Epigraphy EtruscancityofCaere,andthethreegoldleaves,discoveredintheexcavation
ofasanctuarythere,apparentlyrecordadedicationmade,probablyearlyin
thefifthcentury,byThefarieVelianas,kingofCaere.Theirmostimmedi-
atesignificanceliesfirstlyinthefactthatthededicationistothePhoenician
goddessAstarteandsecondlythatwhiletwoareinEtruscanthethirdisin
Punic.LeavingasidethewholequestionofPhoenician-Punicinfluenceand
activityinthewesternMediterraneaninthearchaicperiod,^36 theleaveshave
averypreciserelevance,asamarginalcase,totheissueofthefirstRoman-
Carthaginiantreaty.Polybius(,)quotesthisfromanancientandalmost
unintelligible document and dates it to the first pairof consuls in the Re-
public,whoheldoffice,accordingtohim,twenty-eightyearsbeforeXerxes’
invasionofGreece.Theexistenceofthesegoldleaves,inscribedinPunicand
Etruscan,probablyafewdecadeslater,willnot,ofcourse,servetoprovethat
thereeverwassuchatreaty,or(stillless),thatPolybius’text,ifgenuineatall,
isrightlydatedtothatperiod.Butwhatitwilldoistoalterthetermsofthe
argument,onceagainbytheinsertionofadoublenegative:itcannotnow
betakenasastartingpointthatthenotionofwrittendocumentsexchanged
betweenCarthageandanItaliancommunityinthisareaisanunacceptable
anachronism.
PlaceandDate
The form of argument which relies on the fact that there is (at least) one
epigraphicexampleofsomethingfromaparticulartimeorplace,thusde-
stroyingapossiblenegativegeneralisation,willoften,ofcourse,haveaplace
inmuchbetter-attestedperiodsalso.Forinstance,thefactthatevenafew
inscriptions in Etruscan should be discovered in the Republican province
ofAfrica,^37 usedonboundarymarkers,opensupnewperspectivesrelating
to emigration from Italy and also to the use of the Etruscan language in
secular,ordinary-lifecontexts.Or,alternatively,inaverycrudeandsimple
sensethediscoveryofaLatinmilitaryinscription(CILIII,)recording
a legion wintering at Leugaricio (Trencin in Czechoslavakia, some eighty
milesnorthoftheDanube)andofanotherfromtheneighbourhoodofBaku
onthecoastoftheCaspianSeaindicatingthepresenceofalegionarydetach-
ment (AE, —the easternmost Latin inscription so fardiscovered),
serves to demonstrate the extension of a Roman military presence at least
. SeeJ.Heurgon,‘‘TheInscriptionsofPyrgi,’’JRS():.
. J. Heurgon, ‘‘Inscriptions étrusques de Tunisie,’’CRAI(): ; O. Carruba,
‘‘Nuovaletturadell’inscrizioneetruscadeicippidiTunisia,’’Athenaeum():.