caped the persecution which the essential exclusiveness of their
Faith drew down upon Christians; gradually transforming by its deeper
spirituality the more frigid cults of earlier Paganism, and making
them its own. The little band of truly noble men and women who in the
latter half of the 4th century made the last stand against the triumph
of Christianity over the Roman world were almost all Mithraists. For
a good sketch of this interesting development see Dill, 'Roman Society
in the Last Century of the Western Empire.']

[Footnote 297: Of the 1200 in the 'Corpus Inscript. Lat.' (vol. vii.),
500 are in the section _Per Lineam Valli_.]

[Footnote 298: 'Corpus Inscript. Lat.' vol. vii., No. 759.]

[Footnote 299: Some authorities consider him to have been her own
son.]

[Footnote 300: See p. 126.]

[Footnote 301: The Gelt is a small tributary joining the Irthing
shortly before the latter falls into the Eden.]

[Footnote 302: Polybius (vi. 24) tells us that in the Roman army of
his day a _vexillum_ or _manipulum_ consisted of 200 men under two
centurions, each of whom had his _optio_. Vegetius (II. 1) confines
the word _vexillatio_ to the cavalry, but gives no clue as to its
strength.]

[Footnote 303: On this inscription see Huebner, C.I.L. vii. 1. A
drawing will be found in Bruce's 'Handbook to the Wall' (ed. 1895), p.
23.]

[Footnote 304: The name _Cilurnum_ may be connected with this wealth
of water. In modern Welsh _celurn_ = caldron.]

[Footnote 305: "All hast thou won, all hast thou been. Now be God the
winner." (These final words are equivocal, in both Latin and English.
They might signify, "Now let God be your conqueror," and "Now, thou
conqueror, be God," _i. e_. "die"; for a Roman Emperor was deified at
his decease.) Spartianus, 'De Severo,' 22.]

[Footnote 306: Aelius Spartianus, 'Severus,' c. 22.]

[Footnote 307: See p. 46.]

[Footnote 308: Dio Cassius, lxxvi. 16.]

[Footnote 309: _Ibid_. lxxvii. I.]

[Footnote 310: In 369. See p. 230.]

[Footnote 311: Constans in 343. See p. 230.]

[Footnote 312: See Bruce, 'Handbook to Wall' (ed. 1895), p. 267.]

[Footnote 313: Such tablets, called _tabulae honestae missionis_
("certificates of honourable discharge"), were given to every
enfranchised veteran, and were small enough to be carried easily on
the person. Four others, besides that at Cilurnum, have been found in
Britain.]

[Footnote 314: None of the above-mentioned _tabulae_ found are later