[1441] 22, 7 (9). Sir J. Evans (Coins, &c., p. 36) says that Solinus made the statement quoted in the text about the Silures of South Wales; but he speaks of the inhabitants of the island of Silura, which, he says, is separated from the country of the Dumnonii (Cornwall) by a stormy strait (Siluram insulam ab ora quam gens Brittana Dumnonii tenent turbidum fretum distinguit). Mommsen, in his edition of Solinus (p. 113), remarks that as there is no island called Silura, we must either accept the reading of the ‘interpolated’ MSS., insulae Sillinae (Scilly islands), or assume that Solinus based his statement upon a careless perusal of the passage in which Pliny (Nat. Hist., iv, 16 [30], § 103) mentions the Silures (super eam [Britanniam] haec [Hibernia] sita abest brevissimo transitu a Silurum gente xxx). Considering what Solinus says about the Dumnonii, I would adopt the former alternative.
[1442] J. Evans, Coins of the Anc. Britons, pp. 39, 140-1; Suppl., p. 488 and map facing p. viii.
[1443] J. Rhys, Celtic Britain, 3rd ed., 1904, pp. 29, 62. Professor Rhys (ib., pp. 40-1) remarks further that on coins of the Parisi ‘one Volisios styles himself sometimes Domnocoveros and sometimes Domnoveros, which may possibly have meant the guardian of the state, or the man of the people. At any rate ... the same term occurs on a coin of Dumnorix, the Æduan, whose great popularity with the common people Caesar dwells upon more than once.... On another of these northern coins the person who issued it gives himself a title, which, if correctly read Senotigirnios, would literally mean the old lord or monarch, whatever the exact official signification of that may have been among the Parisi. Unfortunately, the relation of these two kinds of coins to one another in point of time is not known; should they turn out to be of the same date, they might be taken to prove the state to have been divided into two parties, the one clinging to the representative of a dynasty, and the other rallying round one who gave himself out as the friend of the people.’
The professor’s ‘proof’, resting as it does upon possibilities and uncertainties, is hardly conclusive. Moreover the reading DOMNOVEROS does not occur at all, and must be replaced by DVMNOVELLAVNOS (J. Evans, Coins of the Anc. Britons, Suppl., p. 591)—the same name as that of the prince who sought the aid of Augustus (p. 363, infra); while the reading SENOTIGIRNIOS is hopelessly uncertain (J. Evans, Coins, &c., pp. 405, 410-1). The term which occurs on the coins of Dumnorix (assuming that Dumnorix and Dubnorex are identical) is DVBNOCOV (E. Muret and M. A. Chabouillet, Cat. des monnaies gaul. de la Bibl. Nat., 1889, Nos. 5026-48).
It is impossible to decide whether the coins to which Professor Rhys alludes belong to the Parisi or to the Brigantes (J. Evans, Coins, &c., Suppl., p. 589).
[1444] J. Evans, Coins of the Anc. Britons, p. 141; Suppl., p. 488.
[1445] According to Xiphilinus, the continuator and epitomator of Dion Cassius (lxxvi, 12, § 2), the Caledonians had democratic government (δημοκρατοῦνται δὲ ὡς πλήθει): but Dion wrote in the third century; and he also says (ib., § 1) that they did not till the soil, which, considering that bronze sickles have been found in Perthshire, Aberdeenshire, and Sutherlandshire (J. Evans, Anc. Bronze Implements, pp. 199-200), and that ancient Scottish querns are numerous (Anc. Stone Implements, 1897, p. 259), is hardly credible.
[1446] J. Evans, Coins of the Anc. Britons, pp. 223-4.
[1447] Ib., pp. 223-6, 239-40.
[1448] Ib., pp. 222-3.