Appendia 



The inscription, as it appears upon the cast, of which the wood- 

 cut is a faithful copy, may, I think, be read thus: — 



TOM ve[xi] 



LLATIO RETO 

 RVM GAESA 

 Q j^ C j^ A j^ IVL 

 SEVER. TRIE. 



which, I am pretty confident, ought 

 to be expanded as follows : — 



l[OVl] 0[PTIM0] m'AXIMO] VEXI- 



llatio retorvm gaesa- 

 [torvm] q[vorvm] c[vram] 

 a[gebat] ivl[ivs] 



SE7ER[iNVS] TRIB[VKVS] ; 



and w^hich may be translated — " To 

 Jupiter, the best and greatest, the 

 Yexillation of Rhaetian spearmen, 

 under the command of Julius 

 Severinus the tribune [dedicate 

 this altar]." 



I think there must have been a 

 line or two more of the inscription, 

 which has been chipped off by 

 the builders of the Abbey. There 

 would, at all events, be the usual 

 termination of such inscriptions — 

 the letters v.s.l.m. {"votum solvit 

 libens merito.") 



I have always understood a 

 vexillaiion to be a body of men se- 

 lected from diiferenf cohorts, but 

 fighting under one common vexil- 

 lum or standard, and sent on some 

 special expedition. 



Retorum may be regarded as a 

 rustic spelling for Rhaetorum. The 

 Khsetians came irom the Alps. 



These Ehgetians were named 

 Gcoemti. At Habitancum, the 

 modern Risingham, near Wood- 

 burn, in the north of Northumber- 

 land, we have a long but much 

 fractured inscription which men- 

 tions the Reii Gaesati. This in- 

 scription is now in the Newcastle Museum, and is shown in the 



