The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

COINAGE AND CURRENCY IN ROMAN BRITAIN. 507
vanguard of his forces at the time of his expedition
into Gaul. 122
A tombstone recently found at Penmachno, 123 and
belonging to the same class as that of the Christian
Carausius at the same place, carries the
Roman official usage in Britain down to
tradition of
at least the
middle of the sixth century. The remaining part
of the mortuary inscription reads FILI AVITORI, 124
and bears the cross entry
IN TE(M)P[ORE]
IVST[INI]
CON[SVLI(S)]
This refers to the Consulate of the Emperor Justinus
in A.D. 540, which was used to fix the beginning of
an era at Lyons until the opening of the seventh
century. 125
Though, so far as our information at present goes,
the Roman mint at London, except for these possible
short revivals, ceases after the time of Magnus
Maximus, there is evidence in the Notitia of the
continued existence of a high Treasury official in
Britain whose seat was at "Augusta". Following on
m I suggested this identification in Num. Chron., 1887, p. 209.
123
See Sir John Rhys's account, Athenaeum, Sept. 25, 1915,
p. 213.
124
This is equivalent to the mediaeval Irish Mac Uidhir, or, in
modern Anglo-Irish, Maguire (Rhys, loc. cit.}.
125
Goyau, Chronologic de VEmpire Romain, cited by Rhys, loc. cit.
Rhys suggests that the sepulchral inscription itself may have
belonged to the latter half of the sixth century, and that the
chronological note might be slightly later i.e. the beginning of
the seventh. But he admits that the lettering of both is practically
identical.
Ll2