APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS, 143 
Geta. The latter was murdered by his brother Cara- 
calla, who was himself assassinated at Edessa, by Macrinus, 
A.D. 217. Heliogabalus, after an infamous reign of three 
years, was put to death by his soldiers, A.D. 222 ; so 
that, to whichever of these Emperors this inseription is 
referred, we have only a difference of eleven years; and the 
date of the burials is no doubt some years posterior to 
either of these periods. 
The word which has given most trouble in interpreting 
the reading of the slab, appears to be rightly explained by 
Dr. Bruce to be PRINCIPIA. The difficulty has arisen 
from the stone being damaged in this part. Dr. Bruce 
observes “ we are necessarily driven to conjecture, in order 
to supply the vacuity between the N and the I at the end 
of the fourth line,” where there is the faint mark of a 
curved letter, most probably part ofa C. The inscription 
speaks of the restoration of something which had become 
ruinous. The other words of the inseription are perfectly 
intelligible, aud this is the only word doubtful, yet upon it 
vests the determination of the object to which the building 
was dedicated. In the station at Lanchester a slab has 
been found (Horsley, Durham No. zii.) containing on its 
third and fourth lines the following words:— 
PRINCIPIA ET ARMEN 
TARIA CONLAPSA RESTITVIT 
Here, as Dr. Bruce observes, “we have evidence that 
there was a class of buildings, called Principia, which, like 
other buildings would fall into ruin and require restoration. 
The only letters which are diffieult to trace are, the first 
I in the word, which seems to have been attached to the 
top of the left limb of the N; and the C,” the curved 
portion of which can most certainly be traced. 
