Tribunus
in Praefecto, dono Principis.

This may be thus rendered:

O'er the Lion hangs the Virgin, in her place in heaven, With
her corn-ear;--justice-finder, city-foundress, she: And in
them that do such office Gods may still be known. She, then,
is the Gods' own Mother, Peace, Strength, Ceres, all; Syria's
Goddess, in her Balance weighing life and Law. Syria sent
this Constellation shining in her sky Forth for Libya's
worship:--thence we all have learnt the lore. Thus hath
come to understanding, by the Godhead led, Marcus Caecilius
Donatianus Serving now as Tribune-Prefect, by the Prince's
grace.

F. 8.--These obscure lines Dr. Hodgkin refers to Julia Domna, the wife
of Severus, the one Emperor that Africa gave to the Roman world.
He was an able astrologer, and from early youth considered himself
destined by his horoscope for the throne. He was thus guided by
astrological considerations to take for his second wife a Syrian
virgin, whose nativity he found to forecast queenship. As his Empress
she shared in the aureole of divinity which rested upon all members
of the Imperial family. This theory explains the references in the
inscription to the constellation Virgo, with its chief star Spica,
having Leo on the one hand and Libra on the other, also to the Syrian
origin of Julia and her connection with Libya, the home of Severus.
It may be added that Dr. Hodgkin's view is confirmed by the fact that
this Empress figures, on coins found in Britain, as the Mother of
the Gods, and also as Ceres. The first line may possibly have special
reference to her influence in Britain during the reign of Severus
and her stepson[299] Caracalla (who was also her second husband), Leo
being a noted astrological sign of Britain.[300] The inscription was
evidently put up in recognition of promotion gained by her favour,
though the exact interpretation of _Tribunus in praefecto_ requires a
greater knowledge of Roman military nomenclature than we possess.
Dr. Hodgkin's "Tribune instead of Prefect" seems scarcely admissible
grammatically.

F. 9.--Another inscription which may be mentioned is that referred to
by Tennyson in 'Gareth and Lynette' (l. 172), which

"the vexillary
Hath left crag-carven over the streaming Gelt."[301]

This is one of the many such records in the quarries south of the Wall
telling of the labours of the fatigue-parties sent out by Severus
to hew stones for his might