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number of men to the Legion, it is probable both the Alae
contained 10 cohorts. The Ala Herculea seems to have been
the Ala of a Legion, and consequently composed of several
cohorts, and perhaps was the same as the Ala Gordiana, and
may have changed its name under Maximian, of whom Victor
says that he gave his new name to the troops. The Ala
Gordiana also lay at Old Carlisle, as appears from
inscriptions found there.
"Legio VI. Victrix was in Britain when the Notitia was
written, as were all these Alae. It is not improbable that
the Ala I. Herculea, and the Ala Sabiniana, the one called
from Maximianus Herculeus, the other from Adrian's wife
Sabina, or Gordian's wife Sabinia, were the wings properly
belonging to it.
"When the Notitia was written, the Legio II. Aug. was
withdrawn from Caerleon to Richborough, and its auxliaries
probably garrisoned the east coast. The principal stress of
defence about and before the time when the Romans quitted
the island was ad lineam valli and the littus
Saxonicum. I account for the want of inscriptions in
these east and south stations, when they abound so much in
the north, from the long residence and quiet of the Romans
in the north. The Notitia gives the state of the Roman
government and forces in Britain, not as they really were at
the end of Theodosius II's reign A.D. 445, but 401 or 2,
when the aforesaid legions were still in Britain, for it is
evident they had been recalled before that time. When the
Legio II. Aug. left us is not so plain, but I think we may
fix the departure of the other to Stilico's drawing off all
the forces of the empire to his aid, as described by
Claudian:
Venit ab extremis, &c.
So that the Notitia seems to copy from an account taken at a
time when the Romans had a flourishing civil power and a
good army residing here, and not at the end of the reign of
Theodosius II, when every thing was in confusion.
"Both the commanders of legions and alae were styled
Praefecti, and the latter was more profitable as well
as more honourable, and sooner attained by successive
rising. But the commander of the cohort is always styled
Tribunus in the Notita, though sometimes in
inscriptions Praefectus, a term of greater dignity,
and a compliment to the officer. Cohors was properly
a company of foot, Turma a troop of horse, and the
commander of the latter a Decurio, and frequently
Praefectus like the commander of a cohort. Vegetius,
a late writer, who lived but a little before the Notitia,
says the first cohort of a legion was styled
Milliaria, and consisted of 1103 foot soldiers, and
132 horse, and others had only 555 foot, and 66 horse. The
commander of the first cohort was styled Tribunus,
the others tribuni or praepositi, as the
emperor pleased. I never met with a praepositus
cohortis in any other book or inscription; perhaps it
might be a modern distinction. However, in imitation of the
first legionary cohort, the first auxiliary one might
consist of above 1000 men, and the rest of more than 500
(the 4th and 7th it is said were above 600), whence they are
called Quingenaria, as the first was
Milliaria, the rest by the note ∞ on this
inscription, whose last words are to be read milliariae
equitatae, not equestris or equitum, as in
Pliny and other polite writers. Equitata is the camp
term and used by Hyginus, who wrote expressly on that
subject, and in the military style.
"That this cohors I. Hisp. equitatae was sent by Adrian into
Britain, appears from an inscription in Reinesius, Cl. 6
cxxiix, and in Gudius."
Sir J. Clerk's description of the Netherby bath in a letter
to Mr. Gale, Sept. 23, 1734:
"This edifice consists of two rooms, which, I believe, have
always been under ground; for, at this time, there are marks
of steps to go down to them. The door is finished by three
large stones, one at top and two on the sides, each about
six feet long, with marks of bolts and hinges. Each room is
about nine or ten feet square, divided from each other by a
thin partition of stone, and both under the same arched
roof, which the workmen broke down. The outermost served for
a little temple of Fortune, and in it the altar was found
with heaps of heads of different animals, particularly oxen
and sheep. The inner room was a bath, and, in my opinion,
rather for bathing vessels to stand in than to be filled
with water: for though there is a certain cement, composed
of lime and beaten bricks, which covers both the floors and
walls, and is indeed very hard; I have no notion it could
ever hold water. The floors of both rooms are covered with
large flat stones, and under them is an aqueduct or large
empty space or canal, reaching from one end of the building
to the other. These floors are covered with the cement about
an inch and an half thick, which, I suppose, was because the
stones were too cold to stand on. I believe it might be
worth our while to imitate this cement in floors
underground; for it seems the beaten brick, which is not
very small, served to dry up the moisture of the lime and
made it bind immediately.
"The Spanish horse of the inscription could not be the
northern exploratores, consequently this place could not be
the Castra Exploratorum, as Mr. Horsley took it to be. I
make no doubt but the true Castra Exploratorum was at
Midleby and Burnswark hill in Scotland, 10 mils from
Netherby; for there are three Roman camps to defend these
grounds, and from the top of the hill a prospect of at least
40 miles round, as I noticed to you once before, and as was
likewise observed by Mr. Gordon. I believe if poor Mr.
Horsley had lived to see this altar, he would have changed
his opinion about the place. I don't know why it might not
have been Luguvallium rather than Carlisle. If the etymology
could be admitted to be Longa Vallis, it would exactly fit
the country about Netherby, which is part of what we call
Eskdale or Escae Vallis. I own the next station of the
Itinerary would create some difficulty, but that would be
only in the distances, about which we can have but little
certainty.
"From the heads of animals found in the Fanum Fortunae, we
may guess the priest had picked them before they came there,
otherwise the place had been a meer slaughter-house. The
altar, no doubt, served for libations, or, according to the
priest-craft of those times, for a small part of the
viscera, while those holy men feasted on the rest
themselves.
"I observed on the pavement scattered about several
fragments of fine earthen pots adorned with figures. These,
no doubt, have served for oils, or paterae and prefericula.
"About 30 ells in a strait line from this fabric is a
spring, which, no doubt, you noticed. This has supplied the
bath, and issued by the aqueduct. I shall only add, that
Netherby is much the same kind of station as Midleby: for
there are considerable vestiges of stone buildings in both.
I believe
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