320 



That Glevum was a Eoman Colony we only know through the 

 Ravenna Cosmographer, who, following his Greek authority, 

 wi'ites the name Glebon, and expressly adds the word Colonia, (1) 

 and from the fragmentary inscription found in that ancient 

 watering-place Aquae 8ulis, (Bath) which is not very far from 

 Gloucester : this inscription mentions a decurion of the Colonia 

 Glevensis eighty-five years of age. (2) 



From time immemorial remains of Roman Settlements have 

 been found everywhere in Gloucester; tiles (without inscriptions) 

 and other building materials, tesselated pavements, arms, (3) 

 pottery, articles of toilet, coins, now and then a relievo, two 

 figures, representing perhaps ^sculapius and Hygeia. (4) The 

 Architectural remains of the Roman Town have not been 

 forgotten in the older works on the City and County, but we 

 lack any really servicable accounts of them. The Author of the 

 paper in question, a printer and publisher in Gloucester, carries 

 on his business in a house partially built on the old wall of the 

 City, and the substructure of one of the gates: (it is called 

 Eastgate House, and was formerly the City Prison). For some 

 considerable time he has lost no opportunity of establishing the 

 level of the old town, which lies about eight feet below the 

 present level of the streets, (p. 46) partly by making excavations 

 on a small scale, and partly by searching the cellars of the 

 houses. By the aid of the rather vague description of a Roman 

 Camp given in Polybius he endeavours, (pp. 14-16) first of all, to 

 fix upon the position of the PrBetorium. Here, however, a 



(1) 6. 31. p. 427, 12 Parthey. 



(2) The Anglo-Saxon spellings of the name which occur, Gleawanceastee the 

 more ancient, and Gleaweceaster, the more modern, prove the originality and 

 durability of the v in Glevum ; Glebon has b instead of v as in Greek. 



(.S) When the Author (p. 10) relates how the late W. Aekell, whose collection 

 is now in the Gloucester Museum, had found amongst other things a well preserved 

 Roman-horse shoe, we must be permitted to doubt its Roman origin for the present. 

 According to Lindenschmit's trustworthy observation, no Roman horse-shoes 

 have been found in France or on the Rhine, except such as were destined for 

 horses with diseased hoofs. The well-known old horse-shoes date back, without 

 exception, no farther than the early middle ages. 



(4) Vide the observations in C.I.L. VII, p. ,H2. 



