96 PAPERS, ETC. 



vows tliey had made. Such as have any acquaintance with 

 these things, know how commonly these letters, V. S. L. M., 

 or V. S. L. L. M. are added at the end of inscriptions that 

 are on such altars, whereby they signified liow willingly and 

 cheerfully, as well as deservedly, they performed the vows 

 they had made, viz : Votum Solvit libens merito, or, votum 

 Solvit libens lubens (or laetus) merito. Much more deserved- 

 ly, and therefore more imllijigly and cheerfuHy, should the 

 vows made to the Most High, to the true and living God, 

 be paid or performed to Hirn, and particularly the vows 

 made in trouble." * 



Thus there was found, in 1792, on the site of the Pump 

 ßoom, and consequently on or near the site of the Temple 

 of Minerva, an altar dedicated " to the Goddess Siü, for 

 the health and safety of Aufidius Maximus, a centurion of 

 the Sixth Legion, Victrix, by Marcus Aufidius Lemnus, his 

 freedman." A drawing of this altar is given by Mi\ 

 Lysons and Mr. Warner. 



From the inscriptlon, it appears that it was erected by a 

 raanumitted slave, in performance of a vow made to the 

 Goddess Svd, for the restoration of his master, who had 

 made him free, and is thus a monument of the gratitude 

 and piety of the Romans. The sixth legion, mentioned on 

 this altar, was transported into Britain in the time of 

 Hadrian, and probably accompanied that Emperor, when he 

 took this kingdom, in the tour of his dominions. 



Another altar was found at the same time and place, 

 whlch in form and size resembles that first noticed. The 

 inscription is to the same purpose as that on the last. The 

 person by whom the altar was raised, is called Aufidius 

 Euiaches. 



* Vows made in Trouble, by John Horsley, A. M., London, published 

 1729. At the time Horsley published this book, he was engaged in the pre- 

 paration of the Britannia Romana, 



