132 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



navigation. We know that on the Continent the rivers 

 were in Roman times, as they have ever since been, great 

 highways for miHtary and commercial purposes. 

 Mommsen records that a tombstone found near Treves 

 " has the form of a ship ; in this sit six mariners plying 

 the oars ; the cargo consists of large casks, alongside of 

 which the merry-looking steersman seems — one might 

 imagine — to be rejoicing over the wine which they con- 

 tain."* Mommsen also reminds us that immediately after 

 the Romans crossed the Thames and took Colchester, the 

 working of the British mines began, and " a stream of 

 Roman merchants and artisans poured into the country, 

 and London became the natural emporium of trading on 

 a great scale. "f 



Now it is obvious that a great deal of the mineral 

 wealth of the country was then, as now, in the south- 

 west. In the Forest of Dean, as abundant evidence 

 testifies, the Romans worked iron to an enormous extent, 

 and even to-day the unexhausted " cinders " they left are 

 worked to profit. Some, if not much, of the mineral 

 resources of the Forest probably reached the Continent 

 through the port of London. Was the conveyance to the 

 metropolis the entire distance by road, or was part of the 

 journey by water ? There is no trustworthy evidence for 

 an answer to either question. But three considerations 

 point to the probability that the Thames was used for a 

 considerable part of its course, (i) From Gloucester, 

 the lowest point at which the Severn was crossed by a 

 bridge, to London there was no direct road in Roman 

 times ; the great Roman road from Gloucester to the 

 metropolis was through Silchester, a very roundabout and 

 troublesome journey for commercial traffic. (2) The 



* Mommseu's "History of Rome : The Provinces.'' Part I., p. ii6. 

 f Ibid., p. 177. 



