86 ROLFE— THE USE OF DEVICES FOR 



these inscriptions are short, probably no great significance is to be 

 attached to their consistency, but they are interesting as rare speci- 

 mens. One is VI., 30805, Silvano Au. sacrum. C. IiiHus Castrensis 

 ex voto (incidentally it may be remarked that the marking of a long 

 vowel before ns is not very common). The other is XII., 2925, 

 lovj^*^ O. M. Gallus lulius Honoratus V. S. L. M. There are numer- 

 ous other inscriptions in which the number of marks is relatively 

 large, such as III., 9960; Y., 6786, 7430; VI., 4226; XII., 3219; 

 XIV., 2553, quoted on p. 91, and many others. In some, on the con- 

 trary, only a few words are marked, generally, although not invari- 

 ably, at the beginning : e.g., VI., 30865, where the first and third lines. 

 Pro salute . . . Pontificis Maxim/, are accompanied by eleven lines 

 containing ten long vowels, no one of which is marked ; in VI., 10363, 

 inmunis is the only marked quantity in an inscription of eight lines. 

 Even a cursory examination shows that the apex and the I longa 

 are not used in exactly the same way. Except for a few inevitable 

 errors, the apex is much more consistently confined to the designation 

 of long vowels, while the I longa has various other uses.^" Further- 

 more, the I longa is decidedly more frequent than the apex. In those 

 volumes of the C. I. L. which are provided with indices the examples 

 of words marked with an apex are collected, but very few of the 

 editors have essayed the enormous task of assembling all the tall I's. 

 Some inscriptions have the I longa, but no instances of the apex, 

 including the account of the Ludi Sseculares of 17 B.C. (VI., 32323) ; 

 VI., 9992, for example, has twelve tall I's within a few lines, but not 

 a single apex. In this connection it should be noted that there is 

 another apex, frequently having the same form as the one which indi- 

 cates a long vowel, which is used as a mark of punctuation, both 

 between words and after abbreviations. This apex, which is attached 

 to consonants and short vowels, as well as to long vowels, is com- 

 monly placed beside the letter instead of over it, as in VI., 838, ex' 

 visu fecit' Evia' Helpis, where it serves to separate words, instead 

 of the usual point. In VI., 31856, belonging to the early part of the 

 reign of Marcus Aurelius, it serves to designate abbreviations: a 

 rationib' proc trib'. Sometimes it stands over the letter, as in rh for 



16 An italicized i is used to designate the I longa. 

 1'^ See Christiansen, 1. c. 



