This epigraphic monument is incomplete because it was cut on the top, one of the sides and the base, to serve as construction material in the São Jorge Castle, where it was found during restoration work. Originally, it may have been a pedestal or altar. What remains of the engraved text is enough to distinguish it among the Roman epigraphy in the present-day Portuguese territory, as it refers a verna belonging to one of the Augustus (one of the emperors), that is a public slave from the imperial era (when State property and the emperors' private property began to meld), who is also a

vilicus (foreman, administrator, collector) of

vicesima hereditatium, a 5% tax on the twentieth part of inheritances, charged from the 6 BC until the end of the 3^rd century AD from all the citizens of the empire. This man, named Firmus, is an example of a slave who was also a notable person.