406 NOTES ON LATIN INSCRIPTIONS FOUND IN BRITAIN. 
cites almost the same passages in illustration. Subsequently, however, 
whilst retaining the opinion that the Nodinus of Varro, otherwise the 
Nodutus of St. Augustine and Arnobius, was originally the same 
deity as the Nodens of the inscription, he identifies him with Aiscula- 
plus. ‘The emblems,’ “he remarks, “said to have been found 
“along with the inscription, serpents, cocks, and dogs, seem strongly to 
“confirm, nay, even to prove, the truth of this supposition”’ [originally 
advanced by Mr. Bathurst, that the deity in question could be no other 
than Aisculapius]. This leads him to search for another etymology 
for the name of the god as given in the inscriptions, and, with the 
help of certain peculiarities of the Etruscan language and letters, to 
which he believes the Latin ‘“‘ bore a considerable resemblance until 
about the 5th century after the foundation of Rome,” and the further 
aid of the fact, that the worship of Asculapius was introduced into 
Rome about that period, scil. 461, A. U. C.; he arrives at the con- 
clusion that Nodens or Nodons is a corruption of Nodunos, i.e., 
vddvvos, alleviator of pain, than which “no name or epithet was more 
likely to be given by the Greeks to Aisculapius, who was supposed to 
be the inventor of medicine, and to whose salutary influence was 
ascribed the restoration of health.” Of this theory it seems unneces- 
Sary to say more than that there is no authority for the application 
of the epithet védvvos to Aisculapius, and that there is no ground for 
questioning the received opinion, that the deity Nodutus, or Nodinus, 
derived his name from his office of presiding over the nodi. Any 
doubts, however, which I had as to the influence which Wodons was 
believed to possess over human health, have been removed by a notice 
of the site of the deity’s temple in “The Proceedings of the Arch- 
@ological Institute, Bristol, 1851.’ Ina paper on “ the British and 
Roman Roads communicating with Caerwent,” Dr. Ormerod observes : 
“‘ Between the Town of Lydney and Ailburton, it [the road] appears 
next as a hollow way between the present road and the hills on the 
right crowned with two Roman camps, of which one contains the 
remains of the once splendid temple dedicated to a deity of supposed 
sanitary powers, and is most rich in antiquities.’ 
To this is subjoied the following note :— 
“Within the greater camp, when excavated under directions of its owner, 
the late Rt. Hon. Chas. Bathurst, were discovered the foundation walls of an 
irregular quadrangle, the sides of which average severally about 200 feet, exclu- 
sive of a range of offices along the N. W. side, and of a Palatial fabric on its 
upper or N. E. side. 
