Examples of dedication to genii are very numerous; the belief that they presided over the welfare of cities, families, and individuals, was part of the religious system of the Romans. It was generally believed that every individual had two genii, the one good, the other bad. With reference to the particular inscription to the genius Avernus, Mr. Roach Smith says, “that he finds no other mention: but the locality in which the altar was found confirms the literal interpretation that the genius of the well known lake in Carpania is here to be understood as addressed by Julius Quintilianus. The waters of the lake were much used by the Romans in magical rites, as the classical reader will be reminded by the line in Virgil’s description of the incantation scene, preparatory to Dido’s death:—
“‘Sparserat et latices simulatos fontis Averni.’”
A short time ago there was found in Common Hall-street, imbedded in a thick wall several feet under ground, a singular block or pig of lead.
Unfortunately the inscription has only been partially preserved, inasmuch as it presents a different reading from others which have been discovered, and which Camden mentions as being very general in Cheshire; but those which he records as having come under his notice had inscribed on them:—
IMP . DOMIT . AVG . GER . DE . CEANG.
These pigs of lead appear to have been paid as tribute by the Britons to their Roman masters, “the harsh exaction of which was one of the causes of the insurrection.”
A great quantity of the Red Samian, and other kinds of pottery, have been discovered within the walls of Chester, which are supposed to have been of foreign origin. The names of the potters were:—
HIVNV.—SEV. . . .—BELINOIM.—ALBINVS.—BITVRIX.—ATILLVS.—VABIVS . F.—I | OFFIC.—CRESI . M.—PVONI . M.—E S CV S I . M.
The following recent discoveries we extract from the First Report of the Chester Architectural, Archæological, and Historic Society, incorporated in a most able and interesting paper by C. Roach Smith, Esq.
Weaver-street.—In excavating for sewers was found, at the depth of seven feet, a raised foot-path, edged with curb-stones, and a regular paved road, of marble stones set in sand; four feet above this, a layer of charcoal; at ten or eleven feet deep, a quantity of Roman tile.