The Project Gutenberg eBook of Early Britain--Roman Britain, by Edward Conybeare

The inscription runs thus:

NEPTVNO. ET. MINERVAE
TEMPLVM
pro SALVTE. DO mus DIVINAE
ex AVCTORITATE. Ti. CLAVD
Co GIDVBNI. R. LEGATI. AVG. IN. BRIT.
Colle GIVM. FABRO. ET. QVI. IN. E.
. . . . . D.S.D. DONANTE. AREAM.
Pud ENTE. PVDENTINI. FILiae

(The italics are almost certain restoration of illegible letters.)

Claudia, the British Princess mentioned by Martial as making a distinguished Roman marriage, may very probably be his daughter.

Thus in St. Luke ii. we find Cyrenius Pro-praetor (ἡγεμων [hêgemôn]) of Syria, but in Acts xviii. Gallio Pro-consul (ὰνθύπατος [hanthupatos]) of Achaia.

His reputation for strength, skill, and daring cost him his life a few years later, under Nero (Tac, 'Ann.' xvi. 15).

Pigs of lead have been found in Denbighshire stamped CANGI or DECANGI. Mr. Elton, however, locates the tribe in Somerset. Coins testify to Antedrigus, the Icenian, being somehow connected with this tribe.

A Roman "Colony" was a town peopled by citizens of Rome (old soldiers being preferred) sent out in the first instance to dominate the subject population amid whom they were settled. Such was Philippi.

Tacitus, 'Annals,' xii. 38.

The distinction of an actual triumph was reserved for Emperors alone.

Tacitus, 'Annals,' xii. 39.

See p. 239. Uriconium alone has as yet furnished inscriptions of the famous Fourteenth Legion, "Victores Britannici." (See p. 160.)

'Ep. ad Atticum,' vi. 1.

See Dio Cassius, xii. 2.

The Procurator of a Province was the Imperial Finance Administrator. (See Haverfield, 'Authority and Archaeology,' p. 310.)

An inscription calls the place Colonia Victricensis.

Tacitus, 'Ann.' xiv. 32.

Demeter and Kore. M. Martin ('Hist. France,' i. 63) thinks there is here a confusion between the Greek Kore (Proserpine) and Koridwen, the White Fairy, the Celtic Goddess of the Moon and also (as amongst the Greeks) of maidenhood. But this is not proven.

The former is Strabo's variant of the name (which may possibly be connected with σεμνός [semnos]), the latter that of Dionysius Periegetes ('De Orbe,' 57). In Caesar we find a third form Namnitae, which Professor Rhys connects with the modern Nantes.

As Agricola, his father-in-law, was actually with Suetonius, Tacitus had exceptional opportunities for knowing the truth.

Suetonius probably retreated southward when he left London, and reoccupied its ruins when the Britons, instead of following him, turned northwards to Verulam.

The Roman pilum was a casting spear with a heavy steel head, nine inches long.

Tac., 'Agricola,' c. 12.

That the well-known coins commemorating these victories and bearing the legend IVDAEA CAPTA are not infrequently found in Britain, indicates the special connection between Vespasian and our island. The great argument used by Titus and Agrippa to convince the Jews that even the walls of Jerusalem would fail to resist the onset of Romans was that no earthly rampart could compare with the ocean wall of Britain (Josephus, D.B.J., II. 16, vi, 6).

The spread of Latin oratory and literature in Britain is spoken of at this date by Juvenal (Sat. xv. 112), and Martial (Epig. xi. 3), who mentions that his own works were current here: "Dicitur et nostros cantare Britannia versus."

Mr. Haverfield suggests that Silchester may also be an Agricolan city (see p. 184).

Juvenal mentions these designs (II. 159):

"—Arma quidem ultra
Litora Juvernae promovimus, et modo captas
Orcadas, et minima contentos nocte Britannos" (i.e. those furthest north).

According to Dio Cassius this voyage of discovery was first made by some deserters ('Hist. Rom.' lxix. 20).

The little that is known of this rampart will be found in the next chapter (see p. 198).

Sallustius Lucullus, who succeeded Agricola as Pro-praetor, was slain by Domitian only for the invention of an improved lance, known by his name (as rifles now are called Mausers, etc.).

All highways were made Royal Roads before the end of the 12th century, so that the course of the original four became matter of purely antiquarian interest.

Where it struck that sea is disputed, but Henry of Huntingdon's assertion that it ran straight from London to Chester seems the most probable.

The lines of these roads, if produced, strike the Thames not at London Bridge, but at the old "Horse Ferry" to Lambeth. This may point to an alternative (perhaps the very earliest) route.

Guest ('Origines Celticae') derives "Ermine" from A.S. eorm=fen, and "Watling" from the Welsh Gwyddel=Goidhel=Irish. The Ermine Street, however, nowhere touches the fenland; nor did any Gaelic population, so far as is known, abut upon the Watling Street, at any rate after the English Conquest. Verulam was sometimes called Watling-chester, probably as the first town on the road.

The distinction between "Street" and "Way" must not, however, be pressed, as is done by some writers. The Fosse Way is never called a Street, though its name [fossa] shows it to have been constructed as such; and the Icknield Way is frequently so called, though it was certainly a mere track—often a series of parallel tracks (e.g. at Kemble-in-the-Street in Oxfordshire)—as it mostly remains to this day.

This may still be seen in places; e.g. on the "Hardway" in Somerset and the "Maiden Way" in Cumberland. See Codrington, 'Roman Roads in Britain.'

Camden, however, speaks of a Saxon charter so designating it near Stilton ('Britannia,' II. 249).

The whole evidence on this confused subject is well set out by Mr. Codrington ('Roman Roads in Britain').

It is, however, possible that the latter is named from Ake-manchester, which is found as A.S. for Bath, to which it must have formed the chief route from the N. East.

See p. 144. Bradley, however, controverts this, pointing out that the pre-Norman authorities for the name only refer to Berkshire.

Thus Iter V. takes the traveller from London to Lincoln viâ Colchester, Cambridge, and Huntingdon, though the Ermine Street runs direct between the two. The 'Itinerary' is a Roadbook of the Empire, giving the stages on each route set forth, assigned by commentators to widely differing dates, from the 2nd century to the 5th. In my own view Caracalla is probably the Antoninus from whom it is called. But after Antoninus Pius (138 A.D.) the name was borne (or assumed) by almost every Emperor for a century and more.

Ptolemy also marks, in his map of Britain, some fifty capes, rivers, etc., and the Ravenna list names over forty.

The longitude is reckoned from the "Fortunate Isles," the most western land known to Ptolemy, now the Canary Islands. Ferro, the westernmost of these, is still sometimes found as the Prime Meridian in German maps.

Thus the north supplies not only inscriptions relating to its own legion (the Sixth), but no fewer than 32 of the Second, and 22 of the Twentieth; while at London and Bath indications of all three are found.

The Latin word castra, originally meaning "camp," came (in Britain) to signify a fortified town, and was adopted into the various dialects of English as caster, Chester, or cester; the first being the distinctively N. Eastern, the last the S. Western form.

Amongst these, however, must be named the high authority of Professor Skeat. See 'Cambs. Place-Names.'

Pearson's 'Historical Maps of England' gives a complete list of these.

This industry flourished throughout the last half of the 19th century. The "coprolites" were phosphatic nodules found in the greensand and dug for use as manure.

These are of bronze, with closed ends, pitted for the needle as now, but of size for wearing upon the thumb.

There seems no valid reason for doubting that the horseshoes found associated with Roman pottery, etc., in the ashpits of the Cam valley, Dorchester, etc., are actually of Romano-British date. Gesner maintains that our method of shoeing horses was introduced by Vegetius under Valentinian II. The earlier shoes seem to have been rather such slippers as are now used by horses drawing mowing-machines on college lawns. They were sometimes of rope: Solea sparta pes bovis induitur (Columella), sometimes of iron: Et supinam animam gravido derelinquere caeno Ferream ut solam tenaci in voragine mula (Catullus, xvii. 25). Even gold was used: Poppaea jumentis suis soleas ex auro induebat (Suet., 'Nero,' xxx.). The Romano-British horseshoes are thin broad bands of iron, fastened on by three nails, and without heels. See also Beckmann's 'History of Inventions' (ed. Bohn).

This is true of the whole of Britain, even along the Wall, as a glance at the cases in the British Museum will show. There may be seen the most interesting relic of this class yet discovered, a bronze shield-boss, dredged out of the Tyne in 1893 [see 'Lapid. Sept.' p. 58], bearing the name of the owner, Junius Dubitatus, and his Centurion, Julius Magnus, of the Ninth Legion.

The wall of London is demonstrably later than the town, old material being found built into it. So is that of Silchester.

York was not three miles in circumference, Uriconium the same, Cirencester and Lincoln about two, Silchester and Bath somewhat smaller.

Roman milestones have been found in various places, amongst the latest and most interesting being one of Carausius discovered in 1895, at Carlisle. It had been reversed to substitute the name of Constantius (see p. 222.). It may be noted that the earliest of post-Roman date are those still existing on the road between Cambridge and London, set up in 1729.

See p. 117. When the existing bridge was built, Roman remains were found in the river-bed.

The Thames to the south, the Fleet to the west, and the Wall Brook to the east and north.

See p. 233. The city wall may well be due to him.

On this functionary, see article by Domaszewski in the 'Rheinisches Review,' 1891. His appointment was part of the pacificatory system promoted by Agricola.

An archigubernus (master pilot) of this fleet left his property to one of his subordinates in trust for his infant son. The son died before coming of age, whereupon the estate was claimed by the next of kin, while the trustee contended that it had now passed to him absolutely. He was upheld by the Court. Another York decision established the principle that any money made by a slave belonged to his bonâ fide owner. And another settled that a Decurio (a functionary answering to a village Mayor in France) was responsible only for his own Curia.

Inscriptions of the Twentieth have been found here.

Legra-ceaster, the earliest known form of the name, signifies Camp-chester (Legra = Laager). In Anglo-Saxon writings the name is often applied to Chester. This, however, was the Chester, par excellence, as having remained so long unoccupied. In the days of Alfred it is still a "waste Chester" in the A.S. Chronicle. The word Chester is only associated with Roman fortifications in Southern Britain. But north of the wall, as Mr. Haverfield points out, we find it applied to earthworks which cannot possibly have ever been Roman. (See 'Antiquary' for 1895, p. 37.)

Bath was frequented by Romano-British society for its medicinal waters, as it has been since. The name Aquae (like the various Aix in Western Europe) records this fact. Bath was differentiated as Aquae Solis; the last word having less reference to Apollo the Healer, than to a local deity Sul or Sulis. Traces of an elaborate pump-room system, including baths and cisterns still retaining their leaden lining, have here been discovered; and even the stock-in-trade of one of the small shops, where, as now at such resorts, trinkets were sold to the visitors.(See 'Antiquary,' 1895, p. 201.)

Similar excavations are in progress at Caergwent, but, as yet, with less interesting results. Amongst the objects found is a money-box of pottery, with a slit for the coins. A theatre [?] is now (1903) being uncovered.

See II. F. 4; also Mr. Haverfield's articles in the 'Athenaeum' (115, Dec. 1894), and in the 'Antiquary' (1899, p. 71).

Mr. Haverfield notes ('Antiquary,' 1898, p. 235) that British basilicas are larger than those on the Continent, probably because more protection from weather was here necessary. Almost as large as this basilica must have been that at Lincoln, where sections of the curious multiple pillars (which perhaps suggested to St. Hugh the development from Norman to Gothic in English architecture) may be seen studding the concrete pavement of Ball Gate.

A plan of this "church" is given by Mr. Haverfield in the 'English Hist. Review,' July 1896.

An inspection of the Ordnance Map (1 in.) shows this clearly. It is the road called (near Andover) the Port Way.

The water supply of Silchester seems to have been wholly derived from these wells, which are from 25 to 30 feet in depth, and were usually lined with wood. In one of them there were found (in 1900) stones of various fruit trees (cherry, plum, etc.), the introduction of which into Britain has long been attributed to the Romans, (See Earle, 'English Plant Names.') But this find is not beyond suspicion of being merely a mouse's hoard of recent date.

Roman refineries for extracting silver existed in the lead-mining districts both of the Mendips and of Derbyshire, which were worked continuously throughout the occupation. But the Silchester plant was adapted for dealing with far more refractory ores; for what purpose we cannot tell.

See paper by W. Gowland in Silchester Report (Society of Antiquaries) for 1899.

A glance at the maps issued by the Society of Antiquaries will show this. The massive rampart, forming an irregular hexagon, cuts off the corners of various blocks in the ground plan.

The well-known Cambridge jug of Messrs. Hattersley is a typical example.

"Samian" factories existed in Gaul.

TI. CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG. P.M. TRIB. P. VIIII. IMP, XVI. DE BRITAN. This was found at Wokey Hole, near Wells.

Haverfield, 'Ant.' p. 147.

See 'Corpus Inscript. Lat.' Vol. VII.

A specially interesting touch of this old country house life is to be seen in the Corinium Museum at Cirencester—a mural painting whereon has been scratched a squared word (the only known classical example of this amusement):

ROTAS
OPERA
TENET
AREPO
SATOR

The word mansio, however, at this period signified merely a posting-station on one or other of the great roads.

Selwood, Sherwood, Needwood, Charnwood, and Epping Forest are all shrunken relics of these wide-stretching woodlands, with which most of the hill ranges seem to have been clothed. See Pearson's 'Historical Maps of England.'