51 
instance in which a dedication to Mars has been found in the 
North. And when we remember that the Eoman power in the 
far nortli Ycas never permanently established, it was natural that 
they should look for the protection of Mars, who was to lead 
them into victory. The name of Agriiis^ which appears upon 
the stone, is common enough in inscriptions abroad, but occurs 
here for the first time in Britain. The word aruspex is equally 
rare in this country. The aruspices or hariispices were sooth¬ 
sayers and diviners, who brought originally from Etruria to 
Borne the mysterious lore of that ancient country. In the time 
of the empire there was a college at Borne of sixty haruspices, 
and, although often discredited, the body seems never to have 
died out whilst the empire lasted. It was their object to inter¬ 
pret to men the will of the gods, and to divine what was coming 
to pass. The entrails of sacrificed animals, the character of the 
fire that consumed them, the cries and flights of birds, sights 
and sounds, and natural phenomena of all kinds, these were the 
field from which the h(rritspices professed to learn the will of the 
gods. We knoAv already from the Life of the Emperor Severus 
that at the close of his days the signs were against him, showing 
that the Jiariispices were at that time represented in Ebiiracum. 
This sculptured stone is the-first occurrence of the name in any 
inscription in Britain. And to whom could Caius Agrius, in 
his own opinion, better address his vows than to the God of War, 
the knowledge of whose will could ensirre his own worldly 
prosperity and renovcn, as well as the honour of his country. 
lY. The last product of these excavations is a statue in light- 
coloured grit, deficient in the feet and right arm from the 
shoulder, but still five feet and a half high, and strikingly fine. 
It is probably the work of a native sculptor, who has had a 
marble figure as his model. The figure is in military dress, 
wearing a noble helmet, with his hair in fillets close to the fore¬ 
head. A belt, passing over the right shoulder, holds a sword. 
The left hand is resting on a large oval shield, more than two 
feet high, Avith a boss in the centre. The legs are greaved. In 
the missing right hand there must have been a lofty spear, 
probably of metal. Statues of any kind are so rare in this 
country that fine Avork such as this figure exhibits must always 
