168 



One can readily see that even after the mihtary, or purely 

 garrison, state of the Roman city began to blend with a civil 

 status (for at the outset it v?as a garrison 07ily — the civil popu- 

 lation occupying Kingsholm,) the upper part of the town, with 

 its great government offices, &c., would still remain the fashion- 

 able part. Roman houses, as the reader knows, were usually 

 built round large court yards, like that of Pansa in Pompeii ; 

 and as these courts extended back 100 feet or so from the street, 

 we have the reason why Samian pottery is found as far as 100 

 feet west of the Cross, but no farther. 



If the reader will look at the pottery in Plate III he will see 

 that it is of a very expensive sort — the finest Samian, covered 

 with a silver lusti-e. C. Newton, of the British Museum, informs 

 me this ware is of the second century. There is another article 

 which is worthy of special attention, and that is the fragment 

 of a mortarium of the very finest Samian, shown in fig. II 

 As already stated, a mortarium is really a kitchen utensil ; they 

 are usually found of very coarse material. There is a small 

 portion of one in the Museum at Caerleon, very similar to 

 mine, but not quite so fine in quality. 



Fine white glass (the costliest made), silver-lustered ware, 

 Samian utensils for kitchen use, bronze cabinet-hasps, inlaid 

 with enamel, and, may I add, native oysters, are unmistakeable 

 indications of wealth on the part of their purchasers ; just as 

 the finest porcelain and articles of similar class at the present 

 day indicate that those who indulge in them care little whether 

 the income tax is sixpence in the pound, or twopence. 



The reason, then, for these articles being found against the 

 wall by the East Gate is, because the Decuman Gate lay next 

 the officers^ quarters, and this became the waste-heap for their 

 houses. 



The word Decuman has been a riddle to writers on Roman 

 castrametation. Some derive it from its being next the quar- 

 ters of the tenth cohort; the only objection to which is that at 

 the time the name was given, all the cohorts were placed at the 

 other end of the Camp. General Roy, in his " Military Anti- 

 quities of the Romans in Britain," suggests that it may have 



