LATIN. The earliest Latin inscriptions cannot rival the antiquity of the Greek. The gold fibula or brooch of Pr•neste is probably of the sixth century B.C., and some have claimed an even greater antiquity for the broken column of the Roman Forum, though the best authorities con sider it scarcely older than the middle of the fifth century. Another early example, the so-called 'Buenos inscription' on a curious triple-bodied vase from the Esquiline, is very probably of the fourth century. hut is still a puzzle to scholars. With very few exceptions, however, the Latin in scriptions are not older than B.C. 300. In its earliest forms the alphabet shows strongly its connection with the Greek, which reached the Romans from the Chalcidians of Cumaz, and, like other early attempts at writing, is marked by crude and variable forms for the letters. Later were developed the large square and handsome monumental characters (seriptura quadrats or lapidaria), which were carefully carved after pre liminary tracing, and then colored, usually with red. Painted inscriptions, not carved, naturally show freer forms, and these were later often imi tated in stone, as were sometimes the common cursive hands, which are found in wax tablets in graffiti, and often on domestic utensils of various kinds. The inscriptions arc usually divided into two great classes: (1) Titu/i, employed to desig nate some definite object, giving the needed in formation to distinguish it from similar objects; such arc mortuary, dedicatory, and honorary in scriptions. (2) Acta, or documents, which are engraved for purposes of publication. The for mer are far more numerous, and show naturally a more stereotyped form. Among the mortuary inscriptions are noteworthy the many metrical epitaphs, often crude in metre and cold in ex pression, but also not infrequently showing ten derness and deep family affection. In general the classes of inscriptions are the same as recur in Greece. but one or two Roman customs may he mentioned. The person who erected a temple or any other public building was usually allowed to engrave his name upon it. and these titu/i are a much more important class of monuments than in Greece. where this was not a usual habit. Such inscriptions arc valuable sources of infor mation as to the (late and circumstances under which these works were constructed. The nu merous milestones not only mark the course of the ancient roads, but show the distances and names of. the chief towns, and the dates when the roads were built or repaired, and by whom the work was directed. For the arta, bronze seems to have been the favorite material before the time of Augustus, but later the Greek use of marble was commonly adopted. They include treaties (rare), laws, decrees of the Senate and, in great numbers, of various town councils and corporations, the edicts and letters of Roman magistrates, and especially of the emperors, and the numberless documents relating to the ser vice of the gods. Among the Imperial edicts belong the military diplomas, or formal dis charges which conferred on the retiring veterans special privileges. In connection with the ser vice of the gods belong the calendars which were prepared during the early Empire. Here may
also be mentioned the Fasti, or lists of consuls and other important magistrates, of which there are many remains. Among these religious in scriptions an important place is taken by the records of the Aral Brothers (q.v.), and the account of the great secular games of B.C. 17, with its mention of Horace's Carmen Sa'culare. A special place is occupied by the great Menu mentum Ancyranum, the account by Augustus of his deeds (index reruns a se gestarum), engraved in Greek and Latin on the walls of the temple of Augustus and Rome at Ancyra, in Asia Minor, after the original bronze tablets on the mauso leum of the Emperor in Rome. (See Mommsen, Res Gcske diri Augusti, 2d ed., Berlin. 1883; Fairley, Monument/int Aneyranum, Philadelphia, 1S9S.) The Romans do not seem to have col lected inscriptions as did the Greeks, though ref erences to them are not infrequent in the his tories, as Livy or Suetonius, and in other writers, from whom no complete collection has yet been made. At the very end of the ancient time and the beginning of the :Middle Ages, when Rome became a place of pilgrimage, during the eighth and ninth centuries, many of the inscrip tions were copied by visitors, and several of these compilations have been preserved wholly or in part, the most celebrated being the Anonymus Einsiedelensis. After the ninth century came a long period of neglect of the classical remains, and one of the first to revive these studies was the celebrated tribune of Rome. Cola di Rienzi, who about 1344 prepared a description of Rome in which he used the epigraphic material at his hand. Another collection was prepared in the early fifteenth century by the enthusiastic stu dent of the past, Poggio BraceinHui. and from that time collectors of inscriptions are numerous, and at times decidedly unscrupulous. Latin epigraphy in the sixteenth century suffered from forgers, at whose head stands l'irro Ligorio. of Naples, and their work deceived maim until its character was disclosed by the exact scientific criticism of the nineteenth century. The earliest printed collection seems to have been that of the inscriptions of Ravenna (1489). Gruter's great collection of 11303 has already been mentioned. (See under Greek.) It was followed by collec tions by Reinesius, Fabretti, and others. till Muratori published his Norus ThesaurnsVetcrum Inscription ant (4 vols.. :Milan. 17:39-42), which his lack of knowledge made of but little real ser vice. The foundations fer the modern study of Latin epigraphy were laid by the careful and minute investigations of Bartolomeo Borghesi (died 1859), who devoted his life to a study of the rasti of Roman magistrates. A corpus of Latin inscriptions had been planned by the Ber lin Academy, and also suggested by the French Academy; but the project was first realized when after a long period of preparation there appeared in 1SG3 the first volume, edited by Theodor lominsen and Wilhelm Ilenzen. Since then work has steadily continued. though it is still incomplete. and from the nature of the case is always likely to be in need of supple ment s.