Marking out numbers in this way is a regular feature of Latin script, the intention being no doubt to alert the reader to the fact that i, l, x etc. are not to be treated as letters but as figures.

Bowman, A. and Thomas, D. 1994. “The Vindolanda Writing Tablets (Tabulae Vindolandenses II)”, London: British Museum Press

I am using this huge publication to encode the Vindolanda Tablets in XML.

This was selected according to the following viral criteria:

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open it to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.