Epitaph of Justa

Type of verse

• Type of verse: Dactílico (hexámetro)
• Verse/line correspondence: Si
• Prose/verse distinction: Si

Epigraphic edition

Text divided into verses and metric signs

Quisque legis titulum lacrimas effunde frequentes: lkk|l/kk|l/kk|l/l|lkk|l~

Hic situs est iuvenis pietate inlustris [- – -] lkk|l/kk|l/kk|l/l|lx[k|l~]

Elysiasque petit securus Manibus umbras lkk|lkk|l/l|ll|lkk|l~

Translation

“Iusta, servant of Christ, lived some sixty-seven years. You who read this inscription, weep plentiful tears. Here lies buried a young man known for his dutiful conduct (...). He goes with the protection of the Manes to the shadows of Elysium. Buried in peace the day of the Ides of November in the year 701 of this era.”

Bibliography

Morales 1574–1586, II, fol. 153v. (inde Masdeu 1783/1805, IX, 362, n. 2; Ramírez de las Casas Deza 1838, I, 117); López Cárdenas ms. 1765, fol. s. n. apud A. de Valdecañas; ex eis Hübner, IHC 124 et supp. p. 58 (inde Bücheler, CLE 723, cuius exemplum in linguam Hispanicam vertit Fernández Martínez 1998-99; Diehl, ILCV 2185; Vives, ICERV 179; Gil 1976, 562–565); Stylow, II2/7, 749; Martín Camacho, CLEB ES, CO4, qui in linguam Hispanicam vertit. – Cf. Mariner 1952, 83; Santos Gener 1959, 48; Salvador 1998, 128 n. 219 et 140–141 n. 242.

Apparatus

2 minu Morales. – 4 frequenter Morales; iuben Morales, iubenis Vives. – 5 inlustrs Morales, inlustris (et ortu) Casas Deza, in(lustris) [ ] Stylow. – 5–6 Mabius Morales, López Cárdenas, Vives; Mabiui Hübner; martur(is) Bücheler, amabilis Stylow. – 6 umbra omnes exc. Gil.

Comentary

The version of the text provided by LÓPEZ CÁRDENAS is more reliable than that of
MORALES, with all the lines occupying the same length.

Three quantitative hexameters. The second is missing a foot and a half; it should be
assumed that for some reason (perhaps the name of the young man) it was not cut, so that it is not noted in the epigraphic edition while it is in the diacritic. Disagreement of content between prose and verse: the praescriptum and subscriptum are dedicated to a woman sixty-seven years old, and the carmen refers to a male iuuenis. Almost certainly inscribed for just one deceased woman, Iusta, whose part in verse was copied from other lines, dedicated to a young man, without being adapted (uid. Gil). The reason for this loan is probably a confusion of elysias with eclesias, which gives the poem a Christian character which it would not necessarily have had originally. Ll. 3-5 recreate topoi which are frequent in the CLE: the request for the passer-by to honour the deceased with his tears, cf. CLE 403,1; CLE 82,8; etc; the introduction and elogium of the deceased for his pietas, cf. CLE 525,2; CLE 1049,4, etc. Ll. 5-6 are more difficult to understand.
The sources provide an obscure expression: eclesiasque petit securus Mabius umbra. The
emendations proposed by Gil have been accepted: eclesias for Elysias, a replacement caused by the confusion between their pronunciation and the lack of understanding in the later period of the concept of Elysium, which had fallen out of use by that time. Mabius could be from Manibus with ligature A^N understood as MAVIBVS; with graphic metathesis, this form would have given MABIVVS. As a parallel to this verse, cf. CO75,7-8: ECLESIAS PETET MANIB /
VMBRAS. The reward of Elysium is suggested (cf. Lattimore 1942, 40-43). Vmbras could refer both to shade sensu stricto (cf. the descriptions of Elysium as woods in Verg. Aen 6,658-9 and
674; Ou. Am. 2,6,49 and 57; Mart. 6,58,3-4 or Sil. Pun. 13,551-552) or to the shades of the dead (cf. Ou. Am. 3,9,60-1 or Stat. Theb. 11,79 or CLE 394,2 and CLE 1143,5-6).

Images

Photo author: F. J. López Cárdenas

Link to DB

Author

• Author:J. Martín Camacho
• Last Update2024-01-31 17:17:51