Epitaph of Publius Plotius Reburro

Type of verse

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

Epigraphic edition

Text divided into verses and metric signs

[Suprem]ae pietatis opus [sed]emque videtis [ll]|l/kk|lk/k|l/[l]|lkk|l~

     [ist]am, quae Plotio [- – -]a morte fuit.  [l]l|llk|l||[lk]k|lkk|~

[Hoc] fratris Vegeti [- – -]cavit cura sep[ulc]rum ll|l/kk|l/[kk]|ll|lkk|l~

et pietate [sua] iustum persolvi[t] amorem. lkk|lk[k|l]/l|l/l|lkk|l~

Translation

"Publius Plotius Reburrus, son of Publius, of the Galeria tribe, from Interamnius, of the castellum Cal…; twenty-one years old, he is buried here. You can see the monument to affection … and (the dwelling) that Plotius had after his death. (This) sepulchre… the diligence of his brother Vegetius, and honoured his unwavering love with (his) affection."

Bibliography

Albertos 1975, 33 n. 24 et 45 n. 37 bis; Luzón 1975, 288 (HEp 1993, 200); Tranoy 1981, 373; Santos 1985, 24; Rodríguez Colmenero 1987, 384 n. 274; González Fernández, CILA I, 6, cum im. phot.; Brañas 1995, 223; Canto 1997, 140–141 n. 164; Fernández Martínez – Carande, CLEB, H1, cum im. phot, quae in linguam Hispanicam verterunt; Hernández Pérez 2001a, 48; Cugusi 2012, 4.

Apparatus

Mariner (apud Luzón) primus carmen legit.– 2–3 Reburri|nus Rodríguez Colmenero. – 3–4 Interam|[nicus] Canto, Interamicus Albertos, Interam[nanus] Cugusi dubitanter. – 4 ex] ga Luzón. – 7 [fraterna]e pietatis Luzón, Canto; [—]e pietate González Fernández; [fratern]ae pietatis coniecit Cugusi. – 7–8 opu|[s sed]emque Luzón, opus Rodríguez Colmenero. 9 [extrem]am Luzón, Canto. – 10 [saeva] in morte Canto; ta morte fuit Rodríguez Colmenero, in morte alii. – 11 [hoc] fratris Luzón; [tunc cum] Canto; …rat bis vegetus Rodríguez Colmenero. 12 [inde di]cavit Canto. – 12–13 sep|[ulcr]um Luzón. – 13–14 pietate [sua] Luzón. – 14 i[u]stum persolvit Luzón, iustum persolvit Canto.

Comentary

Epitaph of a young man of twenty-one, dedicated by his brother. The epitaph recreates the topos of mors immatura using several traditional topoi in metric epigraphy, among them: the familiar pietas and the everlasting funerary monument. The nomen of the deceased (Plotius) and the cognomen of the dedicant (Vegetus) are documented in Hispania: cf. Abascal 1994b, 198 and 540 respectively. The cognomen Reburrus is an indigenous anthroponym found in Portugal and Galicia (cf. Rubio Alija 1959, 51-52, Untermann 1965, 155-156 and Abascal 1994b, 480-482). Moreover, it is clear that the deceased belonged to the privileged tribe of Galeria (cf. Stylow 1995, 114). In ll. 3-4, apparently there is not enough space for Interam[nic]us, only for Interam[ic]us; both Galician gens names are well documented (cf. Tabula imperii Romani. Hoja K-29, Madrid 1991, 61 and Hoja K-30, Madrid, 1993, 132); castellum is expressed with a prepositional expression in place of a simple ablative, probably because the deceased Plotius came from far away or because it was not his place of origin. After the praescriptum in prose, the carmen appears to be an elegiac distich plus two dactylic hexameters, concentrating on the family pietas: Vegetius dedicates the tomb to his dead brother Plotius. L. 7, given the remaining space, might have begun with [suprem]ae, cf. CLE 830,1;  accipe nunc frater supremi munus honoris; with respect to opu(s), the strong degree of erosion in the base does not allow us to see if the –s was finally engraved at the end of that same line: there is enough space, so that there is no need to suppose that it was relegated to the next line (another option would be to think in the well known epigraphic license which omits the final –s in margine or in pausa; cf. Fernández Martínez 1992).

The reconstruction [sed]emque in l. 8 is more likely: cf. CLE 1605,3. In l. 9, the ending -am seems to belong to an adjective agreeing with sedem in l. 8; the quantitative sequence requires a bisyllable, which might simply be istam (cf. CLE 1185,8). In l. 10, a dactylic sequence difficult to reconstruct is required before morte; in l. 11, however, we can reconstruct the deictic hoc, agreeing with sepulchrum; in l. 12 the sequence missing before -cavit is harder to reconstruct. Ll. 13-15 emphasise the desire to construct a monument worthy of the deceased, cf. Hernández Pérez 2001a, 181; for the meaning of persolvere, common in epigraphical poetry, cf. CLE 1536,2. Otherwise, amorem is a frequent hexameter ending in epigraphic poetry (CLE 688,1; 1471,1, etc.) and iustum is a no less usual adjective in the expression of this laudative topos (CLE 371,2: titulum qui perlegis, audi et iustam quaeso pietatis percipe curam).

Images

Photo author: C. Fernández Martínez

Link to DB

Author

• Author:R. Carande Herrero, C. Fernández Martínez
• Last Update2024-02-12 17:20:45
• Autopsy date:2003