108 InSCKIBED liOMAN StONES of DuMl'TaESSHlRE. 



20th March, 1S9(S. 



Mr W^ILLIAM J. Maxwell, Vice-President, in the chair. 



A meeting', largely attended, was held in Greyfiiars' Hall, at 

 which the following- paper was read : — 



T/ie Inscribed Roman Stones of Dumfriesshire. By James MaO- 

 DONALD, LL.D., F.S.A.Scot. 



The practice of setting up stones to perpetuate the memory 

 of events is widespread and of great antiquity. Among an 

 unlettered people a simple unhewn pillar bore silent witness to the 

 truth of the tale that would be told in after years to those who 

 asked what the stone meant. 



With the advance of civilisation such commemorative pillars 

 became covered with allegorical sculptures or with inscriptions 

 composed in the language of those by whom they were er jcted. 

 In Italy a very considerable numbar of inscriptions of this kind 

 still exist, written in the Latin language, and dated, some of them, 

 long before the commencement of our era. The subsequent 

 extension of the Eoman power into other countries was marked 

 everywhere by inscribed stones, many of which remain, and are 

 the most trustworthy evidence we possess of the extent and 

 reality of the imperial conquests. This mode of writing history 

 reached perhaps its highest development in Roman and Romanized 

 lands during the second century after Christ. 



The alphabet used by the Romans for inscriptions was that 

 known among us as Jvoman capitals. The letters vary somewhat 

 in form according to the nature of the stone, the taste of the 

 stonecuttei-, and the period ; but one cannot help being struck 

 with the resemblance they bear to those with which we are so 

 familiar. Whatever else has been changed for the better within 

 the last two thousand years, the Roman capital letters have not 

 been found susceptible of much, if any, improvement. 



Some peculiarities there were. To sav^e space, two or even 

 three or more letters might be joined so as to form what is called a 

 ligature or nexus. In some inscriptions ligMtures are numerous ; 

 others are almost free of them. Words were seldom written in 

 full, being almost always abbreviated. The first letter or the first 

 two or three letters usually stand for the whole word. These 



