It is one of the paradoxes of the study of Roman architecture that what, in terms of the written record, is probably the most thoroughly and reliably documented phase of its whole development, the Augustan age, is from the point of view of the architectural historian still one of the most obscure and controversial. That it was a vital turning point in the history of Roman architecture one cannot doubt; and yet the number of monuments in the capital that can be accepted without hesitation and without reservation as representative of the age is very limited. No doubt the full and critical publication of the excavations of the last few decades will increase the number and provide a firm basis for further studies. But in the meantime we are still dependent—all too dependent—upon those few buildings which are securely and unequivocally Augustan, and which may be used therefore as a safe standard of comparison for some at any rate of the architectural practices current in Augustan Rome.

The inscription of Q. Cerellius Apollinaris transcribed below is in the garden of the Casale Santa Cornelia, in the territory of ancient Veii. When it was found and where, except that it was on the Santa Cornelia estate, are both uncertain. It may have come from a tomb in the area—in which case Apollinaris presumably owned property there; but much the most likely findspot is the eighth-century church and estate centre of Capracorum, from which a number of ancient stones at the Casale derive. The site of Capracorum, founded by Pope Adrian I in c. 780, has recently been identified on the Santa Cornelia estate and is in the course of excavation by the British School at Rome. A considerable quantity of the building material used there was demonstrably brought from Rome, and there is a real possibility that this piece, too, came from the city rather than from the neighbourhood.

The major source for the vows and sacrifices made annually on 3 January for the safety of a Roman emperor and his family, and on some other occasions in special circumstances, is in the Acta of the Arval Brothers which preserve, for a number of years in the first, second and third centuries A.D., accounts of these ceremonies as conducted by the Arvals, including the formulae of their prayers. There is literary evidence to show that similar ceremonies took place throughout the Empire, but for their form outside Rome nothing very detailed. Pliny reports their observance in his province in terms which reflect very summarily the general tenour of the prayers; and the Feriale Duranum, col. I lists the sacrifices to be made on the 3rd of January by a military unit in the early third century.

In his historical study of Roman Cyrenaica, published in 1942, Professor Pietro Romanelli brought together the rather scanty information then available regarding the military garrisons of the Roman province. The loss of the page of the Notitia Dignitatum listing the units under command of the Dux Libyarum makes us dependent almost entirely on epigraphic evidence; and whilst Cyrenaica has been proved rich in ancient inscriptions, only few of them refer to military matters. In the following paper are published some recently-discovered texts which help, if in somewhat limited fashion, to fill this void.

In this survey I have attempted to collect all the building costs and other known outlays or charges that have survived from the cities of Roman Africa, omitting only those examples which are purely military and those which date from after the reign of Diocletian. The list is based primarily on an investigation of the published epigraphy of the area, though I have also been able to use five unpublished price-inscriptions. None of the existing indices to the volumes of African inscriptions are comprehensive in their coverage of prices, and so it has been impossible to check whether the list includes all known examples; but it is unlikely that there are large omissions. The provinces from which the material is drawn are as follows: Africa Proconsularis, Numidia (which became an independent province in 197–198 A.D.) and the Mauretanias, Caesariensis and Tingitana. When giving the locality of cities in the province of Proconsularis, I have followed the Diocletianic divisions (Zeugitana, Byzacena, Tripolitania and Numidia Proconsularis) for the sake of closer definition.

The ancient Ager Capenas occupied the elongated triangle of land north of Rome enclosed by the line of the Via Flaminia, M. Soracte and the lower Tiber valley. The study of the archaeology and topography of the area, like that of the Roman Campagna as a whole, has been subject to great fluctuation of interest and emphasis. It was begun, in effect, by the antiquarians of the last century such as Dennis, Nibby and Gell. Then in the early years of this century Ashby took up the subject with an enthusiasm and application that quickly made him the undisputed authority. Since then interest has varied and no general revision of Ashby's topographical scheme has been attempted.

Archaeology in the more general sense of the study of the ancient inhabitants of an area from the remains of their civilisation has made little progress in a remote corner of the Campagna like the Ager Capenas, partly because of its inaccessibility, and partly because there has been no excavation to speak of and because the material visible above ground is so very limited both in variety and quality. There is, however, another side to the coin. The density and history of ordinary, everyday settlement, derived from the close observation of sites on the ground, are aspects of classical topography that are only now beginning to be exploited; and it is in an area such as the Roman Campagna that the greatest opportunities exist not only because the density of ancient settlement was very great, but also because such a high percentage of the material has survived.