Flowing beneath the ancient stone bridge shown in our view (page 156), the river passes on, through scenery that is never less than pleasant, to Caerleon, prettily placed on the right bank; and here the Usk takes toll of the Afon. Caerleon is one of the most interesting spots in all this part of Wales. Here was quartered the second Augustan legion, and this was the principal Roman town in the country of the Silures. In those days it must have been a place of great magnificence and refinement as well as of war, for Giraldus Cambrensis, writing in the twelfth century, tells of the remains of splendid palaces, baths, theatres, and other public buildings; and though these have all vanished, an abundance of Roman relics has been unearthed, which are treasured in a museum that has been built by an antiquarian society; and bits of the wall are still to be seen _in situ_. But the legendary associations of Caerleon are even more memorable than its history; for here it was, according to one version of the Arthurian myth, that the British prince, when, after the withdrawal of the legions, the land was laid waste by the "heathen hosts" and by the warfare of the native princes-- "Thro' the puissance of his Table Round Drew all their petty princedoms under him, Their king and head, and made a realm and reigned." The Roman amphitheatre consists of a grassy hollow enclosed by a bank, lying just outside the wall on the east; "Arthur's Round Table" is a bank of earth some sixteen feet high. There is no reason to doubt that after the Roman era Caerleon became the centre of one of the British kingdoms. At a later time it was "threatened by the fleet of Alfred, which, however, was recalled home before making an attack. In early days it had its martyrs--St. Julius and St. Aaron--and afterwards it became the seat of a bishopric, which for some time enjoyed the honour of being the Metropolitan See of Wales. After the Norman Conquest Caerleon was a frequent bone of contention between the Welsh and the invaders, and was alternately taken and retaken. A castle was built here by one of the Norman barons; but it was not until the reign of Edward I. that the English obtained undisturbed possession of the town, which, prior to the building of a castle at Newport, was a place of considerable strategic importance."[10] [Illustration: _Photo: A. Dunning, Usk._ USK (_p. 155_).] [Illustration: _Photo: Frith & Co., Reigate._ CAERLEON.]