VERSE EPITAPHS ON ROMAN MONUMENTS. IN Brambach's "Corpus Inscriptionum Rhenanarum” (4to. 1867), there are a few inscriptions which appear of sufficient interest to be presented to the reader in ordinary type, and with such punctuation as the sense seemed to require. Perhaps but few of the readers of this Journal have the leisure to go through nearly 400 quarto pages; and the inscriptions themselves in the original capitals, and with many abbreviations, require some little pains and thought for the right understanding of them. The few comments I have added are intended rather to draw out discussion, than as determining the sense or reading in not a few doubtful passages. I hope, at a future time, to add a few more epitaphs of the same kind. Any opinions that can be given as to the date of those printed below, would be an acceptable contribution to Latin scholarship. F. A. PALEY. I. Hoc, hoc sepulchrum respice, Sidonius aera perstrepens པ་ Compare the last epigram of Ausonius (No. 146), and Meyer's AAA Lat, n. 1268. I Na 323, p. 82 This inscription is said to have been dug up in the Basilica of St Ursula, Cologne, in the year 1643, and to have been again buried. If genuine, it is an interesting monument, apparently to two brothers, one of whom was a tibices, the other a short-hand writer, notarius. 4. Notice the orthography of lachrima, and in v. 10 of sepulchrum, with the h, if the correctness of the transcript can be trusted, which Brambach thinks doubtful. 5. The quantity of the u in pueris (as a trisyllable) is remarkable. If my memory serves me, pueri is a spondee in Lucretius 8. Sidonius seems of three syllables, the last i having the sound of y. On the other side of the stone commenced the account of the other brother, Xanthias. In this name the this hardened to t, as in tus = thus. 12 Jam doctus, and coeperat in v. 17, seem to show that the boy was quite young, and had only lately begun to act as a writer and a reader, lector or anagnostes. The syntax seems to be, doctus notare tot literas et nomina in compendia literarum, &c. Or is tot here constructed with a genitive? 16. superaret, 'no one could surpass him as a reader.' 22. The word hic may have dropped out, or been illegible on the stone; 'he was the only one here who would have become the confidential slave of his master.' II. Optaeis nomen sis natum carmine tristi; Parvula quis rapta est atque unica! heu male mensis 6 II. No. 350, p. 86. Copied by the editor from the stone at Cologne. 1. Optaeis is written OPTAEI with a final letter resembling V partly erased. It has been thought to represent 'Оπτη ́s. I think it is a úπокóρισμа, an endearing name invented by the poet in reference to the father's name Optatus. Hence, he says, 'may you be a name born of doleful verse.' 3. genitor is written genitur. Perhaps pater et mater should have been written, or (2) genitor materque Nemesia, or (3) the et omitted. deflet is written adeflet, but the A is partly erased. This shows the carelessness of the engraver. 4. The false quantity in iniqua is the more remarkable, as injusta or immerita was an obvious synonym. 5. atque is written AIQ, another example of carelessness. III. Blandam te pietas mors inpia funere tristi III. No. 412, p. 96. In the Cologne Museum. 1. The meaning of the first verse is obscure. Is pietas a vocative, 'object of our affection,' as the poets often call a wife or mistress vita; or is there a harsh ellipse of some verb, pietas te (extulit or servavit), mors abstulit? 4. I do not know what III means, unless perhaps "dies XVIII", i.e. 6 x 3. IV. Qui dolet interitum, mentem soletur amore; Fama viget. Periit corpus, sed nomen in ore est. O crudele nefas! tulit hic sine crimine mortem. Nil scelus egisti; fama est quae nescit obire. Posuit Furius. 5 10 IV. No. 780, p. 159. This stone is said to have been dug up in the cemetery of St Eucharius, Treves, in 1522, but is now lost. 5. What emperor is meant by Augustus is, I suppose, uncertain. The man seems to have been a confidential messenger, like the nuntii and cursores mentioned in Tac. Agric. 43. 6. The exact sense of this line is not clear. The first part may refer to a praenomen not plainly expressed, but antithetical to the gentile nomen, 'Sabinus.' It is hard to see how Sabinus can be 'nomen Latiae gentis patriaeque.' 7. sine crimine. The notion was, that early death was due to some crime committed. So Cornelia says (Propert. v. 11, 17), 'immatura licet, tanien huc non noxia veni.' 8. damnatus, supply fatis, probably; unless damnatus sine crimine was meant. 9. Nil, an accusative of reference, 'in nothing.' The Latinity agere scelus seems remarkable. This verse, it may be observed, only repeats the sentiments in vv. 2 and 7. But perhaps the sense is, 'Nil, Scelus, egisti,'' Wretch! you have effected nothing,' addressed to the brigand who killed him. V. Hospes, ades, paucis et perlege versibus acta; Ultimus ipse fuit quintus quadragesimus annus, 5 Hic ego nunc cogor Stygias transire paludes; 10 Me memini callir natum Caroque parenti, Et miles collo fortiter arma tuli. ...nita crudelis tribuit mihi fune[ris horam]; V. No. 946, p. 186. Copied from two paper impressions in the Museum of Mayence. 2. patriae domus seems to mean 'a home in his own country,' viz. in the grave. Perhaps haec, not hic, was intended. 3. Iulius ipse, the man himself, his genius, opposed to the ashes, which are also buried there, 'factus caro corpore,' i.e. made from a body once so dear. 5. One would think jucundis must have been intended. 7. Note the false quantity in quadragesimus. This word was certainly intended by the numeral XXXXV ANNUS, 8. acerba, praematura, as in the first inscription, v. 11. 11. callir is very clearly written, and must stand for the place of birth. Qu. Gallis? It is remarkable that the c is used for the G throughout, as perlece, eco, cocor, stycias. And the inscription is very carelessly cut; thus, fata tenent is written fati tenint, and parenti in v. 11 is more like IARELIS. Can this be an ablative agreeing with Gallis? 13. A letter is wanting. The name of a place may have been expressed; but the mutilated words at the end make the Journal of Philology. VOL. IV. 20 |