CORNEHOLESCIPIO HONCOINORVMECOSENTIONTR Epitaph of L. Cornelius Scipio, n.75. From Ritschl, Prisc. Latin. Monum., Tab. XXXVIII. GIFT KELLOGG Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by FREDERIC D. ALLEN, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 7. S. Cushing, Printer, 75 Milk St., Boston. PREFACE. IN 'N undertaking this little book I proposed to myself to get together in small compass, and in a convenient shape for reading and reference, such of the remains of the earliest Latin — primarily inscriptions—as are most important as monuments of the language, with enough explanation to make them fairly intelligible. The need of such a collection had been felt, I found, by others as well as myself, and this need had been only partly met by Wordsworth's "Fragments and Specimens of Early Latin " (London, 1874), a work which, with all its merits, is cumbersome, ill arranged for reference, and too expensive to be widely circulated. The present book is designed first of all for the more advanced of our college students, but I venture to hope that maturer scholars may find it useful as a convenient handbook, since it comprises within a few pages matter somewhat scattered and not very generally accessible. The book is in no wise meant to teach palaeography. The inscriptions are presented simply as specimens of Latin. The text of each is given in minuscules, without any attempt at representing the appearance or arrangement of the stone or bronze. To have done this last, even roughly, would have greatly increased the bulk and expense of the volume (especially as most of the inscriptions would necessarily have been repeated in minuscules after all, for cursory reading) without rendering it any better for its main purpose. I desired furthermore to avoid everything which would needlessly confuse the eye or the mind of the reader. Thus it seemed best to indicate to the eye omitted final s and m. |