ther as Guechta, Uuethar, Wither, Wechta, Wecta, and Vecta.
In the Cat-stane inscription the last--Vecta or Victa--is placed in the
genitive, and construed as a noun of the second declension, whilst Vetta
retains, as a nominative, its original Saxon form. The older chroniclers
frequently alter the Saxon surnames in this way. Thus, Horsa is
sometimes made, like Victa, a noun of the second declension, in
conjunction with the use of Hengist, Vortimer, etc., as unaltered
nominatives. Thus, Nennius tells us,[182] "Guortemor cum Hengist et
Horso ... pugnabat." (cap. xlvi.) According to Henry of Huntingdon,
"Gortimer ... ex obliquo aciem Horsi desrupit," etc. (Lib. ii.)

The double and distinctive name of "Vetta filius Victa," occurring, as
it thus does, in the lineage of Hengist and Horsa, as given both (1) in
our oldest written chronicles and (2) in the old inscription carved upon
the Cat-stane, is in itself a strong argument for the belief that the
same personage is indicated in these two distinct varieties of ancient
lettered documents. This inference, however, becomes still stronger when
we consider the rarity of the appellation Vetta, and the great
improbability of there having ever existed two historic individuals of
this name both of them the sons of two Victas. But still, it must be
confessed, various arguments naturally spring up in the mind against the
idea that in the Cat-stane we have a memorial of the grandfather of
Hengist and Horsa. Let us look at some of these reasons, and consider
their force and bearing.

_Some Objections considered._

Perhaps, as one of the first objections, I should notice the doubts
which some writers have expressed as to such leaders as Hengist and
Horsa having ever existed, and as to the correctness, therefore, of that
genealogy of the Saxon kings of Kent in which Hengist and Horsa are
included.[183]

The two most ancient lists of that lineage exist, as is well known, in
the "Historia Britonum" of Gildas or Nennius, and in the "Historia
Ecclesiastica" of Bede.

The former of these genealogical lists differs from the latter in being
much longer, and in carrying the pedigree several generations beyond the
great Teutonic leader Woden, backwards to his eastern forefather, Geat,
whom Mr. Kemble and others hold to have been probably the hero Woden,
whose semi-divine memory the northern tribes worshipped. Both
genealogical lists agree in all their main particulars back to
Woden--and so