A complete letter from Oppius Niger, who must surely be a unit commander, to Priscinus. Niger appears to be telling Priscinus that he (Niger) had sent on their way from Bremetennacum (Ribchester) the two soldiers of the First Cohort of Tungrians, whom Priscinus had despatched with letters to the governor.
Since the ed. pr. we have accumulated further evidence which necessitates discussion of individuals in the tablets with the cognomen Niger. The following texts are relevant: (1) the present letter from Oppius Niger to Priscinus; (2) [249], the beginning only of a letter from Oppius Niger to Cerialis; (3) [248], a letter from Niger (no gentilicium given) and Brocchus to Cerialis; (4) [465], the beginning only of a letter from Valerius Niger to an unidentified addressee.
It is immediately evident that we must surely have the same Oppius Niger in (1) and (2), writing to two different people at Vindolanda, one certainly and the other probably a prefect, perhaps at different periods. Our interpretation of [295] suggests that Oppius Niger was himself stationed at Bremetennacum when he wrote it; that need not necessarily imply that he was at Bremetennacum when he wrote [249]. Is Niger of [248] the same Oppius Niger? The evidence of the hands in [248] and [295] is crucial, though the main texts of both were written by scribes rather than their authors. If we were confident that the same scribe was at work in both that would be a strong argument in favour of identity. In fact, although the hands look superficially similar we cannot convince ourselves that they are the same, for there are some important technical differences (see the introduction to the ed. pr.). Nor is there any conclusive evidence in the second hands, in [295] that of Niger and in [248] that of either Niger or Brocchus. On balance it seems to us probable that Niger of [248] is not Oppius Niger of [295] and [249]. It should be noted that, even if he were, we should not draw any conclusion about his location (nor, as a consequence, about that of his co-author Brocchus, presumably Aelius Brocchus, on which see [292].c.v.2 note). Niger of [248] may, then, be identical with Valerius Niger of [465] (both letters are attributed to Period 3) but we know nothing more about him.
Oppius Niger Priscino [suo
s[alutem
Crispum et .e[ c.8 ]s ex coh(orte)
· i · Tungrorum quos cum
epistulis ad consularem n(ostrum)
miseras a Bremetennaco
].[..].[.]..[ c.3
.[.].[.]..um Kal(endis) F[eb]r[
uale domine
frater
traces of 2 lines
"Oppius Niger to his Priscinus, greetings. Crispus and ... from the 1st cohort of Tungrians, whom you had sent with letters to our governor, [I have straightaway sent on (?)] from Bremetennacum to ... on 1 February. (2nd hand) Farewell, my lord and brother."
In the ed. pr. we considered the possibility that the gentilicium of the author should be read as Occius but we now regard Oppius as certain in view of [249].1.
Harvey (1985) suggests re[liquo]s. Although he is correct to observe that r in this hand does not always have an exaggerated descender, we think it impossible to read it here and it does not resemble the r in consularem (line 5) which Harvey compares. We prefer the suggestion that we have a name beginning with Pe- or perhaps Te- (cf. Tertius, [343].ii.21). We may well have a short name followed by milite]s, cf. [300].i.3-4.
For the cohors i Tungrorum see [154].1-2 and above, pp.22-3.
The sense required seems clear. It might be possible to restore stati]m [p]r[a]em[isi (cf. CEL, note ad loc.), but the traces are very ambiguous.
].[.].[.]aum Kal( ) F[ebr: CEL 98. In CEL 98 Cugusi mistakenly quotes the reading of the ed. pr. as ]rum. We could in fact envisage reading ]erum or ]orum, which we would now regard as likely to be the end of a place-name rather than the end of an ordinal number, since these numbers are never fully written out in dates (see the note in the ed. pr.). A more attractive alternative is ].dum and we think it may be possible to read a[d] L[i]ndum (Lincoln), although the use of ad with a place-name does not occur elsewhere in the tablets (see Tab.Vindol.I, p.72). We are now more confident that the month-name was February and take the last trace in the line as the foot of r rather than the top of e in the line below.
For the form of e at the end of uale cf. now [300].ii.12 note. The reading is unquestionably correct (cf. the note to the ed. pr.).
There seem to be sufficient traces for a gentilicium followed by Priscino, which is what we would expect, and for a second line, but the traces are too slight for us to offer a reading.