INDICATING VOWEL LENGTH IN LATIN. 95 



We may now pass to a general examination of the inscriptions, 

 which shows that the usage was most common in Rome and Italy, in 

 Cisalpine Gaul and Gallia Narbonensis, and in Spain. It was more 

 frequent in central than in southern Italy. The inscriptions of Africa 

 show very few examples, those of Britain none. The use of such 

 marks is most frequent and accurate in official inscriptions and those 

 of the educated. With the common people, so far as they use the 

 marks at all, the usage seems to be imitative and sporadic. This 

 view is apparently confirmed by the use of marks in certain formulas, 

 such as " libertis libertabusque posterisque eorum," where it is com- 

 mon to find some or (rarely) all of the six long quantities indicated, 

 especially by the I longa.^^ 



In conclusion, a few additions to, or confirmations of, usages 

 found in the M. A. and S. C. may be given. As has already been 

 noted in connection with case-endings, an apex on the diphthong c? 

 (usually on the first vowel, less commonly on the second) is of fre- 

 quent occurrence. This also appears in syllables which are not case- 

 endings. Christiansen^*' gives thirty-two instances, of which twenty- 

 four occur in the Acta Fratrum Arvalium, and very many examples 

 may be added to his list. His remark, p. 17, that an apex is rare 

 over ce and an is misleading; for the occurrence of an apex over any 

 diphthong other than ce is exceedingly rare, while over cc it is fairly 

 common. His suggestion that the purpose of the mark was to dis- 

 tinguish cc representing c from the same diphthong representing e 

 seems doubtful ; for although we find ceques for eqites in VI., 3409, 

 of 197 A.D., the general use of cv for short c was certainly not early 

 enough to account for the apex over ce. 



The greatest number of indicated quantities in any one word of 

 the M. A. and the S. C. is three, and the two inscriptions together 

 contain only two such words. In VL, 11466, we find infehcissimi 

 with four marks, including the somewhat rare designation of a long 

 vowel before nf. Three marks occur several times, e.g. : Lusztana 

 twice, II., 5390; dedicatione. III., 10767; quaestorio. III., 11654; 

 Fortunate, V., 1066; Narboneses, XII., 4393; venaliciario, V., 3349; 



25 VI., 9992, IOI7O, IO4OI, 10673, II537; Cf. 1805, I9I7, I92I. 



26 L. C, p. 13. 



