exhumed on the site of its
church. There was, however, a relapse into paganism after the first
dedication of the Christian building, so that there can be no certainty
about the date of such discoveries.

On the authority of Vigilantius' "_De Basilica Petri_" (_i.e._ at Wynton
or Winchester), quoted by Rudborne in "_Anglia Sacra_," John of Exeter,
and other writers, we have it that a great church was rebuilt from its
foundations at Caergwent by Lucius after his conversion in A.D. 164; and
that he erected also smaller buildings with an oratory, refectory, and
dormitory for the temporary abode of the monks until the monastery
itself should be completed. Quotations from another lost author,
Moracius, provide us with the dimensions of this edifice, the length
being variously given as 209 and 200 _passus_, the breadth as 80 and
130, while the tower was 92 _passus_ in height. This church, it was
said, was dedicated to S. Saviour in November 169, and endowed with
property formerly held by the pagan priests. "The site of the monastery
to the east of the church was 100 _passus_ in length toward the old
temple of Concord and 40 in breadth to the new temple of Apollo. The
north position was 160 in length and 98 in breadth. To the west of the
church it was 90 in length and 100 in breadth, to the south 405 in
length and 580 in breadth." Willis, from whom the above dimensions are
quoted, does not attempt to reconcile the figures except in so far as he
suggests _pedes_ for _passus_, substituting one foot for five. During
the persecution of the Christians by Diocletian in A.D. 266 the
buildings were destroyed; and the new church, dedicated to "S.
Amphibalus," who was said to be one of the martyrs in that persecution,
was not so large as its predecessor. In writers of the period we find
occasional references to the "Vetus Coenobium" or old monastery at
Winchester. The new building was not destined to remain long undisturbed
in the service for which it was intended, for when Cerdic, King of the
West Saxons, was crowned at Winchester and the pagans once more gained
the ascendancy, the monks were slaughtered and the church, devoted to
other rites, remained a temple of "Dagon" from 516 to 635. In the latter
year S. Birinus, in pursuance of his mission from Honorius to "scatter
the seeds of the holy faith in those farthest inland territories of the
English which no teacher had yet visited," converted King Cynegils to
Christianity. This king i