The Count of the Saxon Shore; or The Villa in Vectis.<br />A Tale of the Departure of the Romans fro by Church and Putnam (electric book reader .TXT) 📖

id="note_6" name="note_6" href= "#noteref_6">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.