Epitaph of Marcus Calpurnius Lucius

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

Flere cupis quicumque meos in marmore casus, lww|l/l|lw/w|l/l|lww|lx

siste parum lacrimas: sorte miserandus iniqua  lww|l/ww|l/l|w/ww|lww|lx*

amisisse pium pater deditumque sepulcro.        ll|lww|l/w|l/ww|lww|lx*

quam bene iam gessi annos XXVI menses VI diesque VIII!

5       conditus ego iaceo, misero genitore relicto;      lww|wwww|lw/w|l/ww|lww|lx*

iam mater misera, palmisque ubera tundens,    lww|l/ww|w/l|lwH|lww|lx*

et soror infelix comitantur luctibus ambae.      lww|ll|l/ww|ll|lww|lx

coniux cara mea, relicta cum parvolo filio,      ll|lww|w/w|lwl|lwl|lx*

casta mater vidua nunc mihi vita superstat,     lwl|lww|w/l|wl|lww|lx*

10    quae nostrum tumulum honoravit. corpus fossa ima ll|l/ww|l …

[fl]ete, pihi parentes regna qui mundi tenetis.   wl|wl|ll|wl|llw|lx*

hic ego sepultus iaceo placidusque quiesco.      lww|wl|lww|lww|lww|lx*

Translation

“Dedicated to the Manes. Marcus Calpurnius Lucius, decurion. Whoever wishes to weep for my fate at this stone, hold back your tears for a moment. (It is) my father who deserves pity for his unjust fortune: having lost me, a dutiful son, and delivered me to the grave. How happily I lived for twenty-six years, six months and eight days! Here am I buried, leaving my poor father abandoned. My poor mother, striking her breast with her hands, and my unfortunate sister both accompany him in his lamenting. My beloved wife, abandoned with a small child, an irreproachable mother, now a widow, survives me. She prepared my tomb. [Grieve for] my body in the deep grave, dear parents, you who live in the kingdom of mortals: I lie buried here and rest in peace. Here (lies) buried. May the earth rest lightly on you.”

Bibliography

Hosius 1895, 286–300 (290 et 299); Hübner, II 1088 (inde Bücheler, CLE 541, cuius exemplum in linguam Hispanicam vertit Fernández Martínez 1998-99; Vives, ILER 5798); Cholodniak 1904, 667; Wick 1909, 173–199; Löfstedt 1910, 161–184; Hernández Díaz – Sancho – Collantes 1939, 93; Gil 1976, 561; Fernández-Chicarro – Fernández Gómez 1980, 117–119; Millán 1989, 177; González Fernández, CILA II, 305, cum im. phot.; Thigpen 1995, 34–40 n. 2, quae in linguam Anglicam vertit; Carande – Fernández Martínez 2003, 287–312; Fernández Martínez – Carande, CLEB, SE1, cum im. phot, quae in linguam Hispanicam verterunt. – Cf. Mariner 1952, 17, 36, 38, 46, 79, 81–82, 204 et n. 62; Cugusi 2007, 106.

Apparatus

4 quicumque Hübner. – 6 lacrima(n)s Cholodniak, Thigpen 1995, iniqua(m) González Fernández. – 7 patre? Hübner, patre(m) Cholodniak, Thigpen, pa[tre(m)] González Fernández, deditq(ue?) Hübner, dedi[sse] Cholodniak, Thigpen. – 8 quam pene ia [—] esse Hübner, im[pl]esse(m) González Fernández, gess˹i˺ legimus in 2003. – 9 d(ierum)que Cholodniak, Thigpen; filio pro nato Gil. – 15 vidua Hübner. – 16 no(n)? mihi Hübner, Fernández-Chicarro – Fernández Gómez, Millán; supe(r)stat Hübner, Bücheler; nunc mi invita superstat Gil, González Fernández. – 17 qu(a)e González Fernández; onoravit pro onorabit Cholodniak, Thigpen. – 18 fosaimaqiiet Hübner, e[iu]s a(n)ima(m)que [a]t s(e recipiant) Cholodniak, fos(s) a ima? q[ui]ete? González Fernández, fosaimaqiiets = fos(s)a ima (aut postrema) ciete Thigpen. – 18 regnaque Hübner, Cholodniak; onorauit pro onorabit Bücheler, Cholodniak, Thigpen. – 20 tenet(i)s González Fernández, tene(n)tes Cholodniak; sepultus pro securus Bücheler, Gil.

Comentary

Funerary poem in dactylic hexameters with irregular quantities due to stress intereference; L. 2 with a short E in the ablative sorte presents a tribrach in the 4th foot; L. 3 has a third trochaic foot; L. 5 presents an unnecesary proceleusmatic in the 2nd foot, whose solution is to replace ego for hic; L. 6 presents a short third foot in a stressed position, hiatus between the 4th (throcaic) foot and the 5th; L. 8: brevis in longo in the third foot and three cretics in 4th, 5th and 6th foot; L. 9: cretic in the first foot, brevis in longo in 3rd and 4th foot; iambic sequences in L. 9 and iamb in the 2nd foot of l. 10.

Praescriptum in ll. 1 to 3. Omission in l. 5 of the -m of paru, for phonetic reasons and because it is in margine; in contrast, an -h- is added in l. 19 pihi as a diacritic to avoid contraction (cf. Fernández Martínez 1995, 271-280). Various cases of i/e confusion: l. 8 gesse, 20 tenetes and perhaps 17 qui for que -with monophthongisation as in l. 13 ambe- unless it is a case of extending a masculine form to the feminine (cf. Väänänen 1967, § 285). In l. 16, consonantal metathesis in suprestat (cf., also in Baetica, Vives, ICERV 287); this meaning of “survive” is not otherwise documented until the 6th c. AD. (Ennod., epist. 9,21,1). In ll. 17-18, onoravit is missing the initial h-, which had not been pronounced for centuries (cf. Fernández Martínez 1995, 271-280); it is definitely a future form. In l. 18, the ending -ete seems to require a second-conjugation verb (flete, dolete, lugete, saluete…). Simplification of geminates in l. 18 fosa, and the opposite in l. 7 amississe.

The content of the carmen contains various topoi, expressed in the first person by the deceased. After the appeal to the passer-by in ll. 4 to 6 (cf. Lier 1903 and 1904, Lattimore 1962 and Fernández Martínez 1998-1999, 37, n. 67), his father is presented as deserving pity due to this sorte iniqua (ll. 6-8, cf. Verg., Aen. 6,332; 12,243); the noting of the age breaks the metric structure (ll. 8-9; for the expression quam bene, cf. CLE 1403,17; 1549,15, etc.; for gerere annos, CLE 2202,3; 511,4), and this is followed by an emphasis on the desolation of the family left behind (ll. 10-16; for 11-12 ubera tundens, cf. Ov. Ars 1,535). On these epigraphical motifs, cf. Lier 1903, 453, 456, 464, 466; Lattimore 1962, 203, 205. Finally, ll. 17 to 21 express the contrast between the serene burial of Calpurnius and the grief of those who are left behind; the deceased bids them farewell (cf. Krummrey 1961) meditating on the peace of the tomb (cf. CLE 1964,2; 2180,4, etc.). This is followed by the usual subscriptum, although it is lacking the form est.

Images

Photo author: M. Fuentes Aguilar

Link to DB

Author

• Author:R. Carande Herrero, C. Fernández Martínez
• Last Update2024-02-26 23:24:36
• Autopsy date:2001