568 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 
Hogmoor, 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 
Eoman-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 w^ater 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, " TL. VAL, 
CONSTANTIUS NOB. C." (Flavins Valerius Constantius 
Nobilis CEesar); 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 w^ould 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 
