14 KOTteS OM LATIN mSdtllPTtONgi 



teEDAE, or perhaps the latter is formed of two words. Notliing iS 

 known of these deities. They may possibly have been, connected with 

 the towns Virodunum (T'^erdiin) and Rigomagus (Remagen) ; and it 

 appears to me more probable, that they were local deities of those who 

 erected the altars, than that they were adopted from the Britons. If 

 the reference to Rigomag^is be correct, it may be inferred that the 

 Vellavians, serving in a Tungrian cohort, adopted a Tungrian deity. 



According to the views which I have stated above, I should translate 

 the inscriptions thus i 



(1.) " To the goddess Viradesthi (or Viradethi) the Condrusian dis* 

 Irict, (^. e. the men from that district) serving in the Second Cohort of 

 the TuDgrians, under the command of Silvius Auspex Prsefect." 



(2.) "To the goddess Ricagmabeda the Vellavian district, {i. e. the 

 men from' that district) serving in the Second Cohort of the Tungrians,'* 

 &c., &c. 



Since the foregoing remarks were written, I have seen the 3rd vol., 

 Part iv. of the " Collectanea Antiqua" by Mr. C. Roach Smith, in which 

 that learned and ingenious antiquary offers his views relative to the two 

 altars which have been under consideration. From these I find that 

 he has anticipated me as to the interpretation oi pagus, the reference 

 to Rigomagus, and the emendation of the prsefect's name. After a 

 careful consideration, however, of his interpretations, I see no reason for 

 changing the opinions which I had previously expressed. 



Subjoined are his remarks i 



" I propose reading it (inscription 2,) thus : 'To the Goddess Ric- 

 amaga of the district (Pagus) of Beda, Vellaus, serving in the Second 

 Cohort of the Tungri, in discharge of a vow, willingly dedicates.' The 

 Bedce Pagus was a tract on the line of the Roman roadj from Treves 

 to Cologne, some trace of the original name of which is retained in 

 that of its modern representative Bitburg. In this region was a station 

 or town, called Rigomagus or Bicomagus ; and to this place, I suspect, 

 may the Goddess of the Birrens altar be referred ; especially as the 

 dedicator was a Tungrian. The word pagus is not unfrequently found 

 in the sense in which it here appears in similar inscriptions. Mr. Stuart 

 gives one, copied by Pennant, and also found at Birrens, which was 

 erected also by a Tungrian, to the goddess of the Viradesthian (?) Pagus. 

 Mr. Stuart's reading of the first part is evidently erroneous ; and equally 

 so Sivus Auspicius, as we may be assured by fig. 2 of our plate" (giving 

 the inscription already noticed,) " where we have the same prefect in 

 the nominative case, Silvius Auspex." 



A decisive objection to Mr. Roach Smith's interpretations is that they 



