et opus perfecerunt.[92]
On the opposite side, namely the right hand on leaving the town, is a tabular statement, very much defaced, but of which the heading is quite distinct:
Dies Gymnasiorum ex
testamento Cornelii Egriliani.
On each façade, above the arch, was a tablet containing a dedicatory inscription. The western one was in honour of Julia Domna, wife of the Emperor Septimius Severus, and mother of the two Emperors Caracalla and Geta.
This inscription is as follows:—
IVLIAE . DOMNAE . AVG. MATRI
CASTRORVM . ET . AVG. ET . SEN
ET . PATRIAE.[93]
The key of the arch below is decorated with an eagle holding thunderbolts, supporting a medallion out of which rises a female bust, wearing a high mural crown, typical, perhaps, of Julia Domna herself or of Rome.