SOME FEATURES OF ROMAN FORTS 71 



Vallum an inscription was found, tlie last five words of 

 whicli read : Cohors se.xta N erviorum, principia fecit.^^ 

 This is the first time the word principia has been found in 

 Scotland as apparently describing the headquarters build- 

 ings. We have two examples of it in inscriptions found 

 in England. One discovered near Bath reads : Naevius 

 .... principia ruina opressa a solo restituit.^^ Another 

 found at Lanchester runs : Imperator Caesar . . . principia 

 et arviavientaria conlapsa restituit per Maecilium Fuscuvi 

 ... 3^ This is important evidence, but I am not able to 

 say if more than one building was indicated by the word 

 principia. 



Whatever may have been the special uses to which the 

 various divisions of the central building were put, there 

 seems little doubt that the centre room of the three or 

 five that face the court served the purpose of a sacellum, 

 or sanctuary, in which the standards ^^ — not flags, but 

 clusters of emblems — were deposited and worshipped. 

 The occurrence of what appears to be a strong room in 

 connection with the sacellum in several forts {e.g., at 

 Bremenium, Cilurnum and South Shields) has confirmed 

 the theory that this part of the building also served the 

 purpose of a treasure house or bank. This is a point of 

 special interest for us, because one of the most interesting 

 of these chambers has been unearthed at Brough. Con- 

 cerning this Mr. Haverfield writes : ^^ " In its details — size, 

 shape, steps, position and date — the Brough pit agrees 



35. Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., May, 1905, p. 30. 



36. C.I.L., vii., No. 62. 



37. C.I.L., vii.. No. 446. 



38. Is it not at least possible that the small figure of a horse ( ?) found 

 at Melandra may have formed part of these symbols ? A horse was one 

 of the figures mentioned by Pliny : H.N. x. 4, s. 5. A small bronze 

 figure of a horse found at the Saalburg is shown in Jacobi's account of 

 that fort. Cf. also object 1905 [No. 1348] in Chesters museum. 



39. Vict. Hist. Derb., p. 205. 



