tained the surnames PARTHICUS and ADIABENICUS : also, that this pig of lead was cast between the time of his assumption of the title ADIABENICUS and the time of his death, i. e., between 195 and 211. M. Canat does not attempt to interpret the letters LVICVC; but with respect to the last inscription he remarks, that the accent, by which the two first letters are separated from the third, indicates, that they denote numbers, and that P stands for PONDO. He consequently reads it 550 pound. In support of this explanation he farther states, that, whereas the name of the Emperor is in relief, having been impressed upon the mould, which was probably of clay, the two shorter inscriptions have been impressed upon the lead, after it was taken out of the mould. It was then weighed, and its weight was stamped upon it. Nevertheless we do not know what unit was meant in this instance by the letter P. It commonly denoted so many libræ; but this does not at all suit the present circumstances. M. Canat conjectures that it here denoted the semis or half-libra. The actual weight of the pig is 86 kilogrammes and 3 hectogrammes, agreeing with the larger specimens found in England, and agreeing also with the mark upon the lead, if M. Canat's interpretation of the letter P be admitted, and the Roman libra be supposed equal to 324 grammes; for 550 half-libræ, so estimated, amount to 89 kilogrammes and 1 hectogramme. The loss of 2 kilogrammes and 8 hectogrammes may very well be ascribed to accident, waste, or abrasion. It is concluded, from all these circumstances, that the entire inscription on the first specimen was, IMP. L. SEPTIMI. SEVERI. PERTI NACIS. AVG. PARTHICI . VOL. VIII., 1858, PART II. D probably followed by the year of his Consulship, either A.D. 194 or 202, or by the epithet ADIABENICI. The same title, with some additions, was found by Maundrell on two granite pillars near Sidon,* and has been observed, with various abridgments, or additions, in other cases. It is the opinion of the French antiquaries, that these three pigs of lead were imported into Gaul from Britain, although the mines of Pont Gibaud in Auvergne appear to have been worked by the Romans, lamps, tools, and utensils of Roman fashion having been found in them, in addition to which Pliny states† that lead was obtained in Gaul, though with difficulty, and in comparatively small quantity. This appears to me a proper occasion to mention the ingot of Roman silver, preserved in the British Museum. It was discovered in 1777, within the Tower of London, at a great depth under the present surface of the ground, with three gold coins of the Emperors Arcadius and Honorius. It is fully described in the 5th volume of the Archæologia. It weighs 320 grammes. The inscription in a cavity on its surface is : EX OFFE This must, I think, have referred to the silversmith to whom it belonged, just as Roman pottery is marked with the potter's name preceded by some abridged form of EX OFFICINA. Portions of similar ingots, also preserved in the British Museum, were lately found near Coleraine, in Ireland, one bearing the impress CVRMISSI, the other * Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, ed. London, 1810, p. 62. EXOFPA TRICII. It appears probable that they were of British origin, though found in Ireland.* Besides showing the extent of the mining operations of the Romans throughout England, the above-mentioned discoveries also give us their date. The oldest pigs are those bearing the names of Claudius and his son Britannicus; they cannot be later than A.D. 49. On the other hand the ingot of silver may be referred to a period not long antecedent to the termination of the Roman power in this country. By taking in succession the English counties, we have been led to the evidences of the production of silver and lead by the Romans. We shall now take Wales, and there find proofs that they also obtained copper. I am indebted to Mr. Thomas Wright for the information, that the copper veins at Llan-y-menach, near Oswestry, were worked by the Romans. Roman coins of Antoninus, Faustina, and others, have been found in the recesses of the mine. But further north the evidences are much more ample and distinct. Mr. Pennant describes a mass of copper, weighing 42 Ib; it is in the shape of a cake of bees-wax, the diameter of the upper part being 11 in., and its thickness in the middle 2 in.; on the upper surface is a deep impression with the words SOCIO ROME. It is conjectured that the merchant or owner of the cake intended this inscription to signify that he consigned it to his partner at Rome. Across this inscription is impressed obliquely NAT SOL, meaning, perhaps, Natale Solum, and intended to show that the Roman adventurer still remembered his native country. It was found at Caer Hen, the ancient Conovium, four *Rev. John Scott Porter, in Ulster Journal of Archæology, May, 1854, p. 184. See also, Arch. Journal, vol. XII., p. 97. miles above Conway, and, as Pennant observes, "was probably smelted from the ore of the Snowdon Hills, where of late years much has been raised." This cake is still preserved at Mostyn Hall, Flintshire, being in the possession of the Rt. Hon. Lord Mostyn. An engraving of it may be seen in Gough's edition of Camden, vol. III., p. 190, pl. ix., fig. 13. The same author (Pennant) describes some of the implements found in ancient mines, and refers them to the Roman times. He also says that "miners often discover the marks of fire in ancient mines." This seems to agree with the statement of Pliny, that fire was used in breaking the rocks in order to extract the metallic veins. These remarks of Mr. Pennant are confirmed and illustrated by the recent observations of the Hon. William Owen Stanley. The old workings had been broken into at Llandudno, near the Great Ormes Head. Part of a stag's horn, which had probably served as a handle, and portions of two bronze picks were found. In another ancient working of considerable extent were found a number of stone mauls of various sizes, described as weighing from about 2 lb to 40 lb, and rudely fashioned, having been all, as their appearance suggested, used for breaking, pounding, or detaching the copper ore from the rock. "These primitive implements," says Mr. Stanley, similar to the water-worn stones or boulders found on the sea-beach at Penmaen Mawr, from which, very probably, those most suitable for the purpose might have been selected." He describes one in particular, found at Amlwch Parys mine, in Anglesea: "It is of hard basalt, about a foot long, and evidently chipped at the extremity in the operation of breaking other stony or mineral *Pennant's Tours in Wales, ed. London, 1810, 8vo., vol. I., p. 73. are substances. The miners at Llandudno observed, however, that their predecessors had been unable to work the hardest parts of the rock, in which the richest ore is found; for they have recently obtained many tons of ore of the best quality from these ancient workings."* Mr. W. O. Stanley presented some of the above-mentioned implements of stone to the British Museum, where they may now be seen in the department of British Antiquities. Among the implements described by Pennant was an iron wedge, 5 inches long, found in working the deep fissures of the Dalar Goch strata, in the parish of Disert, Flintshire. Its remote age was shown by its being much incrusted with lead ore. If this iron wedge had been of bronze, our antiquaries would have called it a celt. I therefore embrace this as a fit opportunity for introducing a few remarks on the use of celts in mining. Some years since I produced an essay On the use of Bronze Celts in Military Operations.† Many of the facts and circumstances, which I then mentioned, are equally applicable to the present case; more especially, the bronze celts, 18 or 20 in number, which were found in Andalusia, in a Roman coal mine, and which had been attached to a straight wooden handle, and used as we use a chisel, a spud, or a crow-bar, are examples in point. ‡ See the wood-cut (Plate I, fig. 3) of one of them, half the length of the object itself. Also some of the bronze palstaves, which I described on that occasion, and which are in the collections at Paris, are large enough for almost any mining operations without exception. || I beg to refer to the same memoir for the account of *Archæol. Journal, vol. VII., A.D. 1850, p. 68, 69. Published in the Archæological Journal, VI., 363-392. |