ROMANO-BRITISH RELICS FOUND AT DORCHESTER. 81 



In spite of the numerous vestiges that have been discovered 

 from time to time of the Roman city which formerly stood on the 

 site of modern Dorchester, and which are still being unearthed 

 daily by our local Schliemann, one is struck with the fact that 

 little has been done towards piecing together and reconstructing 

 these evidences into an unmutilated whole such as has been done, 

 for instance, with the evidences of Pompeian life a whole which 

 should represent Dorchester in particular and not merely the 

 general character of a Roman station in this country composing a 

 true picture by which the uninformed could mentally realise the 

 ancient scene with some completeness. 



It would be a worthy attempt to rehabilitate, on paper, the 

 living Durnovaria of fourteen or fifteen hundred years ago as it 

 actually appeared to the eyes of the then Dorchester men and 

 women, under the rays of the same morning and evening sun 

 which rises and sets over it now. Standing, for instance, on the 

 elevated ground near where the South- Western Station is at 

 present, or at the top of Slyer's Lane, or at any other commanding 

 point, we may ask what kind of object did Dorchester then form 

 in the summer landscape as viewed from such a point ; where stood 

 the large buildings, were they small, how did the roofs group 

 themselves, what were the gardens like, if any, what social 

 character had the streets, what were the customary noises, what 

 sort of exterior was exhibited by these hybrid Romano-British 

 people, apart from the soldiery 1 ? Were the passengers up and 

 down the ways few in number, or did they ever form a busy 

 throng such as we now see on a market day 1 These are merely the 

 curious questions of an outsider to initiated students of the period. 

 When we consider the vagueness of our mental answers to such 

 inquiries as the above, we perceive that much is still left of this 

 fascinating investigation which may well occupy the attention of 

 the Club in future days. 



