceive how the Roman element of 
 civilisation was preserved in them. They hold a very important 
 place in the history of social development, inasmuch as, while the 
 country itself underwent so many violent revolutions — while 
 Britons, and Saxons, and Normans, alternately gained possession 
 of the soil — the population of the towns continued to exist without 
 
450 THE SAXONS. [chap. xv. 
 
 any further alteration than that gradual infusion of foreign blood 
 which must necessarily take place in the course of ages, and to 
 which we owe that due mixture of Saxon and Roman that forms 
 the basis of modern civilisation. 
 
 If we possessed the necessary information on the subject, we 
 should no doubt find that the Anglo-Saxons had adopted many of 
 the arts and amusements of society from the Romans. Although 
 the large potteries and such establishments in the country having 
 been deserted by the workmen, were no doubt left in ruin, many 
 of the manufactories, where they existed in the towns, continued 
 probably in activity. We know nothing of the fate of public 
 buildings in the towns, but we have a proof that the amphitheatres 
 continued in use, in the circumstance that long afterwards we find 
 them the scene of performances of bears and of bull-baiting. I 
 have stated before that the Anglo-Saxons adopted the Roman 
 roads and bridges in every part of the island. To the former 
 they gave the name of streets (street), a word no doubt derived from 
 the Latin strata, the name by which probably they heard them 
 designated among the Roman population. We may still trace their 
 course, by the continued recurrence of names of places in which 
 the Saxon word, under such forms as stret, strat, streat, occurs in 
 composition, as Stretton, Stratford, Streatham, &c. A glance at 
 the map will show that the great Roman military roads resolved 
 themselves into a few grand lines which traversed the island in 
 different directions. Of these there were four principal lines, of 
 which perhaps the most important was that which ran from 
 Richborough or Dover, through Canterbury and London, across 
 the island to Chester. The Saxons, who planted their own local 
 traditions wherever they settled, connected this wonderful work with 
 one of their own mythic traditions, and callett it Wsetlinga-straet, 
 the road of the Wsetlings, or sons of Wsetla,* and it was celebrated 
 
 * The milky way was also popularly called Watling-street, and it is mentioned 
 under this name in Chaucer's house of Fame, 
 
 Lo there, quod he, cast up thine eye, 
 
 Se yondir, lo, the galaxie, 
 
 The wiche men clepe the milky way, 
 
 For it is white ; and some, par fay, 
 
 Y-callin it han Watlinge-strete. 
 Florence of Worcester, in his chronicle under the year 1013, mentioning the 
 British Watling-street, says, " Omnis populis qui habitahat in septentrionali plaga 
 Weatlingastreatse, id est strata quam filii Weatlae regis ab orientali mare usque ad 
 occidentale per Angliam straverunt." King Weatla was no doubt a personage of 
 the Anglo-Saxon mythology. 
 
chap, xv.] THE SAXON ROADS. 451 
 
 down to recent times as the Watling- street, a name still retained 
 by the portion of it which ran through London. To the 
 road which ran direct from Pevensey and Regnum through 
 London, and by Lincoln and the great Yorkshire towns to the 
 south-east of Scotland, they gave the name of Eormen-strset, the 
 street of Eormen, who was one of the chief Anglo-Saxon divinities, 
 and whose name was often compounded in those of persons and 
 things which were regarded as great or wonderful. The name at 
 a later period was corrupted to Ermyn-street. Two other great 
 roads which crossed the island, one from the coast of Norfolk, by 
 Cambridge, Old Sarum, and Exeter, to the extremity of Cornwall; 
 the other, from the mouth of the Tyne to Gloucester, and thence 
 to St. David's; were named the Iknield-street and the Ryknield- 
 street, but the origin of these names is very doubtful. Other 
 roads of less importance received also their distinctive appellations. 
 Two, originating at the great saltworks at Droitwich, and pro- 
 ceeding, one eastwardly to the coast of Lincolnshire, the other 
 southwardly to the Hampshire coast, have been designated as the 
 Salt- ways ; and another leading from the east to Cirencester, was 
 known as the Akeman-street, it is supposed because it was the way 
 by which invalids travelled to Bath, one of the Saxon names of 
 which was Akemannes-ceaster, or the city of invalids. 
 
 g 2 
 
452 THE WELSH. [chap. xvi. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Celtic Establishments. — Cumbria, Cornwall, Wales. — Early sepulchral inscriptions 
 found in the two latter countries. 
 
 While the Saxon tribes were penetrating into the island from 
 the east and south, other races were establishing themselves on 
 the eastern side, whose history is completely lost. We are 
 assured by nearly contemporary writers that, when the Teutonic 
 invaders began to harass Britain, the Picts and Scots, who were 
 of course joined by the Irish, carried on their destructive inroads 
 on the other side of Britain, which would be left in a compara- 
 tively defenceless state by the withdrawal of the legions from 
 Deva {Chester) and Isca (Caerleon) some years before the Roman 
 emperors relinquished the island. From this time history and 
 tradition are equally silent, until, when we arrive again at the 
 period when the annals of at least one part of the island become 
 authentic, we find three distinct Celtic states in existence, that of 
 the Cumbrians in the north, that of the Wealas, or Welsh, in 
 the mountainous region to which they have given their name, and 
 which was divided into several petty states, and that of the 
 Cornwealas, who gave their name to Cornwall. It is impossible 
 to decide the question satisfactorily as to whence the population 
 of these districts came, whether they were the primitive Britons, 
 who had arisen and taken possession of the land of their fore- 
 fathers ; whether they were Caledonians from the north, who, like 
 the Saxons, at last settled down in the country which they had 
 been accustomed to invade, or Irish from the neighbouring island ; 
 or whether they were a mixture of these different peoples. We 
 know T too little of the language of the Britons before Caesar's 
 invasion to found any certain argument upon it ; and all that we 
 
chap, xvi.] THE CELTIC DISTRICTS OF ENGLAND. 453 
 
 can say is, that these Celtic settlers seem to have been a bar- 
 barous people, who were much less than the Saxons capable of 
 benefiting by the Roman civilisation with which they came in 
 contact. We find no antiquities of this period among the Welsh, 
 as we do among the Anglo-Saxons, and in Wales at least the 
 Roman towns seem to have been mostly destroyed. 
 
 We can hardly doubt that it was the Caledonian Picts who, while 
 the Angles were establishing themselves in Bernicia and Deira, 
 got possession of the district extending on the western side of the 
 island from Lancashire, of which they formed a kingdom known by 
 the name of Cumbria, and called by the Scots the kingdom of 
 Strathcluyd, because its northern limits lay upon the Clyde. The 
 Cumbrian Celts preserved, we know, two Roman towns, Lugubal- 
 lium in the neighbourhood of the wall of Hadrian, and a strong 
 town on the waters of the Clyde, which had been called under the 
 Romans Tamea and Theodosia. The latter became the metro- 
 polis of the chieftains of the Cumbrians, and they named it, from 
 its situation, Al-cluyd ; the Irish Scots, their neighbours, called it 
 Dun-Breton, the fortress of the Britons, a name still preserved in 
 that of Dumbarton, by which it is known at the present day. 
 Their southern town, Luguballium, retained its old name, cor- 
 rupted, with the addition of caer, which, like the Saxon ceaster, is 
 a mere corruption of the Roman castrum, and was called Caer-luel, 
 or Caer-leol, now Carlisle. The legendary Scottish annalists give 
 us names of the kings of Strathcluyd, and speak of their exploits ; 
 some of them pretend that Carausius granted Cumberland and 
 Westmoreland to a Scottish king named Crathlynt, in consideration 
 of important services which he had rendered to that usurper, and 
 they add that Crathlynt's son was confirmed in possession. All, 
 however, that w T e know with certainty is, that the Cumbrian 
 Britons were at an early period engaged in war with the Angles, 
 and that the southern part of the kingdom of Alcluyd with the 
 city of Carlisle fell eventually under the power of the Northum- 
 brian kings. Carlisle is celebrated in British legend as the 
 favourite residence of king Arthur. 
 
 To judge by the tenor of these legends, the Cumbrians appear 
 to have preserved more of Roman culture than the Welsh or 
 Cornish. The latter seems to have had a close connection with 
 the Irish and with the Celts of Armorica, and we can hardly help 
 believing that invaders from the one country and settlers from the 
 
454 THE WELSH. [chap. xvi. 
 
 other, helped to swell its population. They were dependent on 
 the important Roman town of Isca, which the Saxons called 
 Exan-ceaster, the city on the river Exe. The Corn-wealas pre- 
 served their independence until the time of king Athelstan. 
 
 Wales was divided under several petty chiefs, of whom those 
 who inhabited the southern district, where the principal Roman 
 towns stood, seem to have been the least barbarous. Here they 
 took possession of the important Roman town of Maridunum, and 
 they preserved the memory of its ancient name in that of Caer- 
 Marddyn, or Caermarthen, which during the middle ages was the 
 most important town in Wales. Most of the names of Roman 
 towns in Wales were preserved in the same manner, as in 
 Caer-Seiont (Segontium), Caer-Went (Venta), Neath (Nidum), &c. ; 
 and this would certainly make us inclined to believe that the 
 Welsh race was an indigenous one, and that it consisted, at 
 least in part, of a population which had been left there by the 
 Romans. In memory of the second legion, which had been so 
 long established at the Silurian Isca, they gave to the ruins of 
 that city the name of Caer-Legion, the city of the legion, now 
 softened to Caerleon. They gave the same name of Caer-Legion 
 to Deva, or Chester, the head-quarters of the twentieth legion. 
 
 It is a remarkable circumstance connected with these Celtic 
 kingdoms, that when we first become acquainted with them — 
 about the time of St. Augustine — we find that Christianity was 
 established among them. We have no evidence, indeed, that the 
 Cumbrian Britons were Christians, and we may perhaps presume 
 the contrary ; but there can be no doubt that the Welsh and the 
 people of Cornwall professed the Gospel, and the former had a 
 large establishment of monks at a place called by the Saxons 
 Bancorna-byrig, which probably occupied the old Roman station 
 of Bovium, which appears to have been called at the close of the 
 Roman period Banchorium, and is supposed to be the place now 
 called Bangor Iscoed, in the Welsh county of Flint. The origin 
 of Christianity in Cornwall and Wales is a very obscure question, 
 and one which it is not a part of our plan to discuss. It has been 
 already intimated that we find no traces of Christianity among the 
 innumerable Roman remains found in this country ; and the 
 Christian faith of the Britons seems to have been closely allied 
 with that of Ireland. To this connection the later legends of the 
 Welsh and Cornish saints seem distinctly to refer ; and we might 
 
chap, xvi.] EARLY SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS. 455 
 
 be induced by these legends and other circumstances to suspect 
 that their first missionaries came from Spain or Armorica, after 
 the period when the island was relinquished by Rome. 
 
 There is one class of antiquities, fouod in Wales and Cornwall, 
 but more especially in the latter county, which appears to belong 
 to the period following immediately after that of the departure of 
 the Roman legions. These are large, roughly-hew 7 n stones, 
 bearing sepulchral inscriptions, in letters nearly resembling those 
 of the late Roman monuments. They are in Latin, but the names 
 are evidently Celtic, and they give simply the name of the indi- 
 vidual commemorated and his father. They differ from the 
 Roman inscriptions in this, that the inscription runs the length- 
 way of the stone, instead of being read across. A number of 
 examples will be found in the volumes of Lysons's Magna 
 Britannia for Devonshire and Cornwall, and in Borlase's 
 Antiquities of Cornwall. One of the earliest and best preserved 
 stands in the parish of St. Columb Minor, in the latter county ; 
 it is five feet high, by twenty inches in width, and the inscription 
 is particularly curious, as giving to the person it commemorates 
 the Roman title of tribune : — 
 
 ho^emimor Honemimoras 
 
 trlbvn the tribune. 
 
 Another of these stones, which is found at Lanyon, in the parish 
 of Maddern, where it is popularly known as the men skryfa, or 
 inscribed stone, has the inscription : — 
 
 rialobran Rialobranus, 
 
 cvnoval fil son of Cunovalis. 
 
 The inscription on a similar stone, at Tavistock in Devon- 
 shire, is : — 
 
 neprani Nepranius, 
 
 fili condevi son of Condevus. 
 
 Lysons gives two others found in Devonshire, at Buckland 
 Monachorum, and at Lastleigh. One, which had been used as 
 the gate-post to the vicarage house at St. Clement's, near Truro, 
 had the following inscription in one line, giving a Roman name 
 combined with a Celtic or a Teutonic name : — 
 
 isnioc vital fili TORRici Isniocus Vitalis son of Torricus. 
 
456 THE WELSH. [chap. xvi. 
 
 Sometimes the words hic jacet are added to the inscription. Thus 
 the inscription on one of these monuments, standing in the road 
 between Fowey and Castledor, and popularly called from its 
 height (eight feet) the long stone, is : — 
 
 cirvsivs hic iacet Cirusius lies here, 
 
 cvnomori filivs the son of Cunomorus. 
 
 At Worthyvale, not far from Camelford, in Cornwall, there is 
 an inscribed stone, nine feet nine inches long, and two feet 
 three inches wide, which had been formerly thrown across a 
 small stream to serve as a bridge. The inscription is : — 
 
 catin hic iacit Catinus lies here, 
 
 filivs magari the son of Magarus. 
 
 These inscriptions are usually assigned, and probably with 
 reason, to the fifth and sixth centuries. Those found in Wales 
 have generally a mixture of cursive letters with the capitals, and 
 belong evidently to a later period, perhaps from the ninth to the 
 eleventh centuries. One stone, however, which w T as discovered 
 near the Roman road from Nidum (Neath) to the southern 
 Bovium (Eivenny), is of a date as early as those found in Cornwall, 
 and is expressed in the same form. The inscription, in one line, 
 commemorates Cantusus, the father of Pavinus: — ■ 
 
 HIC IACIT CANTVSVS PATER PAVIWVS. 
 
 It was evidently written by one who spoke Latin corruptly ; but 
 its greatest singularity is the circumstance that the inscription 
 is cut on the back of an older inscribed stone, dedicated to the 
 emperor Maximinus ; and although the pure Roman inscription 
 is written in lines across the stone, the later inscription is 
 written, like those found in Cornwall, lengthways. It remains 
 to be stated that one or two of these stones have evidently had a 
 cross at the top, so that there can be no doubt of the people to 
 whom they belonged being Christians. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I— THE ITINERARIES AND LISTS OF TOWNS. 
 
 In our fourth chapter we have given a general account of the Roman 
 towns in Britain, with their modern representatives, as far as these have 
 been ascertained, or where they have been fixed conjecturally. Many of 
 them are identified without any room for doubt, while others (though 
 comparatively few) remain still uncertain, from errors in the distances 
 given in the Itineraries, or from the want of a proper investigation of the 
 neighbourhoods in which they must have stood. It will be perhaps of 
 use, to assist such investigations, if we give here the texts of the Itineraries 
 relating to our island, with the distances as there given in Roman miles. 
 
 The first and most undoubtedly authentic of these is the great Itinerary 
 of the Roman Empire which goes under the name of Antoninus Augustus. 
 It is supposed to have been composed about the year 320. The best 
 edition is that of Wesseling, from which the portion relating to Britain is 
 here taken. 
 
 A Gessoriaco de Galliis Ritupis in 
 portu Britanniarum stadia nu- 
 mero ccccl. 
 
 (1) A limite, id est a vallo, Prsetorio 
 usque, m. p. clvi. 
 
 A Bremenio Corsto- 
 
 . m. p. xx. 
 . m. p. ix. 
 . m. p. xix. 
 . m. p. xxh. 
 . m. p. xxiv. 
 
 pitum 
 Vindomora 
 Vinovia 
 Cataraetoni 
 Isurium 
 Eburacum, 1 
 
 victrix 
 Derventione 
 Delgovitia 
 Prsetorio 
 
 m. p. xvii. 
 m. p. vii. 
 m. p. xiii. 
 m. p. xxv. 
 
 (2) Iter a vallo ad portum Ritupis 
 m. p. cccclxxxi, sic : 
 A Blato Bulgio Castra 
 Exploratorum . m. p. 
 
 Laguvallo 
 
 Voreda . 
 
 Brovonacis 
 
 Verteris 
 
 Lavatris 
 
 Cataraetoni 
 
 Isurium 
 
 Eburacum 
 
 Calcaria 
 
 Camboduno 
 
 Mamucio . 
 
 Condate 
 
 . m.p 
 . m. p. 
 . m. p, 
 . m.p 
 . m. p 
 . m. p 
 * m. p. 
 . m.p. 
 . m.p. 
 . m. p, 
 . m.p. 
 .p. 
 
 Deva leg. xx victrix . m. p, 
 
 >. xn. 
 . xii. 
 
 xiv. 
 •. xiii. 
 . xiii. 
 .xiv. 
 .xiii. 
 
 xxiv. 
 
 xvii. 
 . ix. 
 
 XX. 
 
 i. xviii. 
 . xviii. 
 
 XX. 
 
458 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Bovio 
 
 Mediolano 
 
 Eutunio . 
 
 Uroconio 
 
 Uxacona . 
 
 Pennocrucio 
 
 Etoceto 
 
 Manduessedo 
 
 Venonis 
 
 Bennavenna 
 
 Lactodoro 
 
 Magiovinto 
 
 Durocobrivis 
 
 Verolamio 
 
 Sulloniacis 
 
 Londinio 
 
 Noviomago 
 
 Vagniacis 
 
 Durobrivis . . 
 
 Durolevo 
 
 Duroverno . . 
 
 Ad portum Eitupis . 
 
 m. p. x. 
 m. p. xx. 
 
 m. p. xii. 
 m. p. xi. 
 m. p. xi. 
 m. p. xii. 
 m. p. xii. 
 m. p. xvi. 
 m. p. xii. 
 m. p. xvii. 
 m. p. xii. 
 m. p. xvii. 
 m. p. xii. 
 m. p. xii. 
 m. p. ix. 
 m. p. xii. 
 m. p. x. 
 m. p. xviii. 
 m. p. ix. 
 m. p. xiii. 
 m. p. xii. 
 m. p. xii. 
 
 (3) Iter a Londinio ad portum 
 
 Dubris m. p. lxvi, sic : 
 Durobrivis . . m. p. xxvii. 
 Duroverno . . m. p. xxv. 
 
 Ad portum Dubris . m. p. xiv. 
 
 (4) Iter a Londinio ad portum 
 
 Lemanis m. p. lxviii, sic : 
 Durobrivis . . m. p. xxvii. 
 Duroverno . . m. p. xxv. 
 
 AdportumLemanis m. p. xvi. 
 
 (5) Iter a Londinio 
 vallum, m. p. 
 Csesaromago 
 Colonia . 
 Villa Faustini . 
 Icianos . 
 Camborico 
 Duroliponte . 
 Durobrivas 
 Causennis 
 Lindo 
 Segeloci . 
 Dano . 
 Legeolio 
 Eburaco 
 Isubrigantum 
 Cataractoni 
 Lavatris . 
 
 Luguvallio ad 
 ccccxliii, sic : 
 
 . m. p 
 . m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 , m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 , m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 , m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 
 ». XXVlll. 
 
 xxiv. 
 
 xxxv. 
 
 xviii. 
 
 xxxv. 
 
 xxv. 
 
 xxxv. 
 
 xxx. 
 
 xx vi. 
 
 xiv. 
 
 xxi. 
 
 xvi. 
 
 xxi. 
 
 xvii. 
 
 xxiv. 
 
 xviii. 
 
 Verteris 
 Brocavo 
 Luguvallio 
 
 (6) Iter a Londinio 
 clvi, sic : 
 Verolamio 
 Durocobrivis 
 Magiovinio 
 Lactodoro . 
 Isannavatia 
 Tripontio . 
 Vennonis 
 Eatis 
 Verometo 
 Margiduno 
 Ad Pontem 
 Crococalano 
 Lindo . 
 
 . m. p. xm. 
 . m. p. xx. 
 . m. p. xxiL 
 
 Lindo, m. p. 
 
 . m. p. xxi. 
 . m. p. xii. 
 . m. p. xii. 
 . m. p. xvi. 
 . m. p. xii. 
 . m. p. xii. 
 . m.p.ix. 
 . m. p. xii. 
 . m. p. xiii. 
 . m. p. xiii. 
 . m. p. vii. 
 . m. p. vii. 
 . m. p. xii. 
 
 (7) Iter a Eegno Londinio, m. p. 
 
 xcvi, sic : 
 Clausentum . . m. p. xx. 
 Venta Belgarum . m. p. x. 
 Calleva Attrebatum m. p. xxii. 
 Pontibus . . . m. p. xxii. 
 Londinio . . m. p. xxii. 
 
 (8) Iter ab Eburaco Londinium, 
 
 m. p. ccxxvii, sic : 
 Lagecio . . . m. p. xxi. 
 
 Dano . . . m. p. xvi. 
 Ageloco . . . m. p. xxi. 
 
 Lindo . . . m. p. xiv. 
 Crococalano . . m. p. xiv. 
 
 Margiduno . . m. p. xiv. 
 Vernemeto . . m. p. xii. 
 
 Eatis . . . m. p. xii. 
 Vennonis . . . m. p. xii. 
 
 Bannavanto . . m. p. xviii. 
 Magiovinio . . m. p. xxviii. 
 
 Durocobrivis . m. p. xii. 
 
 Verolamio . . m. p. xii. 
 
 Londinio . . m. p. xxi. 
 
 (9) Iter a Venta Icenorum Lon- 
 dinio, m. p. cxxviii, sic : 
 
 Sitomago 
 Combretonio 
 Ad Ansam 
 Camuloduno 
 Canonio . 
 Csesaromago . 
 
 m. p. xxxn. 
 , m. p. xxii. 
 , m. p. xv. 
 , m. p. vi. 
 , m. p. ix. 
 
 m. p. xii. 
 
ITINERARY OF ANTONINUS. 
 
 459 
 
 Durolito . . . m. p. xvi. 
 
 Magnis . 
 
 . m. p. xxii. 
 
 Londinio . . m. p. xv. 
 
 Bravinio . 
 
 . m. p. xxiv. 
 
 
 Viroconio 
 
 . m. p. xxvii. 
 
 (10) Iter a Glanoventa Mediolano, 
 
 
 
 m. p. cl, sic : 
 
 (13) Iter ab Isca 
 
 Calleva, m. p. 
 
 Galava . . . m. p. xviii. 
 
 cix, sic : 
 
 
 Alone . . . m. p. xii. 
 
 Burrio . 
 
 . m. p. ix. 
 
 Galacum . . m. p. xix. 
 
 Blestio 
 
 . m. p. xi 
 
 Bremetonaci . . m. p. xxvii. 
 
 Ariconio 
 
 . m. p. xi. 
 
 Coccio . . . m. p. xx. 
 
 Glevo 
 
 . m. p. xv. 
 
 Mancunio . . . m. p. xvii. 
 
 Durocornovio 
 
 . m. p. xiv. 
 
 Condate . . m. p. xviii. 
 
 Spinis 
 
 . m. p. xv. 
 
 Mediolano . . m. p. xviii. 
 
 Calleva . 
 
 . m. p. xv. 
 
 (11) Iter a Segontio Devam, m. p. 
 
 (14) Item alio itinere ab Isca Calleva, 
 
 lxxiv, sic : 
 
 m. p. ciii, sic : 
 
 
 Conovio . . m. p. xxiv. 
 
 Venta Silurum 
 
 . m. p. ix. 
 
 Varis . . . m. p. xix. 
 
 Abone . 
 
 . m. p. ix. 
 
 Deva . . . m. p. xxxii. 
 
 Trajectus . 
 
 . m. p. ix. 
 
 
 Aquis Solis . 
 
 . m. p. vi. 
 
 (12) Iter per Muridunum Viroco- 
 
 Verlucione 
 
 . m. p. xv. 
 
 nium, m. p. clxxxvi, sic : 
 
 Cunetione 
 
 . m. p. xx. 
 
 Vindorni . . m. p. xv. 
 
 Spinis 
 
 . m. p. xv. 
 
 Venta Belgarum . m. p. xxi. 
 
 Calleva . 
 
 . m. p. xv. 
 
 Brige . . . m. p. xi. 
 
 
 
 Sorbioduni . . in. p. ix. 
 
 (15) Iter a Calleva 
 
 Isca Dumnu- 
 
 Vindogladia . m. p. xii. 
 
 niorum, m. p. 
 
 cxxxvi, sic : 
 
 Durnovaria . * m. p. viii. 
 
 Vindorni . 
 
 . m. p. xv. 
 
 Muriduno . ' m. p. xxxvi. 
 
 Venta Belgarum 
 
 . m. p. xxi. 
 
 Isca Dummmiorum m. p. xv. 
 
 Brige 
 
 . m. p. xi. 
 
 Leucaro . . . m. p. xv. 
 
 Sorbioduni 
 
 . m. p. viii. 
 
 Nido . . . m. p. xv. 
 
 Vindogladia . 
 
 . m. p. xii. 
 
 Bomio . . . m. p. xv. 
 
 Durnovaria 
 
 . m. p. viii. 
 
 Iscse,leg. ii. Augusta, m. p. xxvii. 
 
 Muriduno 
 
 . m. p. xxxvi. 
 
 Burrio . . . m. p. ix. 
 
 IscaDumnuniorum. m. p. xv. 
 
 Gobannio . . . hi. p. xii. 
 
 
 
 The description of Britain attributed to Richard of Cirencester has been 
 the subject of much discussion, and appears to be made up of very 
 discordant materials. How much was really the work of a monk of 
 Westminster, and how much we owe to the modern editor, Bertram of 
 Copenhagen, it is not easy to say, for the manuscript has very strangely 
 disappeared. It appears, however, that the old monk had before him a 
 Roman itinerary similar to that of Antoninus, or perhaps a map, from 
 which he extracted the part relating to Britain, which is inserted in his 
 book under the title of Diaphragmata. That this Itinerary was not 
 invented by Bertram seems clear from the circumstance that his roads, 
 though they are not always the same as those in Antoninus, have been 
 traced where he places them, and that their existence was certainly not 
 known in Bertram's time. The following is the text of Richard's Diaphrag- 
 mata, which is in some parts imperfect, from the damaged state of the 
 manuscript : — 
 
460 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Iter I. Rhutupis prima in Britannia 
 insula civitas versus Galiiam, 
 apud Cantios sita, a Gessoriaco 
 Bonnonise portu, unde commo- 
 dissimus in supradictam insu- 
 lam transitus obtingit, ccccl. 
 stadia, velut alii volunt xlvi. 
 mille passuum remota. Ab 
 eadem civitate ducta est via 
 Guethelinga dicta, usque in 
 Segontiuni, per m. p. cccxxiiii. 
 plus minus, sic : 
 
 Cantiopoli, quae et 
 
 Duroverno . . m. p. x. 
 
 Durosevo . . xii. 
 
 Duroprovis . . . xxv. 
 
 deinde m. p. xxvii. transit Thamesin, 
 intrasque provinciam Flaviam 
 et civitatem Londinium (Au- 
 gustam), 
 
 Sulomago. . . m. p. ix. 
 
 Verolamio municipio xii. 
 
 Unde fuit Amphibalus et Albanus 
 martyres. 
 
 Foro Dianae . . xii. 
 
 Magiovinio . . xii. 
 
 Lactorodo . . xii. 
 
 Isantavaria . . . xii. 
 
 Tripontio . . xii. 
 
 Benonis ... ix. 
 
 Hie bisecatur via, alterutrumque 
 ejus brachium Lindurn usque, 
 alterum versus Viriconium pro 
 tenditur, sic : 
 
 Manduessuedo . . m. p. ix. 
 
 Etoceto . . . xiii. 
 
 Pennocrucio . . xii. 
 
 Uxaconia . . . xii. 
 
 Virioconio . . xi. 
 
 Banchorio . . . xxvi. 
 
 Deva colonia . . x. 
 
 Fines Flavise et Secundse. 
 
 Varis . . . . m. p. xxx. 
 
 Conovio . . . xx. 
 
 Seguntio . . . xxiv. 
 
 Iter II. A Seguntio Virioconium 
 usque m. p. Ixxiii., sic : 
 Heriri monte . . m. p. xxv. 
 Mediolano . . . xxv. 
 
 Rutunio . . xii. 
 
 Virioconio ... xi. 
 
 Iter III. A Londinio Lindum 
 coloniam usque, sic : 
 Durosito . . m. p. xii. 
 
 Csesaromago . . xvi. 
 
 Canonio . . . xv. 
 
 Camaloduno colonia ix. 
 
 Ibi erat templum Claudii, arx 
 triumphalis, et imago Victoria} 
 deae. 
 Ad Sturium amnem . m. p. vi. 
 et finibus Trinobantum cenimannos 
 advenis. 
 
 Cambretonis 
 
 m. p. xv. 
 
 Sitomago . . . 
 
 xxii. 
 
 Venta Cenom. . 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 Camborico . 
 
 xxii. 
 
 Duraliponte 
 
 XX. 
 
 Durnomago 
 
 XX. 
 
 Isinnis 
 
 XX. 
 
 Lindo . . . 
 
 XX. 
 
 Iter IV. A Lindo ad vallum usque, 
 sic': 
 
 Argolico . . . m. p. xiv. 
 
 Dano . . ■. xx. 
 
 Ibi intras Maximam Caesariensem. 
 
 Legotio . . . m. p. xvi. 
 
 Eboraco municip. 
 
 olim colonia sexta . m. p. xxi. 
 
 Isurio . . . . xvi. 
 
 Cattaractoni . . xxiv. 
 
 Ad Tisam . * x. 
 
 Vinovio -. . . xii. 
 
 Epiaco . . . . xix. 
 
 Ad Murum . . ix. 
 
 Trans Murum intras Valentiam. 
 
 Alauna amne . . m. p. xxv. 
 
 Tueda flumine . . xxx. 
 
 Ad vallum . . . 
 
 Iter V. A limite Prseturiam usque, 
 
 sic: 
 Curia 
 Ad Fines 
 Bremenio 
 Corstoplio 
 Vindomora 
 Vindovio 
 Cattaractoni 
 Eboraco 
 Derventione 
 Delgovicia 
 Prasturio . 
 
 m. p. 
 m. p. 
 m. p. 
 
 xx. 
 
 ix. 
 
 xix. 
 
 xxii. 
 
 xl. 
 
 vii. 
 
 xiii. 
 
 xxv. 
 
ITINERARY OF RICHARD. 
 
 461 
 
 Iter VI. Ab Eboraco Devam usque, 
 
 sic: 
 
 Calcaria . . . m. p. ix. 
 
 Camboduno . . xxii. 
 
 Mancunio . . . xviii. 
 
 Finibus Maxima? et 
 
 Flavise . . . m. p. xviiL 
 Condate . . . xviii. 
 
 Deva . . . xviii. 
 
 Iter VII. A portu Sistuntiorum 
 Eboracum usque, sic : 
 Rerigonio . . . m. p. xxiii. 
 Ad Alpes Peninos . viii. 
 
 Alicana ... x. 
 
 Isurio . . . xviii. 
 
 Eboraco . . . xvi. 
 
 Iter VIII. Ab Eboraco Luguvalium 
 usque, sic : 
 Cattaractoni . . m. p. xl. 
 
 Lataris . . . xvi. 
 
 Vataris . . . xvi. 
 
 Brocavonacis . . xviii. 
 
 Vorreda . . . xviii 
 
 Lugubalia . . xviii 
 
 Iter IX. A Luguballio Ptorotorum 
 usque, sic : 
 
 Trimontio . 
 
 Gadanica 
 
 Corio . 
 
 Ad Vallum 
 Iucipit Vespasiana. 
 
 Alauna 
 Lindo 
 Victoria 
 Ad Hiernam 
 Orrea . 
 Ad Tavum 
 Ad iEsicam . 
 Ad Tinam 
 Devana 
 Ad Itunam 
 Ad montem 
 
 pium 
 Ad Selinam 
 Tuessis 
 Ptorotone 
 Iter X. Ab ultima 
 
 Gram 
 
 m. p. 
 m. p. 
 m. p. 
 m. p. 
 
 m. p. xn. 
 ix. 
 
 ix. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 xix. 
 
 xxiii. 
 viii, 
 xxiii. 
 xxiv. 
 
 m. p. . . . 
 
 m. p. . . . 
 
 xviii. 
 
 m.p. . . . 
 
 Ptorotone per 
 
 medium insula? I scam Damno- 
 
 Ad Tuessim . . . 
 
 xviii. 
 
 Tamea 
 
 xxix. 
 
 
 m. p. xxi. 
 
 In Medio . . . 
 
 ix. 
 
 Orrea 
 
 ix. 
 
 Victoria . . . 
 
 xviii. 
 
 Ad Vallum 
 
 xxxii. 
 
 Luguballia . . . 
 
 lxxx. 
 
 Brocavonacis . 
 
 xxii. 
 
 Ad Alaunam 
 
 m. p. . . . 
 
 Coccio 
 
 m. p. . . . 
 
 Mancunio 
 
 xviii. 
 
 Condate . 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 Mediolano . 
 
 xviii. 
 
 Etoceto . 
 
 . m. p. , . . 
 
 Salinis . 
 
 . m. p. . . . 
 
 Glebon colonia . 
 
 . m. p. . . . 
 
 Corino . 
 
 xiv. 
 
 Aquas Solis 
 
 . m. p. . . . 
 
 Ad Aquas . 
 
 xviii. 
 
 norum usque, sic : 
 Varis 
 
 m. p. vm. 
 
 Ad Uxellam amnem, m. p. . . . 
 Isca . . . . m. p. . . . 
 
 Iter XI. Ab Aquis per viam Juliain 
 Menapiam usque, sic : 
 Ad Abonam . . m. p. vi. 
 
 Ad Sabrinam . . vi. 
 
 Unde trajectu intras in Brittaniam 
 Secundam et stationem Tra- 
 jectum . . . m. p. iii. 
 Venta Silurum . viii. 
 
 Isca colonia ... ix. 
 
 Unde fuit Aaron martyr 
 Tibia amne 
 Bovio . 
 Nido 
 Leucaro 
 Ad Vigesimum 
 Ad Menapiam 
 Ab hac urbe per xxx. m. p. navigas 
 in Hyberniam 
 
 Iter XII. Ab Aquis Londinium 
 usque, sic : 
 
 Verlucione . . . m. p. xv. 
 
 Cunetione . . xx. 
 
 Spinis . . . . xv. 
 
 Calleba Attrebatum . xv. 
 
 Bibracte . . . xx. 
 
 Londinio . . . xx. 
 
 m. p. vm. 
 xx. 
 
 XV. 
 XV. 
 XX. 
 
 xix. 
 
462 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Iter XIII. Ab 
 
 usque, sic : 
 Bultro . 
 Gobannio . 
 Magna . 
 Branogenio 
 Urioconio . 
 
 Isca Uriconium 
 
 m. p. vm. 
 xii. 
 xxiii. 
 xxiii. 
 xxvii. 
 
 Iter XIV. Ab Isca per Glebon Lin- 
 dum usque, sic : 
 
 Ballio 
 
 m. p. viii. 
 
 f Blestio 
 
 xn. 
 
 Sariconio . 
 
 XI. 
 
 Glebon colonia . 
 
 XV. 
 
 Ad Antonam 
 
 XV. 
 
 Alauna 
 
 XV. 
 
 Vennonis . 
 
 xii. 
 
 Ratiscorion . 
 
 Xll. 
 
 Venromento 
 
 Xll. 
 
 Margiduno . 
 
 Xll. 
 
 Ad Pontem 
 
 xu. 
 
 Crococolana. 
 
 
 Lindum . 
 
 xu. 
 
 Iter XV. A Londinio per Clausen- 
 turn in Londinium, sic : 
 
 Caleba . . . . 
 
 m. p. xliv. 
 
 Vindomi . 
 
 XV. 
 
 Venta Belgarum . 
 Ad Lapidem . 
 Clausento . . . 
 
 xxi. 
 
 vi. 
 
 iv. 
 
 Portu Magno . 
 
 X. 
 
 Regno . 
 
 Ad Decimum . 
 
 X. 
 X. 
 
 Anderida portu . 
 
 m. p. . . . 
 
 Ad Lemanum . 
 
 m. p. xxv. 
 
 Lemaniano portu . 
 Dubris 
 
 x. 
 x. 
 
 Rhutupis colonia . 
 Regulbio . 
 Contiopoli . 
 Durolevo . 
 
 X. 
 X. 
 X. 
 
 xviii. 
 
 Mado . 
 
 xii. 
 
 Vagnaca . 
 Noviomago . 
 
 xviii. 
 xviii. 
 
 Londinio . 
 
 XV. 
 
 ,er XVI. A Lond] 
 
 nio Ceniam 
 
 usque, sic : 
 Venta Belgarum 
 Brige 
 Sorbioduno . 
 
 m. p. xc. 
 xi. 
 viii. 
 
 Ventageladia 
 Durnovaria . 
 Moriduno 
 Isca Damnon 
 
 XXXlll. 
 XV. 
 
 Durio amne 
 
 . m. p. . . . 
 
 Tamara . 
 
 . m.p. . . . 
 
 Voluba 
 
 . . m. p. xxviii. 
 
 Cenia . . . m. p. . . . 
 
 Iter XVII. Ab Anderida [Ebora- 
 cum] usque, sic : 
 
 . m.p. 
 . m. p. 
 . m.p. 
 . m. p. 
 . m. p. 
 . m.p. 
 
 Sylva Anderida 
 Noviomago . 
 Londinio . 
 Ad Fines 
 Durolisponte 
 
 Durnomago . . . m. p. xxx. 
 Corisennis . . xxx. 
 
 Lindo . . . . xxx. 
 
 In Medio . . . xv. 
 
 Ad Abum . . . xv. 
 
 Unde transis in Maximam. 
 Ad Petuariam . . m. p. vi. 
 Deinde Eboraco, ut 
 
 supra . . . m. p. xlvi. 
 
 Iter XVIII. Ab Eboraco per medium 
 insulae Clausentum usque, sic: 
 
 Ad Fines . 
 
 UJL 
 
 xviii. 
 
 
 m 
 
 p. XVI. 
 
 
 m 
 
 p. XVI. 
 
 Derventione 
 
 m. 
 
 p. xvi. 
 
 Ad Trivonam . . 
 
 
 xn. 
 
 Etoceto . 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 Manduessuedo . . 
 
 
 xvi. 
 
 Benonnis . 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 Tripontio 
 
 
 XL 
 
 Isannavaria 
 
 
 xu. 
 
 Brinavis . . . 
 
 
 xu. 
 
 -ZElia castra 
 
 
 XVL 
 
 Dorocina . . . 
 
 
 XV. 
 
 Tamesi 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 Vindomi 
 
 
 XV. 
 
 Clausento 
 
 
 xlvi. 
 
 Plurima insuper babebant Romani 
 in Britanniis castella, suis quseque 
 muris, turribus, portis, et repagulis 
 munita. 
 
THE RAVENNA LIST. 
 
 463 
 
 The work known by the title of the Cosmography of the anonymous 
 writer of Ravenna, is a treatise on geographical science compiled in 
 that city, apparently in the seventh century. Its writer had evidently 
 before him large maps of the provinces of the Roman empire, from which 
 he derived his lists of towns and rivers, but as he book them without any 
 apparent system, paying no attention to the roads of the Itineraries, and as 
 his names are written very corruptly, we can only identify them by simi- 
 larity of sound. Two manuscripts, one in the Vatican, the other in the 
 National Library in Paris, furnish various readings, which sometimes give 
 assistance in explaining the printed text. I here give the part relating to 
 Britain, placing opposite such of the names as can be made out, the parallel 
 names from the two preceding Itineraries, or the conjectures of Horsley 
 as to the present sites. Such of the various readings as seem important 
 are given at the foot of the page. 
 
 (Tamerton) 
 
 In Britannia plurimas fuisse 
 legimus civitates et castra, ex 
 quibus aliquantas designare volu- 
 mus, id est, — 
 
 Giano. 
 
 Eltabo. 
 
 Elconio. 
 
 Nemetotacio. 
 
 Tamaris 
 
 Durocoronavis. 
 
 Pilais. 
 
 Vernalis. 
 
 Ardua 
 
 Ravenatone 
 
 Devionisso 
 
 Statio Deventia 
 
 Stene 
 
 Duriarno 
 
 Uxelis 
 
 Vertevia 
 
 Melarnoni 
 
 Scadum Namorum (Isca Dumno- 
 niorum 
 
 Termonin 
 
 Mostevia 
 
 Milidunum 
 
 Apaunaris 
 
 Masona. 
 1 Alongium 
 Item juxta suprascriptam civitatem 
 Scadomorum est civitas quae 
 dicitur 
 
 Moriduno . . (Maridunum) 
 
 Alauna silva 
 
 Omire 
 
 . (Durnovaria) 
 
 (Lostwithiel) 
 
 Tedertis 
 
 2 Londinis 
 Canca 
 Dolocindo 
 Clavinio 
 Morionio 
 Bolvelaunio 
 Alauna 
 Coloneas 
 Aranus 
 Anicetis 
 
 3 Moiezo 
 Ibernio 
 Bindogladia 
 Noviomagno 
 Onna 
 
 Venta Velgarum 
 
 rum) 
 Armis 
 Ardaoneon 
 
 4 Ravimago 
 Regentium 
 Leucomago . 
 Cunetzone 
 Punctuobice . 
 Venta Silurum 
 Jupania 
 Metambala 
 Albinunno 
 Isca Augusta . 
 Bannio . 
 Brenna 
 Alabum 
 Cicutio 
 Magnis . 
 
 (Vindogladia) 
 (Venta Belga- 
 
 (Sorbiodunum ?) 
 . (Noviomagus) 
 
 . (Leucarum ?) 
 
 . (Cunetio) 
 
 . (Cowbridge) 
 
 . (Isca Silurum) 
 
 . (Gobannium) 
 
 (Brenbridge) 
 
 (Magna) 
 
 1 Alovergium, Vat. 2 Laudmis, Fr. Lindinus, Vat. 5 Melezo, Vat. 
 
 4 Noviomago Regentium, i. e. Noviomagus of the Regni. 
 
464 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 (Bravinium) 
 
 . (Ariconium) 
 . (Glevum) 
 . (Arwystli) 
 
 (Salinas) 
 
 Branogenium 
 
 Epocessa 
 
 Ypocessa 
 
 Macatonion 
 
 Glebon colonia 
 
 Argistillum . 
 
 Vertis 
 
 Salinis 
 
 Corinium Dobunorum 
 
 Caleba Atrebatium . (Calleva) 
 
 1 Anderesio . . (Anderida V) 
 Miba. . . . (Midhurst) 
 
 2 Mutuantonis 
 
 Lemanis . . (Portus Lemanis) 
 
 Dubris . . . (Dubrse) 
 
 Duroverno Cantiacorum (Duro- 
 vernum) 
 
 Rutupis . . . (Rutupise) 
 
 Durobrabis . . (Durobrivse) 
 
 Londini . . . (Londinium) 
 
 Tamese . . . (Tamesis) 
 
 Brinavis . . . (Brinava)) 
 
 Alauna 
 
 Uriconium Cornovinorum 
 
 Lavobrinta 
 
 Mediomano . (Mediolanum) 
 
 Seguntio . . (Segontium) 
 
 3 Canubio . . . (Conway) 
 
 Mediolano . . . (Meivod) 
 
 Sandonio 
 
 Deva victrix 
 
 Veratino 
 
 Lutudarum 
 
 Derbentione . . (Derventio) 
 
 Salinis . . . (Nantwich) 
 
 Condate 
 4 Ratecorion . . . (Ratse) 
 
 Eltanori 
 
 Lectoceto . . . {Litchfield) 
 5 Iacio 
 
 Dulma . . . (Dunstable) 
 
 Virolanium . . (Verulamium) 
 
 Londinium Augusta 
 
 Caesaromagum 
 
 Camulodulo colonia (Camulodu- 
 num) 
 
 Durcinate 
 
 Duroviguto 
 
 Durobrisin . (Durobrivae) 
 
 Venta Cenomum (Venta Iceno- 
 rum) 
 
 Lindum colonia 
 
 Banovallum . . (BenwelT) 
 
 Navione 
 
 Aquis . . {Aidon Castle) 
 
 Arnemeza 
 
 Zerdotalia 
 
 Mantio 
 
 Alunna . (Allenton, or Whetley) 
 
 Camulodono . . (Almonbury) 
 
 Calunio . . . {Coin) 
 
 Gallunio . . (Whaley) 
 
 Modibogdo 
 
 Cantiumeti 
 
 Juliocenon 
 
 Gabrocentio . . (Gabrosentce) 
 
 Alauna 
 
 Bribra 
 
 Maio 
 
 Olerica 
 
 Derventione . (Derventio) 
 
 Ravonia . . (Ravenglasse) 
 
 Bresnetenati Veteranorum (Over- 
 borough) 
 
 Pampocalia 
 
 Lagentium 
 
 Valteris . . (Verterse) 
 
 Bereda . . . . (Voreda) 
 
 Lugubalum . (Luguballium) 
 
 Magnis . . . (Magna) 
 
 Babaglanda . (Amboglanna) 
 
 Vindolande 
 
 Lineojugla 
 
 Vinovia . . (Vinovium) 
 
 Lavaris . . (Lavatraa) 
 
 Cataractonion . (Cataracto) 
 
 Eburacum 
 
 Decuaria . . . (Petuaria) 
 
 Devovicia . . (Delgovitia) 
 
 Dixio 
 
 Lugundino. 
 
 Coganges . . (Cayngham) 
 
 Corie , . . (Corium) 
 
 Lopocarium 
 Iterum sunt civitates ipsa in Britan- 
 nia, quae recto tramite de una 
 parte in alia, id est de oceano in 
 oceano, et Sistuntiaci dividunt 
 
 Andereliomiba, Vat. 2 Mantuantonis, Vat. 3 Conovio. 
 
 4 Ratae Coritanorum. 5 Statio Dulma, Vat, 
 
THE RAVENNA LIST. 
 
 465 
 
 in tertia portione ipsam Bri- 
 
 tanniam ; id est, — 
 Serduno . . (Segedunum) 
 
 Conderco . . (Condercum) 
 Vindovala . . (Vindobala) 
 Onno . . . (Hunnum) 
 
 Celunno . . (Cilurnum) 
 
 Procoliti . . . (Procolitia) 
 Volurtion . . (Borcovicus V) 
 Aesica . . . (iEsica) 
 Banna .... (Banna) 
 Uxeludiano . (Axelodunum) 
 Avalaria . . . (Aballaba) 
 Maia 
 
 1 Fanocedi 
 
 Brocara . . (Brocavonacse) 
 
 Croucingo . . . {Crosby) 
 
 Stodoion 
 
 Sinetriadum 
 
 Clidum . . . (Glasgow) 
 
 Carbantiuni . (Carbantorigum) 
 
 Tadoriton 
 
 Maporiton 
 
 Alitacenon . * . (Elgin) 
 
 Loxa . . . (Innerlochy) 
 
 Locatrene . (Loch Catrine?) 
 
 Cambroiana 
 
 Smetri 
 
 Uxela 
 
 Lucotion . . (Lucopibia) 
 
 Corda . . (on lough Cure) 
 
 Camulossesa 
 
 Presidium . . (Camulon) 
 
 Brigomono . (Rerigonium) 
 
 Abisson 
 
 Ebio 
 
 Coritiotar (Curia Otadenorum 1) 
 
 2 Celerion. . (Calendar Castle) 
 Itucodon 
 
 Maremago 
 
 Duablisis . . . (Duplin) 
 
 Venutio . . . (Banatia) 
 
 Trimuntium. . (Trimontium) 
 
 Eburocassum 
 
 Bremenium 
 
 Cocuneda . . . (Coquet) 
 
 Alauna • . . (Alnwick) 
 
 Oleiclavis . . (Ogle Castle) 
 
 Ejudensca 
 
 Rumabo . (Drumburgh Castle) 
 
 Iterum sunt civitates in ipsa Bri- 
 tannia retro (al. recto) tramite, 
 una alteri connexa, ubi et ipsa 
 Britannia plus angustissima de 
 oceano in oceano esse dinosci- 
 tur, id est, — 
 
 Velunia 
 
 Volitanio 
 
 Pexa 
 
 Begesse 
 
 Colanica . . . (Colania) 
 
 Medionemetom 
 
 Subdobiadon 
 
 Litana 
 
 Cibra 
 
 Credigone 
 Iterum est civitas quae dicitur 
 3 Iano 
 
 Maulion 
 
 Demerosesa . . (Dumfries) 
 
 Cindocellum 
 
 Cermo 
 
 Veromo 
 
 Matovion 
 
 Ugrulentum 
 
 Ranatonium 
 
 Iberran 
 
 Prsematis 
 
 Tuessis . . . (Berwick) 
 
 Ledone . . . (Dunbar) 
 
 Litinomago . . (Linlithgow) 
 
 Devoni 
 
 Memanturum 
 
 Decha 
 
 Bograndium 
 
 Ugueste 
 
 Leviodanum . . (Livingston) 
 
 Poreo Classis . (Forfar, or Barry) 
 
 Levioxana . . . (Lennox) 
 
 Cermium 
 
 Victorise 
 
 Marcotaxon 
 
 Tagea . . . (Menteith) 
 
 Voran . . (Caer Voram) 
 
 Sunt autem in ipsa Britannia diversa 
 loca, ex quibus aliquanta nomi- 
 nari volumus, id est, — 
 
 Maponi 
 
 Mixa 
 
 Panovius 
 
 1 Fanococidi, Vat. 2 Celorion 3 Vat. 3 Lano, Vat. 
 
 4 Pinnatis, Vat. 
 H H 
 

 
 
 
 Minox v 
 
 
 Coantia 
 
 . (Keutzey) 
 
 Taba . 
 
 . (Tava) 
 
 Dorvatiuni 
 
 (Dart, or Darent) 
 
 Manavi 
 
 
 Anava 
 
 
 Segloes 
 
 
 Bdora 
 
 
 Daunoni 
 
 
 Novitia 
 
 
 Currunt autem per ipsam Britan- 
 
 Adron 
 
 
 niam plurima 
 
 flumina, ex 
 
 Certisnassa 
 
 
 quibus aliquanta nominare 
 
 Intraum 
 
 
 volumus, id est,- 
 
 
 Tinea . 
 
 . (Teing) 
 
 Fraxula 
 
 . (Ashbourne) 
 
 Liar 
 
 (Livor) 
 
 Axium 
 
 . (Axe) 
 
 Lenda 
 
 
 Maina 
 
 (Mintern) 
 
 Vividin 
 
 . (Fawey) 
 
 Sarva 
 
 (Severne) 
 
 Durolani 
 
 (Lenham river) 
 
 Tamaris 
 
 . (Tamar) 
 
 Alauna 
 
 
 Naurum . 
 
 (Nader, Wilts) 
 
 Coguvensuron 
 
 (Soar) 
 
 Abona . 
 
 . (Avon) 
 
 Durbis . 
 
 (Dour, or Dover) 
 
 Isca . 
 
 . . (Ex) 
 
 Lemana 
 
 (Lymne river) 
 
 Tamion 
 
 . (Tony) 
 
 1 Rovia 
 
 (Bother) 
 
 Aventio 
 
 (Aun) 
 
 Kactomessa 
 
 (Bacon) 
 
 Leuca . 
 
 (Low) 
 
 Senua 
 
 
 Juctius 
 
 
 2 Cimia 
 
 
 Leugosena 
 
 
 Yelox 
 
 
 
 1 Novia, Vat. 2 
 
 Cunia velox, Vat. 
 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 ROMAN POTTERS' MARKS. 
 
 It will be useful to local antiquaries to furnish them with a list of the 
 names of potters stamped on the red Samian ware, as mentioned at p. 219. 
 This list is naturally incomplete, for new names are turning up daily, but 
 it will enable those who are occupied in researches on Roman sites to judge 
 if the names they meet with are new, or of common occurrence, and it will 
 assist the general reader in forming a notion of the extent of the Roman 
 power. It will be observed in this numerous list of names, that many are 
 not Roman, and some are apparently Teutonic, The explanation of the 
 different formulae of the potters will be found in our text at the page just 
 referred to. It will be seen in the list that most of the potters used the 
 different formulae indiscriminately. 
 
 Before these potters' marks were collected and explained, writers who 
 had met with single instances, fell into the most ridiculous mistakes in 
 attempting to interpret them. Dr. Leigh, who published in 1699 a 
 " Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Peak, with an account 
 of the Antiquities in those parts," obtained at Rich ester, where the Samian 
 ware is found in great abundance, a fragment with the stamp fab. peo, 
 (fabrica Probi), which he conjectured must have been made when one of 
 the Fabii was proconsul or procurator ! A still more curious blunder was 
 made in the county of Essex. By the road side, at Coggeshall, in that 
 county, a sepulchral interment was found, in which, among other objects, 
 was a vessel of Samian ware with the stamp cocctlli. m, which will also be 
 found in the following list. It was immediately interpreted as an abbre- 
 viation of Coccilli manibus, to the manes of Coccillus, and it was resolved 
 that, from this personage, who was supposed to have been the lord of the 
 spot, and to have been buried there, the place derived its name of 
 Coggeshall ! Such errors show us how necessary it is for the antiquary 
 to begin by studying his science elementarily. 
 
 At the end of the list of potters' marks, I have given very imperfect lists 
 of names stamped on mortaria and amphorae found in this island, which 
 have hitherto been less carefully noted than those on the Samian ware. 
 It will be observed that the formulae and the names are different. 
 
 The frequent use of the n, for e, will be observed in these potters' 
 marks. See the observations on this subject at p. 192. 
 
 hh 2 
 
468 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 POTTERS' MARKS ON THE RED WARE TERMED SAMIAN. 
 
 A. 
 
 OF. A. AN 
 OF. ABALI 
 OF. ABARI 
 OF. ABIN 
 ABIANI 
 ACCILINVS. F 
 OF. ACIRAP 
 A. C. E. R. O 
 ACO. M 
 ACRIS. O 
 ACVRIO. F 
 ACVTVS 
 ADIECTI. M 
 L. ADN. ADGEXI 
 ADIVTORI 
 ADVOCISI 
 ADVOCISI. OF 
 ADVVCISI. O 
 AEI. XANT 
 AELIANI. M 
 AEQVIR. F 
 AEQVR. F 
 AESFIVINA 
 AIISFIVI. m(?) 
 AIISTIVI. M 
 AISTIVI. M 
 AESTIVI. M 
 M. INEIT3A 
 M. AIAVCNI 
 AETERNI. M 
 AGEDILLI 
 AGEEDILLV& F 
 AGHLITO 
 OFF. AGER 
 OF. ALBAN 
 OF. ALBANI 
 ALBANI. M 
 ALBILLI. M 
 OF. ALBIN 
 ALBINVS 
 ALBINI. MA 
 ALBVCI 
 ALBVCIANI 
 ALBVS. FE 
 ALBVSA 
 AMANDO 
 AMARILIS. F 
 
 AMATICL OF 
 AMATOR 
 AMATORIS 
 AMIIEDV 
 AMICI. M 
 AMMIVS. F 
 AMONVS (?) 
 ANDORN 
 ANISATVS 
 ANVNI. M 
 A. POL. AVSTI 
 APOLAVCIR 
 OF. APRILIS 
 OF. APRIS 
 OF. APRO 
 APRONIS 
 AQVIINVS 
 AQVIT 
 AGVIT 
 OF. AQVITA 
 OF. AQVITANI 
 ARACI.MA 
 ARDAC 
 ARGO. F 
 ARICI. M 
 ARICI. MA 
 ARRO 
 ASCILLI. M 
 ASIATICI. M 
 ASIATICI. OF 
 ATECII. M 
 ATEI 
 
 ATILIANI. M 
 ATILIANI. O 
 ATILIANVS. F 
 ATILLVS. 
 ATTICI. M. 
 ATTILLI. M 
 ATTILLII. M 
 ATTINVL 
 ATTrVS. FE 
 AVCELIA. F 
 AVENTI 
 AVGVSTALIS 
 AVGVSTINVS 
 AVLIYS. F 
 AVSTRL M 
 AVSTVS. F 
 AVENTINI. M 
 
 AVITI. M 
 AVITOS. OF 
 AVITVS 
 AVITVS. F 
 AVRICV. F 
 OF. AVRAP 
 
 BANOLVCCI 
 
 BASSI 
 
 OF. BASSI 
 
 OF. BASSICO 
 
 BELINICCI 
 
 BELINICCI. M. 
 
 BELINICCVS. F 
 
 BELINOI. M 
 
 BELINICI 
 
 BELLIAIICI 
 
 BELSO. ARV. F 
 
 BELSO. ARVE. F 
 
 BENNICCI. M 
 
 BENNICI. M 
 
 BICAAICD 
 
 BIGA 
 
 BIGA. FEC 
 
 OFIC. BILICANI (?) 
 
 BILICAT 
 
 OFIC. BILIOAT 
 
 BIO. FECIT 
 
 BIR. ANIII 
 
 BIRANII 
 
 BIRBIIINI 
 
 BISSVN 
 
 BITURIX 
 
 BL. AESI 
 
 BOINICCI. M 
 
 BOLDVS 
 
 BONOXVS. F 
 
 BORILI. OF 
 
 BORILLI. M 
 
 BORILLI. OF 
 
 BORILLI. OFFIC. 
 
 BORVSI. FE 
 
 BOVTI. M 
 
 BRACKILLO 
 
 BRICCI 
 
 BRICC. M 
 
POTTERS' MARKS. 
 
 469 
 
 BRITAIN II 
 
 BV.DO 
 
 BVCCIO 
 
 M. BVCIANI 
 
 BVRDO. F 
 
 BVRDONIS. OF 
 
 OF. BVRILINDI 
 
 BVTRIV 
 
 a 
 
 C. C. F 
 CABRYS 
 CACAS. M 
 CACASI. M 
 CACILANTRO 
 CAI. M. S 
 CAIVS. F. 
 CAIVS. OF 
 OF. CAI. IVL 
 OF. CAIVI 
 CAKIVFDO. FE 
 CALENVS. OF 
 CALENVS. F 
 CALAVA 
 CALCIO. F 
 CALLI. M 
 CALMVA. ¥ 
 CALYI. M 
 OF. CALYI 
 CALVINI. M. 
 CALVINYS 
 CAMBVS. F 
 CAMTI. M 
 CANAL M 
 CAN. PATR 
 C. ANPATR 
 CANETII. M 
 CANRVCATI 
 CAPIIRI. O 
 CAPRASIAS. FE 
 CAPRASIVS 
 CARANI 
 CARANI. F 
 OF. CARAN 
 CARANT 
 CARANTINI. M 
 CARATILLI 
 CARETI. M 
 CARBONIS. M 
 CARINOS 
 CARITI 
 
 CARVS. F 
 O. CARO 
 CARVSSA 
 CASIVS. F 
 CASSIA. O 
 CASTVS 
 CASTVS. F 
 CASVRIVS. F 
 CATASEXTVS. F 
 CATIANVS 
 CATVCI 
 CATVLII 
 CATVS. F 
 CAVPI . . . FECI 
 OF. CEI 
 CELSIANI. F 
 L. C. CELSI. O 
 CELSINVS 
 CELTAS. FC. 
 CENETLI. M 
 M. CENI 
 CENSORI 
 CENSORINI 
 OF. CEN 
 OF. CENSO 
 CENT. AI. E 
 CEREA 
 CEREALIS 
 CERIALIS 
 CERIAL. M 
 CERESI. M. 
 CERTVS. F 
 CETI 
 
 CHRESL M 
 CIAMAT. F 
 CIMINI 
 CINIVS. M 
 CINNAMI 
 
 cinnvmi: 
 cintvageni 
 cint. vgent 
 cin. t. vssa 
 cintvsmi. m 
 clntvsmv 
 cintvsmys. f 
 
 CIRRI. M 
 CIRRVS. FEC 
 CIVPPL M 
 CLIVINTLO 
 COBNERTL M 
 COBNERTYS 
 COCCIL. M 
 COCCILLI. M 
 
 OF. COCI 
 COCVRNY. F 
 COCVRO 
 COCVRO. F. 
 OF. COE 
 OF. COELI 
 OF. COET 
 OF. COFI 
 COLLO. F 
 COLLON 
 COLON 
 COMITIALIS 
 COMPRIN. F 
 COMPRINNI. M 
 CONSERTI. M 
 CONGI. M 
 CONSTANS. F 
 CONSTAS. F. 
 COSAXTIS. F 
 COSIA. F 
 COSL R. . . 
 COSIRV 
 COSIRVFIN 
 F. L. COS. V 
 COSMI. M 
 COSRV. F 
 COTTO. F 
 OF. COTTO 
 CRACIS. M. 
 ORACL S. M 
 CRACISA. F 
 CRACYNA. F 
 CRANI 
 CRAOSNA. F 
 CRASSIACVS. ff 
 CRAVNA. F 
 CRECIRO. OFI 
 OF. CRE1L 
 OF. CRES 
 CRESCENI 
 CRESCENT! 
 OF- CRESI 
 CRESL M 
 CRESIMI 
 M. CRESTI. O 
 CRLMVS. FE 
 CRISPINI. M 
 CROBISO. M 
 CROBRO. F 
 CRVCVRO 
 CVCALI. M 
 CYCCIL 
 CVCCILLI. M 
 
470 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 OF. CVEN 
 
 CVFF 
 
 CVI. M 
 
 OFI. CVIRIII 
 
 CVNI. IA. F 
 
 CVSPICI 
 
 CVTAI 
 
 D. 
 
 DACO. M 
 DAGO 
 
 DOGODVBNVS. F 
 DAGOMARVS 
 DAGOMARVS. F 
 DAGOMARVS. FE 
 DACOIMNVS. F 
 DAMINI. M 
 DAMONVS 
 DAVICI. M. 
 DECMI. M 
 DECVMINI. M 
 DECVMNI. M 
 DEM . . . R. M. 
 DESTER. F 
 DIGNVS. 
 DIOGNATO 
 DIVICATL M 
 DIVICATVS. 
 DIVICI. M 
 DIVIX 
 DIVIX. F 
 DIVIXI 
 DIVIXTI 
 DIVIXTVL 
 DMCCIVE 
 DOCALI. M 
 DOCCIVS. F 
 DOECA 
 DOMETOS. F 
 DOMINAC 
 DOMINCI 
 DOMINICI 
 DOMITIANVS. W 
 DOMITV& 
 DONATVS 
 DONNA. M 
 DONNA. OF 
 DONNAVG 
 DONTIONI 
 DONV. M 
 DOVIICCVS 
 
 DRAVCVS. F 
 DRAVCI. M 
 DVPI . . . 
 
 DVRINX 
 
 E. 
 
 ECVESER 
 
 ELVILLI 
 
 OF. IIMAN 
 
 EPPA 
 
 EPPN 
 
 ERICT. M 
 
 EROR 
 
 E t/2 CVI xrx I. M 
 
 ERRIMI 
 
 ESCVSI 
 
 ETVS. F. 
 
 IIVST 
 
 F. 
 
 O. FABIN 
 OF. FAGE 
 FALENDI. O 
 FELIX. F 
 FELIXS. F 
 FELICIO. O 
 FELICIS. O 
 OF. FELIC 
 OF. FELICIS 
 FELICIONIS 
 O. FELMA 
 FESTVS. F 
 FESTVS. FO 
 FETI 
 
 O FIRMONIS 
 FIVI. M 
 FLOI 
 
 FLORVS. F 
 FOVRI 
 FRONTINVS 
 O. FRONTI 
 OF. FRONTI 
 O. FRONTINI 
 M. FVCA 
 OF. FVS 
 OFF. FVS 
 
 GABRVS. F 
 
 GAIVS. F 
 
 GALRINVS. F 
 
 GEMINI. M 
 
 GENITOR. F 
 
 G. E. N. I. T. O. R. F 
 
 GENIV. 
 
 GERMANI 
 
 GERMANE F 
 
 GERMANE OF 
 
 GERMANVS 
 
 OFF. GER 
 
 GERTAL. M 
 
 GLVPEI. M 
 
 GRACCHVS 
 
 GRANANI 
 
 GRANIANI 
 
 GRANIO. M 
 
 GRANIVS. F 
 
 HABICNS. M 
 
 HABILIS. F 
 
 HABITIS. F 
 
 HELI ... VS. PI. FE 
 
 HELINIV 
 
 HELL . . . . S. FEC 
 
 I. 
 
 I + OFFIC 
 IABI 
 
 IABVS. FE 
 IACOMIO. F 
 IANVARIVS 
 IANVARII 
 IANVARI. OF 
 ICMCRIMO. F 
 ILLIANI. M 
 ILLIOMEN 
 ILLIOMRIN 
 IMANN 
 INPRITV. F 
 IOENALIS 
 IOVANTI 
 ISABINI. F 
 ISTVRONIS 
 IVCANVS. F 
 
POTTERS' MARKS. 
 
 471 
 
 OF. IVCVN 
 IVBNIS. M 
 OF. IYLIA 
 IVLIA 
 
 IVLIA. PATR 
 OF. IVL. PAT 
 IVLII. MA 
 IYLIOS 
 IVLI. M 
 IVLIYS. F 
 IVINVMI. M 
 IVRONIS. OF 
 IYSTI. MA 
 OF. IYSTI 
 OF. IYYEXAL 
 
 K. 
 
 KALENDI. O 
 
 L. 
 
 O. LAE 
 
 OF. LABIONIS 
 
 LALLI. MA 
 
 LATINIAN. F 
 
 LATINIANYS 
 
 LATINYS 
 
 LIBERALIS 
 
 LIBERIVS 
 
 LTBERTI. M 
 
 OF. LICINI 
 
 LICINILYS 
 
 LICINYS 
 
 LICINYS. F 
 
 LICNYS 
 
 LILTANI. M (?) 
 
 LINIYSMTX 
 
 LITYGAMYS 
 
 LOCIRM. M 
 
 LOGIRN. M 
 
 LOLIYS. F 
 
 LOLLIYS. F 
 
 LOSSA 
 
 OF. LOVIRILO 
 
 LVCANYS 
 
 LVCANVS. F 
 
 LYCANTYS. F 
 
 M. LYCCA 
 
 OF. LVCCEI 
 
 LVGETO. FE 
 
 LYPEI. M 
 
 LYPI. M 
 
 LVPINI. M 
 
 LYPPA 
 
 LYPPA 
 
 LYTAEVS 
 
 LYTAEVS. FEC 
 
 LVTAFVS. 
 
 M. 
 
 MACCALI. M 
 OF. MACCIA 
 MACCIYS 
 MACCIYS. F 
 MACERATI 
 MACI. OF 
 MACILLI. M 
 MACIRVS 
 MACRI. M 
 MACRIA 
 MACRINYI 
 MACRINYS 
 MACRIANI. M 
 MAGNYS. F 
 MAIANYS 
 OF. MAIO 
 MAIOIRI. M 
 MAIOR. I 
 MAIORIS 
 MAIORIS. F 
 MALCI. O 
 MALLIIDO. F 
 MALIYRN 
 MALLI. M 
 MALLIACI 
 MALLIACI. M 
 MALLICI. M 
 MALLYRO. F 
 MALNCNI 
 MAMILIANI 
 MANDYIL. M 
 OF. MANNA 
 MANTIIO. F 
 MANYS. F 
 Q. MAR. F 
 MARCELLI. M 
 MARCELLINI. M 
 MARCI 
 MARCI. F 
 MARCI. MA. 
 MARCI. O 
 MARCYS FEC 
 
 MARINI. M 
 
 MARITYS. M 
 
 MAROILLI. M 
 
 MARTAXI. M 
 
 OF. MARO 
 
 MAROI. M 
 
 MARONI. M 
 
 MARONI. F 
 
 MARSI. M 
 
 MARTI 
 
 MARTI. M 
 
 MARTIALIS. FEC 
 
 MARTIALIS M. 
 
 MARTINI 
 
 MARTINI. M 
 
 MARTINY 
 
 MARTINYS. F 
 
 MARTII. O 
 
 MARTIYS 
 
 MASCL 
 
 MASCVLVS. F 
 
 OF. MASCYL. MYREI 
 
 MASYETI 
 
 MASYRIANI 
 
 MATEMI 
 
 MATERNI 
 
 MATERNINYS 
 
 MATERNNI. M 
 
 OF. MATE 
 
 MATRIANI 
 
 MATVCENYS 
 
 MATYCYS 
 
 MATVRI. M 
 
 MATYRN 
 
 MAXIMI 
 
 MAXMII. M 
 
 MAXMINI 
 
 OF. MEM 
 
 MEMORIS. M 
 
 MERCA 
 
 MERCAO 
 
 MERCATOR 
 
 MERCATOR. M 
 
 MERCYSSE. M 
 
 MERCYSSA. M 
 
 MEDETI. M 
 
 METHILLYS 
 
 METTI. M 
 
 MICCIO 
 
 MICCIO. F 
 
 MICCIONIS. M 
 
 MIDI. M 
 
 MILIACI 
 
472 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 MILIANI 
 MILLIARII 
 MINVLI. M 
 MINVS. FE 
 MINYS. O 
 MINVTIVS. F 
 MISCIO. P 
 MO 
 
 OF. MO 
 OF. MODEST 
 OF. MODESTI 
 OF. MOE 
 MOM 
 O. MOM 
 MOMI. M 
 MON 
 
 OF. MONO 
 OF. MONTECI 
 OF. MONTEI 
 OF. MONTI 
 OF. MONTO 
 MOSSI. M 
 MOXIVS 
 MVISVS. F 
 OF. MVRRA 
 OF. MVRRANI 
 OF. MVSERA 
 MVXTVLI. M 
 MVX. TVLLI. M 
 MVXIVIII. M (?) 
 
 K 
 
 NAMILI 
 NAMILIANT 
 NAKIL CROES 
 OF. NARIS 
 NASSO. F 
 NATALIS 
 O. NATIVI 
 NEBVRRI. OF 
 OF. NEM 
 NERT. M 
 OF. NERT 
 NERTVS 
 OF. NERI 
 NEQVREC 
 NICEFHOR 
 NICEPHOR. T 
 OF. NI 
 OF. NIGRI 
 OF. NIGRIAN 
 
 NIGRINI 
 N1MILIANI 
 OF. NITORI 
 NOBILIANI. M 
 N0BILIANV3 
 NVMIDI. M 
 IVL. NVMIDI 
 NYTIS 
 
 0. 
 
 OCRI. MA 
 ONATIVI (?) 
 OPTATI. M 
 OPVSIA 
 OSBI. MA 
 OVIDI 
 
 P. 
 
 PANI. L. F 
 
 OF. PARI 
 
 PASSENI 
 
 PASSIENI 
 
 OF. PASSIENI 
 
 OF. PASSIENVS 
 
 O. PAS. F (?) 
 
 PATER. F 
 
 PATERATI. OF 
 
 PATERCLINI. OF 
 
 PATERCLOS 
 
 PATERCLOS FEC. 
 
 PATERCLVS. F 
 
 PATERIRANTJS. FIT (?) 
 
 PP. PATERMI 
 
 PATERNI 
 
 PATERNI. OF 
 
 PATERNVLI 
 
 PATNA. FEG 
 
 PATNI. FEG 
 
 PATRC hh LINI 
 
 PATRICE M 
 
 C. AN. PATR 
 
 OF. PATRC 
 
 OF. PATRICI 
 
 OF. PATRVCI 
 
 PAZZENI 
 
 PAVLIVS. F 
 
 PAVLI. M 
 
 PAVLIANI. M 
 
 PAVLLI. M 
 
 PAYLLYS* F 
 
 PAVLVS 
 
 PECYLIAE 
 
 PECVLIAR. F 
 
 PECYLIARIS. F 
 
 PIINTII. MANV 
 
 PERE .... 
 
 PERECRILI 
 
 PEREGRIN 
 
 PERPET 
 
 PERRVS. F 
 
 PERVS 
 
 PERVS. FE 
 
 PITVRICI. M 
 
 OF. POLLIO 
 
 PONTI. OFEIC 
 
 POTIACI 
 
 POTITINI. M 
 
 POTITIANI. M 
 
 C. IYL. PR 
 
 PRID. FEC 
 
 PRE IMO 
 
 PRIM 
 
 PRIMI 
 
 OF. PRIM 
 
 OFIC. PRIM 
 
 OF. PRIMI 
 
 PRIMITIVE 
 
 PRIMVLI 
 
 PRIMVL. PATER 
 
 PRIMES 
 
 PRIMANI 
 
 PRIMVL 
 
 OF. PRIMVL (?) 
 
 OF. PRIMVS 
 
 PRISC. L. M 
 
 OF. PRM 
 
 FAB. PRO 
 
 PROTYLI 
 
 OF. PVDEN 
 
 PVONI. M 
 
 PYRINX 
 
 PVTRI. M 
 
 PYLADES 
 
 QVADRATI 
 QVADRATVS 
 QVARTVS 
 QVARTVS. F 
 QVIETVS. F 
 QVINNO 
 
POTTERS' MARKS. 
 
 473 
 
 QVINTI. M. 
 QVINTINI. M 
 QV. C 
 
 R. 
 
 RACVNA. N 
 RAMVLVS 
 REBVRRI. OP 
 REBVRRIS 
 REBYRRVS. F 
 RECEN. P 
 RECMVS 
 REDITI. M 
 REGALIS 
 REGALIS, P 
 REGENVS 
 REGENVS. P 
 REGINI. M 
 REGINVS 
 REGINVS. P 
 RIIGNVS 
 REGVILL 
 REGVLI. M 
 RIIGVLI. M 
 REGVLINVS 
 RENECR. M 
 RIIOGENI. M 
 REVILINVS 
 RI. IOGENI 
 OP. RICIMI 
 RIPANI 
 RIVICA 
 ROFFYS. PEG 
 ROFFVS. FE 
 ROLOGENI. M 
 ROMVLI. OP 
 ROPPVS. FE 
 ROPYSI. FE 
 ROPPIRVI. M 
 ROTTLAI. IM 
 OF. RVBA 
 RYFFI. MA 
 RVPFI. M 
 OF. RVFI 
 RVFINI 
 RVFINI. M 
 OF. RVFIN 
 OF. RVFNI 
 RVFVS. PE 
 
 S. 
 
 SA. ARTI (?) 
 OF. SAB 
 SABELLVS 
 SABELVI 
 SABINVS 
 SABINVS. F 
 SABINE M 
 OFF. SAB 
 SACER.YASin 
 SACER. VASIPF 
 SACER. VASI. OF 
 SACERI. OF 
 SACEROT. M 
 SACIANT 
 SACIRAP.O 
 SACIRO. M 
 SACREM 
 SACRI. OF 
 SACRILI. M 
 SACROTI. M 
 SACROT. M. S 
 SALIAPVS 
 SALV. F 
 SAL VS. F 
 SAMACYIS 
 SANTINVOV. C 
 SANVCIVS, F 
 SANVILLI. M 
 SANVITTI. MA 
 SARENTIV 
 OF. SARRVT 
 SATERNVS 
 SATERNLNI. O 
 SATVRNNL OP- 
 SAT. TO. F 
 SCOLVS 
 SCOPLI. F 
 SCOPLI. M 
 SCORVS 
 SECANDI. M 
 SECANDIN 
 SECINI 
 SECVNDI. OP 
 OP. SECVN 
 SECVNDINI 
 SECVNDVS 
 SECVNDVS. P 
 SEDATVS. P 
 SEDETI. M 
 SENL A. M 
 
 SENICA. M 
 SENICI. O. 
 SENILA. M 
 SENNIVS. F 
 SENNO. M 
 SENONI 
 SENTRVS. FE 
 SERRYS 
 SERVILIS 
 SEVERI 
 SEVERE OP 
 SEVERI. M 
 OP. SEVERI 
 SEVERIANYS 
 SEVERIANI 
 SEVERIANI. M 
 SEXTI. O 
 SEXTI. M 
 SEXTI. MA 
 SIIXTI. MA 
 SIIXTI. MAN 
 SEXTVS. P 
 SIIXTILI. F 
 SHVLNI 
 SILDATIANI. M 
 SILENVS 
 SILVANI 
 SILVI 
 
 SILVI. PATER 
 SILVINI 
 SILVINI. P 
 SILVINVS. F 
 SILVI. OF 
 SILVI. PATRI. O 
 SILVIPATRICI 
 SILVVS 
 SIMVRS. O 
 SITVSIRI. M 
 SOIIILLI. M (?) 
 SOLIMI. OFI 
 SOLLEMNI. OP 
 SOLLVS 
 SOLLVS. F 
 MA. SVETI 
 SVLPICI 
 OP. SVLPICI 
 SVLPICIANI 
 SVO.DNED. OP 
 SVRIVS 
 SYMPHO 
 
474 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 
 T. 
 
 VAXTI 
 
 OF. VIRTVTIS 
 
 
 VECETI. M 
 
 VISI. M 
 
 TALLINI 
 
 VEGETI M 
 
 OF. VITA 
 
 TASCONVS. F 
 
 VENERAND 
 
 OF. VITAL 
 
 TASCIL. M 
 
 VENI. M 
 
 OF. VITALIS 
 
 TASCILLI. M 
 
 VENICARVS. F 
 
 OF. VITALI 
 
 TAVRI 
 
 VERECV 
 
 VITALI. OF 
 
 TAVRIANVS 
 
 VERECVNDI 
 
 VITALIS. FE 
 
 TAVRICVS. F 
 
 VEREDV. M 
 
 VITALIS. M. S. F 
 
 TBBBIL 
 
 VERTECISA. F 
 
 VITALIS. M. S. FECIT 
 
 TENEV, M 
 
 VIIRI. M 
 
 VITALIS. PP 
 
 TERRVS 
 
 VERVS 
 
 VITINVS. F 
 
 TERCII. M 
 
 VESPO. F 
 
 VOCEV. F 
 
 TERTI. M 
 
 VEST. M 
 
 VOSIICVNNVS 
 
 TERTI. MA. 
 
 VESTRI. OF 
 
 VNICVS. F 
 
 TERTIVS 
 
 VEXEHNIV 
 
 VRNINI 
 
 TESTVS. FO 
 
 OF. VIA 
 
 VRSVLVS. FE 
 
 TETTVR 
 
 VICARVS. F 
 
 VSTI. MA 
 
 TETTVR. 
 
 VICTORI. M 
 
 VXMLINI 
 
 TETVR. 
 
 VICTORINVS 
 
 VXOPILLI. M 
 
 TITTILI 
 
 VIDVCOS. F 
 
 
 TITTIVS 
 
 VIDVCVS. F 
 
 
 TITVRI. M 
 
 VIMPVS 
 
 X. 
 
 TITVRONIS 
 
 VINN 
 
 
 TITVRONIS. OF 
 
 VIRIL 
 
 XANTHI 
 
 TVLLVS. F 
 
 VIRILIS. F 
 
 XIVI 
 
 TVLLVS. FE 
 
 OF. VIRILLI 
 
 XVNX 
 
 TVRTVNN 
 
 OF. L. COS. VIRIL 
 OF. L. C. VIRIL 
 
 
 
 VIRONI. OF 
 
 Z. 
 
 V. 
 
 VIRT 
 
 
 
 VIRTHV 
 
 ZOIL 
 
 C. VALAB 
 
 VIRTHVS 
 
 ZOLVS 
 
 VALERI 
 
 VIRTHVS. FECIT 
 
 ZAPEPIDIV 
 
 VARIVS. F 
 
 VIRTIVAS 
 
 . . . RVILLV. F 
 
 VASSALI 
 
 V1RTVTI. F 
 
 OIVNV 
 
 POTTERS' MARKS ON MORTAEIA. 
 
 ALBINVS 
 
 ALBINS. FECIT 
 
 APRILIS 
 r ANDON 
 I P. ARVA 
 
 ANDID. FECIT 
 
 AMMIVS 
 
 BRIXSA 
 
 CAS . . . 
 
 CATVLVS. F 
 
 CIREKOFNS 
 
 CRICIR. OF 
 
 DEVA . . . 
 DVBITATVS 
 DOLNV 
 DO . . . 
 EOAB 
 ' ESVNERT 
 Q. VALERI 
 LICINILVS 
 LITVCENI 
 LVGVDL F 
 LVGVDVS. FACTVS 
 LVGVDV 
 
 F. LVGVDV 
 LVGVDV. FACTV 
 L. E. ECIT 
 MARINVS. FECIT 
 MARTINVS. F 
 MATVCENVS 
 MATVSENS. F 
 MAXI. 
 PRASSO. OF 
 L. LVRIVS. PRISCVS 
 P. P. R 
 P. R. B. 
 
POTTERS' MARKS. 
 
 475 
 
 POTATICVS. FE 
 Q. S. D. 
 RLDANYS. 
 RIDANYS. M 
 RIPANI 
 
 RIPANYS TIBER. F 
 ' A. TEREN 
 RIPANI 
 RVCCYS 
 
 SAYRANYS 
 SATVRNINYS. 
 SATVRNINYS. FEC 
 Q. YA. SE 
 L. CAN. SEC 
 SECYNDYS 
 SOLLYS 
 SOLLYS. F 
 TANIO 
 
 SEX. YAL 
 
 Q. YALC. F 
 
 YERANI. F 
 
 Q. YALERI. 
 
 ESVNERTI 
 
 Q. YALERIYS 
 
 VERANIYS 
 
 T . . . S. VALEN 
 
 YIALLA 
 
 POTTERS' MARKS ON THE HANDLES OF AMPHORAE. 
 
 AFRI 
 C. F. AI. 
 C. AZ. 
 
 Ain 
 
 BELLYCI 
 
 L. YL BR 
 
 C. 
 
 C. IV. R 
 
 C. Y. H 
 
 L. CES 
 
 C, AP. F 
 
 CRADOS 
 
 CARTVNIT. M (?) 
 
 CORI 
 
 F. C. CYFIA 
 
 L. F. CRESCIV. FE (?) 
 
 EIPC 
 
 ERO. IF 
 
 GMT 
 
 G. S. A 
 
 HILARI 
 
 L. C. F. P. C. O 
 
 IIVN (?) MELISSAE 
 
 MELISSE 
 
 L. IVNI (]) 
 
 MELISSI 
 
 M. P. R. 
 
 MCC 
 
 MTM 
 
 NYMPH 
 
 P. S. A 
 
 POR. L. AN 
 
 Q. S. P 
 
 CAT. QYIE 
 
 CANTON. QY 
 
 CANTON. QY. ET 
 
 CANT. QYESI (?) 
 
 ROMANI 
 
 L. Y. ROPI. M 
 
 RYFSANI 
 
 SAENNYS 
 
 OF. SANI 
 
 SCALENS 
 
 L. SER. SENC 
 
 C SEMPOL 
 
 L. S. SEX 
 
 L. C. SOL 
 
 C. MARL STIL 
 
 S. VENNR 
 
 YALERI 
 
 YIBIOR 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aballaba {Watch-cross), 133 
 
 Abona (Bitton), 144 
 
 Acus, 328 
 
 Ad Abonam (Bitton), 144 
 
 Ad Abum (Winterton), 127 
 
 Ad Alaunain (Lancaster), 139 
 
 Ad Alpes Penninos, 139 
 
 Ad Ansam (Stratford), 135 
 
 Ad Antonam, 140 
 
 Ad Aquas (Wells), 143 
 
 Ad Decimum, 144 
 
 Ad Fines (Broughing), 125 
 
 Ad Lapidem (Stoneham), 142 
 
 Ad Lemanum (on the Lymne), 145 
 
 Ad Petuariam (Brough), 127 
 
 Ad Pontem (Farndon), 127 
 
 Ad Sabrinam (Sea Mills), 144 
 
 Ad Tisam, 128 
 
 Ad Trajectum (Severn side), 144 
 
 Ad Trivonam (Bury), 140 
 
 Ad Uxellam (Bridgewater), 143 
 
 Ad Vigesirnum (Castle Flemish), 137 
 
 Adminius, a British prince, 18, 19 
 
 iElia Castra (Alcester), 141 
 
 iElla, the leader of the West Saxons, 
 
 392 
 ^Equipondium, 346 
 ^Esc, king of Kent, 391 
 iEsculapius, worship of, 268 
 iEscwine, king of the East Saxons, 
 
 394 
 iEsica (Great Chester s), 133 
 iEtius, letter of the Britons to, 389 
 
 Age, average, of the Romans in 
 
 Britain, 320 
 Agelocum (Littleborough), 127 
 Agger, 181 
 Agminales, 182 
 Agricola, Julius, 35, 36-39 
 Agriculture, state of, under the 
 
 Romans, 205, 207 
 Akeman street, 451 
 Akemannes-eeaster (Bath), 451 
 Alauna (Alcester), 140 
 Alauna (Lancaster), 139 
 Alauna (Kier), 97, 130 
 Albani (Scottish tribe), 42 
 Albinus, Decimus Clodius, 102, 103- 
 
 105 
 Alcluyd (Dumbarton), 453 
 Aldermen, 437 
 Aliona (Whitby Castle), 133 
 Allectus, his usurpation, 117 
 Alonaa (Ambleside), 139 
 Altars, Roman, 256 
 Amber, use of, and superstitions 
 
 connected with, among the 
 
 Anglo-Saxons, 417 
 Amboglanna (Birdoswald), 133 
 Ambrosius Aurelianus, 389 
 Amphitheatres, Roman, 176 
 Amphora, 222, 337, used for coffins, 
 
 306 
 Ampulla, 337 
 
 Ancalites (People of Berkshire!), 12 
 Ancasta, a goddess worshipped in 
 
 Roman Britain, 294 
 Anderida, (Pevensey), 144 
 
478 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Andredes-ceaster (Pevensey), 392 
 Andredes-leah (Silva Anderida), 392 
 Angles, 390 
 Anglo-Saxons, their mode of settling 
 
 on the conquered lands, 432, 
 
 433, prejudiced against settling 
 
 in towns, 435 
 Animal remains found near Roman 
 
 sites, 338 
 Ansa, 346 
 
 Antivestasum (the Landh End), 40 
 Antoninus Pius, 100 
 Antoninus, Itinerary of, 120, 457 
 Antoninus's wall, 101, 108 
 Apollo, worship of, 262 
 Aquaa Calidse, Aquae Solis (Bath), 
 
 95,143 
 Arcani, agents employed in Britain, 
 
 377 
 Arciaconus, a deity worshipped in 
 
 Eoman Britain, 294 
 Ariconium (Weston), 136 
 Armillce, 328 
 Armour, Roman, 347, Anglo-Saxon, 
 
 408, 409 
 Arrow-heads of stone, 70 ; Anglo- 
 Saxon, 406 
 As t arte, worship of, 269 
 Athelbert becomes king of Kent, 
 
 392 ; converted to Christianity, 
 
 396, 397 
 Attacotti (Scottish tribe), 42, 113, 375 
 Attrebates (Berkshire), 40 
 Augustine, St., the apostle of the 
 
 Anglo-Saxons, 396 
 Auteri (Irish tribe), 43 
 Avebury, British circles at, 60 
 Avisford, in Sussex, remarkable 
 
 Roman tomb found there, 305 
 Axe, Anglo-Saxon war-axe, 409 
 Axelodunum (Bowness), 133 
 
 B. 
 
 Ballivi, 437 
 Banatia (Bonness), 97 
 Banchorium (Bangor), 138 
 Bancorna-byrig (Bangor Iscoed), 
 
 454 
 Banna, a Roman town near Hadrian's 
 
 Wall, 208 
 Barrows, or sepulchral mounds, 49, 
 
 50, 65; Roman, 311-313; Anglo- 
 Saxon, 401-404 
 Bartlow hills, 312 
 Basilica, Roman, 175, 176 
 Bathan-ceaster (Bath), 394 
 Baths, in Roman houses, 168 ; 
 
 public, 175, 176, 346 
 Beads, Roman, 230; Anglo-Saxon, 
 
 417 
 Bebban-byrig (Bamborough) built, 
 
 394 
 Belatucadrus, a god worshipped in 
 
 Roman Britain, 292 
 Belgae (Hants, Wilts, and Somerset), 
 
 3, 22, 40 
 Bells, Roman, 339 
 Bennaventa (Burrow Hill), 124 
 Benonse (High Cross), 124 
 Beorh, beorg, bearw, 401 
 Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon poem of, 
 
 400 
 Bericus, a British prince, 18, 20 
 Bernicia, kingdom of, 390 
 Bibracte, 136 
 
 Bibroci (people of Sussex), 12 
 Bignor, Roman villa at, 198 
 Bilanx, 346 
 Blanii (Irish tribe), 43 
 Blatum Bulgium (Middleby), 131 
 Blestium (Monmouth), 136 
 Boadicea, 30, 33 
 Bolanus, Vettius, 35 
 Bolerium (the Lands End), 40 
 Boni homines, 437 
 Bonus Eventus worshipped, 192, 
 
 280 
 Borcovicus (Homesteads), 132 
 Bos longifrons, 338 
 Bovium (Bangor), 138 
 Bovium (Ewenny), 137 
 Bowls, Anglo-Saxon, 427 
 Box, branches and leaves of, buried 
 
 with the dead by the Romans, 
 
 323 
 Braciaca, an epithet of Mars, 262 
 Brannogenium (Leintwardine), 138 
 Bremenium (High Rochester), 97, 129 
 Bremetenracum (Brampton), 133 
 Bremetonacse (Overborough), 139 
 Bricks or tiles, Roman, 155 
 Bridges, Roman, 184 
 Brigantes (North of England), 23, 41, 
 
 100 
 
INDEX. 
 
 479 
 
 Brigantes (Irish tribe), 43 
 Brigantia, the goddess, 294 
 Brigis, or Brige (Broughtori), 142 
 Brinavae (Black-ground), 141 
 Britain, description of, by Caesar, 
 15 ; by Strabo and Diodorus, 
 16 
 Britannia, the goddess, 276 
 Britons, their condition and man- 
 ners, 15, 44 ; serving as aux- 
 iliaries abroad, 104 
 Brocavium (Brougham), 130 
 Bronze, instruments made of, 72 ; 
 swords, 75 ; daggers, 78 ; Ro- 
 man manufactures in, 240 
 Bronzes, Roman, 341 
 Brovonacae (Kirby Thore), 130 
 Buckets, Anglo-Saxon, 428 
 Bullaeum, see Burrium 
 Burgwara, 441, 444 
 Burrium (UsJc), 96, 136, 144 
 Bustum, 301 
 
 Caer, 453 
 
 Caer-Legion (Caerleon), 454 
 
 Caer-Luel (Carlisle), 453 
 
 Caer-Marddyn (Caermarthen) 454 
 
 Caer-Seiont, 454 
 
 Caer- Went, 454 
 
 Caesar, Julius, invades Britain, 5 ; 
 
 his second invasion, 8 
 Caesaromagus (Chelmsford), 134 
 Cairns, 56 
 
 Calcaria (Tadcaster), 127 
 Calceus, calceamentum, 332 
 Caledonia Sylva, 42 
 Caledonii (Scotland), 38, 42, 106 
 Caliga, 331 
 Caligula marches to the coast of 
 
 Gaul, 20 
 Calleva (Silchester), 96, 136 
 Cambodunum (Slack), 96, 139 
 Camboricum (Cambridge) 135 
 Camulodunum (Colchester), 19, 21, 
 
 24, 30, 96, 134 
 Camunlodunum, see Cambodunum. 
 Candelabrum, 340 
 Cangi, 23, 41 
 
 Canonium (Kelvedon), 134 
 Cantae (Scottish tribe), 42 
 
 Canterbury, its municipal condition 
 under the Anglo-Saxons, 437 
 
 Cantii (Kent), 40 
 
 Cantwara-byrig (Canterbury), 392 
 
 Capulus, 343 
 
 Caput stater w, 346 
 
 Caracalla, 108-111 
 
 Caractacus, 18, 24 
 
 Carausius, assumes the empire, 114 ; 
 his coins, 115 ; murdered, 117 
 
 Carbantorigum (Kirkcudbright), 97 
 
 Carnabii (Scottish tribe), 42 
 
 Carnonacae (Scottish tribe), 42 
 
 Carnydd, 56 
 
 Cartismandua, 25, 26, 35 
 
 Cassi (Hertfordshire), 12, 40 
 
 Cassivellaunus, 9 
 
 Castra Exploratorum (Netherby), 131 
 
 Cataractonium (Catterick), 96, 128 
 
 Catini (Scottish tribe), 42 
 
 Catus Decianus, 30 
 
 Catyeuchlani (Buckingham, Bedford, 
 and Hertford), 40 
 
 Cauci (Irish tribe), 43 
 
 Cauponw, caupones, 182 
 
 Causennae (Ancaster), 125 
 
 Caves, habitations in, 90-93 
 
 Ceajius, a deity worshipped in Ro- 
 man Britain, 295 
 
 Ceaster, 453 
 
 Ceawlin, king of the West-Saxons, 
 393 
 
 Celtic tribes, their origin and move- 
 ment, 1 
 
 Celts, instruments so called, 73 
 
 Cemeteries, Roman, 177 
 
 Cenia (the Fal), 142 
 
 Cenimagni (the people of Suffolk), 
 12 
 
 Cenotaph, Anglo-Saxon, 402, 403 
 
 Centrum stater ce, 346 
 
 Centurial stones, 351-353 
 
 Cerdic, king of the West-Saxons, 392 
 
 Cerealis, Petilius, 31, 36 
 
 Ceres, worship of, 264 
 
 Cerones (Scottish tribe), 42 
 
 Chatelaine of the Anglo-Saxon 
 ladies, 418 
 
 Christianity, its establishment in 
 Roman Britain questioned, 296- 
 299 ; among the Welsh, 454 
 
 Cilurnum (Chesters), 112, 132 
 
 Circinus, 345 
 
480 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Circles of stones, 57 
 
 Cissan-ceaster (Chichester), 392 
 
 Cities of Britain, their condition 
 when the Roman legions left the 
 island, 386 
 
 Civitas, 359, 360, 362, 437 
 
 Classiciamis, Julius, 34 
 
 Claudius, his expedition to Britain, 
 20 
 
 Clausentum (Bittern), 142 
 
 Cnut, king, deceives the citizens of 
 London, 445 
 
 Coal, Kirnmeridge, 231, mineral, 
 used as fuel by the Romans, 233 
 
 Coccium (Ribchester), 139 
 
 Cochlear, 344 
 
 Cocidius, a god worshipped in 
 Roman Britain, 293 
 
 Cogidubnus, or Cogidunus, 29 
 
 Coinage, British, 18 
 
 Coins, British, 83-86; Roman, 
 plated, 365; forged, 366; coins 
 relating to Britain, 369; modes 
 in which they were hoarded up, 
 369, 370 ; proportional numbers 
 in which Roman coins are 
 found, 371-373 ; Anglo-Saxon, 
 430 
 
 Colania (Car stairs, or Lanark), 97, 
 131 
 
 Collegia, 361 
 
 Colonic?, 359 
 
 Colonies, Roman, 249 
 
 Colum, cola nivaria, 336 
 
 Combretonium (Burgh), 135 
 
 Combs, Roman, 332 ; Anglo-Saxon, 
 420 
 
 Comius, a British prince, 18 
 
 Commius, the Attrebatian, 6, 7, 8, 
 13 
 
 Commodus, 102 
 
 Compasses, Roman, 345 
 
 Condate (Kinderton), 138 
 
 Condercum (Benwell), 132 
 
 Congavata, 133 
 
 Connuhium, 362 
 
 Conovium (Caer-hun), 138 
 
 Constans visits Britain, 118 
 
 Constantine the Great, 118 
 
 Const antine, the usurper, his his- 
 tory, 383, 384 
 
 Constantius, marches against Carau- 
 sius and Allectus, 117 
 
 Corbridge lanx, 269 
 
 Corda (Birrensivork) , 97 
 
 Coria, 97 
 
 Corinium (Cirencester), 96, 136 
 
 Coriondi (Irish tribe), 43 
 
 Coritavi (Northampton, Leicester, 
 
 Rutland, Derby, Nottingham, 
 
 Lincoln), 40 
 Cornabii (WarivicJc, Worcester, Staf- 
 ford, Salop, Cheshire), 41 
 Corn-wealas, 454 
 Corstopitum (Corchester, Corbridge), 
 
 129 
 Costume of the Romans, 326 
 Cowey Stakes, 14 
 Cowries found in Anglo-Saxon 
 
 graves, 421 
 Crassus, Publius, 3 
 Creones (Scottish tribe), 42 
 Crococolana {Brough), 127 
 Cromlechs, 51-56; their position, 
 
 63, 64 ;' age of, 81 
 Cryptoporticus, in Roman villas, 
 
 197 
 Culinarv.utensils, Roman, 337 
 Culter, 257, 342 
 Cumbria, kingdom of, 453 
 Cunetio (Folly Farm), 143 
 Cunobeline, 18, 19 
 Curator viarum, 182 
 Curia (Currie), 97, 129 
 Curia, 360 
 Curiales, 360 
 Cynric, king of the West-Saxons, 
 
 393 
 Cyren-ceaster (Cirencester), 394 
 
 D. 
 
 Damnii (a Scottish tribe), 42 
 Damnonii (Devon and Cornwall), 22, 
 
 40 
 Danum (Doncaster), 127 
 Darini (Irish tribe), 43 
 Decianus, Catus, 31 
 Decuriones, 360 
 Defensor civitatis, 360 
 Deira, kingdom of, 390 
 Delgovitia (site uncertain), 128 
 Demetse (Wales), 41 
 Derventio (Old Malton), 128 
 Derventio (Little Chester), 140 
 
INDEX. 
 
 481 
 
 Deva {Chester), 96, 138 
 Devana (Old Aberdeen), 97 
 Diana, worship of, 263 
 Dicalidones (a Scottish tribe), 375 
 Didius Gallus, Avitus, 26 
 Diplomata, 182 
 Diversoria, diversores, 182 
 Dobuni (Gloucester and Oxford), 
 
 21, 40 
 Dogs, British, 208, 211 
 Dolichene, Jupiter, 259 
 Dolmen, 51 . 
 
 Dorocina (Dorchester, Oxf.), 141 
 Dover, its municipal privileges 
 
 under the Anglo-Saxons, 438 
 Drinking-glasses, Anglo-Saxon, 423 
 Droit de gite, 438 
 Druids, their political faction in 
 
 Gaul, 4 ; retire to Anglesea, 27 ; 
 
 their system and worship, 45- 
 
 48 
 Druids' circles, 58 
 Druids' beads, 230 
 Dubrad (Dover), 121, 144 
 Dunium (Dorchester), 95 
 Durius (the Dart), 142 
 Durnovaria, (Dorchester), 95, 142 
 Durotriges (Dorset), 40 
 Durobrivae (Rochester), 121 
 Durobrivee (Castor), 125 
 Durocobrivse (Dunstable), 123 
 Durolevum (Davington), 121 
 Durolipons (Godmanchester), 125,135 
 Durolitum, or Durositum (Romford), 
 
 134 
 Durovernum (Canterbury), 95, 121 
 Duumviri, 360 
 
 E. 
 
 East-Anglia, kingdom of, founded, 
 394 ; the East- Angles converted 
 to Christianity, 397 
 
 Eastlow hill, in Suffolk, a remark- 
 able barrow opened by professor 
 Henslow, 312 
 
 East-Saxons, kingdom of the, 
 founded, 394; their conversion 
 to Christianity, 397 
 
 Eblani (Irish tribe), 43 
 
 Eburacum (York), 96, 108, 110, 127, 
 128 
 
 Echevins, 437 
 
 Elauna, the goddess, 295 
 
 Ellebri (Irish tribe), 43 
 
 Eofor-wic (TorJc), 390 
 
 Epiacum (Lanchester), 96, 129 
 
 Epidii (Scottish tribe), 42 
 
 Epistomium, 338 
 
 Epona, the goddess, 281 
 
 Eppillus, a British prince, 18 
 
 Erclini (Irish tribe), 43 
 
 Ermin Street, 451 
 
 Erpeditani (Irish tribe), 43 
 
 Eteocetum (Wall), 124, 139 
 
 Eustache, count of Boulogne, his 
 quarrel with the burghers of 
 Dover, 438 
 
 Exeter, its position under the Anglo- 
 Saxons, 440 
 
 Exan-ceaster (Exeter), 454 
 
 F. 
 
 Fanum Cocidis (near BanJcshead), 
 
 293 
 Fibulae, Eoman, 327 ; Anglo-Saxon, 
 
 410-415 
 Fire-dogs, Roman, found in Britain, 
 
 335 
 Fire-places, Roman, 335 
 Focus, 257, 335 
 Forfex, 342 
 
 Forgeries of Roman coins, 366-368 
 Forks, Roman, 343 
 Fortune, worship of, 275, 279, 280 
 Forum Dianas (Dunstable), 123 
 Frontinus, Julius, 36 
 Fulgur divom, 325 
 
 G. 
 
 Gabrosentae (Burgh-upon-Sands), 133 
 Gadeni (Cumberland and Scottish 
 
 hordes), 41 
 Gagates, or jet, 231 
 Galacum (near Kendal), 96, 139 
 Galava (Keswick), 139 
 Galgacus, 38 
 Galgal, 56 
 
 Gallus, Avitus Didius, 26 
 Gangani (Irish tribe), 43 
 Gariannonum {Burgh Castle), 382 
 II 
 
482 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Genii, worship of the, 247, 274 
 
 Gerontius, count, 384 
 
 Gessoriacum {Boulogne), 6 
 
 Gildas, his legendary history, 387, 
 389 
 
 Glanovanta, 134 
 
 Glass, Eoman, 224, manufactured at 
 Brighton, 225, different articles 
 made of it, 226 - 230 ; Anglo- 
 Saxon glass, 423 ; German-Saxon 
 glass, 425 
 
 Glass windows in Roman houses, 
 170 
 
 Gleow-ceaster (Gloucester), 394 
 
 Glevum (Gloucester), 136 
 
 Gobannium (Abergavenny), 138, 144 
 
 Gold found in Britain, 239 
 
 Goldsmiths, skill of the Anglo- 
 Saxon, 416 
 
 Goldsmith's sign at Old Malton, 
 247 
 
 Government, Roman, in Britain, 350 
 
 Governors of Roman Britain — 
 Propraetors. 
 Aulus Plautius, 20, 358 
 Ostorius Scapula, 22 
 Avitus Didius Gallus, 26 
 Veranius, 27 
 
 Caius Suetonius Paullinus, 27 
 Petronius Turpilianus, 34 
 Trebellius Maximus, 35 
 Vettius Bolanus, 35 
 Petilius Cerealis, 36 
 Julius Frontinus, 36 
 Julius Agricola, 36-39 
 Sallustius Lucullus, 98 
 Julius Sever us, 100 
 Priscus Licinius, 100, 358 
 Lollius Urbicus, 100, 358 
 Platorius Nepos, 358 
 Aufidius Victorinus, 101 
 C. Valerius Pansa, 358 
 Ulpius Marcellus, 102 
 Perennis, 102 
 Quintus Calpurnius, 358 
 Publius Helvius Pertinax, 102 
 Decimus Clodius Albinus, 102 
 Virius Lupus, 105, 358 
 Claudius Xenophon, 358 
 Marius Valerianus, 112, 358 
 Msecelius Fuscus, 358 
 Gnseus Lucilianus, 358 
 Claudius Paulinus, 358 
 
 Governors (continued) : — 
 Nonnius Philippus, 112, 358 
 
 Vicarii. 
 Martin, 119 
 Alypius, 374 
 Civilis, 375, 376 
 Chrysanthus, 382 
 Gratian, a British usurper, 383 
 Gregory, pope, undertakes the con- 
 version of the Anglo-Saxons, 
 395 
 
 H. 
 
 Habitancum (Risingham), 129 
 Hadrian in Britain, 99 
 Hadrian's wall, 99, 131 
 Hair-pins, Roman, 328 ; Anglo- 
 Saxon, 416 
 Earn, 432 
 Hammia, a goddess worshipped in 
 
 Roman Britain, 295 
 Harimella, the goddess, 295 
 Hengest and Horsa arrive in Kent, 
 
 390, 391 
 Herculentus, the god, 295 
 Hercules, worship of, 268 
 Heriri Mons (Snowdon), 125 
 Hibernia (Ireland), invaded by the 
 
 Romans, 39, its inhabitants, 43 
 Himilco, the Carthaginian, 3 
 Holy Promontory (Carnsore Point), 
 
 43 
 Honorius, the emperor, gives liberty 
 
 to the cities of Britain, 385 
 Horestii (Scottish tribe), 42 
 Household gods of the Romans, 
 
 341 
 Houses, Roman, 162-173 
 Hrofes-ceaster (Rochester), 392 
 Hunnum (Halton- Chester s), 132 
 Euscarles, 440, 445 
 Hypocausts, in Roman houses, 164 
 
 Iceni (Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, 
 
 and Huntingdon), 23, 40 
 Iciani (IcMingham), 135, 435 
 Ictis (the isle of Wight), 3 
 Ida, king of Northumbria, 394 
 lerne, 3 
 
INDEX. 
 
 483 
 
 Iknield Street, 451 
 
 Imanuentius, king of the Trino- 
 bantes, 11 
 
 In Medio, 127 
 
 Inscriptions in Roman villas, 201, 
 204; on drinking vessels, 228, 
 229 ; on a Roman pig of copper, 
 234; on pigs of lead, 237, 238; 
 on silver, 239; on medicine 
 stamps, 242-246 ; on signs, 247 ; 
 on roundels at Colchester, 254 ; 
 on altars, 258-296 ; sepulchral 
 inscriptions, 313-322 ; centu- 
 rial stones, 331-353 ; early in- 
 scriptions to the emperors, 353- 
 357; to municipal officers, 361; 
 sepulchral inscriptions found in 
 Cornwall and Wales, 454, 456 
 
 Iron, procured in Britain, 1 5 
 
 Iron manufacture under the Romans, 
 234-236 
 
 Isannavaria (Burnt walls), 124 
 
 Isca Dumnoniorum, (Exeter), 95, 
 142 
 
 Isca Silurum (Caerleon), 26, 96, 137, 
 144 
 
 Ischalis (Ilchester), 95, 143 
 
 Isinse (Ancaster), 125 
 
 Isurium (Aldborough) , 96, 128 
 
 Itineraries, Roman, 120, 457-462 
 
 Ituna (Solway Firth), 133 
 
 Iverni (Irish tribe), 43 
 
 Jewellery, Anglo-Saxon, 415, 416 
 Jugantes, 41 
 Julianus, Didius, 103 
 Jupiter, worship of, 258 
 Jutes, 390 
 
 K. 
 
 Kent, kingdom of, founded, 391 
 Keys, Roman, 333; Anglo-Saxon, 
 
 419 
 Kimmeridge coal, ornaments made 
 
 of, 231 
 Kist-vaen, 51 
 Knives, Roman, 342 ; Anglo-Saxon, 
 
 406, 418 
 
 Lachrymatories, 226 
 Lactodorum (Toivcester), 124 
 Lamps, Roman, 339, 340 
 Lamps placed in Roman graves, 
 
 305 
 Lancida, 346 
 Lares, 341 
 
 Lavatraa (Bowes), 130 
 Lead, manufacture of in Roman 
 
 Britain, 237; leaden coffins found 
 
 in Roman cemeteries, 308 
 Legions, Roman, in Britain, 97, 382 
 Legiolium (Castleford), 127 
 Lemanis Portus, (Lymne), 121, 144 
 Leucarum (Llychwr), 137 
 Libra, 346 
 Lichavens, 53 
 Licinius, Priscus, 100 
 Ligula, 344 
 Lightning, people killed by, buried 
 
 on the spot, 325 
 Lindum (Lincoln), 96, 126 
 Lindum (Ardoch), 97, 130 
 Locks, Roman, 333 
 Logi (Scottish tribe), 42 
 Londinium (London), 32, 95,122; 
 
 the residence of the propraetor, 
 
 156 
 London, its municipal history under 
 
 the Anglo-Saxons, 441-446 
 Low, 49, 401 
 Lucerna, 339 
 Lucius, king, a fabulous personage, 
 
 298 
 Lucopibia, (Whithem), 97 
 Lucullus, Sallustius, 98 
 Luentinum (Llanio), 99, 144 
 Luguballium, Luguvallium (Car* 
 
 lisle), 130, 133 
 Lundenwic (London) i 443 
 Lupicinus, 119 
 Lupus, Virius, 105 
 Lutudarum (Chesterfield), 141 
 
 M. 
 
 Maeatse (a northern tribe), 106 
 Magiovintum (Fenny Stratford), 124 
 Magna (Kenchester), 138 
 Magna (Car v or an), 133 
 
484 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Magnatae (Irish tribe), 43 
 
 Magnentius, 118 
 
 Mais, a town near Hadrian's wall, 
 
 208 
 Mancipes, 182 
 
 Mancunium (Manchester), 139 
 Mandubratius, chief of the Trino- 
 
 bantes, 10, 12 
 Manduessedum (Manceter), 124 
 Mansiones, 182 
 Maponus, a god worshipped in 
 
 Roman Britain, 295 
 Marcellus, Ulpius, 102 
 Marcus, a British usurper, 383 
 Margidunum (Bridgeford), 127 
 Maridunum (Caermarthen) , 96, 137 
 Mars, worship of, 261 
 Martin, governor of Britain, 119 
 Masonry, Roman, characteristics of 
 
 153-161 
 Matres dese, worship of the, 281 ; 
 
 traces of in the middle ages, 282- 
 
 288 ; Roman altars in Britain 
 
 dedicated to, 289, 290 
 Matunus, a god worshipped in 
 
 Roman Britain, 295 
 Maurusius, Victorinus, 113 
 Maximus, Magnus, his revolt and 
 
 usurpation, 379 ; his death, 381 ; 
 
 fables connected with him, 381 
 Medicine stamps, Roman, 241- 
 
 246 
 Mediolanum (Chesterton), 139 
 Mediolanum (on the Tanad), 96, 
 
 125 
 Menapia (St. David's), 137 
 Menapii (Irish tribe), 43 
 Menhir, 53, 61 
 Mercia, kingdom of, 394 
 Mercury, worship of, 265 
 Mertas (Scottish tribe), 42 
 Middle-Angles converted to Chris- 
 tianity, 397 
 Mile-stones, Roman, 183; length of 
 
 the Roman mile, 184 
 Military force in Britain under the 
 
 Romans, 351 
 Milliarium, 183, 354 
 Minerva, worship of, 263 
 Minimi, 430 
 
 Mint, Roman, in Britain, 364 
 Mirrors, Roman, 332 
 Missio, 362 
 
 Mistletoe, a sacred plant among the 
 
 druids, 48 
 Mithras, worship of, 269-272 
 Mogontis, a god worshipped in 
 
 Britain, 291, 293 
 Mona (Anglesea), 41 
 Money, see Coins. 
 Mons Heriri (Snoivdon), 125 
 Morbium (Temple-borough), 141 
 Moridunum (Honiton ?), 142 
 Mortar, Roman, 160 
 Mortaria, Roman, 223, 337 
 Municipia, 359 
 
 Munuces-ceaster (Newcastle), 390 
 Mutationes, 182 
 
 N. 
 
 Nails in the Roman sandals, 331 
 Nasica, Csesius, 27 
 Needles, Roman, 342 
 Nidum (Neath), 137 
 Niger, Pescennius, 103 
 Northumbrians converted to Chris- 
 tianity, 397 
 Notitia Imperii, 349 
 Novantes (a Scottish tribe), 42 
 Noviomagus (Holioood hill), 95, 122 
 Nucleus, 180 
 
 Numen, numina, 261, 278 
 Nymphs, worship of the, 272 
 
 O. 
 
 Octopitorum Promontorium, 138 
 Oculists' stamps, Roman, 241-246 
 Officials, Roman, in Britain, 350, 
 
 351 
 Olenacum (Old Carlisle), 133 
 Olicana (IlJcley), 96, 139 
 Olla, 337 
 
 Ordovices (North Wales), 24, 36, 41 
 Orestii, see Horestii 
 Orrea (Bertha), 97, 130 
 Ostorius Scapula, 22 
 Otadeni (Northumberland and South 
 
 of Scotland), 41 
 Othona (Ythanceaster), 382 
 Oysters, British, 94 
 Oyster-shells, found on Roman sites, 
 
 338 
 
INDEX. 
 
 485 
 
 Parisii {Yorkshire), 40 
 
 Patera, 257 
 
 Paullinus, Caius Suetonius, 27, 34 
 
 Paulus Catena, 119 
 
 Pavements, tesselated, 190, 201-205 
 
 Pavimentum, 180 
 
 Pecten, 332 
 
 Penates, 341 
 
 Pennocrucium (on the PenTc), 124 
 
 Perennis, 102 
 
 Pertinax, 102 
 
 Petriana (Cambech Fort), 133 
 
 Petronius Turpilianus, 34 
 
 Petuaria, 96, 127 
 
 Peulvan, 53, 61 
 
 Philippus, Nonnius, 112 
 
 Picts and Scots, 113, 375 
 
 Planets, deities of the, 265 
 
 Plautius, Aulus, 20, 22 
 
 Plebs, 360 
 
 Polycletus, 34 
 
 Pons JElii (Newcastle), 130, 132 
 
 Pontes (Staines), 136 
 
 Population of Roman Britain, its 
 character, 250 
 
 Portus Lemanis (Lymne), 121, 145 
 
 Portus Magnus (Portchester), 144 
 
 Portus Sistuntiorum (Freckleton), 
 139 
 
 Potter's marks, 219, 467-475 
 
 Pottery, British, 67; Roman, made 
 in the Upchurch marshes, 209 ; 
 at Durobrivas, 211 ; potters' 
 kilns, 212 ; Samian ware, 216 ; 
 other varieties of Roman pot- 
 teries, 221 ; Anglo-Saxon, 421 ; 
 German-Saxon, 423; Frankish, 
 427 
 
 Prcefecti, 437 
 
 Prwfericulum, 257 
 
 Propositus regis, 448 
 
 Prsetorium (Flamborough Head ? ), 
 128 
 
 Prasutagus, 30 
 
 Principales, 360 
 
 Probi homines, 437 
 
 Procolitia (Carrawburgh), 132 
 
 Propraetors of Britain, see Governors 
 
 Province, Roman, its constitution 
 and divisions, 349 
 
 Pteroton Castrum (Burghead), 97 
 
 Ptolemy's account of Britain, 40 
 Puncta stater 03, 346 
 Puticuli, 324 
 Pyra, 301 
 
 Q. 
 
 Querns, for grinding corn, 337 
 
 E. 
 
 Rata? (Leicester), 96, 126 
 
 Ravenna, anonymous geographer of, 
 
 120 ; his list of Roman towns in 
 
 Britain, 463 
 Reeves, 437, 442, 446 
 Regni (Sussex and Surrey), 40 
 Regnum (Chichester), 29, 144 
 Regulbium (Reculver), 121 
 Retigonium (Stranraer), 97 
 Ricagm ... a goddess worshipped 
 
 in Roman Britain, 295 
 Richard of Cirencester, 120, 459; 
 
 his Itinerary, 460 
 Rigodunum (Ribchester) , 96 
 Rings, Roman, 328 
 Roads, Roman, construction of, 180- 
 
 182, adopted by the Ajnglo- 
 
 Saxons, 450 
 Robogdii (Irish tribe), 43 
 Rochester, its municipal privileges 
 
 under the Anglo-Saxons, 438 
 Rockingstones, 61 
 Rogus, 301 
 
 Roofs of Roman houses, 171 
 Roundels, inscribed, found at Col- 
 chester, 254 
 Rubbish pits attached to Roman 
 
 towns, 179 
 Rudge cup, 208 
 Rudus, ruder atio, 180 
 Rutunium (Roivton), 125, 138 
 Rutupiee (Richborough), 94, 95, 121 
 Ryknield Street, 451 
 
 S. 
 
 Salinas (Droitwich), 139 
 Salinas of Ptolemy, 96, 140 
 Salt- ways, the roads so called, 451 
 Samian ware, 216 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Sandals, Roman, 331 
 
 Sarabus sinus, Neptune so called, 
 295 
 
 Sarcophagi of stone at York, 306 
 
 Saxonicum littus, 386 
 
 Saxons, invasions of the, 386, 390 
 —394 
 
 Scabini, 437 
 
 Scales, Roman, 346 
 
 Scapula, Ostorius, 22 
 
 Scapus, 346 
 
 Sceat, sceattas, 430 
 
 Scissors, Roman, 342 ; Anglo-Saxon, 
 418 
 
 Scots, 113 
 
 Searo-byrig (OldSarum), 393 
 
 Seaxas, 406 
 
 Securis, 257 
 
 Segedunum (Wallsend), 131, 132 
 
 Segelocum (Littleborough) , 127 
 
 Segontiaci {Hampshire and Berks), 
 12 
 
 Segontium (Caer Seiont), 125, 138 
 
 Selgovae {a Scottish tribe), 42 
 
 Sepulchre, modes of, among the 
 Romans, 300; articles buried 
 with dead, 322 ; rites of, among 
 the Anglo-Saxons, 400 
 
 Sera pensilis, 334 
 
 Serapis, worship of, 272 
 
 Sestuntii ( Westmoreland and Cum- 
 berland), 41 
 
 Setlocenia, a gcddess worshipped in 
 Roman Britain, 295 
 
 Severus, the emperor, 103; pro- 
 ceeds to Britain, 107; establishes 
 his court atEburacum, 108 ; his 
 campaigns against the Caledo- 
 nians, 109; dies at York, 111 
 
 Severus, Julius, 100 
 
 Severus, Junius, 103 
 
 Shields, Anglo-Saxon, 407 
 
 Signa, 265 
 
 Silures (border of Wales), 24, 26, 36, 
 41 
 
 Silvanus, worship of, 207, 267 
 
 Silver, found in Britain, 239 
 
 Sitomagus (Dunwich), 135 
 
 Slaves, traffic in, among the Saxons, 
 395; sold in London, 442 
 
 Slaves, immolated at the burial of 
 their chiefs by the Anglo-Saxons, 
 403 
 
 Sorbiodunum (Old Sarum), 142 
 
 South-Saxons converted to Chris- 
 tianity, 398 
 
 Snails found on Roman sites, 338 ; 
 snail shells found in Anglo-Saxon 
 barrows, 421 
 
 Spears, Anglo-Saxon, 406 
 
 Speculum, 332 
 
 Spinaa (Speen), 136 
 
 Spoons, Roman, 344 
 
 Spurs, Roman and Saxon, 348 
 
 Standard, Roman, found near Stony- 
 Stratford, 348 
 
 Statera, 345, 346 
 
 Statores, 182 
 
 Statumen, 180, 181 
 
 Steel for sharpening knives, Roman, 
 343 
 
 Steelyards, Roman, 345 
 
 Stependiarice civitates, 359 
 
 Stone implements, 69 — 72 
 
 Stonehenge, 58, 59, 82 
 
 Strath cluyd, kingdom of> 453 
 
 Street, 450 
 
 Strigils, 346 
 
 Sturius (the Stour), 134 
 
 Stylus, 344 
 
 Suetonius Paullinus, Caius, 27, 34 
 
 Sulloniacaa (Brockley Hill), 123 
 
 Summum dorsum, summa crusta, 
 180 
 
 Superstitions connected with ancient 
 monuments, 62, 63, 79 
 
 Swegen, king, his death, 447 
 
 Swords, British or Roman, 75 ; 
 Anglo-Saxon, 404—406 
 
 Syria dea, worship of, 264 
 
 Tabernce diver sorio3, 182 
 Tabula, 344 
 
 Tabula? honestaz missionis, 362 
 Taixali (Scottish tribe), 42 
 Tamara (on the Tama?*), 95, 142 
 Tamesis (Sinodun Hill?), 141 
 Tamia (Braemar Castle), 97 
 Tasciovanus, 18 
 Tegida, 304 
 
 Terra-cottas, Roman, 224 
 Tertianaz deo3, 281 
 Tetricus, 112 
 
INDEX. 
 
 487 
 
 Theatres, Roman, 176 
 
 Theodosia (Dumbarton), 131 
 
 Theodosius takes the command in 
 Britain, 375 
 
 Thetford, the townsmen of, kill 
 their abbot, 440 
 
 Tibia (the Taaf), 137 
 
 Tiles, Roman, 155 
 
 Tin, procured from Britain, 2, 3 
 
 Tine . . . , a British prince, 18 
 
 Tintinnabulum, 339 
 
 Titus, the emperor, 21 
 
 Togodumnus, a British prince, 18, 21 
 
 Tombs, Roman, made of tiles, 304 
 
 Torques, torquis, 329; torquis bra- 
 chials, 330 
 
 Town, Roman, description of a, 146; 
 its walls, 147 ; gates, 149 ; 
 houses, 162; streets, 172; public 
 buildings, 174 ; suburbs, 177 ; 
 drainage, 177 — 179 
 
 Towns, municipal, under the Ro- 
 mans, 359 ; preserved under the 
 Anglo-Saxons, 435 ; examples, 
 Canterbury, 437 ; Rochester and 
 Dover, 438 ; Thetford, Wor- 
 cester, Exeter, 440 ; London, 
 441 — 446 ; charters granted to 
 towns, 449 
 
 Trebellius Maximus, 35 
 
 Trebonius, Caius, 11 
 
 Triliths, 53 
 
 Trimontium (Eildon), 97, 129 
 
 Trinobantes (the people of Essex) 10, 
 40 
 
 Tripontium (Dove Bridge), 124 
 
 Trua, or trulla, 336 
 
 Trutina, 345 
 
 Tuesis (Cromdale), 97 
 
 Tumblers (Origin of the word), 424 
 
 Tun, 432 
 
 Tunnocelum (Drumburgh), 133 
 
 Turpilianus, Petronius, 34 
 
 Tweezers, Roman, 332 ; Anglo- 
 Saxon, 418 
 
 U. 
 
 Urbicus, Lollius, 100, 101 
 Uriconium (Wroxeter), 96, 124, 138 
 Urns, sepulchral, Roman, 302 ; An- 
 glo-Saxon, 421 
 
 Usdiaa (Irish tribe), 43 
 
 Ustrinum, 301 
 
 Uxela (Bridgeivater), 95 
 
 Uxelum (Raeburnfoot, or Castleover) , 
 
 97, 131 
 Uxaconium (Red-hill, or OaJcen-gates) , 
 
 124 
 
 Vacomagi (Scottish tribe), 42 
 Vagniacse (Southfieet), 122 
 Valentinus, his intrigues against 
 
 Theodosius, 378 
 Valerianus, Marius, 112 
 Vanduara (Paisley), 97, 131 
 Vara? (Bodfari), 138 
 Vecturiones (Scottish tribe), 375 
 Velibori (Irish tribe), 43 
 Yellocatus, 35 
 Veniconii (Irish tribe), 43 
 Venonse (High Cross), 126 
 Venricones (Scottish tribe), 42 
 Venta Belgarum ( Winchester), 95, 141 
 Venta Icenorum (Caistor), 96, 135 
 Venta Silurum (Caerwent), 144 
 Venusius, chief of the Brigantes, 26, 
 
 35 
 Veranius, 27 
 Verbeia, a goddess worshipped in 
 
 Roman Britain, 295 
 Veredarii, 182 
 Veric, a British prince, 18 
 Verlucio (Eighfield), 144 
 Yerometum (near Willoughby), 126 
 Verteraa (Brough), 130 
 Yerulamium (near St. Albarts), 14, 
 
 19, 32, 96, 123, 176 
 Yespasian, the emperor, 21 
 Yeteres, Vetires, or Yetiris, a god 
 
 worshipped in Roman Britain, 
 
 291 
 Yettius Bolanus, 35 
 Vice, vicinales, privates, agrarian, 
 
 devio3, 181 
 Yicarii of Britain, see Governors. 
 Yictoria (Dealgin Boss), 97, 130 
 Yictorinus, Aufidius, 101 
 Yictorinus Maurusius, 113 
 Victory, worship of, 280 
 Villa, 437 
 Villa Faustini, 135 
 
488 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Villas, Roman, 186 — 201; occupied 
 
 by the Anglo-Saxons, 435 
 Villages, British and Roman, 87 — 
 
 90, 205 
 Vindobala (Rut Chester), 132 
 Vindogladia (Gussages), 142 
 Vindolana (Chesterholm), 133 
 Vindomis (Whitechurch), 142 
 Vindomora (Eh Chester), 129 
 Vinovium or Vinnovium (Bin- 
 
 chester), 96, 129 
 Viradesthi, a goddess worshipped in 
 
 Roman Britain, 296 
 Viroconium, see Uriconium. 
 Virosidum (Maryport and Ellen- 
 
 borough), 134 
 Vodiae (Irish tribe), 43 
 Voliba (on the Fowey), 95 
 Volsellce, 332 
 Voluba (the Foivey), 142 
 Voluntii (Lancashire), 41 
 Voluntii (Irish tribe), 43 
 
 Vortigern, King of the Britains, 389 
 
 W. 
 
 Walls, Roman, their character, 147- 
 149 ; Hadrian's, see Hadrian 
 
 Water-cock, Roman, 338 
 
 Watling-street, 450 
 
 Weapons, Roman, 347 
 
 Week, gods of the days of the, 255 
 
 Welsh, origin and meaning of the 
 word, 391; the Welsh settle- 
 ment in England, 452 — 456 ; 
 Christianity introduced among 
 them, 454 
 
 Wessex, kingdom of, founded, 392 
 
 West-Saxons converted to Chris- 
 tianity, 397 
 
 Wintan-ceaster (Winchester), 393 
 
 Woodchester, Roman villa there 
 described, 188—198 
 
 THE END. 
 
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