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Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 1 p.152
early date, and refers to the second legion, LEG. II. AUG.
F. Legio Secunda Augusta fecit. It was found at the
station called Hunnum, and was doubtless erected to
commemorate the work done by the legion at that castrum. It
resembles in style those erected by the same legion on the
barrier of the Upper Isthmus or Wall of Antoninus. The next
example shows a stone lately
found among the fallen stones of the wall at Cawfield Crags,
where a tract of the wall is to be seen in an excellent
state of preservation. It bears the mark of the twentieth
legion. Mr. Bruce observes, -
"This sculpture cannot have been derived from the Vallum, in
the construction of which, in the time of Hadrain, the
twentieth legion is acknowledged to have been employed; for
the Vallum is here distant more than three hundred yards
from the wall. The reader will of course perceive the
bearing which this fact has upon the question of the
contemporaneous origin of the two structures, and the
construction of the wall, as well as the Vallum, by
Hadrian."
The Romans usually retained the various divisions of their
troops at particular stations over a long period of time. At
the time of the compilation of the Notitia Imperii
(the latter part of the fourth century), the first cohort of
the Asti was in garrison at AEsica, on the wall. Here, in
1761, was dug up an inscription, from which it appears that
during the reign of Severus Alexander (A.D. 222 to A.D.
235), the second cohort rebuilt the granary of this station,
which had become dilapidated. We are enabled to introduce
here a cut of the large mural tablet lately dug up near the
eastern
J. STOREY. DEL / [RB] UTTING. SC
gate way of this station. It is dedicated to Hadrian, and
supplies powerful testimony in support of Mr. Bruce's theory
on the date of the wall.
Another class of inscriptions, more numerous and not less
interesting, are those relating to worship. They embrace, as
may be supposed, a wide range of divinities, the objects of
adoration of the various troops stationed along the wall,
from Jupiter, the Optimus and Maximus, down to Epona, the
protectress of horses. They are usually inscribed on altars,
which were set up not only in temples, but also in the open
places, and even in the fields. Hodgson states that within
the limits of one modern parish four important fortified
places were furnished with temples to different deities; and
he adds that he felt it difficult to refrain from both
admiring the piety and pitying the superstition that reared
them. Sometimes the dedications are
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