It is not a little remarkable that the style of this epitaph is more archaic than that of the preceding. The consul of the year B. C. 260 was C. Duilius, who in that year gained his celebrated naval victory over the Carthaginians; the inscription, therefore, engraved on the pedestal of the Columna Rostrata, which was erected in commemoration of that event, may be considered as a contemporary monument of the language.[62] Some alterations were probably made in its orthography at a period subsequent to its erection, for it was rent asunder from top to bottom by lightning A. U. C. 580,[63] and is supposed not to have been repaired until the reign of Augustus, for the restoration of a temple built by Duilius was begun by that emperor and completed by Tiberius.[64] The principal peculiarities to be observed in this inscription are, that the ablatives singular end in _d_, as in the words Siceliad, obsidioned; _c_ is put for _g_, as in _macistratos_, _leciones_; _e_ for _i_, as in _navebos_, _ornavet_; _o_ for _u_, as in _Duilios_, _aurom_; _classes_, _nummi_, &c., are spelt clases, numei, and _quinqueremos_, _triremos_, _quinresmos_, _triesmos_. This monument was discovered A. D. 1565, in a very imperfect state, but its numerous _lacunæ_ were supplied by Grotefend. About sixty years after the date of this epitaph,[65] the Senatus-consultum, respecting the Bacchanals, was passed.[66] This monument was discovered A. D. 1692, in the Calabrian village of Terra di Feriolo, and is now preserved in the Imperial Museum of Vienna.[67] There is scarcely any difference between the Latinity of this inscription and that of the classical period except in the orthography and some of the grammatical inflexions. The expressions are in accordance with the usage of good authors, and the construction is not without elegance. Nor is this to be wondered at when it is remembered that, at the period when this decree was published, Rome already possessed a written literature. Ennius was now known as a poet and an historian, and many of the comedies of Plautus had been acted on the public stage. Having thus enumerated the existing monuments of the old Roman language and its constituent elements, it remains to compare the Latin and Greek alphabets, for the purpose of exhibiting the variations which the Latin letters have severally undergone. The letters then may be arranged according to the following classification:— { Soft P C K or Q, T. { Mutes { Medial B G D. Consonants { { Aspirates F (V) H — { Liquids L, M, N, R. { Sibilants S, X. Vowels A, E, I, O, U.