Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/137

 ROMAN K.] INSCRIPTIONS 12/3 with Mommsen and De Rossi, carried out the plan of a universal Corpus Inscriptiomim Latinarum, previously pro jected by Maffei (1732), by Kellermann and Sarti (1832), with Borghesi s help, and by Letronne and Egger (1843). After the appearance of Mommsen s Inscription s regni Neapolitans Latinx (Leipsic, 1852) and his Inscriptiones Confoedemtionis Helvetica Latinx (vol. x. of the publica tions of the Zurich Antiquarian Society, 1854), the publica tion of the C. I. L., following the similar work on the Greek inscriptions, was undertaken by the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin. This work, in which the previous literature is fully described and utilized, consists of the following parts : vol. i., Inscriptiones Antiquissimss ad C. Cxsaris mortem, by Mommsen (Berlin, 1863), with the Fa-sti Consulares by Henzen, and the Indices by Hiibner ; Ritschl s Priscx Latinitatis monumenta epigraphica (Berlin, 1862, fol.) form the graphic illustration to vol. i., giving all extant monuments of the republican epoch (with five Snpplementa, Bonn, 1862-G5 ; It. Garrucci s Sylloge In- scriptionum Latinarum xvi Romanx reipiMicx usque ad C. lulium Cxsarem plenissima, 2 vols., Turin, 1875-77, must be used with caution); vol. ii., Inscr. Ilispanix by Hiibner (1869) ; vol. iii., Inscr. Asix, provinciarum Europas Grascarum, Illyriae, by Mommsen ; vol. iv., Inscr. parietarix Pompeianx Ilerculanenses Stdbianx (the scratched and painted inscriptions chiefly of Pompeii) by Zangemeister (1871); vol. v., Inscr. Gallix cisalpinx, that is, regionis Italix decimal and undecimx ct nonx (1872-77); vol. vi., part i., Inscr. urbia Romx, by Henzen (part ii. in the press); vol. vii., Inscr. Britannix, by Hiibner (1873); vol. viii., Inscr. Africx, by Wilmanns and Mommsen (to be published in 1881 ; here Renter s Inscriptions Romaines de I Algerie, Paris 1855-1860, though not finished, may be consulted) ; vols. ix. and x., Inscr. Italix inferioris, by Mommsen (to be published in 1881 or 1882); vol. xi., Inscr. Italix superioris, by Bormann, vol. xii., Inscr. Gallix, by Hirschfeld (a subject partly treated in W. Brambach s Corpus Inscr iptionum Rkenanarum, &c., Elberfeld, 1866), vol. xiii., Inscr. Italix mediae, by Dessau, and a concluding volume of general indexes are either in the press or in preparation. The arrangement observed in the Corpus is the geographical (as in Apianus) ; within the single towns the order of subjects (titnli sacri, magistratuum, privatorum, &c., as in Smetius) is followed, with some few exceptions, where the monuments are so numerous (as in the forum of Rome see H. Jordan, &quot;Sylloge inscr. fori Roman!, &quot; Ephem. epiyr., iii. p. 237 sq. and at Pompeii and Lambajsis) that they can be assigned to their original places. Run ning supplements to the C. I. L. are given in the Ephe- meris epigraphica, Corporis Inscr. Latinarum Siipplementum (4 vols., Berlin, 1872-80). The inscriptions in the other Italian dialects have been published by Aufrecht and Kirchhoff (Die umbrischen SprachdenJcmaler, 2 vols., Berlin, 1849-51), Mommsen (Die unteritalisclien Dialccte, Leipsic, 1850), Fabretti (Corpus Inscriptiomim Italicarum antiquioris xvi, Turin, 1867, with three supplements, ibid., 1872-77), Corsscn (Ueber die Spracheder Etrusker, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1874-75 ; see also Deecke, Etruskische Forschung- en, i. to iv., Stuttgart, 1875-80); for farther particulars on the Italian dialects see Hiibner s Grundriss zu Vorlcsungen iiber die lateinische Grammatik, 2d ed., Berlin, 1880, p. 9). For the Christian inscriptions of Rome, and of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, see De Rossi s Inscr. Christianx urbis Romx septimo sxculo antiquiores, vol. i. (Rome, 1857), and the same author s Roma sotterranea (3 vols., Rome, 1861-77), with the Bidlettino di Archeologia cristiana (Rome, 1873- 80), the Inscriptions Chrctiennes de la Gaule of Le Blant (2 vols., Paris, 1857-65), and the Inscr. Hispanix Chris tianx. and Inscr. Britannix Christianx of Hiibner (Berlin, 1871, 1876). As splendidly illustrated works on the Latin inscriptions of some districts, Alphorise de Boissieu s In scriptions antiques de Li/on (Lyons, 1846-54), Ch. Robert s Epigraphie romaine de la Moselle (Paris, 1875), and J. C. Bruce s Lapidariiim septentrionale (London and Newcastle, 1875) can be recommended. Besides the above-mentioned Orelli-Henzen collection, G. Wilmanns s Exempla Inscrip tionum Latinarum (2 vols., Berlin, 1873, with copious indexes) gives a general synopsis of the materials. II. The alphabet used by the Romans is identical with that of the Chalcidian colonies in southern Italy and Sicily (viz., Cyme, Neapolis, Rhegium, Zancle, Naxos, and Himera), except the three aspirates 6,&amp;lt;f&amp;gt;,x } these, being of no use in ancient Latin, which had no such aspirates, were employed as numerals. The old Z, which occupied the seventh place in the alphabet, being of rare employ ment, was replaced, as early as the 4th century A.U.C., by G, a letter formed by the addition of a stroke out of the old gamma C, which became identical in sound with K, though remaining in use as an abbreviation for Gams and Gnseus. To that standard alphabet of twenty-one letters were appended, in Cicero s time, the Greek letters v and . In this alphabet (ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQ R S T V X Y Z, iu this form found written on the walls of Pompeii, on tiles and other monuments) the forms of the single letters vary not inconsiderably, according to the material of the monuments, their age, and their origin. Carefully cut letters, especially when on a large scale, naturally differ from those scratched or painted on walls by non-professional hands, or hewn on rocks by soldiers; and small incised (or dotted) letters on metal or ivory and bone, and those painted on earthenware, or impressed on it or on glass before burning, are also necessarily of a different character. The letters, ordinarily drawn with minium on the monument before being cut (and also often painted, after having been cut, with the same colour), sometimes have been painted with a brush, and thence receive a peculiar form. A, in the most ancient period (before the Second Punic War), appears in these forms, A A A ; L, in the same epoch, is acute-angled (as in the Chalcidian alphabet), V ; P is rectilineal, P ; Q has a perpendicular stroke, 9; B, D, R, are often not rounded, but acute-angled ( fc t&amp;gt; K 4) ; O and Q appear sometimes not closed (0,0). Besides E and F (which usually have their horizontal strokes of equal length and not as in modern printing), there were in use some quasi-cursive forms, I 1 and II; and besides M (which, at the best periods, has its two exterior strokes inclined, not perpendicular, and the middle point extended to the foot of the line), a cursive III! is to be found. In later periods, F is sometimes elevated above the other letters (and afterwards not F only), G assumes the form Q, H appears as h , and L as k , to mention only some promi nent diversities, for a complete history of the palseographic changes of the Roman alphabet has not yet been written. In general, the old quadrate forms of the letters, with equal breadth of strokes above and below, become, by degrees, more slender and elegant, the tops and angles being slightly curved, ifcc. Additions to the Roman alphabet were made, but without permanent success, by the emperor Claudius (d for V the consonant, to distinguish it from V the vowel, O for the Greek if/, J- for the sound between i and u, as in bybliotheca ; he wrote also ai for ae). To distinguish, after the later Greek usage, long from short vowels, in the course of the 7th century A.U.C. the plan of doubling them was introduced for a, e, and o (not u), while the long i was written ei, and afterwards indicated by the prolonged form |. At the end of the republic these distinctions disappear, and long vowels are distinguished, when at all, by an apex (a stroke or a curved line upon