25.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 5. GRAFFITO ON A TILE FOUND AT SILCHESTER (P. 25).
_Pertacus perfidus campester Lucilianus Campanus conticuere omnes._
(Probably a writing lesson.)]

I have heard this conclusion doubted on the ground that a bricklayer or
domestic servant in a province of the Roman Empire would not have known
how to read and write. This doubt really rests on a misconception of the
Empire. It is, indeed, akin to the surprise which tourists often exhibit
when confronted with Roman remains in an excavation or a museum--a
surprise that 'the Romans' had boots, or beds, or waterpipes, or
fireplaces, or roofs over their heads. There are, in truth, abundant
evidences that the labouring man in Roman days knew how to read and
write at need, and there is much truth in the remark that in the lands
ruled by Rome education was better under the Empire than at any time
since its fall till the nineteenth century.

It has, indeed, been suggested by doubters, that these _graffiti_ were
written by immigrant Italians, working as labourers or servants in
Calleva. The suggestion does not seem probable. Italians certainly
emigrated to the provinces in considerable numbers, just as Italians
emigrate to-day. But we have seen above that the ancient emigrants were
not labourers, as they are to-day. They were traders, or dealers in
land, or money-lenders or other 'well-to-do' persons. The labourers and
servants of Calleva must be sought among the native population, and the
_graffiti_ testify that this population wrote Latin. It is a further
question whether, besides writing Latin, the Callevan servants and
workmen may not also have spoken Celtic. Here direct evidence fails. In
the nature of things, we cannot hope for proof of the negative