Funerary inscription

Type of verse

• Verse/line correspondence: Si
• Prose/verse distinction: Si

Epigraphic edition

Text divided into verses and metric signs

[[heredibus mando ut cin]eri ▴ meo ▴ vina ▴subs[par­gant?]   wlwllwl

[ut cum ‑ ‑ ‑ d]ẹsiero volitet ▴ meus ▴ eḅ[rius]   wwlwwlwwl

[papilio ossa tegant ‑ ‑ ‑] +++ ▴ topis ▴ rosa ▴ vit[‑ ‑ ‑]   wlwwl

[‑ ‑ ‑ si q]ụis ▴ titulum ▴ ad m[ei nominis]   lwwl

5       [astiterit ‑ ‑ ‑]+ ▴ ho+[‑ ‑ ‑]   l

Translation

"(...), (...) and T(...). (...is buried here), may the earth rest lightly on you. (...), his wife, is buried here. (May the earth) (rest lightly) on you. (...), his daughter, is buried here. May the earth rest (lightly) on you. (I order my heirs to) pour wine over my ashes, (so that) my drunken (spirit) may fly (like a butterfly. (May they cover my bones) with plants, roses (...). (If) someone (should halt), beside the epitaph (...)".

Bibliography

Stylow, II2/7, 575; del Hoyo – Fernández Martínez – Carande 2006, 101–121, cum im. phot, qui in linguam Hispanicam verterunt; Fernández Martínez – Carande, CLEB CO11, cum im. phot, quae in linguam Hispanicam verterunt; Cugusi 2012, 154; cf. Velázquez Soriano 1996, 110; Hernández Pérez 2002, 110; Cugusi 2003a, 457.

Apparatus

1-10 suppl. Stylow exempli causa II2/7, 116. – 1 ssus Stylow.

Comentary

Possibly commemorating the death of three members of one family. The three names of the deceased would have been cut in the first two lines; the first line would be that of the pater familias, but only three almost complete letters of his name remain (SSV) as well as the remains of what might be a T, F, I, M or N, with no interpunction between them. In l. 2 et could join the names of the wife and daughter and the initial T of the name of the latter. The three following lines could repeat the three names of the deceased, to judge by the sequence +ge which precedes an uxor for which CIL proposes [Si]ge rather than [Clan]ge or [Phton]ge (cf. Solin 1982, s.v.); in fact, what remains of the letter suggests a reading of <I> rather than anything else. Each name is followed by h(ic) s(itus) e(st) s(it) t(ibi) t(erra) l(evis). Vacat of 2 cm and switch to a literary text, doubtless copied from another inscription from Obulco (Porcuna, Jaén), edited in CIL II²/7,116 and half a century earlier than this one.

The Obulco inscription, which is also fragmentary and to some extent completes the one conserved in Córdoba, is known to us in full through manuscript tradition. It is difficult to decide whether it is in verse or not; the layout is that of a carmen, but we cannot identify any clear scheme:

[[heredibus mando ut cin]eri · meo · vina · subs[par­gant?]   wlwllwl

[ut cum ‑ ‑ ‑ d]esiero volitet · meus · eb[rius]   wwlwwlwwl

[papilio ossa tegant ‑ ‑ ‑] +++ · topis · rosa · vit[‑ ‑ ‑]   wlwwl

[‑ ‑ ‑ si q]uis · titulum · ad m[ei nominis]   lwwl

10   [astiterit ‑ ‑ ‑]+ · ho+[‑ ‑ ‑]   l

Testamentary clause ordering the ashes to be sprinkled with wine (cf. Stat., silv. 2,6,90-91 and Cic., leg. 2,24,60). Interesting metaphor of the fluttering butterfly to describe the soul (Lucr. 3,732; Verg., Aen. 6,293). Ebrius refers to the effects of the libation of the funeral ceremony (Gómez Pallarès PEPC, T5,21-22:  fundere lacrimas, vina). In  l. 8 topis, a word not attested in the CLE and rarely used elsewhere (cf. Copa 7 and Vitr. 7,5,2), might refer to decorational motifs on the tomb or the well-known topos of the offering of flowers to the dead. Anastrophe titulum ad in l. 10.

Images

Photo author: C. Fernández Martínez.

Link to DB

Author

• Author:C. Fernández Martínez, R. Carande Herrero
• Last Update2024-02-01 18:19:46
• Autopsy date:2004