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Gentleman's Magazine 1752 p.107
perstes is a name that occurs in Gruter
(f).
The appellation Postumiana ascertains the time of
these inscriptions, for Gallienus began to reign
alone about the year 259, which, as appears from
Trebellius Pollio, was before Postumius was
made emperor in Gaul (g). We may therefore
reasonably suppose the time of these inscriptions to have
been between the years 260 and 267 or 268. I chose
Tribunus to compleat the first inscription, because
in other inscriptions, this Cohort appears to have
been commanded, not by a Praefect, but by a
Tribune (h). Of these stones I have only taken
the planes, on which the inscriptions are, as I saw nothing
else observable in them. The ligature of the EC, if I
have taken that part of the first inscription right, is
worth observing.
Dis Manibus - - - Et - Stipendiroum Annorum decem
- Frater
III. This stone lies upon a wall just by a gate at a little
distance from the station westward. The letters are well
cut, and are deep in the stone. Half of it, if not more,
seems to be broken off; so that very little can be known
about it, which is a great pity. However, it plainly appears
to have been a sepulchral; but of the DM for Dis
Manibus the D only is left on the top. An
inscription in Gruter tells us of a Cohors
Bracarum that was once in Britain (i); but
that the same Cohort is intended here under the name
Braecarum, I will not say. All that can be said about
it is, that the person, to whom that belonged, seems to have
served ten years in the army, and that it has been erected
to him by his brother. For STAX seems to denote
Stipendiorum Annorum decem; and the last four broken
letters of the last line plainly appear either to have stood
for Frater, or to hev been part of the whole word.
The stroke near the T, in the last line but one,
seems only to be an accidental scratch upon the stone.
--- Centuriae Marii Cohortis quartae Brittonum
Antoniniae viator - Hoc Sepulchrum faciendum
curavit.
IV. This and the following I met with at the farm house at
Carrvoran, at or near which they were found a few
years since. This, I make no doubt, is sepulchral. At first,
indeed, from the centurial mark at the beginning, one might
be apt to take it for an inscription of the centurial kind.
But where there are spaces between two diverging lines, or
ridges on the borders of inscribed stones, they are always
on the middle of the borders; from whence it appears, that
what is now first cannot have been the original beginning of
the inscription; and that about two lines may well be
supposed to have been broken off from the upper part of it,
which probably have contained the name of the deceased, and
his rank in the army. What remains shews his belonging to
the century of one, the three first letters of whose name
were MAR, as Marius or Marcus &c.
What was next in the first remaining line is broken off; and
so is something from the two succeeding ones. This leaves us
not a little in the dark; and yet, I think, we have reason
to conclude, and with some degree of probability too, that
the Cohort, to which the deceased belonged, was the
Cohors quarta Brittonum Antoninia. Mr Horsley,
in his collection of sculptures and inscriptions, has given
us a part of the body of an altar erected by one of this
Cohort (k). He is not, indeed, certain at what
particular place it was found; but he is inclined to
believe, that it was somewhere hereabouts, which occasioned
his placing it in the order he has (l). It was of Mr
Warburton's collection, and taken to the library at
Durham. The inscription, under consideration, suits
well with this reading, and better, I think, than with any
other. For, if we suppose any other Cohort intended,
it must have been entirely included in what is wanting of
the first remaining line; the consequence of which will be,
that the letters in the second remaining line are the first
of the proper name of the person, who took care to have the
monument erected: and on this supposition we shall have
Viator in the third, as signifying this office. For
the Viator is well known to have been a kind of
beadle, that attended several of the civil magistrates
(m). It occurs in many inscriptions in Gruter,
as denoting this officer; but not above two or three of them
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