To Jupiter, best and greatest, the first cohort of Spaniards, commanded by Caius Caballus Priscus, tribune. To Jupiter, best and greatest, and the divine influences of the Emperor, Marcus Mænius Agrippa a tribune erected this. VICTORIE. AVG COH'I' BAETASIOR C' R' CVI PRAEEST VLPIVS TITIA NVS PRAEFEC TVS V S L L M votum solvit læta libens merito. To Victory the august, the first cohort of Bætasians, Roman citizens, commanded by Ulpius Titianus, a prefect, dedicates this altar, in discharge of a vow, gladly, willingly, and to one worthy of it. Helstrius Novellus the prefect [erects this altar in discharge of a vow] to the deity of Vulcan. It will be quite impossible for me in the compass of a single paper to discuss the peculiar features of all these altars. A few general remarks must suffice. Before proceeding with these, I may state that the work of deciphering a Roman inscription is not the hap-hazard thing which some suppose. In expanding the contractions which frequently occur, the antiquary does not draw upon his imagination, but proceeds upon certain well-established precedents and rules. It occurred to me that the discovery, all at once, of sixteen inscriptions which had not been scanned by the eye of man for at least as many centuries, afforded an excellent opportunity of proving to those unacquainted with the subject, the certainty of the fact which I have now mentioned. I accordingly sent copies of the inscriptions as they stand upon the stones to three gentlemen: Professor Henzen in Rome, Dr. Emil Hübner, of the University of Berlin, and Dr. McCaul, Principal of University College, Toronto, Canada,—and requested them to give me their views as to the expansion of them. They have all kindly acceded to my invitation, and I may say that their reading of the inscriptions is precisely the same as my own. The only point of divergence is this: Professor Henzen reads the L.L., which occurs in the last line of some of the inscriptions, libens libenter; the rest of us make it lætus libens; the meaning in both cases is, however, virtually the same. is true that these inscriptions present no unusual difficulty. Should, however, the next sixteen altars which Mr. Humphrey Senhouse turns up, present peculiarities ever so great, I pledge myself to submit my own reading to a test similar to the present, whatever the result may be. It I will now indulge in some random remarks upon these altars. The form of them is for the most part tasteful, and the cutting of them good. As they must have been the work of soldiers, and not of professional sculptors, we must suppose that even the auxiliaries of the Roman army possessed an unusual amount of artistic taste and skill. These altars are erected by different cohorts; eleven are by the first cohort of Spaniards, or its officers; four by the first cohort of Bætasians, a Belgic tribe; and one by the first cohort of Dalmatians, a people from the shores of the Adriatic. We have a similar variety in the altars previously discovered here, and which are in the portico of the Hall. We hence learn that it was the policy of Rome to use in foreign parts the martial tendencies of a conquered country. They also avoided massing together in one district large bodies of troops belonging to the same nation. In this way conspiracy was avoided. If England had attentively studied the tactics of Rome, all the blood and treasure which was expended in India, during the Sepoy rebellion, would have been saved. From inscriptions found in northern Turkey, we know that some cohorts of Britons were, in Roman times, located in that distant province. If I am right in supposing that all these altars before us belong to the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, the diversity of troops named on them shows that a quicker exchange took place here at that time than was usual. On some of the stations of the Wall, we have evidence to show that the same cohort was in garrision for centuries in succession. The period of these two reigns was one of peculiar activity in Britain. There was the building of the wall of Hadrian, and afterwards that of Antoninus. When the Romans first established themselves in the north of England, the natives would be more restless and give more trouble than afterwards. There would be the greater need, therefore, for concentrating the Roman troops, at times, in places threatened with attack; and consequently more frequent removals. One thing is manifest from these altars, and that is, that the auxiliary troops of Rome, though all foreigners, were commanded by Roman officers. We have on these altars the names of eight commanders- Lucius Cammius Maximus, Marcus Mænius Agrippa, Ulpius Titanus, Lucius Antistius Lupus Verianus, Caius Caballus Priscus, Helstrius Novellus, Lucius Cæcilius Vegetus, and Titus Attius Tutor. These are all Roman names; and Roman names with the exception of the prænomen, or first name, were given in accordance with strict rule the names indicating the gens, the tribe, the family to which the individual belonged. One of the commanders, named Antistius Lupus, tells us that he was born in Africa. This circumstance did not interfere with his citizenship. a Roman, though he was born in Asia Minor. Paul was These altars disclose to us two peculiarities. For the first time we meet on a British inscription with the title of a tribune of Volunteers. There are several examples of it in foreign inscriptions. Its appearance at the present day is perhaps opportune, as it has a tendency to stimulate and encourage our citizen soldiers. For the first time, too, in Britain, we meet with a dedication to the blacksmith's god, Vulcan. This, too, is strangely opportune, as Maryport is becoming, I understand, a great iron producing place. On On one important point these altars fail to give us the information we have long desired, that is, what was the Roman name of the camp of Maryport. A document called the Notitia, written early in the fifth century, has come down to our time, which gives us the names of the Roman stations, and the garrisons which were in them. By means of this, and the inscriptions which were found in any particular camp, we can often obtain its ancient name. This method fails in the instance before us. According to the Notitia, the first cohort of Spaniards (of which we have so many records in these altars) was in a garrison at Axelodunum. Now, Axelodunum cannot be Maryport, it must from its order of sequence in the Notitia, be situated on the Wall itself, and east of Bowness. The cohorts of Batesians and Dalmatians were not in this part of the country at all when the Notitia was compiled. Horsely identifies Maryport with the Virosidum of the Notitia, where the sixth cohort of the Nervii was in garrison. Unfortunately, not a single inscription has ever been found in Maryport mentioning this body of troops. We must, therefore, wait a little while longer before we can attain to certainty upon this point. Let us hope that next year's ploughing may be as successful as this, and that amongst other things it may supply us with this piece of intelligence. I began with a quotation from Camden, and I will end with one. That eminent antiquary, who, with his friend Sir Robert Cotton, "of an affectionate love to illustrate our native "countrey, made a survey of these coasts, in the yere of our "redemption, 1599, not without sweet food and contentment of "our minds," goes on to say; "And I cannot chuse but "with thankful heart remember that very good and worthy "gentleman (I Sinhouse) not only in this regard that he gave "us right corteous and friendly entertainment, but also for that "being himself well learned, he is a lover of ancient literature, " and most diligently preserveth these inscriptions, which by "others that are unskilfull and unlettered be straight waies "defaced, broken and converted to other uses, to the exceeding great prejudice and detriment of antiquity." I need not say how peculiarly applicable these words are to the Netherhall family of the present day; and I doubt not that the result to their wise and patriotic example will so influence their children and their children's children, that, should the present state of mundane affairs continue so long, they will be as applicable three centuries hence as they are now. 66 ART. ART. XIX. —Notes upon the Parish Church of Kirkby Lonsdale. By the Rev. Canon Ware. Read at Kirkby Lonsdale, August 10th, 1870. THIS paper lays no claim to originality. I have endeavoured during the restoration of the church, but all the information bearing upon its history, which I have been able to obtain from others. We have no account of the first foundation of a church at Kirkby Lonsdale; but the name of the town (meaning "the "church-town of the valley of the Lune,"* shows that a church must have existed there from very early times. The church is dedicated to St. Mary, and was given by Ivo de Tailbois to St. Mary's Abbey at York. The grant was confirmed by Gilbert, son of Roger Fitz Reinfrid. St. Mary's Abbey was founded A.D. 1056. Its chartulary is to be found in the British Museum, Harleian MSS. 236 (see p. 220 of Vine's Catalogue. At p. 45 there are three charters relating to Kirkby Lonsdale, Underley, &c.; but they need a person more skilled than I am in medieval handwriting to decipher them fully. The arms of St. Mary's Abbey were "azure on "a cross gules a bezant charged with the demi figure of a king crowned and holding a sceptre: a key in the first "quarter." In the procession roll to Parliament of 1512 the key is wanting.† 66 The earliest parts of the church, as at present existing, are three heavy Norman arches on the north side of the west end of the nave. The church to which these belonged must have been (if completed, on a very large scale. It is clear, however, that it was not completely finished, at least in its decorations; for the carving of the capitals is only executed on one side, and the arches are in places scored out as if for a zigzag decoration, which was never executed. The diamond pattern seems to have been carved before the pillars were erected, for it is very irregular, the lines intersecting in the centre of each stone, * Lune, Lon, or Lun, is an ancient British word, signifying "fullness." Which I am christened by, the Britons it begun, Drayton's Polyolbion. + Allen's History of the County of York, vol. I. pp. 336, 337. |