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Medio

Hartshorne evidently did not look for the site in the direction of Llanymynech, and possibly, had he done so, he would have found a still better agreement of the numbers given in the Iters. He mentions Clawdd Côch, the reputed site, the Causeway Lane, and the Roman Vicinal road, in connection with Offa's Dyke, no doubt considering the entrenchments as of Saxon date. The only data we have for fixing the site of this city is that gathered from the Iters of Antonine. lanum is first mentioned in Iter ii, and is given thus: “DEVA. LEG. XX. VICT., M.P. XX; BONIO, X; MEDIOLANO, XX; RVTVNIO, M.P. XII; VRIOCONIO, XI." These stations, Scarth states in his Itinera, are pretty clearly ascertained. Camden settles Bonium at Bangor-is-coed on the Dee; and this view is confirmed by Chancellor Leman, who in a note to his copy of the edition of the Itinerary of Antoninus' says, the reason for preferring Bangor is, because there is a Roman road going from Chester to Wroxeter, which passes through it.

Mediolanum is fixed by Camden at Whitchurch; by Bishop Gibson at Meifod; but Leman says it is Clawdd Côch, near Llanymynech, at the confluence of the Tanat with the Vyrnwy, about twenty miles distance from Bangor. Rutunium, near Wem, and not far from Hawkestone Park. It is known as Rowton Castle. Deva and Uriconium are well known to be Chester and Wroxeter.

In treating of the Roman ways it will be necessary to inquire into the method of measurement and the distances comprehended between the stations, and the relative length of the Roman and English mile.

Unfortunately the text of the Roman Itinera appears very corrupt; and this has probably arisen through the errors of copyists, it being very easy to mistake a number. Horsley, in his essay on the Itinerary of Antonine, observes: "On a thorough and impartial trial I find 1 Reynold's Itin. of Anton., p. 201.

2 "Were we sure of our military ways, and sure of our numbers, and did we certainly know what sort of miles were used in the

that through the most part of England, whenever we are sure, the proportion of the mile of the Itinerary to the English computed mile is as three to four. Near Wales, and in the western part of England, between the Severn and Chester, the proportion is as two to three; ie., two English to three of the Itinerary. "Mr. Leman, who bestowed much attention on this subject, observes that nothing can be clearer than that the Roman miles were not always the same length, but differed from each other, like our computed ones, or like the leagues in France: for, in measuring a space of ground where the country is perfectly level, the Roman mile differs but little from our present measured one; but they are infinitely longer than ours when the iter passes over a mountainous tract; therefore, they would calculate the distances between the several stations by horizontal miles. Between Wroxeter and Carnarvon it requires a mile and a half to make our present miles coincide with the Roman.

The distance from Bangor-is-coed (Bonium) to Mediolanum is given as 20 Roman miles, this would therefore be equal to 13 English miles, the real distance being 17 miles. Between Mediolanum and Rutunium there are 12 Roman miles, or 8 English miles, which coincides with the measurement of the present day.

The distance from Mons Heriri (Tomen-y-Mur, Merionethshire) to Mediolanum is given as xxv M.P., in this there is probably an error. Canon Wynne-Edwards says: "Now a straight line on the Ordnance map from Segontium, in the direction of Uriconium, passes at 23 miles distance along it somewhere near Llangynog, at 25 miles near Pen-y-bont, and at 35 miles near Clawdd Côch, in Llanymynech parish. Mediolanum ought to be found somewhere along this line."

And if the reading in the Iter were at Uriconium

Itinerary it would then be an infallible guide to us. The Itinerary was written by a Roman, and most probably for the use of Roman officers, and with respect to Roman ways. The miles most probably are Roman."-Itin. Anton., Horsley.

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