PROCEEDINGS OE THE COTTESWOLD CLUB I5 



down, because the nails would si)lit the wood. Mi- 

 Bellows ventured the explanation that the loose planks 

 were a survival from Roman times, as Pliny states in his 

 Natural History, that it was an article of religious faith 

 never to nail down the planks of a bridge. Of course, the 

 object in leaving them loose was, that they might instantly 

 be removed on the approach of an enemy. 



While the party were gathered in the Caerleon Museum, 

 Mr Bellows gave an exceedingly lucid address upon the 

 mvasion of Britain by the Romans, and their settlement 

 in the country, illustrating it by allusions to local events, 

 and local remains of Roman rule. He began by pointing 

 out the composition of a Roman legion, and traced its 

 history and developments originally. A legion consisted 

 of 3,000 loot and 300 horse, but by degrees it was 

 enlarged, until in the time of Cssar it comprised over 

 4,000 foot and 300 horse, besides being associated with a 

 large body of auxilaries. 



About the beginning of the Christian era, the Emperor 

 Augustus raised a legion with the title " Legio Secunda 

 Augusta," named in honour of himself, and bearing as a 

 badge the sign of Capricorn, under which he was born. 

 Vespasian, when a young man, became an officer in this 

 legion, and accompanied it to Thrace, where it was 

 recruited with several cohorts (or regiments) of Thracian 

 horsemen. From Thrace, the legion was drafted up the 

 Danube, and down the Rhine to Holland, taking with it 

 six cohorts of this auxiliary cavalry, one of which was 

 recruited in Holland. On the Rhine were also at this 

 time two other of the Roman legions, which had been 

 sent there under Germannicus, to avenge the Roman 

 defeat by the Germans; and in the year 43 A.D. these 

 three legions (the second, fourteenth, and twentieth), 

 joined later by the ninth, which had served in Africa with 

 their auxiliaries, formed the invading army of Britain, and 

 numbered in all, at least 50,000 men. 



