Epitaph of Oppilanus

Type of verse

• Type of verse: Acentual
• Verse/line correspondence: No
• Prose/verse distinction: No

Epigraphic edition

Text divided into verses and metric signs

Haec cava saxa Oppilani continet menbra,  ~~́~~́/~~~́~~́~~~́~

clarum in ortum natalium, gestu habituque conspicu͡um;  ~́~~́~~́~~|~́~~~́~~~́~

opibus quippe pollens et artuum viribus cluens.  ~́~~~́~~́~|~~́~~~́~~~́~

Iacula vehi praecipitur praedoque Bacce͡is destinatur,  ~́~~~́~~~́~~|~~́~~~́~~~́~

5       in procinctum belli necatur opitulatione sodalium desolatus.  ~́~~́~~́~~~́~|~~̀~~̀~~́~~~́~~̀~~~́~

Naviter cede perculsum clientes rapi͡unt peremptum,  ~́~~~́~~~́~|~~́~~́~~~́~

exanimis Dom(i)um reducitur, suis a vernulis humatur.  ~~́~~~́~~~́~~|~́~~́~~̀~~́~

Lugit coniux cum liberis, fletibus famili͡a prestrepit.  ~́~~́~~~́~~|~́~~̀~~́~~~́~

Deci͡es ut ternos ad quater quaternos vixit per annos,  ~́~~~́~~~́~|~~́~~́~~~́~

10    Pridi͡e Septembrium Idus morte a Vasconibus multatus,  ~́~~~́~~́~|~́~~~́~~̀~~́~

Era sescentesima et octagensima id gestum memento.  ~́~~̀~~́~/~~̀~~́~~~́~~~́~

Translation

“This hollow rock contains the body of Oppilanus, famed for the origins of his family, and outstanding in his behaviour and mien. Also rich in resources and renowned for his bodily strength. He is ordered to take up arms and sent to sack the Vascones. He is killed just before he enters battle, and deprived of the aid of his companions; struck dead, his dependants quickly snatch his dead body and he is taken home lifeless. Buried by his slaves, his wife and children weep for him, his house resounds with their wailing. He lived for forty-six years. On the eve of the Ides of September he died at the hands of the Vascones. Remember that this came to pass in the six hundred and eightieth year of the era. On the sixth day before the Ides of October he lies at rest”

Bibliography

Laín y Rojas 1820; Zamorano 1827 (inde Canal – Carvajal 1827; BRAH 1832; Ramírez de las Casas Deza 1838, 134–135; Hübner 1870; id., IHC 123 et suppl. ad n. [inde Bücheler, CLE 721, cuius exemplum in linguam Hispanicam vertit Fernández Martínez 1998-99; Diehl, ILCV 274; Vives, ICERV 287]; Wordsworth 1872, 156– 157; García Moreno 1974, 64; Gil 1976, 572–574; Fontaine 1991, 163–186 [inde HEp 1994, 320]; Stylow, II2/7, 714; Salvador 1998, 154–155 (n. 270); Gómez Pallarès 1998, 179–180; id. 2002a, 360–361); Cebrián Fernández 2002, 49–51; Martín Camacho, CLEB ES, CO2, qui in linguam Hispanicam vertit (HEp 2010, 130). – Cf. García Calvo 2006, 1295–1296, Carande 2010, 228–230; Rodríguez-Pantoja 2012, 463–467.

Comentary

No common quantitative or stress-based metrical scheme. The composition is
halfway between rhythmic prose and poetry: verse ends mainly stressed dactylic
clausulae (l. 2, cóntinet mémbra; l. 4, abitúque conspícuum; l. 6, uíribus clúens; l. 8,
Baccéis destinátur; etc); rhythmic units separated by palm leaves and hederae, with a
central hemistich, which divides them equally in two (often even in terms of content, cf.
ll. 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 13-14, 15-16); assonant leonine rhyme in all verses except the last
two (where there was no attempt at versifying); regular stress-based cursus marked by
groups with three stressed syllables in each hemistich, which also tend to be
parisosyllabic, cf. Fontaine 1991, 180-181. Carande 2010 describes it as a stressed
cursus but not strictly of a carmen. According to García Calvo 2006, 1295-129 the
scansion was only conditioned by the number of words (understood in the broad sense),
which would be three per hemistich. Abundance of linguistic phenomena common in
the verse epigraphy of the time, cf. l. 1. saxa taken as a feminine noun, and hence
continet in the singular; l. 2. menbra for membra; l. 4: abitu for habitu; ll. 7 and 11:
precipitur, predo and cede with monophthongisation of AE; l. 9: in procinctum for in
procincto; l. 12: peremtum for peremptum; l. 15: lugit for luget; l. 16: prestrepit for
perstrepit; l. 21: octagensima for octangesima; l. 24: octubres for octobres.
Epitaph to a Christian, but the only indications of religion are the chrismon and
the particular attention given to the exact date of death and burial. The rest of the
epitaph alternates between the topoi of non-Christian CLE and echoes of epic poetry,
especially Virgil, cf. for ll. 11-14, Verg. Aen. 9,213-214, 451 and 483. This is also the
reason for the use of archaising forms such as pollens, cluens or nauiter, as well as the
virtually mannerist style of the text. Ll. 1-2: topos alluding to the physical space where
the body is buried. Ll. 3-6: description of the nobility, but also of the physique of Oppilanus (a topic which rarely appears in Latin epigraphic poetry), in two verses with
a careful two-part construction. Ll. 7-8: place the death of Oppilanus at the time of
uninterrupted warring between the Visigoths and the Vascones (to whom Bacceis could
be referring, rather than to the Vaccaei, cf. Isid. Etym. 9,2,107 and uid. Larrañaga 1994,
137-147). Oppilanus was sent to fight them in the year 642, in the reign of
Chintasvintus (uid. Azkarate 2004, 32-34), at the head of his private army (uid. Sanz
1986), in order to attack and devastate the region, which is the sense of praedo (cf.
Orosius 7,40,6 or Iord. Gaet. 272). L. 7. iacula uehi praecipitur is to be understood with
iacula uehi as object of praecipitur and iacula as the subject of uehi, so that it would
have almost the same sense as the more usual gerere tela (cf. Bell. Afr.71,2,1: tella
mitterent praecipiter), uid. Martín Camacho 2010, 98-99. Ll. 9 in procinctum belli and
necatur show that Oppilanus did not die in the battle but before it began (victim of a
surprise attack?); l. 16 the alliterating fletibus familia is the topos of the demonstration
of grief by the loved ones. Ll. 17-18: decies ut ternos, 10 x 3, ad quater quaternos, + 4
x 4; Oppilanus died aged 46, cf. Gil 1976, 573-574. The remaining lines give the date of
his death (12th September 642) and of his burial (10th October 642).

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Author

• Author:J. Martín Camacho
• Last Update2024-01-31 17:52:16