apparently had a double opening; so that troops passing in each direction at the same time might not have their order disturbed,—an arrangement which the French have introduced into all their African fortified posts. To the south-east by half south of the small gate is a triple arch by which the enceinte was entered on another side--a much more pretentious structure, and possessing a good deal of elegance.

The inscriptions discovered seem to indicate that the

edifice belongs is determined within very narrow limits. Near the small gate I saw a large tablet lying, on which was the inscription:

IMP. CAES. M. AVRELIO. COMMOD[0. avg]

C POMPONIVS MAXIMVS EX CONSVLT.]

DECVRIO COL. THAMOGADE[NSIVM].

In the field not far off was another with the following:

IMP. CAESARI

M. AVRELIO

ANTONINO

AVG. ARMENIACO

MEDICO. PARTHICO
GERMANICO.

The latter is remarkable as containing both the titles Armeniacus and Parthicus, and also that of Germanicus; whereas it has been stated that M. Aurelius laid aside the two former in A.D. 169, on the death of his brother Verus, and did not assume the last till A.D. 172. See Clinton, Fasti Romani, on the two years. Thamogadi (or Tamugadi), referred to in the former inscription, has not yet been determined. But as, according to the Itinerary of Antoninus, it was both on the road from Lambesis to Cirta (Constantine) and upon that from Lambesis to Theveste (Tebessa), it must have been to the north-east of Lambesis. The Peutinger Table puts it upon the northern of two alternative roads from Lambesis to Theveste. The distances differ, the Itinerary making it only fourteen Roman miles from Lambesis, the Table as much as twenty four. I have very little doubt that the road to it led by the tombs which have been noticed in the text, and that the distance given by the Table is the true one. The city was destroyed by the mountaineers of the Aurès soon after the Vandal invasion of the country.

ANCIENT SUBALTERNS' CLUB.

313

city Lambesis (the ancient form of the name), if existing antecedently to the military camp being formed, acquired its importance from this. A milestone found between it and Batna reckons the distance not from the town, but from "the camp" (à castris). Indeed the soldiers appear to have been actually employed in the construction of at least one of the temples.* In the "Prætorium" there is an extremely curious monument, a hemicycle, or circular bench, such as are found in almost all old Greek or Roman towns, in which old people, the aprici senes of Horace, used to sit sheltered from the cold winds, and enjoying the warmth of the winter sun. In this particular instance it seems to have belonged to what may be called "a subalterns' club." Its inner face is covered with an inscription, setting forth a resolution to which the members had come, on the occasion of furnishing their club with the statues of the reigning family and of their tutelary deities; and the purport of it indicates the possession of common funds of considerable magnitude. It was the practice in the Roman army to allow every centurion to select a sort of deputy, or, as we might say, lieutenant, who, in the times of the Empire, was called

* On two broken pieces of a circular frieze, which obviously belong to one another, but do not complete the whole, are the words :

IOVI VALENTI SILVANO

HAS AEDES PER III LEG. AVG. FECERV

which may perhaps be supplied:

Jovi valenti, Silvano [et Nymphis]

Has ædes per tertiam legionem Augustum fecerunt Duumviri]

314

OFFICERS' RING-MONEY.

his "optio." It would appear from the inscription in question, that this appointment conveyed with it some sort of claim to succeed the chief when a vacancy occurred; but that it was necessary for the claimant to procure a confirmation to his appointment from some superior, possibly the legate of the province as the representative of the emperor. Appointments in all ages have involved the payment of bribes, or their successors, fees; and, apparently in reference to this necessity, the resolution in question determines that every member, on setting out for securing the object of his expectations, "ad spem suam confirmandam,” shall be paid 8,000 sesterces (about £62 10s.). If any one reaches the limit of military service, and is discharged, he is to be paid, every 1st of January, "ring-money," to the amount of 6,000 sesterces (£46 178. 6d.). Now this phrase is very remarkable: for Septimius Severus, whose name appears on the engaged column of the "Prætorium," is the very emperor who bestowed upon every Roman soldier the much-coveted right to wear a golden ring,—or, in other words, gave him the social status of a gentleThe "ring-money," therefore, is in fact the

man.

*

pension enabling the veteran to keep up this position. Its amount is enormous, when compared with the pay

The subject of the “jus annuli aurei" is very lucidly handled in Smith's "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities," under the word "Ring."