Epitaph of Murcia

Type of verse

• Type of verse: Dactílico (pentámetro)
• Verse/line correspondence: No
• Prose/verse distinction: No

Epigraphic edition

Text divided into verses and metric signs

Semper et in flore, sit tibi terra levis. lkk|ll|k||lkk|lkk|~

Translation

“Murcia, young freedwoman, twenty-eight years old (lies buried here). Always in bloom, may the earth rest lightly on you.”

Bibliography

Anonymvs Tavrinensis, ms. saec. XVI, 62, f. 678v et 682r (inde Hübner II 1848 et 5117 [inde Bücheler, CLE ad 1124; Cholodniak 1904, 1217; Vives, ILER 3852; González Fernández, IRCa 21]); Morales 1574–1586, 63 (inde Martín de Haya, 2ª m. s. XVI, ms. BCC 56-4-8, 115v. et apud Concepción 1690, 121, n. 29; González Fernández, IRCa 244); ex eis Gómez Pallarès – del Hoyo – Martín Camacho 2005, 236–243; Martín Camacho, CLEB ES, CA3, qui in linguam Hispanicam vertit. – Cf. Padilla 1990, 245; Hernández Pérez 2001a, 242 et 264–265; del Hoyo 2002b, 159–160.

Apparatus

DM Morales, DMS Martín de Haya apud Concepción; 1 Marcia Morales haud recte; lib(erta) Martín de Haya apud Concepción. – 2 iuvenis Morales. – 3 ore eius Morales, González Fernández 21 in apparatu, ore eius González Fernández 244. – 4 om. Morales.

Comentary

Single independent pentameter with only one metrical error: the brevis in longo of the “e” in flore. Indications of the poetic nature of the text include: the ordinatio, end of the line corresponding to the end of a hemistich (and a syntactical unit), and the formula sit tibi terra levis, which is written twice: first without abbreviation and later abbreviated (cf. Del Hoyo 2002b, 159-160). L. 2, ivenis (cf. Leumann 1977, 135-136), in order to reduce the writing (in epigraphical poetry in Hispania vocalic “u” still counts for the purpose of scansion, cf. MU7,4; V4,4; or T3,3). L. 3. Rather than a floral dedication this is a reference to mors immatura through the metaphor of flos aetatis (cf., CLE 113b,2; CLE 1149,1): the deceased will always be remembered like this precisely because she died at a young age, cf. CLE 488,3 (cf. Gómez Pallarès-Del Hoyo-Martín Camacho 2005, 240-241). L. 3 the conjunction is used for metrical reasons to form the pentameter, cf. SE18,8

The nomen Murcia is an unicum in the epigraphy of Hispania (Morales transcribes Marcia, which is fairly well attested), but it appears on several occasions in other parts of the Roman world, always as a nomen, cf., for example, AE 1966, 118 and 119; AE 1991, 102; AE 1975, 661.

Link to DB