cobble foundation two coins were found, a denarius of Vespasian and a legionary denarius of Mark Antony.

The Character of the Principia

The Praetorium of the Hyginian camp appears to have extended from the Via Principalis back to the Via Quintana, and to have been divided into three parts—in the rear a portion termed the posticum, in the centre the quarters of the general, and in front an open space in which, occupying the most important position, before the door of the general's tent, was placed the altar on which he sacrificed; on the right of it was the spot where lie took the auguries, on the left the tribunal from which he addressed the army.[1] Probably the Principia of forts such as that of Newstead preserves something of this plan. But it seems clear that the building had ceased to be the quarters of the commandant, and that the structure with its pillared courtyard had a certain affinity to the Forum of a city.

Between the Forum at Silchester and the Principia at Newstead there is a resemblance which is obvious. The latter must have formed the administrative centre of the fort. That it was no longer a dwelling is shown by the excavation of the Principia at Lambaesis, a building infinitely more complex than the one at Newstead or any of those to be found in the Limes forts in Germany. There, after passing through the archways overhanging the Via Principalis, we enter a great paved court surrounded on three sides by an ambulatory whence access was had to a series of chambers. Beyond is an inner courtyard slightly higher in level, and surrounded in turn by a second series of chambers. From the inscriptions found in these latter, M. Cagnat shows that they were occupied as scholae, or special rooms, by associations formed of the officers of different grades who were serving in the Third Legion, and that the central chamber, about which they were grouped, contained the shrine of the standards.[2] Just in the same way that in this legion's Principia the shrine, with its standards and other precious emblems, occupied the central position, facing the entrance as does the altar in a great church, so the Sacellum must have stood in the Principia of the smaller forts—the object of veneration, the symbol of command. As a matter of fact, in most of the castella that have been excavated we find one chamber distinguished from the others-the Centre of five as at Newstead, or the centre of three

1 Hyginus, Liber de Mun. Cast. p. 54.

2 Cagnat, Les deux Camps de la Légion IIIe Auguste à Lambèse, p. 33 ff.

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