ON ITER XV. OF THE ITINERARY OF ANTONINUS. 127 



The addition of x. to viii., tlie distance given in tlie Iter 

 between Vindogladia and Durnovaria, converts it into xviii., there 

 being in reality 18|- English or 20 J Eoman miles from Badbury 

 to Dorchester. 



Moreover, in the summary placed at the head of Iter xv. the 

 distance is thus stated : — 



A Calleva Isca Dumnuniorum, m.p. cxxxvi. 



But it is evident that the sum total of the mileage of the Iter 

 is not 136, but 126 miles 



The addition of x again converts these 136 to 146 miles, being 

 only 3^ miles less than the correct reading, viz., 149|^. 



It follows that this adjustment of the distances necessarily 

 transfers the site of Vindogladia from Grussage Cow-down to 

 Badbury Camp. 



It becomes, therefore, imperative to make a statement of the 

 arguments by which such a change may be vindicated. 



The Via Iceniana,^or Ackling Dyke, as it is here called, in its 

 course from Sorbiodunum to Vindogladia presents'' itself on our 

 unbroken Downs as a raised causeway of uniform height and 

 breadth, pursuing a straight course for miles, except where some 

 natural obstacle turns it aside, which it soon evades, and resumes 

 its previous straight course. It is very manifest that the 

 Roman Surveyors, as soon as they got a sight of Badbury, 

 probably from Coombe Hill, directed their line straight 

 towards that distant object, not deviating from it to the right 

 hand or the left. Badbury was then, as now, a marked object 

 in the prospect, its entrenchments constituted an Ancient British 

 Oppidum, crowning the summit of the distant elevated plain, 

 the refuge and protection of the neighbouring tribes. It 

 may be said that the earthworks on Gussage Cow-down would 

 be a prominent object also, to which the Eoman Surveyors would 

 direct their line ; granted it would be so ; and the eye would still 

 be carried on in the same line to rest on Badbury six and three- 

 quarters of a mile further on. This was no doubt their most 

 important mark, for, as the Roman road reaches a point less 

 than a quarter of a mile from the Oppidum, it changes its course, 



