102 NOTES ON LATIN INSCRIPTIONS 



in the genitive, and Vedrca in the dative. The locality of the stone 

 seems to support the views of those who regard Fedra as the name of 

 the Wear, not of the Tyne. The term Feteribus may manifest a pre- 

 ference of the old deities to the imported, or to " The God " of Chris- 

 tians, or, perhaps, may indicate a jealous feeling as to some new road or 

 roads, of which there seem to have been several at or near this station, 

 or the belief in the superiority of the paved {strata) road to some 

 other, a mere dug-way. In ancient Britain, doubtless, this superiority 

 was as fully felt as it is now in this country. The inscription — Beo qui 

 vias et semitas commentus est — ^intimates an appreciation, such as we 

 are familiar with here, of the advantages of roads. 



69. In n. 32 of the Illustrated Catalogue of the Museum of the 

 Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, " the fragments of a 

 large inscription, evidently dedicated to Caracalla," are figured : 



I SEPT 



I SARMATI 



ANTON 



RIE PROCONSVLI PRO 



M SENATVS HAC 



GIONVM ITEM 



Dr. Bruce gives the following reading, translation, and remarks : 



" Imperatori Caesari 

 DIVI SEPTIMII Severi filio 

 Marei ANTONINI PII SARMATIOI nepoti 

 MareoAurelio ANTONINO 

 PROCONSULI 



To the Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, proconsul, the son of the 

 deified Septimus Severus, the grandson of Marcus Antoninus Pius, [styled] Sar- 



maticus 



The latter part of the inscription is too incomplete to admit of even a conjectural 

 interpretation ; the words decretum Senatus, and legionum, are, however, distinct." 



The fourth line seems to me to be part of the formula Fatri Patria 

 (scil. Patrie for Patrice), Proconsuli (as Dr. B. reads it), *Pro- 

 pagatori Imperii; and after this, perhaps immediately, came the 

 name and titles of Julia Domna, possibly thus : — ET IVLIAE 



* Garacalla inherited this title from his father. See Henzen, nn. 6340, 5493. 



