Footnotes
[1.] A reference to the well-known salutation of the gladiators as they passed the Emperor in his seat at the Public Games. “Ave Cæsar Imperator! Morituri te salutant.” Hail! Cæsar Emperor, the doomed to death salute thee. [2.] Now known all over the world as Portsmouth Harbour. [3.] Honorius and Arcadius, who ruled over the Western and Eastern Empires respectively, were the weak sons of the vigorous Theodosius. [4.] Marcus was the first of three usurpers successively saluted Emperor by the legions of Britain. [5.] Vespasian, appointed by Claudius in A.D. 52 to the command of the second legion, had made extensive conquests in Britain adding, among other places, the Isle of Wight (Vectis) to the Empire. [6.] The observation of omens, or signs, supposed to indicate the future, was one of the duties of a commanding officer. [7.] When one of the vine-sticks used in administering corporal punishment to the Roman soldiers was broken on the culprit’s back, he would at once call for another. A milder disciplinarian would probably consider that when the stick was broken the punishment might end. [8.] “Decimation” was a common military punishment in cases of mutiny or bad behaviour on the field of battle. Every tenth man, taken by lot, was put to death. [9.] It would seem that the myth which made the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, into a British princess, had already grown up. She was, in fact, the daughter of a tavern-keeper, and in no way connected with Britain. [10.] A donative was a distribution of money made to the soldiers on such occasions as the accession of an Emperor. [11.] Lymne, in Kent, now some miles inward, on the edge of Romney Marsh. [12.] Constantinople. [13.] His capital is said to have been near the ancient Caieta and modern Gaieta. [14.] The “five” are, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, whose united reigns extended from 97 to 180 A.D.—a period of peace and prosperity such as Rome never enjoyed again. [15.] The hills that run as far as Arreton and the valley of the Medina. [16.] Brading Haven. [17.] The villa consisted, it will be seen, of the three parts which were commonly found in establishments of this kind. These were called respectively the Urbana, containing the rooms in which the family resided, and including also the garden terraces, &c.; the Rustica, occupied by slaves and workmen but in this case, as will be seen, partly used for another purpose; and the Fructuaria, containing cellars for wine, &c., barns, granaries, and storehouses of various kinds. [18.] The British bishops were notoriously poor, and their clergy were doubtless still more slenderly provided for. [19.] Lutetia Parisiorum, now Paris. [20.] Now Lyons. [21.] The Elbe. [22.] Probably the Channel Islands, always a dangerous place for navigation. [23.] Perhaps something like the early Saxon poem which we know under the name of Beowulf. [24.] Possibly the reason why so much buried money belonging to the later days of the Roman occupation of Britain has been found. [25.] Ireland. A similar incident is mentioned by Tacitus in his life of Agricola. An Irish petty king, driven from his throne by internal troubles, came to the Roman general and promised, if he were restored, to bring the island under the dominion of Rome. This is the first notice of the country that occurs in history. [26.] This was exactly what had happened not many years before to St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland. [27.] Probably somewhere near Wexford. [28.] With us tables are cleared after a meal; with the Romans they seem to have been actually removed. [29.] Theodosius ordered a massacre at Thessalonica on account of some offence offered to him by the populace of that city. [30.] Chichester. [31.] Pevensey. [32.] Boulogne. [33.] Commonly known by his Romanized name of Caractacus. [34.] Streets of Rome. [35.] This river, of course, must have been the Avon. [36.] Winchester. [37.] Salisbury. [38.] Now known as Downton, a small market town, about five miles south of Salisbury. [39.] A trilith consists of two upright stones with a third placed across. [40.] “How say ye then to my soul that she should flee as a bird unto the hill?”—Psalm xi. 1. [41.] Commonly called Jerome. [42.] John Chrysostom, at Antioch 386-398, at Constantinople 398-404. [43.] Winchester. [44.] Calleva Attrebatium, now known as Silchester, one of the most perfect specimens of a Roman camp to be seen in this country. [45.] Princeps Civitatis. [46.] The wall of Antoninus, built to defend Northern Britain from the Caledonians, and held by Roman forces till far on in the fourth century. [47.] Daniel iii. 19. [48.] It may be as well to say a few words about Stilicho. He was the son of a Vandal captain, and attracted by his skill and courage the favourable notice of the Emperor Theodosius, who gave him his niece Serena in marriage. His influence continued to increase, and in course of time Theodosius made him and his wife guardians of his young son Honorius, whom he shortly afterwards proclaimed Augustus, and Emperor of the West. In 394 Theodosius died, and the Empire was divided between his two sons, Honorius taking the West and Arcadius the East. Stilicho’s daughter Maria was now betrothed to Honorius, and his influence continued to increase. He restored peace to the Empire, conquering the Franks, chastising the Saxon pirates, and driving back, it is said, the Picts and Scots from Britain by the very terror of his name. For six years (398-404) he was engaged in a struggle with Alaric, King of the Goths, over whom he won, in the year 403, a great victory at Pollentia, near the modern Turin, and whom he defeated again in the following year under the walls of Verona. He is said to have conceived the idea of securing the Empire for his own son, and for this purpose to have entered into intrigues with his old enemy Alaric. However this may be, it is certain that he fell into disgrace. His end is related in this chapter. The poet Claudian employed himself in writing the praises of Stilicho and invectives against his rivals Rufinus and Eutropius. [49.]
“Stilichonis apex et cognita fulsit
Canities.”