LAPIDAEIIJM SEPTENTRIONALE. 557 



Dr. Bruce, we think, should have given the credit which is due to 

 Dr. McCaul for his interpretation, especially as he refers to the 

 Canadian Journal, Vol. X, 1865, p. 96, in which it was first pub- 

 lished, and as he evidently does not know (nor do we either) whether 

 Professor Mommsen ever published it at all. A more remarkable 

 example of this omission is to be found in the following, n. 656 : — 

 ************ 



LEG -A ****** * 

 Q • CALPYRNIYS 



CONOESSINI 



VS • PRAEF • EQ 



CAESA • CORI 



ONOTOTAE, 

 VM • MANY PR 

 AESENTISSIMI 

 NYMINIS DEI YS 

 Dr. Bruce's expansion is : — " Legato Augusti [proprcetore] Quinfus 

 Calpurnius Concessinius proifectus equitum ccesa Corionototarum 

 manu prcesentissimi numinis Deo (?) votum solvit" 

 And the following are his observations : — 



"This inscription has '^iven antiquaries much trouble. The simplest explana- 

 tion of it is that which has been suggested by Professor Mommsen, and which is 

 adopted in the expansion. It requires, however, the alteration of dei, in the last 

 line, to deo. According to this view, the altar was reared by Concessinius, after 

 having slain a number of the Corionototse (a British tribe not elsewhere men, 

 tioned), to the god by whose presence and effectual help he had prevailed. The 

 top of the altar, which has been broken off, no doubt contained the name of the 

 god and the imperial legate," 



Now this same solution of the difficulty was published in this 

 Journal, Yol. TV, 1859, p. 175, and again in Britanno-Roman 

 Inscriptions, p. 142. Dr. Bruce indeed refers to the latter, but he 

 omits all notice of priority. And yet it is well understood that pub- 

 lication is the only reliable test of priority among authors. It some- 

 times happens that the same solution presents itself to the minds of 

 different enquirers, but the credit is certainly due to him who first 

 publishes it. It is true that neither does Professor Hiibner in his 

 work, Inscriptiones Britannice Latince, notice the previous suggestion 

 in these pages of the same interpretations as those attributed to Prof. 

 Mommsen, but it must be borne in mind that Professor Hiibner had 

 not consulted, nor perhaps seen, the Canadian Journal, whereas Dr. 



