INSCRIBED ROMAN STONES OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 113 
and this reading of his has given rise to a number of conjectures 
as to the proper expression and meaning of the supposed IMP I. 
But what he took to be an I is almost certainly either part of the 
line of a narrow moulding or an accidental flaw in the stone. 
Fig 3, pl. I., is an enlarged view of the inscription. Leaving the 
IMP out of account, we may translate :—‘ Sacred to Brigantia. 
Amandus, the architect (erected this), by command oe 
Amandus, as a proper name, appears in England and on the 
Continent. 
3. Same recent history as 2. 
_ This altar-shaped stone is 2 ft. 64 in. high and 1 ft. 63 in. 
broad at the base. In its top there is a hollow space 13 inches 
long by 8 inches wide and 2 inches deep. On the left side are 
sculptured a fazera, or libation pan, with a plain handle, and an 
urceus, or pitcher ; while on the right is a patera-like disc with a 
rosette in its centre; and slightly above, but not quite in line 
with them, a bird quietly resting on a ball. 
There are several ligatures and contractions in the inscription, 
which, however, presents no difficulty except COLLIGN, cut on 
the stone without any stop. Dr Mommsen expands them into 
COL (wmna) LIG (zea), which gives the most 
ce i Se satisfactory explanation that has yet been 
CENS SIGILL proposed. According to this view the whole 
COLLIGN . CVLT should be read and translated thus :—Deo 
ea, ; 4 ‘ ee Mercurio|sacrum|. Jul(tus) Crescens sigill(um), 
columnam) lig(neam), cult(oribus) ejus ae) 
s(uo) d(edit). V(otum) s(olvit) UWibens) m(erito) ; t.e., “ Sacred to 
the god Mercury. Julius Crescens, from his own means, pre- 
sented this small image, a wooden column, to the worshippers of 
that god. Willingly, deservedly, he fulfilled his vow.” 
If this expansion and translation be correct, the hollow in 
the top may have been intended to receive a statuette of Mercury 
resting on a wooden column, or a pillar of wood surmounted by 
the head of that god. 
In the Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society there 
is a small but richly-ornamented altar which was found in 1880 in 
the garden of St Mary’s Convent, York. Itis dedicated to the 
goddesses of the house and hearth by C. Julius Crescens, who may 
be the same as the Julius Crescens here mentioned. 
