FOUND IN BRITAIN. 



39 



are followed by a form which seems necessarily to be either N or 

 VA.* I have myself nothing further to suggest than that it is possi- 

 ble that the last word may have been DOVA, another form of DEVA. 

 We now proceed to n, (4), the inscription on the block represented 

 in the subjoined woodcut. 



^In the Journal of the Archcsological Association, v. p. 227, Mr. 

 C. Roach Smith offers the following remarks on it : — 



It is inscribed on the top, in letters an inch in length, NERONIS • AVG • EX • 

 KIAN • nil • COS • BRIT • ; on one side HVLPMCOS • ; on the other EX • AR- 

 GENT • and CAPASCAS • ; with the numerals XXX. This inscription is pecu- 

 liarly interesting as referring to the Oangi at an earlier date [than on the pigs 

 of the time of Vespasian and Domitian, A. W.] the name being spelt as pro- 

 nounced, Kiant/i, and just previous to the reverses of the Romans in Britain, 

 from the courage and skill of the heroic Boadicea. Nero was the fourth time 

 consul the year before ; and this pig of lead would seem to have been on its 

 way from the country of the Cangi towards the south, for exportation, compos- 

 ing probably part of the tribute, the harsh exaction of which was one of the 

 causes of the insurrection. The Brit, must be considered as referring to the 

 metal or the province, and not intended for Brltannicus, as before observed on 

 the .Sr. in the inscription of Claudius. The lateral marks are. not altogether 

 [at all ?J to be satisfactorily explained, except the ex argent., which occurs iu 

 other instances and refers to the separation of the silver from the ore." 



In Mr. Wright's Celt, Roman, and Saxon, p. 23y, we have aa addi- 

 tional observation by Mr. Smith on the inscription : 



" As Nero never assumed the title of Britannicus, and as the numerals precede 

 the cos, I suspect the inscription should be read — 



(Plumbum or Metallum) Neronis Aug. cos. iiii. Ex. Kian. Brit. 



The P • M- Cos ■ may belong to the above, and the rest be the name of some 

 superintendent." 



The obscurity of this singular inscription fully justified Mr. Smith's 

 resort to conjecture, and the suggestions which he offers are, as usual 



* In the orifiinal, the transverse Hue is not in the same position as in N, but counocts the 

 other extretnities of the perpeadiculars, i.e. as jf it were VA iigiilate, without the bar of 

 the A. 



