114 



%CQ\o XX., iDaleria Dictriy. 



A NUMBER of tiles discovered in the floor of a building in 

 tlie Melandra fort ^ are marked V V, tlie initial letters of 

 tlie title of tlie famous XXth Legion, indicating the 

 presence of a contingent of tliat legion at some time when 

 "building operations were going on inside tbe fort. Tbe 

 XXtb Legion is first beard of in the days of the second 

 triumvirate, wben it formed part of the army controlled 

 by Antony. During the reign of Augustus the XXtb 

 was stationed in Illyria, wbere it operated against tbe 

 rebel chieftain Bato, under the command of M. Valerius 

 Messalinus, governor of Pannonia, winning a triumph for 

 him in the year 6 a.d. Three years later occurred the 

 disaster to the legions of Yarns in Germany,^ and in the 

 following year the XXtb Legion was drafted along with 

 others to the Rhine to avenge the defeat. From 10 — 43 

 A.D. it was permanently stationed in Germany.^ In 43, by 

 orders of the Emperor Claudius, it was called upon to join 

 -three other legions, the Ilnd, IXth, and XlVth,^ in the 

 invasion of Britain under the command of Aulus Plautius. 

 The British territory subdued by Aulus Plautius lay 

 south of a line drawn from Bath (Aqu(E Sulis) to London, 

 and then N.E. to Colchester (Camulodunum). His suc- 

 cessor, Ostorius Scapula, extended the Roman power 



1. See p. 93. 



2. Tac. Ann. i., 60-61; Dio Cassius Ivi., 23. 



3. Tac. Ann. i., 31, § 3 : Dio Iv., 23. 



4. Mommsen. Eom. Prov. i., 174. 



