the Roman ways in Britain-the Itinerary of Antoninus, which will be more fully described later on-is, however, a mere list of names set down without any index as to the nature or size of the places they indicate, and a difficulty has therefore arisen in some cases in determining whether the stations given in the Itinera are towns or merely mansiones, or even mutationes. Moridunum, mentioned in the 12th and 15th Itinera, is an instance of this. "The Ravenna Geographer' places it near Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum), and Horsley considers it to be Eggerton Hill, between Dorchester and Bridport, while Leman and most later authorities believe it to be Seaton or else Hembury, near Honiton. But, whatever its locality, it seems probable that this station was only a mutatio, or at best a mansio, the traces of which have been altogether last.

Miss Steel, in her work on Travel in the First Century after Christ,' says that very rich people who had plenty of friends along the route, and were also able to take tents and provisions for camping out, rarely used inns, and that these were mainly frequented by the lower classes.

'Often the building of an inn was the beginning of a hamlet, as in the case of the Tres Tabernæ on the Appian Way. Owners of estates found it profitable to build a tavern in the road hard by, make a freedman the host, and sell off their wine and farm produce. Sometimes inns were built by municipal authorities. Sometimes,

again, the cost of their erection was borne by the fiscus (the Imperial Treasury) in thinly populated or half civilized districts.'*

* P. 67.

CHAPTER IX

ROMAN VEHICLES IN BRITAIN

Two-wheeled gigs kept at governmental posting-stations for use of travellers-Drivers punishable for careless driving— Varieties of British vehicles adopted by the Romans-British war-chariots-The covinus-The carpentum-The rheda—The petorritum-The carruca -The pilentum-The currus or chariot used in public games and triumphal processions— The plaustrum or waggon.

THERE seems good ground for supposing that at least seven different kinds of vehicles must have been in common use in Roman Britain, two of which-the cisium and the essedum-have already been referred to as having been kept at the governmental postingstations (mansiones and mutationes).

The cisium was a light, open, two-wheeled carriage constructed to carry two persons, with a box or case, probably under the seat. The essedum was also a two-wheeled car, made, like the cisium, for rapid travelling, and very similar to it in build, the chief difference between the two being that the essedum was always drawn by a pair, and the cisium by a single horse or mule. The drivers of these hired gigs were liable at law to penalties for careless or dangerous driving.

It is to be presumed that the Roman officials and colonists would probably bring with them, or cause to be constructed here, the different kinds of vehicles in common use in Italy, and that as these became common in these islands they would, like the dress, language, and arts of the conquerors, be adopted by the

'Romanized' Britons. There were, however, as has been already mentioned,* no less than five varieties of conveyances in use among the Britons, as also among their kinsmen the Belgae and Gauls, prior to the Roman conquests, and all these the Romans, who never neglected to turn to account any useful system or *See ante, p. 28.

CHAPTER IX

ROMAN VEHICLES IN BRITAIN

Two-wheeled gigs kept at governmental posting-stations for use of travellers-Drivers punishable for careless drivingVarieties of British vehicles adopted by the Romans-British war-chariots-The covinus-The carpentum-The rheda-The petorritum-The carruca-The pilentum-The currus or chariot used in public games and triumphal processionsThe plaustrum or waggon.

THERE seems good ground for supposing that at least seven different kinds of vehicles must have been in common use in Roman Britain, two of which-the cisium and the essedum-have already been referred to as having been kept at the governmental postingstations (mansiones and mutationes).

The cisium was a light, open, constructed to carry two persons probably under the seat. T two-wheeled car, made, like travelling, and very similar difference between the tw always drawn by a pair

horse or mule. The d

liable at law to pens driving.

It is to be presumed that the Roman officials and colonists would probably bring with them, or cause to be constructed here, the different kinds of vehicles in common use in Italy, and that as these became common in these islands they would, like the dress, language, and arts of the conquerors, be adopted by the

'Romanized' Britons. There were, however, as has been already mentioned,* no less than five varieties of conveyances in use among the Britons, as also among their kinsmen the Belgae and Gauls, prior to the Roman conquests, and all these the Romans, who never neglected to turn to account any useful system or * See ante, p. 28.