12 NOTES ON LATIN INSCRIPTIONS 



(1) (2-) 



DEAE VIRADES DEAE EICAGM 



THI PAGVS CON BEDAE PAGVS 



DRVSTIS MILI VELLAVS MILIT 



IN COH II TVN COH II TVNG 



GR. SVB SIVO V. S. L. M. 



AVSPICE PR 

 AEFE. 

 Stuart's observations on No. (I) are : : 



" With some few alterations — and considerable allowance made for the errors 

 that may occur in deciphering those time-worn legends— the [inscription] maybe 



translated somewhat as follows: — "To the goddess (or deified) , Thiasus 



Pagus Condruatus, a soldier of the second Cohort of the Tungrian auxiliaries, 

 commanded by Sivus Auspicius, Prefect, (dedicates this altar.) "We ai'e at a loss 

 to discover the meaning of the word VIRADES ; perhaps it has been erroneously 

 copied [by Pennant,] and ought to be read DRYADES or OREADES; in which 

 case the difficulty vanishes, and we have the German soldier offering up his vows 

 to a particular and perhaps tutelary class of the Dece Nymphm!' 



On the inscription No. (2) Prof. Thomson offers the following note : 



" The altar appears to be dedicated to some provincial deit}', possibly Ricag- 

 mena Beda by name, by a soldier of the Second Cohort of Tungrians, Pagus 

 Vellaus, (vide l^reh, Ann, p. 398,) or, to avoid imputing a serious grammatical error 

 to the sculptor, by two soldiers, Vellaus and Pagus." 



Subjoined is the passage in the " Prehistoric Annals of Scotland," to 

 which reference is made in the note : 



" It appears to be dedicated by Pagus Vellaus to one of those obscure local 

 deities, apparently provincial names with Latin terminations, which are more 

 familiar than intelligible to the antiquary. It belongs to a class of Romano- 

 British relics which is peculiarly interesting, notwithstanding the obscurity of 

 their dedications, as the transition-link between the Roman and British mythology. 

 These altars of the adopted native deities are generally rude and inferior in de- 

 sign, as if indicative of their having their origin in the piety of some provincial 

 legionary subaltern. In the obscure gods and goddesses, thus commemorated, we 

 most probably recognise the names of favourite local divinities of the Romanised 

 Britons, originating for the most part from the adoption into the tolerant Pantheon 

 of Rome of the older objects of native superstitious reverence." 



rienzen (in the 3rd vol. of Orelli's Inscrip. Lat. Turici, 1856) gives 

 the first inscription from the 1st Edit, of Stuart's Caledonia Romana, 

 and subjoins the brief notes : 



"Nomina barbara fortasse etiam corrupta." "MILIt {avity "TVNGROa." 

 " corr. PRAEF, cujus nomen male lectum est." 



Having stated the opinions of others, I shall now proceed to offer 

 my own views on the subject. 



