124 PROBABLE DATE OF THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 



evidence of two " diplomata," dated 105 a.d. and 124 a.d. 

 respectively. These diplomata are attested copies of tlie 

 ofl&cial records of the grant of Roman citizenship to 

 members of auxiliary, i.e., non-Roman, " alae " and 

 cohorts who had served a stated number of years in the 

 Roman army away from their own homes. We have four 

 " diplomata " of the kind relating to troops serving in 

 Britain; they belong to the years 103, 105, 124 and 146.^ 

 The second and third include the First Cohort of the 

 Frisians (Frisiauones), who appear neither in the earliest 

 nor in the latest of the series. This might at first sight 

 appear to suggest the conclusion that the Frisian Cohort 

 came first to Britain between 103 and 105 a.d., and left 

 the country between 124 and 146 a.d., a conclusion which 

 would fix the occupation of Melandra, at least by the First 

 Cohort of the Frisians, as lying somewhere between the 

 extreme limits of 103 and 146 a.d. Unhappily, this 

 conclusion is not warranted by the evidence. The 

 diploma of 103 contains the names of eleven cohorts, of 

 which only one, the First Cohort of Spaniards, appears 

 in the diploma of 105. The diploma of 124, containing 

 21 cohorts in all, includes five which appear in 103, four 

 of which are not found in the intervening diploma of 105. 

 The diploma of 146, again, contains the Fourth Cohort of 

 the Lingones, which appears in the diploma of 103, but 

 not in those of 105 and 124.^ This evidence points to one 



5. Mommsen, C.I.L., iii., pp. 902 ff. 



6. It is perhaps worth while to summarize the contents of the " diplo- 

 mata " for the purpose of comparison. Referring to the four chrono- 

 logically as A, B, C and D, we have the following result. 



Peculiar to A — 5 cohorts out of 11. 



,, B— 6 ,, „ „ 11. 



„ C— 10 „ „ ,, 21. 



,, D— 5 „ „ „ 11. 

 Common to AB only — none. 



