es of
population, and strategic posts.

MAIN DIVISIONS.

In the reign of Claudius (B.C. 41-A.D. 54), the country south of the
Solway Frith and the mouth of the Tyne formed one Roman province
under a consular legate and a procurator. Ptolemy (_fl._ 139-162)
(who flourished at Alexandria, and was one of the greatest of ancient
geographers) mentions 17 native tribes as inhabiting this district.
The Emperor Severus (146-211) divided the whole into two parts,
Britannia Inferior, the south, and Britannia Superior, the north. In
the division of the country under Diocletian, Britain was made a
diocese in the prefecture of Gaul, and was governed by a vicarius,
residing at York. It was split up into five provinces, of which the
boundaries, though somewhat uncertain, are supposed to have been as
follows:

_Britannia Prima_--the country south of the Thames and of the Bristol
Channel.

_Britannia Secunda_--Wales.

_Flavia Caesariensis_--the country between the rivers Thames, Severn,
Mersey, and Humber.

_Maxima Caesariensis_--the rest of England, up to the wall of
Hadrian.

_Valentia_ (soon abandoned by the Romans), Scotland south of the Wall
of Antoninus.

To ensure the obedience of the natives, various Roman legions,
composed of Gauls, Germans, Iberians, rather than of pure Romans,
were stationed in Britain, viz., at such places as Eboracum (York),
Deva (Chester), Isca (Caerleon), and Magni, or Magna (Kenchester).[1]

[Footnote 1: In the _Itinerary_, as in the Ravenna Geographer, we
have only the form _Magnis_, presumably from a nominative _Magni_, or
_Magna_.]

ROMAN BRITAIN.

The population of Roman Britain was, in the main Celtic; the Cymric
division predominating in the south and east, the Gaidhelic in the
north and west. There existed, besides these, remnants of two earlier
races--a small dark-haired race, akin to the Basques, or Euskarian
(found in S.W. England, S. Wales,[2] and parts of the Scotch
Highlands), and a tall, fairhaired race.

[Footnote 2: See Appendices A & B.]

Under the Romans, many towns (_coloniae_ and _municipia_) were
founded. In several cases their position had been occupied, as winter
or summer quarters, by the aboriginal inhabitants; the choice of the
site being determined by the contour of the hills, the convergence of
trackways, or the proximity to the sea or rivers. Fifty-six Roman
towns are enumerated by Claudius Ptolemy (_fl._ A.D. 139-162). They
formed centres of Roman au