15 
unfortunate notoriety. Baebius Massa was one of the most 
infamous of the delatores in the reign of Domitian, and is 
branded by Tacitus (Hist. iv. 50), Juvenal (Sat. i. 35), and 
Pliny (Ep. vii. 85). The characters, though rudely cut, are 
without ligatures, which mark a late age ; and Dr. Hiibner, to 
whom a copy of the inscription was sent, thinks the altar is of 
the time of Hadrian. The figure after Suis and Rustius is a 
coarsely executed stop, which on many inscriptions has the form 
of an ivy leaf. This class of inscriptions abounds to a remark¬ 
able degree lineam valli with a variety of epithets—IMatribus 
Campestribus, Matribus Tramarinis, Matribus Tramarinis 
Patriae, and even Matribus Omnium Gentium.* These, added 
to purely local deities, as well as the classic deities and those 
of Egypt and the East, illustrate the devotion of the Roman 
soldiers to their polytheistic religion, and may explain the 
absence of all Christian emhlems in their camps and towns in 
Britain. The Westminster sarcophagus was thought to be an 
exception ; but it is now generally admitted that the cover, 
inscribed with a cross, is of mediaeval workmanship. 
This altar has an additional interest from the circumstance 
that so few Roman antiquities have been found on this side of 
York; I think this is the first bearing an inscription. Yet it 
seems highly probable that from the N.E. gate of Eburacum a 
road has led to Malton. For whether that be Derventio or not, 
itcertainly was an importantRoman station,and it seems improb¬ 
able that there should not be a more direct communication be¬ 
tween it and Eburacum, than by the valley of the Derwent from 
Kexby. The symmetry of the fortifications of Roman York 
leaves no doubt that there was a gate in the wall, between 
Aldwark and the end of Lord Mayor’s Walk, as laid down in 
Mr. Skaife’s excellent map. The remains discovered in 1861, 
behind Mr. Gray’s premises, were evidently Roman, though 
they did not fix the site of the gate. Mr. Skaife has traced, 
conjecturally it is true, a road leading from that gate to Malton, 
which passed at no great distance from Park Place. Dean Gale 
has recorded the discovery of a stone causeway, eight feet deep, 
on the North side of Monkgate, which confirms the supposition 
that a road ran this way in the direction of Malton. 
* See Bruce’s Roman Wall. 
