The miscellaneous antiquities which have been found here, and are still preserved upon the spot, are of a very interesting character. Chief among them is a broken statue, which is here represented.
The fragment, consisting of a fine-grained sandstone, is six feet two inches long. Statues of so large a size are of very rare occurrence in Roman camps in Britain. It is generally supposed to have been meant for Cybele, the mother of the gods. The gracefulness of the design, and the excellence of the execution, show us that the state of the arts in Roman Britain was not so low as is sometimes supposed. The arrangement of the drapery, and the ornament placed upon its margins, are suggestive of the mode in which these details were managed in the statues of the early ecclesiastical architects. The ancient builders professedly followed the Roman modes.
The fine Corinthian capital, which is here shewn, enables us to judge of the beauty of some of the buildings which adorned the ancient Cilurnum. In the drawing, it rests upon one of the foundation stones of the bridge; on the right-hand side of the group are two centurial stones, inscribed—
C[ENTVRIA] VAL[ERII]
MAXI[MI]
[CENTVRIA] RVFI SABI
NI
The century (or company) of Valerius