Lord Buchan adduces this alleged copy of the Cat-stane inscription as
valuable from having been taken early in the last century. The copy of
the inscription, though averred to be old, is, as we shall see in the
sequel, doubtlessly most inaccurate. And there exist accounts of the
inscription both older and infinitely more correct and trustworthy.
The oldest and most important notice of the Cat-stane and its
inscription that I know of is published in a work where few would expect
to find it--viz., in the _Mona Antiqua Restaurata_ of the Rev. Mr.
Rowlands. It is contained in a letter addressed to that gentleman by the
distinguished Welsh archaeologist, Edward Lhwyd. The date of Mr. Lhwyd's
letter is "Sligo, March 12th, 1699-1700." A short time previously he had
visited Scotland, and "collected a considerable number of inscriptions."
At that time the Cat-stane was a larger and much more imposing monument
than it is now, as shown in the following description of it. "One
monument," says he, "I met with within four miles of Edinburgh,
different from all I had seen elsewhere, and never observed by their
antiquaries. I take it to be the tomb of some Pictish king; though
situate by a river side, remote enough from any church. It is an area of
about seven yards diameter, raised a little above the rest of the
ground, and encompassed with large stones; all which stones are laid
length-wise, excepting one larger than ordinary, which is pitched on
end, and contains this inscription in the barbarous characters of the
fourth and fifth centuries, IN OC TUMULO JACIT VETTA F. VICTI. This the
common people call the _Cat-Stene_, whence I suspect the person's name
was _Getus_, of which name I find three Pictish kings; for the names
pronounced by the Britons with _G_, were written in Latin with _V_, as
we find by Gwyrtheyrn, Gwyrthefyr, and Gwythelyn, which were written in
Latin Vortigernus, Vortimerus, and Vitelinus."[134]
[Illustration: Fig. 15.]
Besides writing the preceding note to Dr. Rowland regarding the
Cat-stane, Mr. Lhwyd, at the time of his visit, took a sketch of the
inscription itself. In the _Philosophical Transactions_ for February
1700, this sketch of the Cat-stane inscription was, with eight others,
published by Dr. Musgrave, in a brief communication entitled, "An
Account of some Roman, French, and Irish Inscriptions and Antiquities,
lately found in Scotland and Ireland, by Mr. Edward Lhwyd, and
communicated to the publisher from Mr. John Hicks of Trewithier, in
Cornwall." The accompanying woodcut (Fig. 15) is an exact copy of Mr.
Lhwyd's sketch, as published in the _Philosophical Transactions_. In the
very brief communication accompanying it, the Cat-stane is shortly
described as "A Pictish monument near Edinburgh, IN OC TUMULO JACIT VETA
F. VICTI. This the common people call the Ket-stean; note that the
British names beginning with the letter Gw began in Latin with V [and
the three examples given by Lhwyd in his letter to Dr. Rowland follow].
So I suppose (it is added) this person's name was Gweth or Geth, of
which name were divers kings of the Picts, whence the vulgar name of
Ketstone."[135]
In the course of the last century, notices or readings of the Cat-stane
inscription, more or less similar to the account of it in the
_Philosophical Transactions_, were published by different writers, as
by Sir Robert Sibbald, in 1708,[136]--by Maitland, in 1753,[137]--by
Pennant, in his journey through Scotland in 1772,[138]--and by Gough, in
1789, in the third volume of his edition of Camden's _Britannia_.[139]
All the four authors whom I have quoted agree as to the reading of the
inscription, and give the two names mentioned in it, as VETTA and VICTI.
But in printing the first of these names, VETTA, Maitland and Pennant,
following perhaps the text in the _Philosophical Transactions_,
carelessly spell it with a single instead of a double T; and Gough makes
the first vowel in VICTI an E instead of an I. Sir Robert Sibbald gives
as a K the mutilated terminal letter in the third line, which Mr. Lhwyd
deciphered as an F. Sibbald's account of the stone and its inscription,
in 1708, is short but valuable, as affording an old independent reading
of the legend. It is contained in his folio essay or work entitled,
_Historical Inquiries Concerning the Roman Monuments and Antiquities in
Scotland_ (p. 50). "Close (says he) by Kirkliston water, upon the south
side, there is a square pillar over against the Mannor of Carlowry with
this inscription:--
IN OC TV
MVLO IACIT
VETTA K
VICTI
This (Sibbald continues) seemeth to have been done in later times than
the former inscriptions [viz., those left in Scotland by the Romans].
Whether it be a Pictish monument or not is uncertain; the vulgar call it
the CAT _Stane_."
Mr. Gough, when speaking of the stone in the latter part of the last
century, states that the inscription upon it was "not now legible." It
is certainly still even sufficiently legible and entire to prove
unmistakably the accuracy of the reading of it given upwards of a
century and a half ago by Lhwyd and Sibbald. The letters come out with
special distinctness when examined with the morning sun shining on them;
and indeed few ancient inscriptions in this country, not protected by
being buried, are better preserved,--a circumstance owing principally to
the very hard and durable nature of the stone itself, and the depth to
which the letters have been originally cut. The accompanying woodcut is
taken from a photograph of the stone by my friend Dr. Paterson, and very
faithfully represents the inscription. The surface of the stone upon
which the letters are carved has weathered and broken off in some parts;
particularly towards the right-hand edge of the inscription. This
process of disintegration has more or less affected the terminal letters
of the four lines of the inscriptions. Yet, out of the twenty-six
letters composing the legend, twenty are still comparatively entire and
perfectly legible; four are more or less defective; and two nearly
obliterated. The two which are almost obliterated consist of the first
V in TVMVLO, constituting the terminal letter of the first line, and the
last vowel I, or rather, judging from the space it occupies, E in JACIT.
A mere impress of the site of the bars of the V is faintly traceable by
the eye and finger, though the letter came out in the photograph. Only
about an inch of the middle portion of the upright bar of I or E in
JACIT can be traced by sight or touch. In this same word, also, the
lower part of the C and the cross stroke of the T is defective. But even
if the inscription had not been read when these letters were more
entire, such defects in particular letters are not assuredly of a kind
to make any palaeographer entertain a doubt as to the two words in which
these defects occur being TVMVLO and JACIT.
[Illustration: Fig. 16. The Cat-Stane, Kirkliston, _from a Photograph_.]
The terminal letter in the third line[140] was already defective in the
time of Edward Lhwyd, as shown by the figure of it in his sketch. (See
woodcut, No. 15.) Sibbald prints it as a K, a letter without any attachable
meaning. Lhwyd read it as an F (followed apparently by a linear point or
stop), and held it to signify--what F so often does signify in the common
established formula of these old inscriptions--F(ILIVS). The upright limb
of this F appears still well cut and distinct; but the stone is much
hollowed out and destroyed immediately to the right, where the two cross
bars of the letter should be. The site of the upper cross-bar of the letter
is too much decayed and excavated to allow of any distinct recognition of
it. The site, however, of a small portion of the middle cross bar is
traceable at the point where it is still united to and springs from the
upright limb of the letter. Beyond, or to the right of this letter F, a
line about half-an-inch long, forming possibly a terminal stop or point
of a linear type, commences on the level of the lower line of the letters,
and runs obliquely upwards and outwards, till it is now lost above in the
weathered and hollowed-out portion of stone. Its site is nearer the
upright limb or basis of the F than it is represented to be in the
sketch of Mr. Lhwyd, where it is figured as constituting a partly
continuous extension downwards of the middle bar of the letter itself.
And perhaps it is not a linear point, but more truly, as Lhwyd figures
it, the lower portion of a form of the middle bar of F, of an unusual
though not unknown type. The immediate descent or genealogy of those
whom these Romano-British inscriptions commemorate is often given on the
stones, but their status or profession is seldom mentioned. We have
exceptions in the case of one or two royal personages, as in the famous
inscription in Anglesey to "CATAMANUS, REX SAPIENTISSIMUS OPINATISSIMUS
OMNIUM REGUM." The rank and office of priests are in several instances
also commemorated with their names, as in the Kirkmadrine Stone in
Galloway. In the churchyard of Llangian, in Caernarvonshire, there is a
stone with an ancient inscription written not horizontally, but
vertically (as is the case with regard to most of the Cornish inscribed
stones), and where MELUS, the son of MARTINUS, the person commemorated,
is a physician--MEDICVS. But the inscription is much more interesting in
regard to our present inquiry in another point. For--as the accompanying
woodcut of the Llangian inscription shows--the F in the word FILI is
very much of the same type or form as the F seen by Lhwyd in the
Cat-stane, and drawn by him. (See his sketch in the preceding woodcut,
Fig. 15.) The context and position of this letter F in the Llangian
legend leaves no doubt of its true character. The form is old; Mr.
Westwood considers the age of the Llangian inscription as "not later
than the fifth century."[141] An approach to the same form of F in the
same word FILI, is seen in an inscribed stone which formerly stood at
Pant y Polion in Wales, and is now removed to Dolan Cothy House. Again,
in some instances, as in the Romano-British stones at Llandysilir,
Clyddan, Llandyssul, etc., where the F in Filius is tied to the
succeeding I, the conjoined letters present an appearance similar to the
F on the Cat-stane as figured by Lhwyd.
[Illustration]
While all competent authorities are nearly agreed as to the lettering
and reading of the first three lines, latterly the terminal letter of
the fourth or last line has given rise to some difference of opinion.
Lhwyd, Sibbald, and Pennant, unhesitatingly read the whole last line as
VICTI. Lhwyd, in his sketch of the inscription, further shows that,
following the last I, there is a stop or point of a linear form. The
terminal I is three inches long, while the linear point or stop
following it is fully an inch in length. Between it and the terminal I
is a smooth space on the stone of five or six lines. Latterly this
terminal I, with its superadded linear point, has been supposed by Mr.
Muckarsie to be an A, and by Dr. Wilson to be an R. Both suppositions
appear to me to be erroneous; and of this one or two considerations
will, I think, satisfy any cautious observer who will examine carefully
either the stone itself, or the cast of the inscription that was made in
1824--copies of which are placed in our own and in other museums. Mr.
Muckarsie and Dr. Wilson hold the upright bar forming the letter I to be
the primary upright bar of an A or R; and they think the remaining
portions of these letters to be indicated or formed by the linear stop
figured by Lhwyd. That the letter is not A, is shown by the bar being
quite perpendicular, and not oblique or slanting, as in the two other
A's in the inscription. Besides, the middle cross stroke of the A is
wanting; and the second descending bar of the letter is quite deficient
in length--a deficiency not explicable by mutilation from the weathering
of the stone, as the stone happens to be still perfectly entire both at
the uppermost and the lowest end of this bar or line. This last reason
is also in itself a strong if not a sufficient ground for rejecting the
idea that the letter is an R; inasmuch as if it had been an R, the tail
of the letter would have been found prolonged downwards to the base line
of the other letters in the word. For it is to be held in remembrance,
that though the forms of the letters in this inscription are rude and
debased, yet they are all cut with firmness and fulness.
The idea that the terminal letter of the inscription is an R seems still
more objectionable in another point of view. To make it an R at all, we
can only suppose the disputed "line" to be the lowest portion of the
segment of the loop or semicircular head of the R. The line, which is
about an inch long, is straight, however, and not a part of a round
curve or a circle, such as we know the mason who carved this inscription
could and did cut, as witnessed by his O's and C's. Besides, if this
straight line had formed the lower segment of the semicircular loop or
head of an R, then the highest point of that R would have stood so
disproportionately elevated above the top line or level of the other
letters in this word, as altogether to oppose and differ from what we
see in the other parts of this inscription. This same reason bears
equally against another view which perhaps might be taken; namely, that
the straight line in question is the tail or terminal right-hand stroke
of the R, placed nearly horizontally, as is occasionally the form of
this letter in some early inscriptions, like those of Yarrow and
Llangian. But if this view be adopted, then the loop or semicircular
head of the R must be considered as still more disproportionately
displaced upwards above the common level of the top line; for in this
view the whole loop or head must have stood entirely above this straight
horizontal line, which line itself reaches above the middle height of
the upright bar forming the I. Immediately above the horizontal line,
for a space about an inch or more in depth, and some ten or twelve
inches in length, there has been a weathering and chipping off of a
splinter of the surface of the stone, as indicated by its commencement
in an abrupt, curved, rugged edge above. This lesion or fracture of the
stone has, I believe, originally given rise to the idea of the semblance
of this terminal letter of the inscription to an R. Probably, also, this
disintegration is comparatively recent; for in the last century Lhwyd,
Sibbald, Maitland, and Pennant, all unhesitatingly lay down the terminal
letter as an I. But even if it were an A or an R, and not an I and
hyphen point, this would not affect or alter the view which I will take
in the sequel, that the last word in the inscription is a Latinised form
of the surname VICTA or WECTA; as, amid the numberless modifications to
which the orthography of ancient names is subjected by our early
chroniclers, the historic name in question is spelled by Ethelwerd with
a terminal R,--in one place as UUITHAR, and in another as WITHER.[142]
Altogether, however, I feel assured that the more accurately we examine
the inscription as still left, and the more we take into consideration
the well-known caution and accuracy of Edward Lhwyd as an archaeologist,
the more do we feel assured that his reading of the Cat-stane legend,
when he visited and copied it upwards of a hundred and sixty years ago
is strictly correct, viz.--
IN OC TV
MVLO JACIT
VETTA F.
VICTI.
_Palaeographic Peculiarities._
The palaeographic characters of the inscription scarcely require any
comment. As in most other Roman and Romano-British inscriptions, the
words run into each other without any intervening space to mark their
separation. The letters all consist of debased Roman capitals. They
generally vary from two and a half to three inches in length; but the O
in the first line is only one and a half inch deep. The O in TVMVLO in
these ancient inscriptions is often, as in the Cat-stane, smaller than
the other letters. M. Edmond Le Blant gives numerous marked instances of
this peculiarity of the small O in the same words, "IN HoC TVMVLo," in
his work on the early Romano-Gaulish inscriptions of France.[143] Most
of the letters in the Cat-stane inscription are pretty well formed, and
firmly though rudely cut. The oblique direction of the bottom stroke of
L in TVMVLO is a form of that letter often observable in other old
Romano-British inscriptions, as on the stone at Llanfaglan in Wales. The
M in the same word has its first and last strokes splaying outwardly; a
peculiarity seen in many old Roman and Romano-British monuments--as is
also the tying together of this letter with the following V. In the
Romano-British inscription upon the stone found at Yarrow, and which was
brought under the notice of the Society by Dr. John Alexander Smith,
there are three interments, as it were, recorded, the last of them in
these words;[144]
... HIC IACENT
IN TVMVLO DVO FILI
LIBERALI.
The letters on this Yarrow stone are--with one doubtful
exception[145]--Roman capitals, of a ruder, and hence perhaps later,
type than those cut on the Cat-stane; but the letters MV in TVMVLO are
tied together in exactly the same way on the two stones. The omission of
the aspirate in (H)OC, as seen on the Cat-stane, is by no means rare.
The so-called bilingual, or Latin and Ogham, inscribed stone at
Llanfechan, Wales, has upon it the Latin legend TRENACATVS IC JACET
FILIVS MAGLAGNI--the aspirate being wanting in the word HIC. It is
wanting also in the same way, and in the same word, in the inscription
on the Maen Madoc stone, near Ystradfellte--viz., DERVACI FILIVS IVLII
IC IACIT; and on the Turpillian stone near Crickhowel. In a stone,
described by Mr. Westwood, and placed on the road from Brecon to
Merthyr, the initial aspirate in "hoc" is not entirely dropped, but is
cut in an uncial form, while all the other letters are Roman capitals;
thus IN hOC TVMULO.
Linear hyphen-like stops, such as Lhwyd represents at the end of the
fourth, and probably also of the third line on the Cat-stane
inscription, seem not to be very rare. In the remarkable inscription on
the Caerwys stone, now placed at Downing Whitford, "Here lies a good and
noble woman"--[146]
HIC JACIT / MVLI
ER BONA NOBILI(S)
an oblique linear point appears in the middle of the legend, after the
word JACIT. The linear stop on the Cat-stane inscription, at the end of
the fourth line, is, as already stated, fully an inch in length, but it
is scarcely so deep as the cuts forming the letters; and the original
surface of the stone at both ends of this terminal linear stop is very
perfect and sound, showing that the line was not extended either upwards
or downwards into any form of letter. Straight or hyphen lines, at the
end both of words--especially of the proper names--and of the whole
inscriptions, have been found on various Romano-British stones, as on
those of Margan (the Naen Llythyrog), Stackpole, and Clydau, and have
been supposed to be the letter I, placed horizontally, while all the
other letters in these inscriptions are placed perpendicularly. Is it
not more probable that they are merely points? Or do they not sometimes,
like tied letters, represent both an I and a stop?