Letter from John Ward, Gresham College, to Martin Folkes Returns the copy of the Chichester inscription Folkes sent him [not enclosed] and shares his thoughts. The account given by the Duke of Richmond leaves no doubt it is genuine and it must be as old as Nero. The information in the first six lines can be supplied by contemporary coins of Nero, and he has copied this onto page three of the letter. He discusses the difficulty with reconciling the seventh line with the dates of Nero's reign. He also discusses the letter 'C' in the last line. He explains that such inscriptions were common practice to mark the accession of a new emperor in the provinces governed by Rome, and to entreat the continuation of their reign at festivals every five years. He thinks this inscitpion would be consistent with a quinquennalia in Nero's reign and it may help them to date other Roman inscriptions in Britain. 13 October 1740