DEO SOLI INVI CTO MYTRÆ SAECVLARI LITORIVS PACATIANVS B[ENE]F[ICIARIVS] COS. PRO SE ET SVIS V[OTVM] S[OLVIT] L[IBENS] M[ERITO] To the god The Sun the in- vincible Mithras The Lord of ages Litorius Pacatianus A consular beneficiary; for himself and family discharges a vow Willingly and deservedly. [Sidenote: WORSHIP OF THE SUN.] [Illustration] Another small and roughly-cut altar procured from the same place, and also now at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has a figure of the sun on its capital: Hodgson reads the inscription in this manner—Hieronymus, performing a vow, freely and duly dedicates this to the sun. When we contemplate the powerful and beneficial influence of the sun, we cannot be surprised that the worship of this luminary, especially in the east, constituted the first form of idolatry— To solemnize this day, the glorious sun Stays in his course, and plays the alchemist; Turning, with splendour of his precious eye, The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold. [Sidenote: WORSHIP OF MITHRAS.] The various ceremonies which were observed in the worship of Mithras, are supposed to have been emblematic of the different influences exercised by the sun upon vegetable and animal life. The notices which we have of the meaning of these emblems are, however, a mass of mysticism and absurdity. The god is commonly represented as a youth wearing the Phrygian cap and attire, and [Illustration: Attendant of Mithras] kneeling on a bull thrown on the ground, the throat of which he is cutting. He is usually accompanied by two attendants, the one bearing an uplifted torch, representing the sun in the vernal equinox, ascending to the zenith of his power, the other, an extinguished torch, resting on the ground, emblematic of the orb of day, when hastening to the winter solstice. The wood-cut here introduced exhibits one of these figures (now at Newcastle-upon-Tyne), which was found in the cave at Housesteads.