been, an argentarius, he might be compelled to produce his books in Court. This liability would be ample reason for what might otherwise seem an excessive caution on his part.

The convenience of the combination of the functions of auctionator and argentarius, a convenience which must sometimes have amounted almost to a necessity, leads me to concur in the view expressed by M. Caillemer, that we see in it the reason why the one name is often synonymous with the other. Cæcilius Jucundus, in fact, appears to me to have been just such a man as the Jurist Scævola describes1 under the title of argentarius coactor, and of whom he says, pæne totam fortunam in nominibus habebat.

In regard to the value of the Pompeian Tablets for the correction of the Consular Fasti, I am enabled from M. Caillemer's account to give one sample not mentioned by Mr. Vaux. There is a Tablet which Signor de Petra considers an authority sufficient to warrant him in transferring from A.D. 62 to the second half of A. D. 56 the Consulship of L. Annæus Seneca and L. Trebellius Maximus Pollio, the latter of whom gave his name to the Senatus Consultum Trebellianum. This is a considerable alteration, but it appears to be worked out from the evidence which Signor de Petra enjoys the advantage of having had before his eyes, and which we at a distance are scarcely in a position to dispute. As to the binding of the Pompeian Tablets, M. Caillemer remarks that it was not in accordance with the form prescribed in

5 Dig: ii, 13, 4, pr., ii, 13, 9, 3.

15 Dig: xl. § 7. "De Statuliberis." 4û, 8.

Nero's reign, and of which Suetonius and the Jurist Paulus give the details." Why this apparent irregularity existed I am not at present able to say. The tablets of Cæcilius Jucundus have not the triple perforation ordered, but only the perforation which served to bind them together as diptychs or triptychs. The form described by Suetonius and Paulus has, however, been found in a collection of military Diplomas and Tablets, of which several distinct discoveries have been made at intervals during the last hundred years at Vörospatak, in Transylvania. These Tablets, some of which have not yet, so far as I am aware, been deciphered, are described in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, III, pp. 903, 922, according to M. Caillemer. They also formed the subject of a valuable and most elaborate monograph by Dr. Massmann, entitled "Libellus Aurarius sive Tabulæ Ceratæ et antiquissimæ et unicæ Romanæ in Fodina Auraria, apud, Abrudbanyam, Oppidulum Transylvanum, nuper repertæ. Edidit Joannes Ferdinandus Massmann, Dr. Phil., Prof. Ordinarius in Univ. Monacensi. Lipsia, Weigel; Londini, Bohn." (No date on title page, but preface dated 1840.) For the opportunity of consulting this now rare work at my leisure, I am indebted to our Secretary, Mr. Vaux, while to another friend and member of our Society, Mr. J. W. Bone, I am indebted for a similar kindness, by which I have been enabled to refer, for the purposes of this paper, to a volume entitled "A Selection of Papers on subjects of Archæology and History," by

17 Nero, 17: "Adversus falsarios tunc primum repertum ne tabulæ, nisi pertusæ ac ter lino per foramina trajecto, obsignarentur. '

Paulus, "Sententiæ,” v, 25, § 6.

the late Rev. John Kenrick, M.A., F.S.A. (Longmans, 1864), containing an interesting account of the Transylvanian Tablets. It is curious to note that Mr. Kenrick, writing long before the exploration of the house of Cæcilius Jucundus, seems to have felt it necessary to apologise for the apparent absence of wax tablets among the already fairly numerous Pompeian discoveries, by saying "that they should not have been found in Herculaneum or Pompeii, buried in volcanic mud and ashes, is not surprising." The deficiency which he thus accounted for has now been amply supplied by Pompeii. In the apt words of Signor De Petra, "Alla fine Pompei ha dato i suoi trittici, ed in tale abbondanza, che il trovamento è riuscito degno del luogo ove fu fatto, e di quello destinato ad accoglierlo." I have left myself, I fear, but little space or time to give any account of the other Inscription of which I promised at the outset that I would say something this evening, viz., that which appears on the Bronze Table of Aljustrel. A portion of the text is printed by M. Caillemer, as bearing upon the question of the various items which may have been included in the merces or commission of the Auctionator. It would appear from the Portuguese Table that in some cases, at least, the seller had to pay a charge called præconium, which was fixed either at so much per cent., or so much per article sold. It may be, therefore, that Cæcilius Jucundus had to pay the præco, as well as hire or purchase the hall in which his sales were effected. The Table of Aljustrel, as I mentioned in the earlier portion of my paper, has been noticed by M. Lefort as well as by M. Caillemer, and it has also been

commented upon by M. Charles Giraud. The time which I have had at my disposal has not admitted of my consulting more than the two authorities whose writings were in my possession. And unfortunately neither of these gives the whole of the text so far as it has been at present deciphered. The portion pointed out by M. Caillemer is, therefore, all that I can lay before you at present. On a future occasion I may return to the subject, and include some account of the Transylvanian Tablets to which I have had occasion to allude. In the brief notice of the Table of Aljustrel written by M. Lefort, attention is justly drawn to the richness of the Iberian Peninsula in this branch of epigraphy. Spain alone has yielded to us within a quarter of a century the Tables of Malaga, Salpensa, and Osuña; and now Portugal comes forward with the Table of Aljustrel. It is a Table1 of bronze, measuring, according to the Continental standard, from 8 to 13 millimètres in thickness and 72 centimètres in height by 53 in breadth. Unfortunately the Table is broken at the right hand corner. From the character of the letters it is attributed to the latter part of the first century of the Christian era, and may, perhaps, be placed between the reigns of Vespasian and Domitian. It has been fully described by M. Soromenho,19 Pro

18 In the absence of more precise data, I prefer keeping up in my own language the distinction which seems to be drawn by M. Caillemer between the "Tablettes de Pompéi," and the "Table d'Aljustrel." M. Lefort likewise applies the epithet "Table" to the Portuguese discovery. It will be observed, moreover, that Sig. De Petra's work is entitled "Le Tavolette Cerate," &c. The distinction is based, I presume, on the size, and not on the material employed.

19"La Table de Bronze d'Aljustrel; Rapport adressé à M. le Ministre de l'Intérieur par M. Anguste Soromenho, Lisbonne, Imp.

fessor of History at Lisbon, in a Report addressed to the Minister of the Interior in the course of 1877. It was found in the mine of Aljustrel, which belonged, says M. Lefort, to the "Conventus Juridicus Pacencis," and it contains the law relating to locatio-conductio which was in force within the limits of the district (intra fines metalli Vipascensis). The latinity is highly rustic, and M. Soromenho is of opinion that it embraces many words not found in other epigraphic monuments. He believes the Table to have been engraved with the same inscription on both sides, and that the present discovery is the third of a number of such Tables set up in various parts of the district for the information of the miners, and the other settlers whom the mineral wealth of the country attracted in considerable numbers. This mixed population was placed under the rule of the Procurator Metallorum,20 who fixed the impost on the product of the mines, and adjusted the scale of the dues payable to the State for the exercise of any craft or trade within the district. These large administrative powers he fulfilled by deputy, and M. Soromenho thinks that we have in the Table of Aljustrel a sample of the terms on which the Pro

Nat., 1877." See also, for a later account of the inscription and counterclaim to priority both in discovery and interpretation, Senhor Da Veiga's elaborate Memoir, read before the Academy of Sciences, Lisbon, “A Tabula de Bronze de Aljustrel (Lisboa, Typ. da Academia, 1880)," kindly communicated to me by our Secretary.

20 A State functionary, because mines belonged to the State. In the Imperial organization of the fifth century, there was a "Comes Metallorum," subordinate to the Count of the Sacred Largesses, and charged with the receipt of the proportion of revenue derivable by the State from gold, silver, and other mines. The mines of Aljustrel produced silver, copper, slate, and clay.