CENTURIAL STONES FOUND ON THE WALL OF HADRIAN. At the monthly meeting of the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries, held on Wednesday night in the Old Castle, MR. JOHN CLAYTON, who was in the chair, read an interesting paper entitled "Observations on Centurial Stones found on the Wall of Hadrian." MR. CLAYTON said: Early in the month of March last, in removing from the south face of the Wall of Hadrian, a mass of soil and debris, the accumulation of centuries, there was found in the face of the wall in the third course of stone from its base, a centurial stone, a copy of the inscription of which was laid before our monthly meeting on the 31st day of that month. At that meeting, the writer of this article mentioned that erroneous opinions on the subject of centurial stones were entertained by some antiquaries outside of our society, and that as this centurial stone was probably the last that would be found in the Wall of Hadrian, he was collecting materials for a paper on this class of inscribed stones, which he probably might be able to submit to a future meeting of the society. The precise locality in which this discovery was made is about half a mile east of the station of Cilurnum, and within 30 yards of a turret in the wall, similar to those described by GORDON and HORSLEY, as existing early in the last century, and similar to that now existing on the farm of Blackcarts, between the stations of Cilurnum and Procolitia, described in the seventh volume of the "Archaeologia AElians", page 256. This newly-discovered turret had been partially exhumed more than a year before; and the operations of the spade which have produced to us this centurial stone in situ had the object of completing the exhumation of the turret and bringing to light the remains of the Wall of Hadrian existing in its vicinity. The letters are these....... COH - IX V PAN - APRI. The inscription, being expanded, is read Cohortis no**e Centurio Pauli Apri. The cohort to which the company of the Centurion Paulus Aper belonged was, without doubt, a legionary cohort. Had it been an auxiliary cohort, its nationality would have been expressed. Probably this cohort was a cohort of the sixth legion, one of the three legions employed by Hadrian in the construction of the Wall, which legion has left many traces of its presence in the neighbourhood. The centurial stones which have been found in the four northern counties - Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, and Westmorland, up to the year 1875, are described in the "Lapidarium Septentrionale", published by this society in that year. Since that time, one more centurial stone has been found besides the stone above described; it was found amongst the debris on the south side of Hadrian's Wall, at a high elevation, near the Limestone Corner, between the stations of Cilurnum and Procolitia. The letters upon it are confined to the name of the centurion. It is inscribed: - C HELLENI Centuria Helleni. The name Helenus, spelt with a single "l" (as is the Helenus Priamides of Virgil), occurs frequently in GRUTER. The present seems a fitting occasion for placing on record the views of our society on the subject of centurial stones, found on the Wall of Hadrian. The centurial stones which have been found on the Roman Wall in Northumberland and Cumberland, according to our views, were placed in the courses of masonry both of the wall and the stations, on their original construction, under the direction of the centurion whose company was employed in that portion of the work. The object of the centurion was to record his own name, as that of an individual who had taken a part in the great work, hence the particular cohort to which the centurion belonged, or the extent of the work done, is very rarely recorded on the stone. In each of these inscriptions, the name of the centurion is preceded by the centurial mark, resembling an inverted "C", which represents a twig of vine, the official badge of a Roman centurion. The name of the centurion is for the most part in the genitive case, as in the two inscriptions before us. When in the genitive case, the centurial mark must be read "centuris". It sometimes happens that the name of the centurion is converted into an adjective, agreeing with and used as an epithet to centuria, as in O THRUPONIANA - the century of Thruponianus. According to HORSLEY, the name of the centurion is sometimes in the nominative case, and the centurial mark must be read 'centurio'. We have no reason to doubt the soundness of these our views; but they are not universally accepted; and other views are propounded by other antiquaries. We need not notice the twinkling of the "Minora sidera", but as the expression of erroneous opinions by men of high reputation may lead to the propagation of error, we must test the opinions of MR. CHARLES HENRY COOTE, and a learned and laborious fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and of DR. MCCAUL, the distinguished President of the University of Toronto, who each of them differs from the other, and both differ from us. In 1867, MR. COOTE communicated to the Society of Antiquaries of London a very comprehensive essay, under the title of "The Centuriation of Roman Britain". The learned writer gives in detail an account of the Roman system of colonisation on the continent, and tells us that in the vocabulary of the Roman Agrimensores, the word "centuria" means a fundus or farm of one hundred acres, and that centurial stones are land marks which the writer divides into three categories. We need not notice the first and second categories, but confine ourselves to the third, which MR. COOTE expressly applies to the centurial stones on the Wall of Hadrian. MR. CLAYTON quoted from MR. COOTES's essay to show that the gentleman asserted that the centurial stones found in the Wall of Hadrian, were land marks and MR. CLAYTON went on to say : - We cheerfully acknowledge the learning and industry of MR. COOTE, and do not question his knowledge of the centuriation of the Roman colonies and agricultural districts, but he must excuse us when we say that we cannot consider his authority on any questions of Roman military centuration of any weight. His theory must, therefore, rest solely on its own merits, and we must proceed to consider whether it be probable or possible that the centurial stones found on the face of the Wall at Hadrian and of its fortresses, are land marks of farms of one hundred acres, that the names inscribed on them are the names of the possessors of those farms, and in every case in which numerals are added, they represent the number of the roads which divide one centuria or farm of one hundred acres from another. MR. COOTE must excuse our taking the liberty of observing, that it would have been prudent on his part to have placed some reliance upon the researches of other learned men, as well as himself; if he had consulted SMITH's "Dictionary of Roman Antiquities", he would have been aware of the difference between the military and the civil centuria of the Romans. And, if he had referred to the first volume, published in 1863 of the great German work "Corpus Inscriptionum Latinerum", he would have discovered how totally different the stones used by the Romans as landmarks in Italy are from the centurial stones on the Wall of Hadrian. The locality described by HORSLEY as having been the most productive of centurial stones, has continued to be so up to the present time, probably arising from the exceptionally heavy character of the works, which would lead to the employment of a larger force than was required for other portions of the line. It is described by HORSLEY as extending between Walwick and Carrabrough, a distance of about two miles, for one-half of this space the lines of fortification, the Murus and the Vallum, are within ten yards of each other, and for the rest of the distance they are not more than one hundred yards apart, and within this space, at least twenty centurial stones can be traced to have been found, the whole space between the lines of fortification would be required for military purposes, the lands north of the lines of fortification would be open to the raids of the Caledonians, and the lands south, of the half-subdued Britions. If, then, (according to MR. COOTE), the names inscribed on the centurial stones are the names of the possessors of farms of one hundred acres each, where are those farms to be found ? and if these stones were landmarks, is it not probable that the possessor of the land would have placed them on the land, and not in the face of the wall of a fortress ? DR. MCCAUL has for many years been in the habit of communicating to the Canadian public, through the "Canadian Journal", articles under the designation of "Notes on Latin Inscriptions found in Britain". In the year 1863, these notes, with many more which had not previously appeared in print, were collected and published in one volume, under the title of "Britanno-Roman Inscriptions, with Critical Notes". Through this publication DR. MCCAUL's views, which were for the most part very creditable to him as a man of sense and a scholar, were first circulated in Europe. DR. MCCAUL's views on the subject of centurial inscriptions on the Wall of Hadrian, as enunciated in this publication, must, however, be admitted to have no other merit than that of originality. On this subject the learned president of the University of Toronto expresses himself in the following terms:- "For my part I have no doubt there was not one of these inscriptions that was in honour or memory of any one, and that the meaning of the centurial mark under other circumstances used for centurio, stands in all such inscriptions for century". ......... "The true explanation of such inscriptions is, I think, that they were intended to mark the space set apart for quarters in an encampment, id est, to define the pedatura, not in the sense in which it is used by VEGETIUS in the passage cited by HORSLEY, but as that in which HYGINUS employs it." We have before us one of the stones, which is inscribed Centuria Heleni, the name of the centurion being in the genitive case. This stone does not record to what cohort the century belonged; was obviously placed in the Wall in honour or memory of the centurion Helenus, and as a record of the fact that the centurion Helenus had taken a part in so great a work as the Wall of Hadrian. This is the sole purpose of the inscription, and there is no mention of the number of "passus" or "pedes" of the work which had been executed under command of centurion Helenus. Hundreds of centurions have along the whole length of the Wall sought in the same form to commemorate their names, and if any oracular sage of their time had - like DR. MCCAUL - pronounced the dictum - "For my part I have no doubt there was not one of those inscriptions that was in honour or in memory of any one," not one of these officers would have lost a particle of his self-esteem, or lost any confidence in the permanency of the memorial of himself inserted in the wall. DR. MCCAUL having told us what these inscriptions are not , proceeds to tell us what they are: He says - "That the true nature of these inscriptions is to mark the space for quarters in an encampment." If such were the case, the quarters of the centurion Helenus must have been the reverse of comfortable - his foot would be on the bare heath, his couch would be rocked by the winds and sheltered by the snow drift. Helenus has placed his stone where he has done his work on the wall, which happens to be at a very high point - more than one thousand feet above the level of the sea, and more than a mile distant from any station or permanent encampment. It is somewhat remarkable that the space in which the greatest number of centurial stones has been found is a high ridge of land distant from station or encampment. The soldiers' quarters on the Wall are not on these stormy heights, but in comfortable camps or fortresses, in which all possible care has been taken to mitigate the severities of a Northumbrian climate; the floors of the rooms are laid on pillars, and under those floors are hot air passages communicating with the rooms. On the grounds which have been stated, we arrive at the inevitable conclusion that the theories of MR. HENRY CHARLES COOTE and DR. MCCAUL, with respect to the centurial stones found on Hadrian's Wall, are equally untenable. Both these theories have been extant for more than a dozen years, and we do not find that they have been retracted or qualified by their authors - on the contrary (at least in the case of MR. COOTE), there has been an expressed persistence in error. Antiquaries in general have regarded both theories with indifference, relying on the authorities of GRUTER, HORSLEY, HODGSON, BRUCE, AND HUBNER, and undisturbed by the dicta of COOTE and MCCAUL. It may be deemed presumptuous on the part of an individual holding no position in antiquarian lore to have dealt so freely with the opinions of professed and acknowledged antiquaries; but that individual has one advantage over those learned men - he has passed a long life on the Wall of Hadrian, and in close proximity to that part of it where the greatest number of centurial stones has been found, and who has in his possession the largest collection of those stones that anywhere exist, and who is satisfied that if MR. COOTE and DR. MCCAUL had spent one day on the Wall of Hadrian, they would not have remained for one hour unconvinced of the error into which they have respectively fallen. On the motion of MR. W. H. D. LONGSTAFFE, seconded by the REV. DR. BRUCH, a vote of thanks was passed to MR. CLAYTON for his paper. ===========================================