British School at Rome: Papers of the British School at Rome (4.1907)

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The British School at Rome.

among the cities in which the supreme magistrates bore the title of aedile
was previously known, but we now learn for the first time that at Tusculum,
as at Arpinum, Fundi, and Formiae, they were three in number, two acting
as duoviri iure dicundo, and one as an aedile in the proper sense. The title
originated while these towns were still praefecturae : after they obtained
full citizenship, the praefectus iure dicundo being no longer sent from Rome,
the aediles, from subordinate magistrates, became supreme, but still retained
their title (see De Ruggiero, Dizionario epigrafico, i. 250). The praefectus
may be a praefectus sacrorum (cf. C.I.L. xiv. 2580). It is, further, a point
gained that we now know with certainty that the territory of Tusculum
extended as far as this point (Grossi-Gondi, Bull. Com. 1906, 19), a point as
to which Dessau (C.I.L. xiv. pp. 244, 255 n. 5) was unable to express him-
self with certainty. The expression of Frontinus, de aquis, 8, aquam, quae
vacatur Tepula ex agro Lucullano, quern quidam Tusculanum credunt (the
spring is the modern Sorgente Preziosa), seems to indicate that there was
some doubt on the subject in his time.
A second inscription found in the Vigna Gentilini, cut upon a slab of
gray marble 1’85 x 075 metre, which may have formed a frieze, probably
belongs to this shrine also. It runs as follows:
Ulpia Sophe Marcianae Aug(ustae~} lib(erta) consecravit.
Lanciani rightly remarks that it is probable, inasmuch as we find a freed-
woman of hers making a dedication in this country shrine that Marciana,
the sister of Trajan, herself had property in this neighbourhood, and that
it can hardly be mere chance that the name Valle Marciana still belongs
to the deep valley traversed by the Marrana, to the S.W. of the Via Latina,
a little beyond this point.
Another inscription found in the Vigna Senni in 1888, was published
by Lugari in the Cronachetta Armellini, 1888, 98 but omitted in the
Ephemeris Epigraphica (1892) vii. 355 seq. (suppl. to C.I.L. xiv). It is
given by Grossi-Gondi, Bull. Com. 1906, 20, and runs as follows :
Laribus Aug(ustis) C. Vibius Philippus M. Publilius Strato C. Cestius
Primio Cultoribus Larum d(e) s(uo') d(onum) d(ederunt) dedicata v. idus
Febr. L. Cornelio Sulla Felice Ser. Sulpicio Galba Cos. (9th February,
33 A.D.).
It is inscribed on the front of an altar with the patera and simpulum
on the sides ; on each side, further, is the additional inscription
C. Vibius Philippus pavimentum et limen d(e) s(uo~) dipnum) d(edif).