Chapter XIII: Preface (13)

The cave, or receptacle of the gladiators, wild beasts, &c. I suppose to have been at the upper end, under the ascent to the terrace, being vaults under that part of the body of the work: whether they were of the same chalk, or timber, or whether they were arched with brick or stone, or what other matter, I cannot say; but the ruin thereof seems to be the reason of the present deformity at that end; so that it is not easy to guess at its original profile. We may observe that the parapet and terrace go back there, and, taking a new sweep, fall beyond the line of the outer oval; for two reasons, as I conceive: 1st, Because by that means there is a greater length obtained for the ascent to the terrace, which makes it more gradual and easy: 2dly, Thereby more space is procured for the apartments of the prisoners under ground. By the section lengthwise, it is easily understood that I suppose a passage quite through, or subterraneous gallery upon that end of the longest diameter, under the ascent to the terrace, from the out-side into the _area_: this must open at the bottom of the _podium_, as was practised in other works of like nature, with a squarish door, as Varro tells us, _de re rustica_. “The door (says he) ought to be low and narrow, of that sort which they call a _cochlea_, as is wont to be in the cave where the bulls are shut up for fight.” The entrance to this place might be from without-side the amphitheatre: here is no want of room for the door within; for the level of the _area_ was at least twelve feet lower than the _podium_, like our pit at the play-houses; and it is probable there was a descent of the whole level this way, to draw off the rain into some subterraneous passage: the _podium_ in the _castrensian_ amphitheatre is monstrously high. Our _area_, no doubt, is exceedingly elevated by manuring, ploughing, and ruins: yet it preserves a dish-like concavity, through innumerable injuries; for the descent from the entrance is very great, and you go down as into a pit. I conjecture the middle part of the _area_ is now ten foot lower than the level of the field: but the field itself, especially about the entrance, is much lowered by ploughing, because the end of the circular walk there, which should be even with the ground, is a good deal above it. The dens and caves of the wild beasts at the great circ in Rome were only of earth and wood, till Claudius the emperor built them of marble. This ruin at the upper end is very considerable; for it has so filled the _arena_ thereabouts, that the cattle plough up to the very _præcinctio_. On the out-side is a large round tumour, a considerable way beyond the exterior verge, and regular in figure, which certainly has been somewhat appertaining to the work: I could wish that a careful person had liberty of digging into it. Moreover, this _podium_ had a parapet of earth, if not a balustrade, as was usual in others: behind this, upon the lowermost seat, was the place of the senators and chief persons, who often had chairs or cushions: this was the best place for seeing and hearing, as being nearest the _arena_; whence Juvenal says,

————————_generosior & Marcellis,
Et Catulis Paulique minoribus et Fabiis &
Omnibus ad podium spectantibus_.————

So Suetonius, in _Augusto_, says, the senate made an order, that the first or lowest seat at public spectacles should be left for them: probably this was broader than any other seat, with a greater space between the _podium_ and next seat, for more ease. The chair of state for the _prætor_ was on one side, and probably another opposite to it for the emperor, or his legate, which was reserved empty, for state, in their absence; or for the _editor_ of the shows, who was generally thus distinguished: and it is remarkable that a little prominence is still left in these very places. These were set in the middle of the _podium_, on each side, upon the shortest diameter, and were covered with canopies like a tabernacle. This _podium_ had, for greater safety, grates, nets, and lattice work of iron, or more costly metal, supported by pillars, and the like: beside, there were rollers of wood or ivory length-wise, which hindered the beasts from climbing up, by their turning round, as is particularly described by Calpurnius. And, moreover, in greater amphitheatres, there was a ditch full of water under it, called _euripus_, first introduced by Julius Cæsar. In the early times of these buildings, the people sat all together promiscuously; but after the emperors, the places were distinguished according to the degrees of quality, senators, knights, or common people. The knights seats were next to the senators, fourteen deep in number; so that _gradus quatuordecim_ became a phrase for the equestrian order. We may suppose these two degrees filled all the seats in our amphitheatre under the circular walk or ascent. The common people possessed the remainder, or the whole concavity above the circular walk, taking the best places as they came first: but the uppermost seats were reserved particularly for the women; and one reason of their distance was, I suppose, because the gladiators were naked. And that no routs and confusions should disturb the order of these solemnities, there were proper officers appointed, that took care none should presume to sit out of the seats suitable to his degree.

I imagine the terrace at top in our work was designed for the men of arms: for they are by no means to be excluded, seeing one of the primary intents of these diversions was to inure them, as well as the people, to blood and murder. Hence, before they went upon any great expedition, or foreign war, these feasts and butcheries were publicly celebrated: and in my opinion, the two rising plots, that are squarish on each side upon the shortest diameter, were for the officers. These are above the level of the walk, or terrace, and might possibly have a tent set upon them for that purpose. I call them pavilions: they are of a handsome turn, and capable each of holding two dozen of people commodiously: their side-breadth is fifteen foot; their length, i. e. north and south, twenty: they are somewhat nearer the upper end, not standing precisely upon the shortest diameter, and four foot above the level of the terrace. I considered with care that seeming irregularity of the terrace on both sides the lower end; for it is higher within side than without, yet so as to produce no ill effect below, either within or without, but the contrary. I find it is a master-piece of skill, and am surprised that it has not been more defaced in so long time. The matter is this: the work standing on a declining plain, this artifice was necessary to render its appearance regular; for when you stand in the centre within-side, the whole circuit of the terrace seems and is really of one level: but on the out-side the verge of the north-easterly part is sloped off gradually toward the entrance where the declivity is, conformably with it; whence the whole exterior contour appears of an equal height too: and this could not otherwise have been obtained, since within it was necessary to keep a true level, without regard to the outer plain. As to the seats, which I have supposed in plate 50, they were contrived to be twice as broad as high: their height was but a small matter more than a foot, and their breadth not above two feet and a half; half that space being allotted for the seat of the lowermost, and the other half for the feet of the uppermost. The declivity of these _gradus_ is justly made within an angle of thirty degrees, the third part of a quadrant: but this is more exact at the ends; for in the middle, or towards the shortest diameter over the elevated part of the circular walk, the upper _series_ of seats has a somewhat more obtuse angle; the reason of which is obvious, to overlook the breadth of the circular walk. This is most plainly seen in the sections, and is done with judgement, because by that means the upper edge of the amphitheatre is in a right line with the declivity. As to the disposition of these seats, their method is as new as curious: it is so contrived, that the circular walks cut the whole breadth in two equal parts upon the shortest diameter; therefore an equal number of seats is above and under it: hence the middle seat at each extremity is in the same level with the elevated part of the walk. Though these seats in other amphitheatres abroad were made of stone or marble, yet they were generally covered with boards, because more wholesome; and that sometimes covered with cushions for the better sort. Dion Cassius tells us, this piece of nicety was first brought in by Caligula, who gave cushions to the senators seats, that they might not sit upon the bare boards, and _Thessalic_ caps to keep them from the sun. The vulgar had mats made of reeds. I think we may well infer from hence, that the seats in our amphitheatre were covered too with plank, if not made wholly of it. The _præcinctiones_, or, as Vitruvius sometimes calls them in Greek, _diazomata_, which commentators make a difficulty about, to me seem only balustrades, because he orders them to be as high as the breadth of the walk along them: beside that upon the _podium_, here might possibly be one upon the inner edge of the terrace which separated between the soldiers and the women.

The _area_ in the middle was commonly called _arena_, from the sand it was strown over with, for the better footing of the combatants, and to drink up the blood: this again by intervals was fresh strown, or raked over, to prevent slipperiness; for if, instead thereof, the pavement had been brick or stone, it would have proved highly inconvenient. Hence this word became a common appellation of an amphitheatre, and most of those beyond sea are still called _arena_. As for the present name of _Maumbury_, perhaps it comes corrupted from the old British word _mainge_, signifying _scamnum_, _scabellum_, the same as our bench, from the multitude of seats therein; the remains of which in former times might very plausibly give occasion to such an appellation. Or is it not equivalent to the heathen _bury_, from the memory of these pagan sports therein celebrated? as our ancestors used to call heathenism by the general name of _maumetry_, corrupted from _mahometism_: of this my friend Robert Stephens, esq; J. C. first gave me the hint. Thus in Trevisa’s translation of _Polychronicon_, XIV. 18. p. 175. “Julianus had commaunded that crysten knyghtes sholde do sacrefyce to _mawmettes_,” meaning heathen idols. Or is it from the old-fashioned games of _mummings_, so frequent among us, derived from _Mimus_ or _Momus_? The _Mimi_ were frequently introduced into all shows, at theatres, amphitheatres, circs, &c. Or perhaps in the same sense it is to be understood as in Oxfordshire they call land _maum_, consisting of a mixture of white clay and chalk, Plot’s hist. p. 240. The _area_ was originally about 140 feet diameter the shortest way, 220 the longest; wherein it falls not much short of the compass of the most considerable ones. The famous amphitheatre at Verona but 233, and 136; and the vast _Colisæum_ at Rome is but 263, 165; but, I believe, as reckoned by a larger measure, the French foot. That at Perigusium is less than ours, being 180 one way, 120 the other. I find the amphitheatre at Silchester is of the same dimension with ours here, and built of the same materials and form, as far as I could discern, but more ruinous.

These places, though of absolute necessity open at top, where usually sheltered from rain in some measure, and from the sun effectually, by great sail-cloths spread along the top from masts and ropes, which were managed by the soldiers of the marine affairs, who were more skilful in such work: a fashion first invented by Q. Catulus when he was Ædile. The places where these poles were let through the cornices of the upper order, and rested on corbels, are still visible in the great amphitheatres. This probably was done in ours by masts and poles fastened into the ground without-side, and leaning along the outside bank; which would give them a very advantageous turn in hanging over the top of the theatre; for the slope of the _agger_ externally is with an angle of forty five degrees, being half a right angle, the most natural and commodious for beauty and force to oppose against the side weight: or they might erect them in the solid work on the top of the terrace, seeing it has abundantly strength enough. But in the particularity of these modes no certainty is at this time to be expected. However, by the situation of the place, the architect has taken great care, according to Vitruvius his rules about theatres, to obviate the inconvenience of the sun-beams as well as possible; and that in three respects. 1st, As he has set it upon a plain declining northwards, and upon the higher part of the plain; upon the very tip where the declivity begins. 2dly. By taking the bearing of it exactly, I found the opening, or entrance thereto, is to the north-east precise: hence it is very plain and easy to conceive, that from nine o’clock in the morning till sun-set, in the longest day of the year, the sun will be on the backs of the spectators, upon the upper or south-west half of the building; which contrivance is worthy of notice: and that this is not done upon account of the city of Dorchester lying that way, but as a thing essential, is plain from the like in the amphitheatre of Silchester, which opens upon the same point, though directly the farthest from the city. 3dly, The breadth of the opening or entrance, level with the surface, and opposite to the falling beams of the sun, must produce a very great rebatement of the heat thereof, reflected into this vast concave, and prove a convenience the other amphitheatres are wholly destitute of: and this purpose is so much regarded, that, if we consider it with a scrupulous eye, we shall find that the western side of this upper half of the terrace and the pavilion there is somewhat broader, and nearer the upper end of the long diameter, than the eastern. In the midway of the terrace between the pavilions on both sides and the _cavea_, are still to be seen two round holes, which seem to be places where they set poles to oppose against those others leaning on the out-side that bear the sail-cloths. The section or profile of this work is contrived with exquisite judgement in proportioning its parts; for the eye of a man standing at the most retired part of the terrace next the parapet is in the right line of the declivity within side; of a man standing in the middle of it, his eye sees the heads of the spectators sitting under him on the upper _subsellia_, even with the line of the circular walk; the eye of him standing on the edge of the terrace, sees the heads of those on the lowermost _subsellia_, even with the edge of the _podium_, and commands the whole _area_: therefore we may conclude none were permitted to stand on the circular walk, for that would have obstructed the sight, but it was left open for passage. I took notice before, that on both sides, the terrace at the top of the lower half seemed to me narrower than that at the other and principal half: whether so originally, and for sake of any advantage to be had in this respect, and that the meanest of the people stood here, or that it has happened to have been more wasted away since, I cannot be positive; but I judged it not material enough to be regarded in the scheme: for, in the main, I found the breadth of the side of the work, or solid, taken upon the ground-plot, is equal to half the longest diameter of the _area_, or a fourth of the whole longest diameter. Its perpendicular altitude, from the top of the terrace to the bottom of the _area_, is a fourth of the longest diameter of the _area_.

In the middle of each side we may observe a _cuneus_, or parcel of the seats, of near thirty feet broad, just over the most elevated part of the circular work, and reaching up to the terrace, which swells out above the concavity of the whole, and answering to the rising ground in the middle of the terrace, which we call the pavilions, and have assigned for the seats of the officers among the soldiery. This is upon the shortest diameter, and over the _tribunalia_ of the emperor and prætor; and consequently cuts each side of the upper _series_ of seats above the circular walk into two equal parts. I have guessed only at these reasons for it, which I leave to better judgements. One might possibly be, to give a greater beauty to the range of seats over the circular walk by its break, which is a thing not practised at all in other amphitheatres, unless we suppose this effect produced by their _vomitoria_: or is it not more necessary here, because of the circular walk, which causes the _series_ of seats above them to be broader at the extremity than in the middle, and therein different from the aspect of common amphitheatres? Or was not this division useful in distinguishing the great length of that _series_ into separate compartments for two different sort of plebeians? Or is it necessary to distribute the three orders of people; the senators under the circular walk to the _podium_, whose place in general was called _orchestra_; that half of the upper seats on the upper or south side of this protuberant part, to the equestrian order; that on the lower or north side, to the people or vulgar? But there seems to be another likely reason, that every seat here was divided into two (at least some part of it) in the nature of steps, as was practised in particular places of all other amphitheatres: and perhaps there were three of these ranges of steps, one in the middle, and one on each side: that in the middle was for the officers to ascend from the circular walk to their tribunals, or tents, set upon the raised part of the terrace, whilst the common soldiers went up by the ascent over the cave, at the upper end. The steps on each side led to the respective halves of the upper _series_ of seats above the circular walk. All which uses to me appear convenient and necessary for ease, regularity, and decency. In the upper or south-west half of the internal slope have been some deformities, caused by the inner edge of the terrace in some places cut or fallen down, which spoils the curve a little: and, as the lower terraces diminish gradually from the pavilions to the entrance, that on the western end has received great damage over and above; for the inward verge of it has been thrown down intirely: as for that north-easterly half of the terrace, which we said was narrower, more exposed to the sun, and for that reason allotted to the last rabble, we leave them to scramble up with somewhat more labour over the whole _series_ of the seats at that end, which we may reasonably judge were last filled by the spectators.

These noble buildings, which were of a fine invention, and well calculated for their uses, were most frequently called, from their hollow figure, _cavea_; of which there are many quotations to be had out of the old poets, and other writers: and originally it was inherent to theatres; in which sense commonly used by Cicero and others, but at length passed chiefly to amphitheatres, as the greater works. The matter of some was brick, as that near Trajecto in the Campania of Italy; another at Puteoli; others stone, and others solid marble; as that famous one at Capua, another at Athens, and that at Verona. The amphitheatre which is still in part to be seen at Pola in Istria, was of stone and wood too; for the whole frame of the seats was made of timber, the portico’s only, or external part, of stone. The wit of man could not find out a fitter scheme for commodiousness of seeing and hearing: and in some respect, I conceit, they had an eye to the form of their harps, fiddles, and such instruments of music, as modulate sounds in a roundish cavity: the oval turn thereof, and the solidity of the materials, had all the requisites of receiving and returning the vibrations of the air to greater advantage. Vitruvius advises, in this case, that the place, as well as the stuff, wherein these buildings are set, and of which they are composed, must not be what he calls _surd_, such as deaden the sound, but make smart repercussions, and in just space of time; which is of great consequence in the philosophy of echoes: for if the voice strike upon a solid that is not harmonious in its texture, that is, whose parts are not of a proper tone or tenseness, not consentaneous to the vibrations of musical notes; or if this solid be too near, or too far distant, so that it reverberates too quick, or too slow, as a room too little, or too great; all the main business of hearing and sounds is disturbed. Vitruvius is very large upon this head, to whom I refer the reader. Now I suppose the ancients learnt by experience and trial, as well as by reasoning upon the nature of things, that such a capacity and compass, and of such extent, was best for this end: whence we find, that all their amphitheatres are much about the same bulk, and executed upon nearly the same proportions. A thing of this kind deceives the eye without strict consideration; for it is bigger than it seems, and a person in the middle of it, to one upon the terrace, looks lesser than one would imagine. It is true indeed, that ours is not made of so solid materials as brick, stone or marble; but yet it is possible there may be as much an error in one extreme as the other, and nature affects a mediocrity. One shall scarce doubt that a _convallis_, or proper convexity between two mountains, will give as fine an echo as any artificial work that can be contrived. I can say, however, in favour of the subject we are upon, that in effect it has a very fine and agreeable sound, (as I purposely several times tried) and seems to want nothing of the compactness of matter, or closeness of the place, though doubtless much deficient in the original depth, which would improve it. An echo here is not to be expected, the return being too quick; but after the voice you hear a ringing, as of a brass pot, or bell; which shows the proportion well adjusted: and perhaps, if we consider the great numbers of the stair-cases and openings, or what they call _vomitoria_, in the other amphitheatres, for the people to come in and go out at, which are intirely wanting here; we may not be far to seek for the reason of it, or scruple thinking ours to be the better model: the sides being perfectly uniform, and free from those frequent apertures, seem better adapted for the rolling, concentring, and retorting the voice. It is not unlikely that some may think the great gap and discontinuity of our entrance an obstacle in the case; but to such I would propose a _quære_, Whether that single break, which bears so small a proportion to the whole, in account of those best skilled in the doctrine of _acoustics_, be not by far more inconsiderable in that point, than the multiplicity of those other passages which we see in all drawings of this kind? Or whether again it be not a real advantage to the sound? as is the hole in the sounding-board of a fiddle, harp, harpsichord, or the like instrument; or when two holes are made, as frequently; but, if there were twenty instead thereof, probably it would be injurious, though of less bulk when all put together. Perhaps the air intirely pent up in this great hollow, without any collateral aperture, may be obstructed in the varieties of its necessary motions and reflections, so as to delight the ear: and I must profess myself of this opinion, which seems confirmed by Nature’s abhorrence of such figures, in the constant outlets of valleys some way or other. It is certain, whatever effect the entrance has as to the sound, it must be highly useful in cooling the place, in admitting the breezes of the north-easterly air from over the meadows to refresh them; and the side of the opposite hill beyond the town, diversified with hedge-grows, presents a beautiful scene to the better spectators: nor is the present town deficient in contributing to the landscape: for, as you advance from the _arena_ toward the entrance, the two handsome towers of the churches appear very agreeably at each cheek of the entrance.

But we have reason to content ourselves with the plain matter of fact, and need not enter into a dispute, whether necessity or choice determined the Romans here to use the present materials, or whether the entrance was originally of the manner we see it: it is certain, that in all the places where I have seen these amphitheatres, the Roman walls that incompassed the towns are still left, built with ranges of brick, stone, flint, and indissoluble mortar; so that ignorance of building cannot be laid to their charge. Nor is this practice wholly confined to our island, and without parallel; for there is now in France an amphitheatre, not improperly to be reckoned of this sort, whereof Lipsius gives us a large account: it is at a place called Doveon, near Pont du sey, upon the river Loire, as you go from Anjou to Poictou; a place where the Druids are said to have had a seat: this is cut out of a mountain of stone, but of a very soft kind, and, I suppose, not much better than our chalk: it is not near so big as ours, and much inferior in beauty and convenience: here are chambers hewn out of the rock for the caves; and the _area_ is but very small. The seats of the theatre of Bacchus at Athens are still visible, cut out of the natural rock. It is not much to be doubted, that in many places in France, and other provinces of the Roman empire, where the same chalk is the soil, there are such as ours, though as little regarded: and we may reasonably think, in the beginning of the commonwealth, before art, luxury, and magnificence had got to its highest pitch, that the Romans themselves were contented with such of grassy turf. The people of Rome originally stood at the games. Cicero, _de Amicit._ c. 7. says, _stantes plaudebant in re ficta_. So Tac. _Annal._ XIV. 20. “If you look back to customs of antiquity, the people stood at the shows; for if they had been accommodated with seats, they would have idled the whole day away at the theatre.” Valer. Max. XI. 4. says, “it was ordered by the senate, that no one should set benches for shows in the city, nor within a mile of it, or should see the games sitting, that the manly posture of standing, the peculiar note of the Roman nation, should be observed even at diversions.” If any one had rather think, that ours never had any seats, but that the people stood upon the plain grassy declivity, I shall not be averse to it, and the rather because it is your lordship’s opinion: yet it seemed to me, viewing the sides very curiously, when the sun shone upon them with a proper light and shade, that I could see the very marks of the poles that lay upon the slopes, whereon the benches were fastened. Ovid, _de arte amandi_, speaking of theatres, says the seats were turf.

_In gradibus sedet populus de cespite factis,
Qualibet hirsutas fronde tegente comas._

On grassy seats of turf the people sate,
And leaves of trees Thessalic caps supply.

This of ours seems to be a better method than that in the amphitheatre at Pola; and, if it is readily owned much inferior to those at Rome, yet even those were exceeded by the noble Greek architects, especially by that most admirable theatre near the temple of Æsculapius in Epidaurus, of which Pausanias, an eye-witness of both, speaks _in argolicis_: “for, though it is not so big as some others, yet for the art of it, the nicety of its constituents, and for beauty, who dare contend with Polycletus, who was the architect of it?” says he.

As it is not my intent to write a complete history of amphitheatres, or further than what is necessary to our present purpose, and to give a clear understanding of our work; so I forbear saying any thing of the manners, times, qualities, and circumstances, of the games here practised, but suppose them much the same in all points with those used at Rome, and other places, and with suitable grandeur and magnificence; whether in relation to hunting or fighting of wild beasts, of the same or different kinds, with one another, or with men; of the gladiators, wrestlings, of the pageants called by the ancients _pegmata_, whence our word seems derived; of the showers of saffron water to refresh the spectators; of the gods these places were dedicated to, and their festivals: the whole of these matters, by those that have a mind to make themselves acquainted therewith, is best learnt from authors who have largely and professedly handled the subject; such as the learned Lipsius before quoted, Donatus, and many more Pitiscus will inform us of in his Lexicon. It is not to be questioned, that the Romans, who had so firmly settled themselves here for the space of 400 years, were for elegance and politeness much upon the level with those of the continent. But amongst other shows and diversions of beasts, we may safely imagine that our British bull-dogs bore a part, since the Romans brought them up for the use of the Italian amphitheatres. Claudian speaks of them thus,

_Magnaque taurorum fracturi colla Britanni._

But see a large and learned account of them from ancient authors in Mr. Camden’s _Britannia_, Hampshire, pag. 119.

I shall give the reader a plain calculation of the number of people, that might commodiously be present at the solemn sports and diversions, made generally upon holy-days and great festivities of their gods. The people hereabouts told me, that once they executed a woman for petit-treason, in the middle of the _area_, by burning; which brought all the country round to the sight, and filled the whole place: they by a gross guess supposed there might be 10,000. But if we allow a foot and half for each person sitting, and the number of seats, as I have delineated it, 24; then one side of the building spread _in plano_ will form a conic _frustrum_ 440 feet long at top, 280 at bottom; taking the medium number 360, multiplying it by 24, it gives us 8640 feet; from which take off a fourth part, to reduce it to single places of a foot and half, there remain 6480 places on one half of the amphitheatre; double this for the other side, and you produce 12,960 single places for spectators upon the whole range of seats. For fear of exceeding the truth, I omit all that might occasionally stand on the terrace at top, the ascent up to it, and on the entrance.

It would be vain to talk of the exact time, or the persons concerned in building this amphitheatre: but my friend Mr. Pownall of Lincoln, before spoken of, has a silver coin of Philippus, ploughed up in the very place. _imp. m. jul. philippus aug._ ℞ _lætit. fundat._ a Genius with a garland in his right, the helm of a ship in his left hand: the legend of the reverse, I must own, seems strongly to intimate he made or repaired this work, or that some solemn sports were here performed in his time; notwithstanding his melancholy and cynical nature, which Sext. Aurelius gives us an account of, or that he was a christian. He reigned about A. D. 240. yet I chuse to think it is of a higher date. Tacitus tells us, so early as the time of Agricola in Titus his reign, they began to introduce luxury among the Britons; for he exhorted them privately, and publicly assisted them, to build temples, places of public resort, and fine houses; and by degrees they came to those excitements to debauchery, portico’s, baths, and the like, of which we frequently find the ruins. Therefore we may suppose amphitheatres were not forgotton; and probably this was not later than that time, so near the southern coast, (which among the Britons themselves was the most civilised) so rich and fine a country: for Titus his father Vespasian, partly under Claudius the emperor, and partly under Aulus Plautius his lieutenant, conquered all the parts hereabouts (as we mentioned in the beginning of this letter) where he fought the Britons thirty times, subdued two of their most potent nations, took above twenty of their towns, and the whole Isle of Wight. No doubt but the people, inhabitants of this country, the _Durotriges_, and the town of Dorchester, _Durnovaria_, were included in his conquests; and they, whatever reign it was in, for their entertainment, erected this noble work; of which, in comparison of our modern bear-gardens, and places of prize-fighting, I shall venture to give it as my sentiment,

_Hunc homines dicant, hos statuisse feras._

7 Nov. 1723.

ITER SEPTIMUM ANTONINI AUG. VII.

_Adde tot egregias urbes, operumque laborem.
Tot congesta manu præruptis oppida saxis,
Fluminaque antiquos subterlabentia muros._ +Virg. Geor. II.+

_To_ ROGER GALE, _Esq_;

The reasons I have to address the following journey to you, are both general and particular: of the first sort, the title affixed to it could not but put me in mind of your claim to these kind of disquisitions from any hand, whose excellent commentary on Antoninus’s Itinerary has deservedly given you the palm of ancient learning, and rendered your character classic among the chief restorers of the Roman Britain. But I am apprehensive it will be easier to make these papers of mine acceptable to the world, than to yourself, both as the most valuable part of them is your own, and as I purpose by it to remind you of favouring the public with a new edition of that work, to which I know you have made great additions; and in this I am sure they will join with me. The honour you have indulged me of a long friendship, the pleasure and advantage I have reaped in travelling with you, and especially a great part of this journey, are particular reasons, or rather a debt from myself and the world, if any thing of antique inquiries I can produce that are not illaudable, if what time I spend in travelling, may not be wholly a hunting after fresh air with the vulgar citizens, but an examination into the works of nature, and of past ages. I have no fears, that aught here will be less acceptable to you, because perhaps in some things I may differ from your sentiments: the sweetness of your disposition, and your great judgement, I know, will discern and applaud what is really just, and excuse the errors: difference of opinions, though false, is often of great service in furthering a discovery of the truth: to think for one’s self is the prerogative of learning; and no one, but a tyrant in books, will persecute another for it. It is certain, Antoninus his Itinerary is an endless fund of inquiry. I doubt not but in future researches I shall be induced as much to vary from myself as now from others; and, after our best endeavours, succeeding writers will correct us all.

[Sidenote: +Via Trinovantica.+]

The last summer I travelled this whole Seventh Journey, and in the order of the Itinerary; but I took in several other places by the way, which relate to the clearing some parts of other journeys. Parallel to the great Icening-street, runs another Roman road from south-west to north-east, through London, beginning at the sea-coast in Hampshire by Rumsey, and ending at the sea-coast in Suffolk about Aldborough. The name of it is utterly lost: if I might have the liberty of assigning one, it should be _via Trinovantica_, as it tends to the country of those people; and names are necessary to avoid confusion. The lower part of it, or that comprehended between London and Ringwood upon the edge of Dorsetshire, is the subject of this journey; but because I have already given an account of several towns that relate to the XIIIth and XIVth journeys of Antoninus, which have some connexion with this, and that I conceive they are considerably faulty in the original, I shall run through some few more I had opportunity to see, and offer my conjectures towards the restitution of those journeys.

Upon the great moor between Bagshot and Okingham, near East-Hamsted park, we saw a large camp upon a hill doubly ditched, commonly called Cæsar’s camp, as many more without any reason: there has been a well in it, and both Roman and British coins have been found there, one of Cunobelin in silver: its figure is not regular, but conformable to the top of the hill: near it are two large barrows, Ambury and Edgebury. At Berkham by Okingham I bought a very elegant British coin of gold, dug up by a woman in her garden: it is of the most ancient kind, and without letters. I saw a British gold coin found near Old Windsor; another dug up, 1719, at Hanmer hill, between Guildford and Farnham.

[Sidenote: +Vindoma.+]

[Sidenote: TAB. LXI.]

All the country hereabouts, and to Silchester, is clay, moor, sand, gravel by spots, much boggy, springy land, much good land, but more bad: the water is blackish every where. Silchester is a place that a lover of antiquity will visit with great delight: it stands upon the highest ground thereabouts, but hid with wood, which grows very plentifully all about it. Many were the Roman roads that met here, though now scarce any road; which is the reason it is so little known: it is likewise inconvenient for travellers, because no inns are near it; and it may be serviceable to tell the curious, that Aldermaston is the nearest town where lodging is to be found, three miles off; for at the place we may truly say,

_Rarus & antiquis habitator in urbibus errat._

The walls of this city are standing, more or less perfect, quite round; perhaps the most intire of any in the Roman empire, especially the whole north side of the wall, which is a most agreeable sight. The composition is chiefly flint for the space of four foot high, then a binding of three layers of rag-stone laid flat: in many places five of these double intervals remain for a great length. There was a broad ditch quite round, and now for the most part impassable, and full of springs. Here and there Roman bricks are left in the walls. Though on the out-side they are of this considerable height, yet the ground within is so raised as nearly to be equal to the top, and that quite round crowned with oaks and other timber-trees of no mean bulk, and which Mr. Camden takes notice of in his time. Not long since, lady Blessington cut 500l. worth of timber from thence. Gildas says, Constantius the son of Constantine the Great built it, and sowed corn in the track of the walls, as an omen of their perpetuity:[135] indeed, now the whole city is arable; and among the fields Roman bricks, bits of pots, rubbish of buildings, are scattered every where, and coins are picked up every day. It is a parallelogram whose shortest side to the longest is as 3 to 4; its length about 2600 feet, its breadth 2000; standing conformable to the four cardinal points: it had two gates upon its length opposite. There is only one farm-house within it, and the church. To the east, by that house, the foundation of the gate is visible, and several Roman bricks thereabouts. All the yards here are like a solid rock, with rubbish, pavements and mortar, cemented together. The late Rev. Mr. Betham, minister of this place, a learned, curious and worthy person, had collected a vast number of coins and antiquities found here: he is buried under the north wall of the chancel without side: within is another monument of a person of quality: it is remarkable that a wall only divides them in their graves, who both met a sad and disastrous fate at different times in the same place, being drowned in Fleet-ditch. Onion-hole, in the middle of the southern wall, is a place much talked of here by the ignorant country people, which is only an arch in the foundation for the issue of a sewer: they have a like story here of this city being taken by sparrows. I saw a silver coin of Philippus, and a brass one of Constantine, and many more. A spring arises from under the wall at the church-yard. The streets are still visible in the corn. Rings with stones in them are often found, among inscriptions and all sorts of other antiquities.

[Sidenote: +Amphitheatre.+]

[Sidenote: TAB. XLIII. 2d Vol.]

Five hundred foot without the city, on the north-east corner I espied another great curiosity, which the people think was a castle: I presently discerned it to be an amphitheatre: it is in bulk, in shape, and all points, the same as that at Dorchester, but not built of so solid materials; for it is chiefly clay and gravel: it stands in a yard by the road side, near a ruinous house and barn, upon a sloping piece of ground: eastward toward the road there is a pit: there it is sixty foot high on the out-side. The whole _area_ or _arena_ within is now covered with water, but they say it is not much above three foot deep: the bottom of it, and the work, must certainly be exceeding solid, and well compared, to retain the water so many years without draining through: it is a most noble and beautiful concave, but intirely over-grown with thorn-bushes, briars, holly, broom, furze, oak and ash trees, &c. and has from times immemorial been a yard for cattle, and a watering-pond; so that it is a wonder their trampling has not defaced it much more. I examined this fine antiquity with all the exactness possible: the terrace at top, the circular walk, the whole form, is not obscure: it is posited exactly as that before described, with its longest diameter from north-east to south-west; its entrance north-east, though farthest from the city. There is an ascent to it from the entrance side, that being upon the lowest ground: at the upper end, the level of the ground is not much below the top of the terrace, and vastly above that of the _arena_; so that I conceive the better sort of the people went that way directly from the city into their seats: there is such a gap too in that part, from the ruin of the cave where the wild beasts were kept. An old house standing there with an orchard has forwarded its ruin from that quarter; and they have levelled some part of the terrace for their garden. Surveying the whole could not but put me in mind of that piece of Roman magnificence, when the emperors caused great trees to be taken up by the roots, and planted in the amphitheatres and circs, _pro tempore_, to imitate forests wherein they hunted beasts; which here is presented in pure nature.

[Sidenote: _Barrows_ Br.]

Riding along the road on the north side of Silchester, I left it with this reflection: Now a person of a moderate fortune may buy a whole Roman city, which once half a kingdom could not do; and a gentleman may be lord of the soil where formerly princes and emperors commanded. To the west of the place, but at some distance, runs a high bank overgrown with trees seemingly north and south: they say there is another such, south of the city: which would make one suspect they were raised by some besiegers. Farther on I crossed a great Roman road coming from Winchester: they call it Long-bank and Grimesdike. I have very often found this name applied to a road, a wall, a ditch of antiquity; which would make one fancy it is a Saxon word signifying the witches work; for the vulgar generally think these extraordinary works made by help of the devil. They told me it goes through Burfield and Reading. Towards Winchester I could see it as far as the horizon, perfectly strait, ten miles off. We may say with the poet,

_Tellus in longas est patefacta vias._ +Tibull.+

Near it they talk of a stone thrown by an imp from Silchester walls, a mile off, which I suppose a mile-stone. Mr. Camden says a Roman road runs westward from Silchester, which I imagine goes to Andover. From Aldermaston is a fine view of the country hanging over the Kennet, lately made navigable. Going from Aldermaston to Kingsclere, where once was a palace of the Saxon kings, I passed over Brimpton common: here are many very fine Celtic barrows: the soil is a moor full of _erica_, which they dig up for fewel; underneath it is sand: at Kingsclere the mighty chalk-hills begin. Upon the top of a very high promontory is a square Roman camp, in a park. From hence to Andover is an hard way and open country. Just before I descended the continuation of this great ridge of hills overlooking Andover, I crossed a ditch like Wansditch, hanging upon the edge of the hills, which I suppose some division among the ancient Britons: it extended itself both ways as far as I could see: the foss is not very large, though the bank is: the foss is northward.

_Stukeley delin._ _E. Kirkall sculp._]

[Sidenote: +Andaoreon.+]

[Sidenote: +Bury-hill+ Ro. _Camp_.]

Andover is (not to be questioned) the _Andaoreon_ of Ravennas: the name signifies the watery habitation; _annedh_, habitatio; _dur_, aqua. It stands on the slope of a hill just by the springs of the river Tees, or _t’isca_: they arise here northward of the town very plentiful, and are carried in a thousand rills through all the meadows, till they unite and pass under the bridge. The church is an aukward old building; the west door, of an ancient circular make. They are now pulling down the timber market-house to build a new one of stone: the market-place is a broad street. Upon a very high hill to the south-west is a large Roman camp, seeming to be admirably well fortified: it is called Bury hill. Between this and Stockbridge is Dunbury hill, a circular camp, doubly intrenched with various works at the entrance.

I travelled along a fine downy country, ’till passing the river Bourn in Wiltshire I came to the Icening-street near Haradon hill; where I intended to observe the great eclipse of the sun, which was to be on the next day; of which memorable _phænomenon_ I judge it will not be disagreeable if I repeat what I wrote of it.

To Dr. _Edmund Halley_.

According to my promise, I send you what I observed of the solar eclipse, though I fear it will not be of any great use to you. I was not prepared with any instruments for measuring time, or the like, and proposed to myself only to watch all the appearances that Nature would present to the naked eye on so remarkable an occasion, and which generally are overlooked, or but grosly regarded. I chose for my station a place called Haradon hill, two miles eastward from Amsbury, and full east from the opening of Stonehenge avenue, to which it is as the point of view. Before me lay the vast plain where that celebrated work stands, and I knew that the eclipse would appear directly over it: beside, I had the advantage of a very extensive prospect every way, this being the highest hill hereabouts, and nearest the middle of the shadow. Full west of me, and beyond Stonehenge, is a pretty copped hill, like the top of a cone lifting itself above the horizon: this is Clay hill, near Warminster, twenty miles distant, and near the central line of darkness, which must come from thence; so that I could have notice enough before-hand of its approach. Abraham Sturgis and Stephen Ewens, both of this place and sensible men, were with me. Though it was very cloudy, yet now and then we had gleams of sun-shine, rather more than I could perceive at any other place around us. These two persons looking through smoaked glasses, while I was taking some bearings of the country with a circumferentor, both confidently affirmed the eclipse was begun; when by my watch I found it just half an hour after five: and accordingly from thence the progress of it was visible, and very often to the naked eye; the thin clouds doing the office of glasses. From the time of the sun’s body being half covered, there was a very conspicuous circular _iris_ round the sun, with perfect colours. On all sides we beheld the shepherds hurrying their flocks into fold, the darkness coming on; for they expected nothing less than a total eclipse, for an hour and a quarter.

When the sun looked very sharp, like a new moon, the sky was pretty clear in that spot: but soon after a thicker cloud covered it; at which time the _iris_ vanished, the copped hill before mentioned grew very dark, together with the horizon on both sides, that is, to the north and south, and looked blue; just as it appears in the east at the declension of day: we had scarce time to tell ten, when Salisbury steeple, six mile off southward, became very black; the copped hill quite lost, and a most gloomy night with full career came upon us. At this instant we lost sight of the sun, whose place among the clouds was hitherto sufficiently distinguishable, but now not the least trace of it to be found, no more than if really absent: then I saw by my watch, though with difficulty, and only by help of some light from the northern quarter, that it was six hours thirty-five minutes: just before this the whole compass of the heavens and earth looked of a lurid complexion, properly speaking, for it was black and blue; only on the earth upon the horizon the blue prevailed. There was likewise in the heavens among the clouds much green interspersed; so that the whole appearance was really very dreadful, and as symptoms of sickening nature.

Now I perceived us involved in total darkness, and palpable, as I may aptly call it: though it came quick, yet I was so intent that I could perceive its steps, and feel it as it were drop upon us, and fall on the right shoulder (we looking westward) like a great dark mantle, or coverlet of a bed, thrown over us, or like the drawing of a curtain on that side: and the horses we held in our hands were very sensible of it, and crouded close to us, startling with great surprise. As much as I could see of the men’s faces that stood by me, had a horrible aspect. At this instant I looked around me, not without exclamations of admiration, and could discern colours in the heavens; but the earth had lost its blue, and was wholly black. For some time, among the clouds, there were visible streaks of rays, tending to the place of the sun as their centre; but immediately after, the whole appearance of the earth and sky was intirely black. Of all things I ever saw in my life, or can by imagination fancy, it was a sight the most tremendous.

_Stukeley del._ _E Kirkhall Sculp._]