Mr. Gough pointed out that the third side of the stamp was engraved in
letters of a rude and negligent form, and different in character from
the inscriptions on the two other sides. But he failed in seeing that
the remaining sides are both imperfect; and that the latter half of one
of the inscriptions, and the first half of the other, are deficient, in
consequence of the stone, which was at first much larger, having been
broken or reduced in size, and subsequently again rubbed down and
smoothed on two of its sides before one of these sides was cut with the
rude lettering above alluded to. When these circumstances are attended
to, the inscriptions on the three sides appear to stand as follows:—
1. LJULIVENISD . . . . .
OPOBALSAMTU . . . . .
2. . . . . . . ASMVRNESBIS
. . . . . . MPETUEXOVO
3. FSEKUNDI
ATALBAS.
The name of the proprietor is evidently L. JUL. IVENIS [L(_ucius?_)
_Jul(ius) Ivenis_]; and I may remark in passing, that the cognomen
of IVENIS is one which has been found recurring among the Roman
pottery-stamps found in England.
It is impossible to fill in, with anything like precision and certainty,
the defective words in the two first inscriptions. But judging from the
analogy of other similar and more perfect stamps, these two inscriptions
probably read somewhat as follows when the seal was entire.
1. L. JUL. IVENIS D_iapsoricum_ OPOBALSAM_a_TU_m_ _ad Claritatem_.—_L.
Jul. Ivenis’ Opobalsamic Diapsoricum for clearing of the sight._
The adjective, OPOBALSAMATUM, has hitherto been generally found united
upon medicine-stamps with one of two collyria—viz. with _Stacticum_ (as
in seal No. IV.); or with _Diapsoricum_, as in seals found at Jena and
Lyons. The D preserved in the first line is, in all probability, the
initial letter of the latter collyrium.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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