Page:The Celtic Review volume 3.djvu/46

Rh while at Geneva the dedication bears the form Matr(ibus) aug(ustis). At Brienne, near Brignon, we have Mat(ribus), while at Nîmes the dedication is Matris. At Narbonne an inscription has been restored as [M]a[t]ribus, while at Lyons, the reading is M. a. t. r on one inscription and on another MatrIs. Lyons supplies three inscriptions that may read either as Matris or Matribus. Near Moirans there is an inscription that has been restored as Matrabus, while at Saint-Vit, near Besançon, this form occurs, as well as at Besançon itself, and on the road from Besançon to Grand-Fontaine. These latter inscriptions are mentioned here, though they are outside the zone of Lyons and the district to the south of it, because they help to form connecting links between the southern district and that of the Rhine valley, where we find numerous indications of the Matres worship. Along with these examples may be given that of Le Bourget, where we have a dedication ‘Mercurio et Matr[is],’ and that of Allmendigen, near Thun, where we have Iovi, Matribus, Matronis, Mercurio, Minervaæ, Neptuni, and once more Matribus and Minervæ. It is clear from this that Lyons and the districts around it were prominent centres of the Matres worship. The three inscriptions of Spain at Porcuna ( 2128), where M alone represents Matribus, which is qualified by Veteribus, that of Duraton (Matribus) and that of Muro de Agreda, prov. Soria, where we have Matrubos, are isolated and stand on a somewhat different footing from the others. The grouped goddesses of the south of Gaul are not, however, Matres only. We have here also in great prominence, especially in Nîmes, the Proxumæ or Proximæ. Near Saliers, Bouches-du-Rhône ( 661), at Vaison (1330) and Clansayes (1737), we have Proxsumis suIs. This formula also occurs at Nîmes (3115, 3116, 3119, 3121, and 3127). At Avignon we have Proxsumis, at Lourmarin P(roxumis), at Orange Proxs(umis), at Vaison Proxsumis and Proxumis, at Beaucaire, Nîmes Proxum(is), at Barron, Proximis Ledæ, while at Nîmes itself, in addition to the instances already given, we have [Pr]oxxumis (1), Proxsumis (4), in various degrees of completeness,