144 



to remark upon the number of foreigners in the army, among whom were 500 

 Britons, and tliat instead of being encamped on the sides next the rampart, as had 

 formerly been the case, the auxiliaries were placed in the centre while the legion- 

 ary soldiers were camped round them, probably to jirevent them from deserting. 



A writer of still later date, Vegetiu«, who wrote about A.n. 366, but of whose 

 accuracy grave doubts are entertained by modern critics, tells us that the shape of 

 camps in his day was no longer regarded as essential, but they might be circular, 

 triangular, or oblong, according to the nature of the ground and the exigencies of 

 the case. It is plain that in Britain this relaxation of old precedent was very 

 generally adopted, for I believe that the quadrangular form is the one of which 

 fewest instances are found among our camp sites. We ma)' well believe also that 

 the numbers of soldiers engaged in the work of subjugating the Britons were 

 smaller than in the Continental wars of the Romans, for the spaces of ground 

 which appear to have been occupied in no case, I think, approach even those 

 described by Hyginus, though in Scotland, where so many instances of camps are 

 found, the army of Agricola is thought by General Boy to have consisted of about 

 26,000 men. But whether the numbers were larger or smaller, and whether the 

 form of Roman Camps in Britain resembled more or less the one anciently in use, 

 ^ve are probably correct in supposing that the general principles of camp construc- 

 tion were not abandoned by the Romans ; and thus, that some knowledge of those 

 principles may be of use in considering the remains of their works which exist 

 among us. 



