Every schoolboy knows the hexameter and pentameter, composed of two words each:

Perturbabantur Constantinopolitani
Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus.

Centos constitute another species of Lower Empire wit. That of Ausonius, so laboriously dull, begins thus. A short specimen will be sufficient to exhibit the taste of the contrivance, and to disgust the judicious admirer of Virgil with such a piece of patchwork:—

Accipite hæc animis: lætasque advertite mentes,
Ambo animis, ambo insignes præstantibus armis :
Ambo florentes, genus insuperabile bello.
Tuque prior, nam te majoribus ire per altum
Auspiciis manifesta fides, quo justior alter
Nec pietate fuit, nec bello major et armis.

Proba Falconia, a Christian poetess, with more zeal than knowledge, composed a work on the Old and New Testaments, made up in this style, exclusively from the verses of Virgil.

The following macaronic line is not only prosodially, but grammatically whimsical :

Supplicat ut præstum præstum vindicta FIATUR.

ROMAN NOTES.

Et fugit ad salices, at se cupit ante videri. VIRGIL.

AUSONIUS, who flourished under the emperor Theodosius, as well as under Valentinian and Gratian, lived just when the abrupt and compendious mode of writing was in the height of fashion. He notices it in his panegyric on a certain notary or scribe, in the following lines, commencing his epigram 137.: —

Puer notarum præpetum

Sollers minister, advola.

The three Roman Notes which follow were, as every one knows, of long standing:

A. Absolvo.

C. Condemno.

N. L. Non liquet, when the business in hand was found to be doubtful.

In Greek, was a mark of condemnation, as the first letter of Oávaros, signifying death, and T the mark of acquittal: A that of adjournment to a future period.

Et potis es nigrum vitio præfigere theta. Persius.

The number of these abbreviations is very great. The following are a few of them :

A. B. V. C. Ab urbe condita.

A. A. A.F.F. According to one interpretation, Ære, argento, auro, flavo, feriunto: according to another, that of Ainsworth, Auro, argento, ære, flando feriundo.

A. A. L. M. Apud agrum locum monumenti.

A. F. P. R. Actum fide publica Rutilii. Cicero playfully puts the following interpretation on it: Emilius fecit, plectitur Rutilius.

C. P. Censor perpetuus.

D. Divus. D.D. Deo dicavit, seu dedicaverunt ; Dono dedit; Deo domestico.

mo.

D. M. Diis manibus; Divæ memoriæ; Deo maxi-
Sometimes with S after it, meaning Sacrum.

D. I. M. Diis inferis maledictis.

B. M. P. Bene merenti posuit.

P. P. Posuerunt.

P. C. Ponendum curavit.

H.M.H.S. Hoc monumentum hæredes sequuntur.
H. S. V. F. M. Hoc sibi vivens fieri mandavit.
H. M. P. Hoc monumentum posuit.

H. B. M. F. C. Hæres bene merenti faciendum curavit.

I. T. C. Intra tempus constitutum.

III.V. Triumvir.

Decemvir.

IIII.V. Quartumvir. X.V.

I. O. M. I. Jovi optimo maximo immortali.
T. F. Titi filius.

To express the word Mulier, they reverse the M, and to express Mulier bona, they write M. B. This abbreviation has given rise to an absurd proverb, Mulier bona mala bestia.

N. F. N. Nobili familia natus.

Ob M. P. E. C. Ob merita pietatis et concordiæ. P. S. F. C. Proprio sumptu faciundum curavit. R. P. C. Retro pedes centum.

The following is very complicated, and only partly given in the ordinary list: R. R. R. T. S. D. D. R. R. R. F. F. F. F. Romulo regnante Roma triumphante sybilla Delphica dixit regnum Romæ ruet flamma, ferro, fame, frigore.

:

The device of the Greek emperors was B. B. B. B. to denote Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων βασιλεύων βασιλεῦσι, i. ε. King of kings reigning over kings.

The same emperors also adopted this cipher K, on their public instruments, signifying XgIoTòs, Christ.

The Latin letters XPS, often found in inscriptions, ought to be the Greek letters XP.

The Greeks had a proverb, Τριὰ κάππα κάκιστα, the Cappadocians, the Cretans, the Cilicians, three wicked nations beginning with the Greek letter corresponding with C.

The Romans bore on their standards, S. P. Q. R. meaning, Senatus Populusque Romanus. This has been adopted by certain religionists to express the following: Serva populum quem redemisti. An Italian on entering Rome applied it: Sono poltroni questi Romani. The Protestants of Germany gave it: Sublato papa quietum regnum. The Catholics : Salus papæ quies regni. A wit seeing it inscribed on the chamber wall of a pope newly created, put this question to him: Sancte pater quare rides? The jocular head of the church answered by turning the letters the contrary way: Rideo quia papa

sum.

L. L. L. M. M. Libertis libertabus locum monumenti mandavit.

PA. PA. Pater patriæ. A pope having adopted this title, causing it to be written in large letters, it was construed two ways: Poculum aureum Petri Apostoli; or, Petri apostoli potestatem accepit.

MORS. Mordens omnia rostro suo; or, Mutans omnes res sepultas. Two words have also been given to each letter: M. Mutatio mirabilis ; O. Omnimoda oblivio; R. Repentina ruina. S. Separatio sempiterna.

When physicians were sworn in, on passing to their doctor's degrees at Montpelier, in the middle ages, the professor gave them this solemn injunction, Vade et occide CAIM, meaning that they were to try their "prentice hands" on Carmelites, Augustines, Jacobins, and Minorites.

The last compendium seems to have been a copious source of this kind of wit. A monk passing along the road, heard some people saying to one another as they were looking at him, Beata urbes ubi non habitat CAIM: he immediately answered, Beatissimæ ubi non habitat FEL; meaning Faber, Erasmus, and Luther, considered as heresiarchs at that time.