Carmen dedicated to Marcus Porcius

Type of verse

• Verse/line correspondence: No
• Prose/verse distinction: Si

Epigraphic edition

Text divided into verses and metric signs

Heredibus mando etiam cinere ut m[eo vina subspargant ut super eum] l l w l  l  w w l  w w l  w l l w l  l l l w w  w w

volitet meus ebrius papilio ipsa ossa tegant he[rbae‑ ‑ ‑]. w w l  w w l  w l l w w l  l w w l  l l

Si quis titulum ad mei nominis astiterit, dicat: [id quod reliquit] l l w w  l w l l w w l w w l l w  l l w l w

avidus ignis quod corpore resoluto se vertit in fa[villam bene quiescat]. w w w l l l l w w w w l l l l w l w  l l  w w  w l w

Translation

“Marcus Porcius, son of Marcus... I also order my heirs to sprinkle my ashes with wine, so that my drunken spirit may flutter over it like a butterfly. May the grass cover my bones. Should any halt before the epitaph bearing my name, let him say: ‘what the hungry fire has left —once the body has dissolved— and transformed into embers, let it rest well’”.

Bibliography

Hübner, II 2146 (inde Ruiz Giménez 1879, 369; Bücheler, CLE ad 1851; Rodríguez de Berlanga 1903, 213–214; Acedo 1928, 53–54; Vives, ILER 5783; Bonneville 1984, 71; González Román, CILA III, 322 (tab. 223); Stylow 1995, 223; Thigpen 1995, 80–82, quae in linguam Anglicam vertit); Stylow, II2/7, 116 (phot. in microchartula); del Hoyo – Fernández Martínez – Carande 2006, 113–126, cum im. phot, qui in linguam Hispanicam verterunt; del Hoyo in Fernández Martínez, CLEB, J15, cum im. phot, qui in linguam Hispanicam vertit (HEp 2006, 164). – Cf. Mariner 1952, 77 et 157; Bettini 1986, 212; Velázquez Soriano 1996, 77-113; Hernández Pérez 2001a, n. 117–118; Cugusi 2003a, 457.

Apparatus

1–5 supplevit Hübner. – 2 cinere(m) ut me[um vino spargant ut super eum volitet supp. Mommsen, ut m[era vina ferant] Bücheler, m[eo · vina · subspargant · ut—] suppl. Stylow. – 3 tegant · he[rbae ] suppl. Stylow. – 4 dicat [quod non rapuit] Bücheler; 5 fa[villam, bene quiescere] Bücheler; in · fa[villam—] suppl. Stylow.

Comentary

Commaticum in Bücheler’s view, because of the abundance of anapaests. Vocabulary and ordinatio typical of a carmen (del Hoyo 2002b: 143-160).

The left part was seen and completely edited at one stage. It does not seem necessary to reconstruct sit tibi terra levis (Hübner, ad II 2146) at the end. Morales reconstructed fa[villam] and added: the lower part of the stone is complete with mouldings which curve slightly upwards, meaning that nothing is missing from the last line, since this practically reaches the edge, and all the rest is smooth (la piedra esta entera con sus molduras por abaxo, que vuelven ácia arriba un poquito, asi que deste ultimo renglon no falta mas de lo dicho, pues no llega con mucho al cabo, estando todo lo demas liso).

            The ordinatio distinguishes prose (l. 1) from verse (ll. 2-5), as does its counterpart from Corduba (CIL II²/7,575), whose text was used to reconstruct this one. The epigraph from Corduba appears to have been a copy of the one from Obulco, to judge by inconsistencies such as the use of the singular to refer to the deceased, when there are in fact three of them and not just one.

            For Mommsen (ad II 2146) the inscription contains one of the testamentary expressions in which the deceased gives specific instructions (mando) to the heirs ([here]dibus) for burial, specifying a series of customs that must have had their basis in reality. The ashes of the deceased are to be sprinkled with wine, a custom attested to in Stat., silv. 2,6,89-91 and Cic., leg. 2, 24, 60.

            The content of l. 3, the metaphor of the butterfly fluttering as the description of the soul leaving the body at the moment of death, the association of flight with the concept of anima (yucR), was known in Greek and Latin poets (Lvcr. 3,732; Verg., Aen. 6,293; Tib. 1,5,50-51). In CLE 1063 there is a reference to papilio volitans, which Bücheler took to refer directly to the soul. Although Lattimore, 1942, 30, n.77, and 133 was surprised at the dearth of references to this imagery in Latin literature and epigraphy (only these three inscriptions), the iconography has left examples in which a funerary Eros bears away the soul of the deceased, represented with butterfly wings (Mitreo de Santa María in Capua Vetere). It is also found in sarcophagi in which Prometheus is creating men (Cumont 1966, 319).

            Ebrius may be wordplay with the evocation of the wine poured on the ashes (l.2), or the frantic flight of the butterflies (vid. interpretation in II²/7,575).

At the end of l. 2, perhaps tegant he[rbae et flores] (cf. CLE 451).            Avidus ignis, a theme reflected in CLE 1135, with parallels in Ov., met. 9,234; 12,280. L. 2 cinere instead of cineri.

Images

Photo author: J. Del Hoyo Calleja

Link to DB

Author

• Author:J. Del Hoyo Calleja
• Last Update2024-02-25 18:25:23
• Autopsy date:2000