NOTITIA. 235 



The Iter proceeds to Condate (Kinderton) and Mediolanum 

 (Meifod) ; and it is perhaps not too much to say, that excepting 

 these places and Mancunium, there is not one station on the 

 road firmly and by general consent agreed upon. Coccium 

 (Coch, Br. red) has been commonly given to Ribchester, and 

 Bremetonacse to Overburrow; but there is no inscription, or 

 other positive proof that either is right. Probability there is, 

 and perhaps a high probability, that this line of road did pass 

 through these places, for in almost every other direction from 

 Mancunium the country is pre-occupied by known roads or sta- 

 tions, inconsistent with this Iter and there is a Roman road 

 leading in the northerly direction to Ribchester and Overburrow. 

 If these places be rightly assumed, the others may be confidently 

 placed somewhere on the line from Kirby Lonsdale to the north, 

 or north-west. 



The Notitia is a sort of military return of the troops stationed 

 in Britain at the very termination of the Roman sway*. It 

 shows clearly that at this time the Second Legion had withdrawn 

 from Caerleon, and was concentrated at Ritupse and other places 

 on the coast, in Britannia Prima, the south-east of the island, 

 prior to embarkation, under the orders of the Comes Littoris 

 Saxonici. In the north, under the Dux Britanniarum, the 

 Sixth Legion still held Eburacum, and the war camps which 

 had defended the Valentian Province. The other Legions had 

 left the country ; Caledonia and the region north of the Wall of 

 Hadrian were finally abandoned to the insurgent natives (Picts) ; 

 the mountains of Cambria and Cornwall were left without a 

 soldier. Two provinces were defended. On the north the Picts 

 were repelled from the whole length of the Wall, and on the 



* The date usually allowed (A.D. 423 to 453) to this composition is much 

 beyond that of the latest Roman troops in Britain. The words in the title 

 ' Ultra Arcadii Honoriique tempora,' which are partly relied on for this date, 

 may perhaps allow of being differently interpreted. If the compilation 

 were by an author of more modern date, may he not, looking back on 

 elapsed time, speak of days prior to the misfortunes of these emperors as 

 beyond their time ? The words may, however, have been added by another 

 hand than the author's. 



