Tab.Vindol. 210. Correspondence of Iulius Verecundus

Support

Type of object
Ink writing tablet
Material
Wood
Dimensions
W 96 mm × H 18 mm mm
Site
Vindolanda
Site period
2
Site context
F/G
Find date
1987
Modern location
Now in the British Museum.
Institution/acc. #
British Museum: 1988,1005.218
Inv. no.
87.711

Text field

Style of lettering
(not specified)

Text

Origin of text
Vindolanda
Ancient site
Vindolanda
Text type
Private document
Tablet Category
Letters
Date
a.d. 92-97
Dating criteria
context, site period

Introduction

The foot of what must have been the right-hand portion of a diptych containing the conclusion of a letter with an address on the back. The reading of the name is not absolutely certain but it is very probable that the addressee is the prefect Iulius Verecundus. Since the sender uses the term col(lega) of himself he too was probably a praefectus of a unit.

Edition

Front
.  .  .
].ẹ desiderio mẹo
ṇẹquẹ adhuc plus uerḅ.ṛ..
Ṣ..ạṃ..ạ mea te salụ[tat]
m2 bene uale frater [
.  .  .
Back
m1 Iulio Vẹṛẹc̣ụṇ[do]
praef(ecto) coh(ortis)
]ịọ c̣ọl(lega)

Translation

Front
… my desire … nor as yet (has there been) any more talk (?). My … greets you … m2 Farewell, brother …
Back
m1 To Iulius Verecundus, prefect of the cohort, from …ius, his colleague.

Commentary and notes

1‒2.  It is difficult to see how to make sense of these lines. We could imagine something like some part of scribo followed by ] ḍẹ desiderio mẹo or indul]g̣ẹ desiderio mẹo, cf. ChLA X 434 (= CEL 175).

2.  uerḅọṛụṃ is a possible reading at the right. The sense given in the translation is suggested only with diffidence. Adams points out that neque (non) adhuc is a standard combination, meaning ‘not as yet’ and that uerba can mean ‘talk’. In ṇẹquẹ the final e is very difficult.

4.  This seems to be the work of a second hand. The alignment suggests that it has been rather squeezed in at the end and it is uncertain whether a line is lost after this, although one might envisage e.g. karissime in the missing portion at the right or below.

Back.1.  Iulio is certain, as is V following it; the letters following are incomplete but all suit the reading, which we suggest with confidence because of the gentilicium and the fact that Iulius Verecundus is attested as prefect at Vindolanda.

Back.2.  It is noteworthy that the abbreviation of coh(ortis) is marked by h with an exaggerated curve and tail, cf. 295.i.3.

Bibliography