Epigraphy eral way the putting up of inscriptions was a quite important facet of the
city lifewhich was characteristic of the Graeco-Roman world, and there-
forespreadsteadilyalongwithurbanisation.Thuswehaveasubstantialhar-
vestofinscriptionsalsofromtheMediterraneancoastofSpainandfromthe
south(Baetica/Andalusia),andprogressivelylessuntilwereachthenorth-
west,whichseemshardlytohavebeentouchedbyGraeco-Romanpatterns
oflifeatall.Gaultoo,whilesomeLatininscriptionsarefoundinallregions,
producesrelativelyfew,andonlyaveryshortlistofextendeddocumentsof
individual importance: the best known are the famous bronze tablet from
Lyon with the text of the emperor Claudius’ speech on the admission of
Gallic nobles to the Senate,^103 and a complex document of the s hon-
ouringoneSenniusSollemnis.^104 ButfromBritain,whosecivilandmilitary
inscriptionshavebeencollectedandeditedwithexceptionallylavishcare,^105
toDalmatiaandthemiddleDanube,thescatteredLatininscriptions,often
slightandinsignificantinthemselves,aretheprimaryevidenceforthespread
of Romancivilisation,theLatinlanguage,andtheinstitutionsoftheself-
governingtown.Theyalsoprovideevidence(forexample)fornomenclature,
occupations, and the observation of the cults of local or imported deities.
Butitisimportanttostressonceagainthatthehistoricalvalueofrelatively
scattered inscriptions can only be indicative or illustrative.Valid negative
conclusionscanalmostneverbedrawnfromsuchevidence;inFranceinpar-
ticular the fact of continuous occupation of urban sites in the intervening
centuries means that no negative conclusions oreven statistical inferences
caneverbedrawnfromwhathappenstosurvive.Thedouble-negativeform
ofargumentcan,however,bevalidlyused.If(forinstance)evenafewper-
sonsusedLatintoscratchimprecationsonleadtabletsdepositedinGlou-
cestershire,^106 it follows that it cannot be argued that Latin was in use in
Britainonlyinofficialormilitarycontexts.
EvenmorethanintheGreekEastthereismuchthatwecanneverhope
tolearnfromtheepigraphyoftheLatinWest.Nonetheless,itisahistori-
calfactofthegreatestimportancethattheRomanperiodsawthespreadof
formsofcityorcommunalself-government,invariablyusingLatin;incon-
.CILXIII,;ILS.
.CILXIII,;H.G.Pflaum,Le Marbre de Thorigny(Paris,).
. SeeR.G.CollingwoodandR.P.Wright,Roman Inscriptions of BritainI:Inscriptions
on Stone(Oxford,).
. M.W.C.HassallandR.S.O.Tomlin,Britannia(),–.Notethepubli-
cationbythesameauthorsoffourofafindofoverfortyleadtabletsfromBath,Britannia
(): –. For full publication, see now R.Tomlin,Tabellae Sulis: Roman Inscribed
Tablets of Tin and Lead from the Sacred Spring at Bath(Oxford,).