The Stones at Kirkmadrine. 133 



the onslaught these named here may have sealed their testimony 

 with their blood, and a cairn been raised over their dead bodies 

 with these stones set firm on the top to be a witness for im- 

 mortality through the crucified on the very grave of the slain. 

 In later days such a standard or banner as is carved on the 

 stones would have proclaimed the men victorious heralds of the 

 cross or victorious martyrs. May we not think that some such 

 triumph was in the mind of these old believers ? God had begun 

 His work, it might be checked, but He would finish it. It would 

 be by the Cross of Christ ; and by a symbol more Christian than 

 Constantine's labarum those erecting this memorial would have 

 immortality proclaimed from the grave of a martyr as possible 

 to every beholder, and their assurance Christianity would prevail 

 here, for its beginning was of God, who cannot fail in His work. 

 The vision may have been so inspiring that they expressed their 

 emotions in song. Professor Sir John Rhys has been good 

 enough to send me the inscription on No. 1 scanned as an 

 accentual metre derived from the Latin elegiac. Id est, Sir 

 John says, is necessary and also the unusual term, pra;cipui. I 

 give it as under: — 



Alpha et | omega | Christus Hie | jacent | sancti prae | cipui 

 Sacer | dotes id | est || Viventius | et Mav or ] ius 



Plainly there was some reason for using three stones, as two 

 would have afforded space enough. It has been suggested that 

 here, owing to its connection with Whithorn and thus with Tours, 

 we have a relic of the Arian controversy. The memorial is 

 spread over three stones linked by the same symbol to declare 

 that the crucified was one of three equally divine. Such a 

 suggestion has been also scouted as without any basis or likeli- 

 hood. Perhaps some one may be able to say if it is usual anv- 

 where to find one inscription carried over three different parts 

 when one or two at most would suffice. I have not had time or 

 opportunity to consult Huebner or other authorities on the sub- 

 ject. 



It is a fair subject of inquiry how such memorials happened 

 to be set up there. It is well known that in the cases of conver- 

 sion from heathenism the sites of Christian worship were often 

 fijced where the Pagan sites had been observed. The rockv knoll 



