Were all the romances written which have Caerleon as their background of scenery, the long stories of the ill-fated brethren Balin and Balan, of Geraint and Enid, of many a knightly quest and adventure, and of many a great undertaking by the “fair beginners of a nobler time,” would have to be related anew. The half-historic, half-fabulous histories of Dubritius the archbishop, of Taliesin the chief of bards, of Talhairan, the father of poetry--all men of Caerleon--would likewise have to be recounted, but the complete narratives must be sought in the chronicles, the triads, and the “Mabinogion.” Yet some of the dust under which lies the golden-domed city, and some of the ruins beneath which sleeps slain romance, mingle with the dust and ruins of history; and a little of that history may be deciphered still in the Isca Silurum of the Romans, where Caractacus held his court, where the Præter deposited the eagles, where justice was dealt out in the name of Cæsar, where Saxons and Britons met in one of their last deadly struggles, and where the dragon of the Cymry ultimately prevailed, and Arthur Pendragon rose and had his name set “high on all the hills and in the signs of heaven.” CHAPTER VI OF THE ROUND TABLE AND KING ARTHUR’S BATTLES “Ah, Minstrels! when the Table Round Arose, with all its warriors crown’d, There was a theme for bards to sound In triumph to their string!”--_Scott._ “A Knight of Arthur, working out his will To cleanse the world.”--_Tennyson._ “Full fifteen years, and more, were sped; Each brought new wreaths to Arthur’s head. Twelve bloody fields, with glory fought, The Saxons to subjection brought; Rython, the mighty giant slain By his good brand, relieved Bretagne: The Pictish Gillamore in fight, And Roman Lucius, own’d his might; And wide were through the world renown’d The glories of his Table Round.”--_Scott._