CHRISTIANITY IN ROMAN BRITAIN. 



103 



Discussion. 



Lieut-Colonel Mackinlay said: — It is now my privilege to pro- 

 pose a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Dale for his excellent paper. 

 The printed part gives the evidences of the facts which have evi- 

 dently been most carefully weighed. As the historical data which 

 we possess for the period under consideration in Britain is but 

 scanty, archaeological research has rendered reliable aid. 



Mr. Dale refers to the Roman leaden ingots found in England, 

 and he states that their weight is determined by the strength of 

 ordinary pack mules, and this is doubtless correct. At the present 

 time the weights of the guns of mountain artillery, carried on 

 mules' backs in order to traverse narrow paths impossible for 

 wheeled transport, are governed in the same way by the strength 

 of ordinary transport mules, the most powerful being selected for 

 the transport of the guns themselves. Mr. Dale refers to the use 

 of lead for coffins, the reason doubtless being that this is a metal 

 which resists oxidation far better than iron. One of the noticeable 

 features in Pompeii is that the leaden pipes belonging to the old 

 houses retain almost entirely the forms which they bore when first 

 constructed, so well does lead resist the action of the weather. 



The lantern slides claim our admiration and attention, parti- 

 cularly the first, of the coin with the Chi rho monogram stamped 

 on it. 



The carefully drawn plans of Silchester well show the high state 

 of organisation and comfort in a Roman city in Britain. It is 

 interesting to be reminded of the fact that at some time of the year 

 the position of the principal streets can be clearly seen in the grow- 

 ing crops by the colour differing from that around them. 



I conclude by asking you to accord by acclamation a hearty vote 

 of thanks for this most interesting paper. 



Mr. Theodore Roberts thought that the evidence for the martyr- 

 dom of St. Albans was a little suspicious and enquired whether 

 the name was not in some way connected with Albion, the Roman 

 name of Britain, which would point to his being a mythical person. 



Witli reference to Sir Henry Howorth's most interesting remarks 

 he thought that it was the good emperors who were persecutors, not 

 the bad. Nero only burnt a few Christians to draw off attention 

 from himself, but Prof. Ramsay had shown that Vespasian was 

 really the first persecuting emperor, and he instanced Marcus 

 Aurelius, the very best of the emperors, as a persecutor. He thought 

 the reason was that these good administrators recognized that the 

 principles of Christianity were entirely opposed to their system 

 and would ultimately destroy it. 



He quite believed there were other martyrs in Britain, even if 

 there were no St. Alban, but not in the time of Diocletian, as it 



