KOMAN REMAINS IN BATH. 101 



the time of Caasar, had taken possession of the southern part 

 of this Island. He also belonged to the Twentieth Legion, 

 whlch has the additlon of V.V. The first V has occa- 

 sioned some discussion ; but late antiquarians have decided 

 in favour of Valeriana. The second V is Victrix, We are 

 further told that he was Fabriciesis or Fabriciensis, the 

 smith or armourer of the leglon. The clause EX. COLEGIO 

 FABRLCE. ELATUS, presents the greatest difficulty, 

 and the explanatlon perhaps least open to objection, is that 

 he was buried by the Company of Smiths, in the neighbour- 

 ing cIty. He died in the twenty-nlnth year of his age, 

 and the ninth of his Service. 



We leam from the Theodocian and Justinian codes, what 

 the business and the laws of this Society of Smiths were. It 

 appears that in the latter period of the ßoman Empire, the 

 " army smiths " were erected into a formal Company, under 

 the control and management of an officer, denomlnated 

 Primicerius. The employment of this body, was to make 

 arms for the use of the soldlery, at pubhc forges, called 

 FABRICiE, erected in thelr camps, eitles, towns, and 

 mUitary stations. No person was permitted to forge arms 

 for the imperial Service, unless he were previously admitted 

 a member of the society of the FABRT It may be fairly 

 inferred, that a Company of tliis trade was settled in Bath, 

 and a FABRICA established. 



There is another very remarkable sepidchral stone, at 

 present In the passage of the LIterary Institution. It was 

 discovered in 1736, in digging a vault in the Market Place. 

 For many years tlils inscription and that of Julius VItalls, 

 were Inserted in the wall of the Abbey, at the east end. 

 This stone has occasioned much conjecture, and much has 

 been written upon it ; the inscription is surrounded by a 

 piain moulding. There is a figure of a soldler on horseback 



