Inscribed Homan Stones of Dumfeiesshihe. 109 



abbreviations and ligatures are somewhat confusing. But without 

 a knowledge of the system generally followed in making them, the 

 text of the inscriptions cannot be properly understood. 



Each word should be separated from the next by a point or 

 dot, though this was not seldom omitted. Sometimes the letters 

 ai'e all close together on the stones. Instead of the round dot, a 

 small triangle is often used. After the first century the ivy leaf 

 is not uncommon. Various other forms of the point are found, 

 but all of them ai'e placed in the middle of the line, and not, as with 

 us, at the foot. 



Certain letters were also employed as numerals, though some 

 of them had at first nothing to do Avith the particular characters 

 the form of which they came to assume. To distinguish numerals 

 from letters, a stroke was drawn through the former in republican 

 times ; afterwards it was put over them. 



The Roman inscribed stones hitherto found in Dumfiiesshire 

 may be classified thus : — Altars or votive slabs, dedicated to divini- 

 ties ; stones bearing honorary or commemorative inscriptions, 

 including those that are sometimes called legionary ; sepulchral 

 monuments. Briefly stated, the conventional forms employed by 

 the Komans for each of these classes of inscriptions are as 

 follows : — 



1. Alt Alls. — First comes the name of the divinity in the 

 dative, dependent on the word sacrum, or some contraction of it, 

 expressed or understood. This is followed by the name of the 

 dedicator iu the nominative, often with particulars added regarding 

 his family, country, or profession, or the circumstances under which 

 the altar was set up. Lastly, we may have a verb or phrase ex- 

 pressing the idea of the altar being a gift, or the fulfilment of a 

 vow, to which, when sacrum is wanting at the commencement, 

 the name of the divinity may, at the option of the I'eader, be 

 attached grammatically. 



2, Stones, noxoi;Ai;r or Cojimejiokative. — These beghi 

 with the name and titles of the person in whose honour or in whose 

 time the stone was raised, whether a statue or a historical tablet. 

 If the inscription is honorary, these are in the dative, depending 

 on a verb that comes, or is supposed to come, after ; but if time is 

 denoted they must be regarded as in the ablative. Owing to 

 contractions and the frequent identity in form of these two cases, 



