Anio brown Cervara Tomb of (35 mi. ENE) Bibulus (before 50 B.C.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [Illustration: FIG. 3.5 Rome, Forum: _lapis niger_ stele. Note the word RECEI, which may be evidence for the historicity of Rome’s kings. (P. Goidanich, _Mem. Acc. It._ 7.3 [1943], Pl. 9) ] [Illustration: FIG. 3.6 Rome, Forum. Rostra, third phase (fourth-third century B.C.). (E. Gjerstad, _Skrifter_ 5 [1944], p. 142)] The _lapis niger_ stele, inscribed on tufa of the second type in this series, could be of the very late sixth century B.C., and this date is borne out by the very archaic letter-styles (Fig. 3.5), which resemble those on the Aules Feluskes stele from Etruscan Vetulonia. Interpreting what the stone says is not made easier by the fact that the top is cut off and the lines are inscribed _boustrophedon_ (like the Lemnian stele among other examples), so that in successive lines the beginning and the end are alternately missing. In the left-hand column below is printed the latest text of the letters as they appear on the stele; in the right-hand column, a translation into classical Latin, filling the blanks; below, a translation of this oldest of all Latin inscriptions: QVOI HOI QVI · HV[nc locum violaverit, SAKROS ⁝ ESE manibus] SACER · SIT; ED SORD ET SORD[ibus qui haec contaminet] OKAFHAS OCA, FAS RECEI ⁝ IO REGI, IV[dicio ei habito EVAM adimere rem pr]EVAM · QVOS ⁝ RE QVOS · RE[x per hanc senserit M ⁝ KALATO vehi via]M, KALATOREM, REM HAB HAB[enis eorum, iubeto TOD ⁝ IOVXMEN ilic]O · IVMENTA TA ⁝ KAPAI ⁝ DOTAV · CAPIAT, VT · A V[ia statiM M ⁝ I ⁝ TER PE · ITER PE[r aversum locum M ⁝ QVOI HA pergant puru]M · QVI HA[c] VELOD ⁝ NEQV VOLET, NEQV[e per purum IOD ⁝ IOVESTOD perget, iudic]IO, IVSTA LOIVQVIOD QO ⁝ LICITATIONE, CO[ndemnetur]. “Whosoever defiles this spot, let him be forfeit to the shades of the underworld, and whosoever contaminates this spot with refuse, it is right for the king, after due process of law, to confiscate his property. Whatsoever persons the king shall discover passing on this road, let him order the summoner to seize their draft animals by the reins, that they may turn out of the road forthwith and take the proper detour. Whosoever persists in traveling this road, and fails to take the proper detour, by due process of law let him be sold to the highest bidder.”