leg. aug. in Brit.
(Colle)gium fabror. et qui in eo
(A sacris) sunt d.s.d. donati aream
(Pud)enti Pudentini fil.
(The conjectural restorations are given in parentheses.)
(_Translation_.) "The temple of Neptune and Minerva, erected for the
health and preservation of the Imperial family by the authority of the
Emperor Tiberias Claudius and of Cogidubnus, the great king of the
Britons. The company of Artificers, with others, who were ambitious of
supplying materials, defrayed the expense. Pudens, son of Pudentinus,
gave the ground." (Hare.)
The great interest of the inscription is in that part which refers to
Pudens; a controversy raged for a long time during the middle of the
last century around the question of the identity of this individual,
the results of which seem to favour the connexion between Chichester
and the Pudens of St. Paul's second Epistle to Timothy.
The town seems to have been of little importance in South Saxon times,
although the modern name dates from that period--"Cissa's Ceaster."
Cissa was one of the sons of Ella who landed on the Selsey peninsula.
During the Conqueror's reign Chichester regained some of its former
dignity when the seat of the Sussex see was removed hither from Selsey.
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