260 APPENDIX ON THE ROMAN-BRITISH 



that his statements, however historical in form, may have been 

 founded upon conjecture. 



From the condition of the fragments of weapons found at 

 Hoginoor, and from the circular tumuli on the ridges surround- 

 ing the forest basin, it seems, further, to be a probable conjec- 

 ture that this part of the parish of Selborne was a battle-field in 

 Pioman-British times ; and the burial of so large a quantity of 

 money in one spot, and the burying and casting away of 

 another quantity (perhaps more valuable) in the water within 

 a quarter of a mile of the same spot (on both sides of which 

 water tumuli now appear), seem to tell a tale of panic and 

 flight. If we ask how so large a number and variety of 

 coins, thus hidden and cast away ; came to be brought together 

 (including, as they do, some so imperfectly minted, that they 

 can hardly have been issued for circulation), it occurs to 

 me, as a not improbable supposition, that they may have 

 been hastily collected and carried off from some station in 

 which there was a military chest, and perhaps also a mint, 

 either to provide for the pay of a retreating army, or to pre- 

 vent them from falling into the hands of an approaching enemy. 

 The Eoman Clausentum (now Bittern, near Southampton) was a 

 garrison town, in which there was also a mint, in the times 

 of Carausius and Allectus ; some of whose coins, found at Black- 

 moor, bear the mint-marks of that place. The latest in date of 

 all the coins found are eighty- two of Allectus, and a single coin 

 of Constantius Chlorus : of which the legend is, " FL. VAL. 

 CONSTANTIUS NOB. C." (Flavius Valerius Constantius 

 Nobilis Caesar); and, on the reverse, "VIETUS AUGG," 

 (Virtus Augustorum) ; with the device of Hercules leaning on 

 his club, and holding a bow, with the lion's skin over his arm : 

 plainly, one of his early coins, before his accession to the 

 Empire. The date, therefore, of their deposit cannot have been 

 earlier than the reign of Allectus ; and if it had been later 

 than the re-conquest of Britain by Constantius, it is not prob- 

 able that only one coin of that prince would have been found. 



On the other hand, there would be nothing in the occurrence, 

 among this treasure, even of several coins of Constantius, while 

 only Caesar, inconsistent with the hypothesis that it may have 



