ee a 
57 
Notitia can be definitely proved to have been at the station to 
which we wish to give the name, in or near Notitia times. (2) That 
all the altars have been found that are likely to be found. The 
bearing of the latter has already been shown when speaking of 
Ribchester. To these a third point has been insisted on, viz., 
that there is a certain amount of credibility to be attached to an 
allocation, when it can be proved that a cohort has been ata 
station for a considerable period of time. 
As to this idea of continuity, we might endeavour to settle this 
matter by a consideration of the various dates at which the stations 
were held by certain cohorts, in so far as these dates can be inferred 
from the altars. Let us, in the endeavour to do this, take the 
Maryport camp as a typical example. According to the Notitia, 
the 1st Cohort of the Spaniards was stationed at Axelodunum, of 
course in Notitia times. Now, some sixteen altars, by six different 
dedicators, have been found near this camp, and hence it has been 
inferred that the position of the ancient Axelodunum has been 
determined. Apparently such inference is the only one that could 
logically be drawn; but, after all, a close consideration of the 
matter will show that the reality is in appearance only, not in fact. 
Of course, the finding of these altars points indisputably to the 
fact that Spanish cohorts were in garrison at the Maryport camp, 
but they do not therefore prove that the cohorts were present in 
Notitia times. But to remove the matter from the range of mere 
speculation, the date of such occupation can be certainly fixed, 
for some four of the altars were dedicated by Marcus Menius 
Agrippa, a tribune of the Spanish cohort who lived during the reign 
of Hadrian, and therefore about the year A.D. 117. That they left 
is certain, for not only have we proof of their presence in North 
Britain, but they were at Netherby about A.D. 221. More than 
this; we have unmistakeable proof of the presence of Dalmatians 
during the reign of Antonius Pius, A.D. 137—160. And we have 
to account for the presence of at least a third cohort, the Beetasians 
—but whether before the Dalmatians or after them, we have no 
direct evidence. But a careful consideration of the great find of 
altars in 1870 may probably answer, not only that question, but 
also that of the cohort that buried the altars. 
5 
