Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/70

42 have been placed, not upon one seat, as they appear on sculptured monuments. The chapel was below the surface of the ground, in some degree corresponding with the grottos usually devoted to the service of rural divinities. (See Archæologia, vol. ii., p. 58.) For further information respecting these divinities it will be well to consult the Dissertation of the Abbé Banin (Hist. de l'Acad. Roy. des Inscriptions, Vol. vii., p. 34), and a paper by Mr. Roach Smith, in the Journal of the Archaeological Association.

The inscriptions which have been mentioned upon the objects in this collection cannot be explained with much certainty. All the known inscriptions referring to the Deæ Matres have been upon altars or commemorative tablets, and are consequently dedicatory, affording little assistance to the elucidation of these, which are perhaps the only ones which have been made known as attached to objects of ornament or utility, which may be dedicatory, or only indicating proprietorship. The inscription on the handle of the vase is. The name of Dubitatus occurs upon two inscriptions recorded by Gruter; it may read, therefore,, dedicated to the Deæ Matres, or to the use of their priestesses, by Fabius Dubitatus, or perhaps a female, Fabia Dubitata. Or it may be read,, declaring it to be the property of Fabia Dubitata, a priestess of the Deæ Matres. It will be more conformable to the general nature of inscriptions to read it in the dedicatory form, and consider it as dedicated to the service of the divinities mentioned.

The inscription upon the ring,, presents greater difficulties; appears as one word, there is not any point, or mark of contraction to separate the letters into different words, or to encourage insertion. To no person, place, or office, do the indexes of Gruter or other authors apply such a name, nor any one sufficiently resembling it, to justify the conjectural emendation of a supposed error. The only course is to supply the marks of separation or contraction which, in ancient inscriptions, are frequently omitted, and endeavour to discover some plausible interpretation. It has been already stated that upon existing monuments relating to the Deæ Matres, the names of places over which these divinities presided were frequently inserted; and as these objects now under discussion were found in the north of England, it is reasonable to look out for some place