■pOtrND IN BRITAIN. 175 



point out to any one familiar with Latin sepulchral epigraphy the fre- 

 quency of such a notice of the mode in which the sepulchre was 

 obtained. Fabretti, p. 153, gives many examples of such purchases. 

 Nor is the use of the first person rare. Vide Fabretti, pp. 236 and 

 252. The only doubt which remains is as to the meaning of E* C, 

 Various interpretations may be proposed, such as ei car issimo, ejus 

 carissima, ejus causa, ex communi, scil. sumptu, or according to the 

 received interpretation of these notce on other stones, erigendam (i. e. 

 memoriam) curavi, for such sarcophagi stood above ground. 



According to my views, the whole inscription may be read thus : — 

 Memoria Caii Valerii Theodoriani Nomento. Vixit annos (or annis) 

 xxxiv, menses (or mensibus) vi. Emi Theodora mater [et] erigendam 

 curavi. 



I have no grounds for the selection of Gaii as the prsenomen ; it is 

 wholly conjectural. If there had been room for the Nomen genfilici' 

 um and the Nomen pairis, I should have supplied Gr or P before AL, 

 thus taking it for either GAL* or PAL*, the abbreviations of the 

 Galerian or Palatine tribes. After emi I understand locum as is usual, 

 (or memoriam,) and supply et, the omission of which is not rare. 



9. In the year 1726 an altar was found at Corbridge, in Northum- 

 berland, which bore the following inscription, as given in the Appendix 

 to Gordon's Iter Septentrionale, and in Horsley's Britannia Bo^nana, 

 Northumberland, n. cviii. : 



LEG- A 



Q- CALPVRNIVS 

 CONCESSINI 

 VS- PRAEF- EQ 

 CAESA- CORI 

 ONOTOTAR 

 VM- MANV PR 

 AESENTISSIMI 

 NVMINIS DEI VS. 



The altar and inscription are imperfect, as a portion of the stone 

 has been broken oif at the top. Horsley supplies the deficiency in 

 the first line with VG* PR* PR*, and reads the whole thus :— " Legato 

 Augustali propraetore, Quintus Calpurnius Coneessinius Praefectus 



