16 
that both the level and the mound date from the era of Romans 
Britain, the only era in which our hill-top was inhabited, the only 
era whence any explanation is forthcoming as to the purpose of such 
works. We might notice further that no remains have ever been found 
in this field, and no traces of buildings’ or roads. All the streets, 
houses, temples of the station appear to have been either within 
the camp, or on its opposite side; a valid argument that the town 
did not extend in this direction, and that the field in Roman times 
was a large open space. 
Going on next to enquire what could be the purpose of such a 
place near a Roman station, archeology comes to our aid, and 
guides us to an anwer by what it tells of similar places in other 
parts of the Roman world. I would suggest, then, that this 
curious field was the circus or amphitheatre of the Station, the 
place where the games and races were held, the exercise ground 
for the garrison of the camp, perhaps sometimes the scene of 
gladiators’ combats. The mound I take to be the site of the 
president’s seat, or raised place of honour overlooking the plain 
whereon would be fixed the standard of the legion, and beneath it 
the chair of the tribune or governor of the camp. To suggest a 
comparison with the Coliseum of Rome, or even with thé less 
famous amphitheatres of the great provincial cities, may seem too 
ambitious. But I really believe that we shall get the most appro- 
priate name for the field, and the best idea of its object, if we call 
it the Field of Mars, the Campus Martius, the Champ de Mars. 
To some of you the latter form of the name will suggest very 
different associations, recalling perchance the great plain in the 
heart of a gay capital, where all the peoples of the world were 
lately assembled beneath the shadow of the Eiffel tower. There 
is more in the comparison than you might fancy. The Champ de 
Mars at Paris, whereon the Universal Exhibition lately stood, is 
merely the Campus Martius of the old Roman station, Lutetia 
Parisiorum. It bore the same relation to the colony of an obscure 
Gallic tribe settled by “the mud banks” of the Seine as this 
field of ours did to a less famous, but hardly less ancient, 
settlement among the Britons. The chief difference between the 
