Long neglected, primarily due to their stigmatisation as non-literary texts, Latin verse inscriptions (carmina Latina epigraphica) have recently experienced a resurgence of interest within the academic community. They are now read and studied with increasing attention, not only as texts possessing their own poetic dignity but also as documents that provide a privileged insight into the customs and practices – especially funerary, but also cultural and poetic – of the Roman world. It is very welcome and exciting to find such an exceptional and long-awaited product of this renewed interest in verse epigraphy: the new edition, accompanied by extensive commentary and indexes, of the Latin metric inscriptions from the provinces of the empire that were missing from, since discovered or studied after the publication of, the collection by F. Bücheler (Carmina Latina Epigraphica, vols I–II [1895–1897]) and the update by E. Lommatzsch (Carmina Latina Epigraphica, vol. III, supplementum [1926]).

The overarching goal of C., which extends beyond the publication of this single volume and encompasses a broader project that, as the author implies (p. x), will be completed in the coming years (exact timeline not specified), is to provide the first complete edition of all the Latin verse inscriptions not included in the previous CLE I–III. This, along with the intention to offer a more detailed and comprehensive commentary than that of Bücheler and Lommatzsch – one that considers the rich body of scholarship produced in recent decades –, has led him to divide the vast corpus of these ‘new’ texts into three volumes. C. notes (p. ix) that the ‘brevitas’ that characterised the entries in CLE I–III had to be abandoned due to the flourishing of epigraphic studies, many of which have focused specifically on the inscriptions not studied by Bücheler or Lommatzsch, and which now find their definitive cataloguing here. This is evident, for example, in the long bibliographical lists for CLE 2714, 2717–18, 2742, 2753, 2764, 2771, 2775, 2786, 2862, or in some commentaries, which extend to three pages in the cases of CLE 2178 and 2872 and nearly four pages for CLE 2887, to cite just the African inscriptions.

The introductory section, consisting of a ‘praefatio’ and a ‘conspectus notarum et librorum’, is followed by the large corpus of verse inscriptions, both Latin and bilingual, from the provinces of the empire that were not catalogued by Bücheler and Lommatzsch. C. informs readers that these were selected through a systematic review of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) and various printed corpora and online databases (such as the Clauss–Slaby [EDCS] and Musisque Deoque [MQDQ] databases). The organisation of the texts is based on the degree of certainty regarding their nature as metrical texts: first come the texts that are certainly metrical (‘Carmina quae iure dici possunt’, pp. 3–653), followed by those of uncertain metre (pp. 655–791), and finally ‘aliena’ (pp. 793–813). Within each of these categories, the texts are organised geographically by regio (e.g. ‘Africae provinciae’) and place (e.g. ‘Tripolitania’, ‘Africa Proconsularis’, ‘Byzacene’, ‘Numidia’, ‘Mauretania Caesariensis’ and ‘Mauretania Tingitana’) and then chronologically from the oldest to the most recent. This ordering, which differs from the verse-based arrangement of CLE I–III, offers the advantage of providing a clearer picture of the epigraphic production of each individual province – a picture that will, however, need to be complemented by that of the first three volumes. The editorial choice regarding the numbering of the texts aligns with C.'s aim of continuing Bücheler and Lommatzsch's work: the first carmen is recorded as CLE 2300, directly following the last one in Lommatzsch's volume (which itself continued the first two volumes by Bücheler).

Each text is preceded by a bibliography: in addition to the main editions, such as those of the CIL or other fundamental corpora, C. has the merit of including references to databases, which, while potentially overwhelming readers with bibliographic entries, immediately make it clear that the document in question has a record in, for example, EDCS and MQDQ. This is followed by basic information on findspot and place of preservation, the type of artefact, its state of preservation and a proposed dating. A graphical distinction might have been beneficial to help readers quickly separate this information from the (sometimes lengthy) bibliographies, although it must be acknowledged that what would have been the most logical solution in this regard – greater spacing between these two micro-sections – would have further lengthened a volume that already exceeds 1,000 pages. The text is then presented as follows: the praescriptum and postscriptum, when present, are in ekthesis, as opposed to the poetic section, which is presented according to its metrical pattern rather than to the layout of the text as it is inscribed, thus making the type of carmen (a sequence of hexameters, an elegiac couplet etc.) immediately recognisable. The choice to place the bibliography and essential information before the text, while the apparatus and commentary follow, is very effective, as it helps present the various pieces of information more clearly and in a manner that is perhaps familiar to epigraphers (a similar arrangement, for example, appears in EDR). Moreover, C. makes an improvement over the volumes of Bücheler and Lommatzsch, as the carmen is not stripped of its prose sections, and this, in turn, has the commendable effect of preventing the apparatus from becoming congested. On the other hand, the choice to apply numbering only to the metrical lines and not to all the lines of writing helps readers focus on the metrical text, which is the core of the volume.

The end of the book is almost as important as its core. C.'s indexes are invaluable for navigating the vast collection of texts, providing readers with, in addition to the canonical lists of incipits (pp. 833–54), names (pp. 855–66) and places (pp. 867–73), an important section on the auctores (pp. 877–86), an area in which C. is one of the foremost experts. This index, which complements those of CLE I–III, offers a vital resource for anyone studying the relationship between canonical literature and carmina Latina epigraphica. Also of great value are the lists of carmina arranged by genre, type of support and chronology, as well as the ‘index rerum et verborum notabilium explicationibus disceptationibus libris instructus’, which at times functions as a commentary (for instance, in the case of carmen/carmina on p. 901, where C. explains the meanings of the term in epigraphy as well as in canonical literature and gives some examples). Finally, C.'s decision to organise the texts according to their metre in the final index (‘Res metrica’, pp. 942–8) proves to be very useful, not least as it creates continuity with the cataloguing methodology followed in the volumes by Bücheler and Lommatzsch.

The decision to publish a volume of inscriptions from the provinces only (CLE IV), leaving the documents from Italy and Rome for the subsequent two volumes (CLE V–VI), is particularly fitting, especially considering the ample space devoted to the discussion of each case. And, thanks to the rich indexes, C. successfully guides readers along a complex yet coherent path across the more than 800 texts that make up the corpus. With this and the two forthcoming volumes, C. is thus creating a magnum opus that builds on the first three volumes of CLE, while improving upon certain aspects. Overall, this project is of enormous significance for its content, but also holds great methodological value and will serve as a reference point for anyone working on Latin metrical epigraphy.