EPITAPH OF VALERIUS PATERNUS, SPECULATOR (ROME) Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL >ANChandler.3.34.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.34 AshLI 33

A small stele of white grey-veined marble (overall 0.59 0.285 0.075). There is a semicircular frame in the middle at the top, within which is a rosette in relief, above the inscription. There is a small decorative motif (perhaps a leaf or rosette) at its upper corners, outside semicircular frame. The rear remains rough and unfinished. Its present condition is good, but there is damage across the top, where part has been sliced off, and some damage also towards the bottom of the stone.

The text is centred, and is inscribed within a moulded frame. There are small triangular interpuncts throughout. The last line is less well engraved; possibly it was added later or inscribed by a different craftsman. Inscribed area: 0.36 0.21.

 0.025 (line 1); 0.023 (line 2); 0.022 with tall T 0.025 (line 3); 0.02 (line 4); 0.018 (lines 5-7); 0.016 (line 8); 0.015 (lines 9-11). It was seen on the Janiculum in Rome (Sirmond; Reinesius) AD 100-150? It was seen on the Janiculum in Rome (Sirmond; Reinesius), but was then transferred to the Arundel Collection. It was first recorded in Oxford by Prideaux as part of the Arundel Collection, which was given to the University of Oxford by Henry Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1667 (Prideaux 1676). The Arundel marbles were first displayed in the ‘Garden of Antiquities’ outside the new Sheldonian Theatre from 1668/9 (Sturdy and Moorcraft 1999), and were subsequently transferred indoors in 1715 to ‘The Marble School’, an upper gallery in the Bodleian quadrangle. In 1749, they were transferred downstairs to the ground floor in the former School of Moral Philosophy, and at some point then ended up in the basement of the (Old) Ashmolean Museum on Broad Street (now the Museum of the History of Science) (Munby 2013). The Ashmolean Museum in its current location behind the University Galleries was opened in 1894, and finally the University Galleries and Ashmolean were amalgamated by statute in 1908. The inscription is currently on display in the Randolph Gallery. Photograph Photograph Photograph with scale
dis manibus Valerii Paterni speculatoris exercitus Brittaniae cura agentibus Sempronio Pudente milite frumentario et Cutio Euplu ministro speculatorum bene merenti fecerunt in fronte pedes VII in egro pedes V

To the departed spirits of Valerius Paternus, speculator of the army in Britain; through the agency of Sempronius Pudens soldier and frumentarius and Cutius Euplus assistant to the speculatores. They set this up for their well-deserving (colleague). 7 feet wide, 5 feet deep

VALERI (Malvasia) BRITAN (Doni MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 7113; Malvasia, who also places this word on line 3; Sirmond; Fabretti, CIL) EVPLA (Reinesius) FECER (Malvasia)

Valerius Paternus was a soldier in the army in Britain, possibly from the 20th Legion Valeria Victrix (see below), which was stationed at Chester from the late first century AD. A speculator was one of ten officers on secondment to the provincial governor who might carry out a variety of tasks, including delivering messages and acting as law-enforcers, which might involve the custody and execution of prisoners. Similarly, in origin a frumentarius in the army was responsible for foraging for corn, but during the early second century AD became an intelligence officer and courier (Le Bohec 1994: pp.51, 56). The best translation of these titles, therefore, at this date is probably the generic term ‘military police’. Given that the tombstone was found in Rome, it seems that either Valerius Paternus returned to Rome for his retirement, after completing his term of service in Britain, or he may have died whilst on active service in Rome. An individual of the same name also appears in an epitaph which he set up to a colleague from Legion XX Valeria Victrix at Rome (CIL VI 3357), whilst Sempronius Pudens reappears as frumentarius of the Legion XX Valeria Victrix in CIL VI 3358 (an epitaph which he set up to a fellow-soldier) and in CIL VI 3359 (his own epitaph). The date is uncertain, but the military context in Britain suggests a period during the first half of the second century AD (although Solin 2003: vol.2, p.924 assigns Euplus to 2nd/3rd century).

Sirmond MS. BNF Paris suppl. Lat. 1419 = Lat. 10808, no. 253; Doni MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 7113 f.42’; Malvasia (1690) p.358 (following Vatican schedae); Reinesius section 8, p.543 no.73 (following Ligorio and Langermann); Gude MS. 129, 6 (according to CIL); Prideaux (1676) p.124, no.61; Fabretti (1702) p.691 no.120; Maittaire (1732) p.41, no.104; Chandler (1763) p.133, no.34; CIL VI.1 no.3358 [Hübner] (1876); ILS 2372 (Dessau 1955); Malone (2006) p.171 no.77; Vickers (2006) p.42-43, with photograph.

Online: Arachne no. 75804 [http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/75804, accessed 21/07/15]; EDCS-19600194 [accessed 21/07/15]

Chandler R. 1763 Marmora Oxoniensia Oxford Clarendon Press Doni Giovanni Battista [Donius] 1594-1647 MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 7113 Fabretti R. 1702 Inscriptionum antiquarum quae in aedibus paternis asseruantur explicatio et additamentum Rome Le BohecY. 1994 The Imperial Roman Army London Batsford Maittaire M. 1732, 2nd edn. Marmorum, Arundellianorum, Seldenianorum, Aliorumque Academiae Oxoniensi Donatorum London William Bowyer Malone S.J. 2006 Legio XX Valeria Victrix. Prosopography, archaeology and history Oxford Oxford: BAR International Series 1491 Malvasia C. 1690 Marmora Felsinea innumeris non solum inscriptionibus exteris hucusque ineditis Bononia Ex typografia Pisariana Munby J. 2013 A rare collection: Oxford museums past and present Excalibur: Essays on Antiquity and the History of Collecting in Honour of Arthur MacGregor H.Wiegel and M.Vickers Oxford BAR Int. ser. 2512 75-85 Prideaux H. 1676 Marmora Oxoniensia ex Arundellianis, Seldenianis, aliisque conflata Oxford Reinesius T. 1682 Syntagma inscriptionum antiquarum Leipzig J.E. Hahn Sirmond J. [Sirmondus] 1559-1651 Recueil d'inscriptions copiées par Sirmond. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Paris suppl. Lat. 1419 = Lat. 10808 [consulted online 10/06/14 at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9077728w] Solin H. 2003 Die griechischen Personennamen in Rom. Ein Namenbuch (2nd edn) 3 vols Berlin De Gruyter Sturdy D. and N. Moorcraft 1999 Christopher Wren and Oxford’s garden of antiquities Minerva 10.1 25-28 Vickers M. 2006 The Arundel and Pomfret Marbles in Oxford Oxford Ashmolean Museum