NOTE ON AN INSCRIBED ROMAN SLAB, 
By H. M. Platnauer, B.Sc. 
In the course of some alterations made during the present year 
at the Mount School for Girls an inscribed stone slab was dug up 
in the basement of the building, about 20 yards from the road 
(Dalton Terrace), and about 2ft. 6in. below the road level. The 
stone is 6 ft. 1 in. long, 2 ft. 6 in. wide, and 7 in. thick. From 
the illustration the reader will get a better impression of the 
shape and general appearance of the stone than from any verbal 
description. 
The circular ornament at the upper end of the slab is so worn 
and indistinct that nothing can be said of it with certainty. It 
may possibly be a legionary symbol. The inscription should 
probably be read as follows (letters in italics have been supplied) — 
DA Mambus Lucius BEB 1 US AUGwsfa CRESCENS VINdelicum 
MILtfs LEG ionis VI VIC tncis P iae F idelis AN novum XLIII 
STIP endionm XXIII H eves A Faciendum Curavit. = (To the Gods, 
the Manes. Lucius Baebius Crescens of Augusta Vindelicum, 
soldier of the Sixth Legion,—the victorious, pious, and faithful— 
forty-three years’ old, twenty-three years’ service. His heir had 
this set up). 
In this inscription, the most doubtful part is the last line. The 
“A” seems to be meaningless or superfluous. Professor Haverfleld 
considers it to be a mason’s blunder. :: The name Baebius is not 
uncommon, and occurs frequently in Spain; the spelling Bebius is 
found in two monuments in Cadiz (v. Corp. Insc. Lat. II. 1743, 
1777). “ Baebius Crescens occurs on a tomb near Talavera, but 
without praenomen (Corp. Insc. Lat. II, 944). “ Augusta 
Vindelicum ” (the modern Augsburg) was the chief city of 
Vindelicia, a province lying immediately south of the Danube, 
and corresponding to the N.E. of Switzerland, the N. part of 
Tyrol, the S.E. of Baden, and the S. of Bavaria and Wurtemberg.f 
The lettering of the inscription is clear and bold, and seems to 
belong to a good period. Professor Haverfleld is inclined to place 
it in the third, or late second century. On the whole, the 
monument is a better one than we should have expected over the 
remains of a private soldier, and we may fairly conjecture that the 
deceased was a person of good family, or at least of some wealth. 
*It might be suggested that the mason intended a ligature “ JE,” and the 
letters may be meant for an abbreviation of haeres. 
f Although the reading given above is the most probable and has the weighty 
authority of Professor Haverfleld behind it, we ought to point out the AUG. 
may possibly stand for AUG ustini (or AU Gustani) filins. The name 
“Augustinus’’ occurs on another York funeral inscription connected with the 
Sixth Legion. (Handbook, p. 51). 
