By G. F. Hill. 125 



A small deposit was found in November, 1 894, at Cazeres-sur- 

 I'Adonr, in a pot containing two bracelets, two ear-rings, a ring, 

 and a dozen silver coins of Valentinian I, Gratian, and Theodosius,^ 

 all with the legend VRBS ROMA and our type D. 



What is the reason for the rarity of such hoards outside the 

 British Isles, and for their comparative rarity outside the West of 

 England? Mommsen- inferred that, after about 360 a.d., silver 

 was hardly current in the Empire except in Britain. If this were 

 the case, it is difficult to understand why all the mints, Eastern 

 or Western, should be employed to strike silver coins, if they were 

 not to be used except in Britain. And, as Missong points out, the 

 siliquae published by him go some way to invalidate Mommsen's 

 inference. Mr. Haverfield (p. 354) thinks that the distribution 

 and dates of the hoards seem to point " to some special fortune or 

 misfortune of Somerset about the beginning of the fifth century. 

 Such might be either attacks of Irish pirates or, at a later date, 

 the retreat of the Romanized Britons from Eastern Britain before 

 the Saxons. But of the first we know so little that we can hardly 

 use it safely, and the second appears to have come too late to 

 explain coin-hoards in which many of the coins were certainly 

 found in excellent preservation." Assuming the distribution of the 

 hoards to be due to some special circumstance, that circumstance 

 must also account for the special feature of these hoards — the 

 metal. It is possible that a very sudden military disaster, such 

 as the overwhelming of a whole district by raiders, might prevent 

 the escape of the richer class of inhabitants, who would be more 

 likely than the poor to escape in case of a less sudden misfortune. 

 The question must for the present remain unsolved. 



Of all the hoards mentioned above as more or less coinciding 

 in date with the present one, only those of East Harptree,* 



1 Bulletin de Num., 1895, p. 23. 



- Mommsen-Blacas, iii. p. 133. 



Sir J. Evans, in Num. Ghroii. 1888, pp. 22—46. 



