LAPIBARItTM: SEPTENTRIONALE. 545 



ala liad been permitted to assume, by favour of the unfortunate Emperor when 

 lie was a popular idol." 



The inscription, given by *Orelli, n. 864, confirms Dr. Bruce's view 

 of the mee^nmg-.—SAABQ imMMOAQ ^HAIS 0AYSTEINA, i. e., 

 Salvo Commodo felix Faustina, but his reference of AVGGr to 

 Elagabalus and Severus Alexander is certainly incorrect. So far as 

 ■we are aware, there is no example of the application of the term 

 Augusti to those two Emperors. Nor is there any evidence that they 

 were united under that name. To us it seems highly probable that 

 the two Augusti were Caracalla and Geta, that the date is A.D. 211 

 after the death of Severus, and that the second G was erased after 

 the murder of Geta in A.D. 212. But the most interesting result of 

 this discovery is that the inscription throws light on another which 

 unfortunately is lost. It is given from Horsley, in the Lapidarium 

 Septentrionale, n. 27, and in Britanno-Roman Inscriptions, p. 133. 



VICTORIAE 



* * GGALFE 



N S SENECIO 



N COS EELIX 



ALA I ASTO 

 [RV]M PEA 



Of the true reading of the main part of the inscription there can 

 be biit little doubt. It is — Victorice Augustorum, Alfenus Senecio 

 Yir ClarissiTTbus Consularis Felix Ala prima Astorum. ALA has 

 been regarded as standing for ALAE, the letters RVM as the final 

 three of Astorum for Astttrum, and PRA as the first three of 

 Prcefectus. Thus Felix was regarded as Prsefect of the first Ala of 

 Asturians. With others we have accepted this view, but it has 

 always appeared strange to us that Felix had neither p'cewojreew nor 

 nomen. Now it seems most probable that Felix is used as it is in 

 n. 943, and Baxter's reading— ALFENO SENECIONE is not so 

 unlikely. What the letters at the side were that were crowded out 

 can scarcely be conjectured with probability; they may have been 

 something like Curam Agente, or Curante, Prcefecto.^ 



With regard to the "Notes and Emendations," we cannot refrain 

 from expressing our opinion that they are not what might reason- 



* See also Eckhel, viii, 11. 



f There is a strange mistake relative to this Prsefect in Dr. Bruce's General 

 Index to the Lapidarium Septentrionale : " Alfenius Senicio, Prefect of the Ala. 

 Prima Asturum, 31 ; his titles on other inscriptions, 31." 



