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Having availed myself of this my second visit to Rochester, personally to examine the altar inscription, I found that the first letter was decidedly a G and not a C, as I supposed it to be from the copy given me by my friend; but this does not in any way relieve my metropolitan friend out of his difficulties, for G in this case does not mean Genio but Gratiâ, preserving intact the explanation I have given, as it matters not whether it was by the grace of the Romans' Lord of themselves and Standards, or with Cæsar, as that Lord, the altar was erected.
But to put an end to further discussion I beg to observe that "the dedication of the altars to the manes of the deceased, in their burial grounds was general among the ancients, and most particularly observed by the Romans, whence their epitaphs were always superscribed D.M. Dis Manibus—to remind the sacrilegious and profane not to molest the monuments of the dead, which were guarded with such sanctity." Vid. Propert. 1 El. 19 Virg. 4 Geo. v. 460, Æneid, 3d. &c. Hor. 1 B. Sat. 8, v. 28.
The altar at Rochester, as I stated in my first letter, (vide Journal of 11th September,) was found in the burial ground of the Roman Camp, and its dedication to the manes sufficiently evident even, though not mentioned, as it is, in the body of the inscription, and the letter N, coupled by the conjunction et to DUM, shows that N to stand for numinibus exploratorum (falsely translated pioneers of Bremenium, his imaginary Roman Town), and not[errata 1] numeri as my southern friend insists.
Having thus, I think, satisfactorily proved the correctness of my translation to those who can reason on the subject, and that even though a resident of obscure and unknown Thorneyburn, without the advantage of such ample metropolitan references as my more fortunate critic boasts of, I can see, as far into an old Roman Stone and Inscription, without initiation into their mysteries, as the Southern Member of the Archæological Society.
Thorneyburn Rectory, 25th October, 1852.
Errata
