When and why Commius took up his abode in Britain is not known; but some probability may be claimed for the conjecture that his motive was to check the encroachments of the Catuvellauni.[1467] No coins have been found which can with absolute certainty be ascribed to him:[1468] but it is admitted that he issued coins before Tasciovanus, who, as we have seen, began to reign at least as early as 30 B.C.;[1469] and before his death he became overlord of the maritime tribes of South-Eastern Britain on the right bank of the Thames.[1470] He [Sidenote: Tincommius, Verica, and Eppillus.] left three sons, Tincommius, Verica, and Eppillus; and almost all their coins have been found in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and Hampshire.[1471] Each of these sons described himself on his coins as REX, and each of them appears to have had a kingdom of his own, Tincommius ruling the Regni, who inhabited Sussex, Eppillus the Cantii, and Verica the Atrebates.[1472] The dominions of Verica cannot, however, be certainly defined. There is some reason to suppose that he held sway over the Atrebates of Belgium as well as over those of Britain; for certain coins found in the north of France, and closely resembling others that are common in the south-eastern counties of England, are inscribed with a monogram which appears to denote the abbreviation VE.[1473] It should seem that Eppillus, at some time, was king of the Atrebates, for some of his coins have the legend CALLEV,--an abbreviated form of Calleva, the chief town of that tribe.[1474] Certain coins, however, exist which apparently bear the names of all the three brothers, a fact which can only be explained on the theory that at one time they exercised a joint sovereignty over the dominions which had belonged to their father;[1475] while others are inscribed with the names of Verica and Eppillus only.[1476] It has been assumed that these coins were not struck until after the death of Tincommius;[1477] but another explanation seems possible. Why did Tincommius, alone of the three brothers, solicit the protection of Augustus, and why did he undertake the journey to Rome in conjunction with Dubnovellaunus? Numismatic evidence has led to the belief that Dubnovellaunus had once ruled over the Cantii;[1478] and if so, Eppillus, who afterwards acquired dominion over the same tribe, probably dispossessed him. Dubnovellaunus, as we have already seen, appears to have once ruled over the Trinovantes as well, and to have been expelled from their country by Cunobeline. These successive reverses may have been the motive for the journey which he undertook to Rome; and when we consider that certain coins bear the names of Eppillus and Verica, without that of Tincommius, which on others appears side by side with theirs, it seems possible that Tincommius, finding that his brothers were leagued together against him, threw in his lot with another prince who had been as unfortunate as himself. This conjecture is perhaps somewhat strengthened by the fact that one of the coins of Tincommius bears, along with TIN--the abbreviated form of his name--the inscription DV,[1479] which has baffled the acumen of numismatists, but which, on the analogy of TC--one of the abbreviations of TINCOMMIOS[1480]--may possibly stand for DUBNOVELLAUNOS.[1481]