158 NOTICE OF INSCRIPTIONS AND ANTIQUITIES, been represented in these two publications. Several of these contributions to the " Britannia Komana " are of essential value and interest. It will afford gratification to every lover of Archaeological science to be assured that the zeal of the antiquaries of Monmouthshire has not been limited to the exciting pursuit of explorations : the stimulus cnused by the successful operations of the spade has produced a permanent and satis- factory result, the establishment of a suitable JIuseum, in which all these vestiges will be collected, and assume a far higher interest when preserved in their proper locality, and on the actual spot, of whose early history they form so invaluable a memorial. The accompanying plates supply representations of some of the most recent discoveries on the site of the ancient Isca} The first comprises two curious additions to the series of inscribed monuments, one of them dedicated to Fortune, a goddess much esteemed and worshipped in Britain, as Horsley observes, in the times of Roman dominion, a great number of altars being found inscribed to her.^ The singular appropriation of the fragment of a stone conduit-pipe to such a purpose will not escape observation. Did we not perceive that it had been dedicated by an important officer, the prcsfedus castrorum, — the quarter-master of the legion, whose functions as we learn from Vegetius concerned the formation of the camp, and its internal economy, — the humble j character of this tablet might lead to the supposition that it ' had been inscribed by some ignoble hand, or rural settler. We are reminded of the lines of Horace, regarding the popular cidtus of Fortune, — Te pauper ambit soUicita prece Ruris colonus." The second inscription in the plate is of even greater value to the antiquary, as a fresh illustration of the prevalence oi the worship of Mithras, even in these remote parts of the Roman world. The stone which bears this inscription seems ' For these interesting plates the Society sion of inspecting these curious remains, is indebted to Mr. Lee, who has liberally ^ Britannia Romana, p. 233. Sue in prepared and presented them to the that work several Notices of Altirs to Joiu-nal. This kindness is doubly wel- Fortune. Mr. Bruce, in his valuabk' come, when the researches of the archae- volume on the Roman Wall, represents a ologists in South Wales must assume a remarkable example from Risingham, fresh interest, as the coming visit of the now in the Museum of the Antiquaries ot Institute to Bristol will afford the occa- Newcastle, p. 403.
