554 LAPIDARIUM SEPTENTRIONALE. 



thus : — " Numerus Frisiommn Ahallave\nsium ? ex v(oto) p(osuit) 

 XIIII et XIII Kal(endas JVovfembris. (Votum) s(olvit) l(ihens) 

 m(erito) \Gf\ordiano II et Ponpeiano Go(n)s (idibiis)." In n. 907 

 tlie fragment of the first line is read by him as Y, the second line as 

 LEG • AVG • IIYI, and the third line as NYM • FRISION. On 

 the inscription he ofiers the following observations : — " Y 3, [4]. 

 De Ahallava dixi in "prciefatione ad vallum Hadriani, 4 [5]. In fine 

 liUerce quinque ant sex erasce sunt. Erat fortasse cognomen numeri 

 aliquod erasum postea nescio qualem oh causam. 5 [6]. Cur dies 

 illi duo mentis Octobris hie et in titulo n. 406 ]ji. 906] celehrentur 

 ignoramus." 



The obscure parts of the inscription n. 907 are (a) the remains of 

 the letters in the first line, the characters (b) after G in the second 

 line, (c) before YM in the third line, and (c?) after YM in the fifth 

 line. As to (a), nothing feasible can be suggested. In the Journal 

 of the Archaeological Institute, XXYIII, p. 131, Mi\ Thompson 

 Watkin proposes IIST CYNEYM as the reading of (6) and (c), and 

 this is adopted by Dr. Bruce. With this opinion we cannot agree. 

 The words in cuneum in this position yield no sense, and as we 

 know from the Notitia that there was a numerus at Ahallava, we might 

 expect a 7iumerus here. We ourselves, however, have nothing prob- 

 able to offer in explanation. LEG • AYG = Legatus Augusti we 

 regard, as designating the Legate of a Legion, not the Governor of 

 the Province. If it had been the latter, we should most probably 

 have had after LEG • AYG, some sigla of his titles, such as 

 PR • PR. In {d) Dr. Bruce reads PHILIPP = Fhilippianwn ; but 

 this reading must be at once rejected, for most cei-tainly this epithet 

 was not used by any military body during the life of Gordian, and 

 he was not killed before A.D. 244. His view, however, that the 

 erased letters formed some epithet derived from an Emperor seems 

 very probable. On the difficulty, noticed by Prof. Hiibner and by 

 Dr. Bruce, of accounting for the days XIIII & XIII Kal. Xov., 

 i.e., October 19th and 20th, we would suggest that they may have 

 been devoted to ludi in honor of Sol. In the city these ludi occupied 

 four days in October, from the 19th to the 22nd. It may also have 

 been that the armilustrium was celebrated on the first of these days. 

 See Fasti Fhilocali and Commentarii Biurni. It should also be 

 borne in mind that in A.D. 241 the marriage of Gordian and the 

 preparations for the Persian war took place. The inscrijotionSj in 



