The Roman relief sculpture at Chedworth Manor, Gloucestershire (PL. XX A), discussed in this paper, was first brought to my attention by Dr Martin Henig of the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford, and it is published here for the first time by kind permission of its owner, Mr J. D. F. Green. Traditionally brought to the Manor by the Knights of St John during their occupation of it in the Middle Ages, the relief was in position on an outer wall of the house some fifty years ago. But after World War II Mr Green moved it inside the house, where it now adorns one wall of the principal reception-room. At Mr Green's invitation I saw and studied it there.

Vexillations from all three British legions – II Augusta, IX Hispana and XX Valeria Victrix – took part on the Vitellian side in the second battle of Bedriacum in A.D. 69 (Tacitus, Histories 3, 22), but their main bodies had remained behind in the province under the cautious governorship of Vettius Bolanus (Histories 2, 97). After the capture of Fabius Valens, however, when the cause of Vitellius was plainly becoming hopeless, the army of Britain declared for Vespasian (Histories 3, 44): et Britanniam inditus erga Vespasianum favor, quod illic secundae legioni a Claudio praepositus et hello clarus egerat, non sine motu adiunxit ceterarum, in quibus plerique centuriones ac milites a Vitellio provecti expertum iam principem anxii mutabant. The meaning of this passage is surely clear enough: II Augusta, which Vespasian had commanded with distinction during the Claudian invasion and the following years, took the lead in swinging the whole army of Britain on to the Flavian side, despite the resistance of the other legions. On the attitude of XIV Gemina there is room for uncertainty: it had been sent back to Britain by Vitellius (Histories 2, 66), but it can hardly have been very enthusiastic for him, nor is it easy to suppose that many of its centurions and men can have owed their advancement to him. However that may be, II Augusta was manifestly the prime mover in securing the adherence of the army of Britain to Vespasian.

Recent excavations in Romano-British towns have produced evidence that property-boundaries, once fixed, often persisted over long periods. St. Albans, Cirencester, Leicester, Winchester, and Gloucester have furnished examples, while the results of earlier excavations at Caerwent, Wroxeter and Caistor-by-Norwich can probably be interpreted along similar lines. European parallels may be cited from Augst, Kempten, Xanten and, possibly, Cologne. On those sites where modern excavation has taken place the property-boundaries appear to have been fixed at an early date in the history of their respective towns. It would be of great interest to establish on what basis the original distribution of building-plots was made, especially those sited on street-frontages close to town-centres, where building-land was at a premium and where a systematic allocation of property might be expected.

The enamelled skillet-handle illustrated (FIG. I) was found in 1972 at Brough-on-Fosse, Nottinghamshire, by Mr John Hart. The handle adds a further example to the rare group of vessels with cham plevé enamelling which include the Rudge cup and Amiens skillet. The Brough skillet-handle measures 3 in. (7·8 cm) in length and is enamelled on the upper side; the reverse is plain. The enamelled decoration consists of a panel of vine-leaf ornament repeated five times. The enamel has flaked, but it appears that red was used in the centre of the vine leaf surrounded by a deep blue and then a green. These vessels are conveniently referred to as being enamelled, but recent analyses have shown that, in common with late Iron Age enamelwork, these are not true enamels but only coloured glass, which has not fused with the bronzework.

Our knowledge of ancient artillery derives primarily from several ancient technical texts. The most important among them are the works of Philon, Heron and Vitruvius. Taken in combination, these texts are sufficiently detailed to allow reconstruction of functioning artillerypieces, and the first reconstructions of catapults were made as early as the middle of the nineteenth century, long before any actual find was known. The second source for our knowledge of ancient artillery consists of representations of catapults found on Greek and Roman reliefs. In spite of their small number these reliefs are a significant complement to the written texts, not only because they show technical detail which might otherwise be controversial, but also because most of them can be dated within narrow bounds and in this way give some hints at the direction of development of ancient artillery. But the chances of finding new texts or new reliefs are very small. So actual finds of ancient catapults in archaeological excavations constitute a third source, which will gain increasing importance, because there are fair chances of finding remains of catapults at a number of sites.