IMMINET LEONI VIRGO CÆLESTI SITU SPICIFERA, JUSTI INVENTRIX, URBIUM CONDITRIX, EX QUIS MUNERIBUS NOSSE CONTIGIT DEOS ERGO EADEM MATER DIVUM, PAX, VIRTUS, CERES, DEA SYRIA; LANCE VITAM ET JURA PENSITANS. IN CÆLO VISUM SYRIA SIDUS EDIDIT, LYBIÆ COLENDUM INDE CUNCTI DIDICIMUS, ITA INTELLEXIT, NUMINE INDUCTUS TUO MARCUS CÆCILIUS DONATINUS, MILITANS TRIBUNUS IN PRÆFECTO DONO PRINCIPIS. The Virgin in her celestial seat overhangs the Lion, Producer of corn, Inventress of right, Foundress of cities, By which functions it has been our good fortune to know the deities; Therefore the same _Virgin is_ the Mother of the gods, _is_ Peace, _is_ Virtue, _is_ Ceres, _Is_ the Syrian Goddess poising life and laws in a balance, The constellation beheld in the sky hath Syria sent forth To Lybia to be worshipped, thence have all of us learnt it, Thus hath understood, overspread by thy protecting influence, Marcus Cæcilius Donatinus, a warfaring Tribune in _the office of_ prefect, by the bounty of the emperor. Cæcilius probably prepared this exposition of his faith on being admitted into the mysteries of Ceres. However unintelligible, we cannot but admire the humility and teachable disposition of the tribune. Their judge was conscience, and her rule their law, That rule, pursued with reverence, and with awe, Led them, however faltering, faint and slow, From what they knew, to what they wished to know. But let not him that shares a brighter day, Traduce the splendour of a noontide ray, Prefer the twilight of a darker time, And deem his base stupidity no crime! [Sidenote: MINOR DEITIES.] A glance at some of the minor, and local deities must conclude our review of the gods of the Barrier. The deities of Greece and Rome were without number. Every fountain and river, every hill and forest, had its tutelary deity; every product of earth, air, or sea, its guardian; every place its genius; every household its _penates_. The antiquities found on the Wall furnish us with numerous illustrations of this fact. The engraving represents an altar which was found at Birdoswald, and is now at Lanercost. [Illustration: Altar to Silvanus, Amboglanna] DEO SANCTO SILVANO VE NATORES BANNE S.S. (_sacraverunt_) To the holy god Silvanus, The hunters of Banna Have consecrated _this_. [Sidenote: THE NYMPHS.]