Epitaph of Valeria Crene

Epitaph of Valeria Crene

Reference CIL II2/ 5, 1074 | Description | Lyrics | Location | Chronology | Epigraphic edition | Translation | Apparatus | Comentary | Type of verse | Text divided into verses and metric signs | Images | Bibliography | Link to DB | Author |

Epitaph of Valeria Crene

Description

  • Idno filename 22/01/0090
  • Type of inscription: Sepulcralis
  • Support: Tablet
  • Material: Marble      Material Description: White color.
  • Conservation status: Broken into three pieces. The right-hand side is missing (20-25). Surface rough and eroded. Upper left corner broken without affecting text.
  • Dimensions height/width/depth (cm): 64/43.5/2.5
  • Epigraphic field:
    • Layout: Triangular interpunction. Remains of guidelines in the verse part.     
    • Epigraphic field execution: Polished epigraphical field.     
  • Corpus: II/2 5, 1074
  • Preserved

Lyrics

  • Font:Book capital
  • Letter size:5-3 cm
  • Description of the letters:Letters decreasing. Carefully executed book script (square in the first two lines); deep cut. The arms of the <F> are oblique. The <P> and the <R> do not have closed lobes. <T> with upper right stroke curved. <X> with upper right stroke curved upwards.

Location

  • Place of discovery: From Osuna (Vrso)
  • Geolocation
    •
  • Conservation location: conserved in Málaga, in the house of writers Mª Victoria Atencia and Rafael León(†).
  • Location with Modern Nomenclature España / Málaga
  • Location with Old Nomenclature Hispania / Baetica / Astigitanus / Malaca

Chronology

  • Inscription's dating: Between year 100 and year 199
  • Dating explanation: From the paleography.

Type of verse

  • Type of verse: Elegiac couplet
  • Verse/line correspondence: Si
  • Prose/verse distinction: No

Epigraphic edition

Valeria [- l(iberta)? Crene]

an(norum) ▴ XL ▴ p(ia) ▴ i(n) ▴ [s(uis) ▴ h(ic) ▴ s(ita) ▴ e(st)]

invida ▴ fata ▴ quid est qu[od Crene nostra recessit?]

rapta ▴ peregrino contumu[lata] [solo/loco?]

5       sex et viginti ▴ nobiscum▴ de[gerat annos]

casta ▴ pia ▴ exemplum ▴ sola [dedit?] ▴

hoc ▴ licet ▴ in saxso (!) iaceas ▴ in [saecula longa] aut [tempora longa]

pectore ▴et ▴ in ▴ nostro fixsa (!) ▴ t[eneris item]

tu qui praeteriens ▴ percurris ▴ [‑ ‑ ‑]

10    dic ▴ precor ▴ hoc ▴ Crene ▴ sit ▴ tib[i ▴ terra ▴ levis]

Text divided into verses and metric signs

Invida fata, quid est qu[od Crene nostra recessit]. lkk|lkk|l/[l|ll|lkk|l~]

     Rapta peregrino contumu[ata solo/loco],       lkk|ll|l||lkk|[lkk|~]

sex et viginti nobiscum de[gerat annos], ll|ll|l/l|ll|l[kk|l~]

     casta, pia, exemplum sola [- – – dedit].       lkk|ll|l||lk[k|lkk|~]

5       hoc licet in saxso iaceas, in [saecula/tempora longa],       lkk|l/l|l/kk|l/l|[lkk|l~]

     pectore et in nostro fixsa t[eneris item].       lkk|ll|l||lk[k|lkk|~]

Tu qui praeteriens percurris [carmina cuncta / limina busti], ll|lkk|l/l|ll|[lkk|l~]

     dic, precor, hoc: ‘Crene, sit tib[i terra levis’].       lkk|ll|l||lk[k|lkk|~]

Translation

Valeria (Crene), of forty years, loved (by her own is buried here). Cruel fate, what reason is there (for our beloved Crene to have died?). Snatched away, buried in foreign (soil), she had spent twenty-six years with us. Honourable and loving, she alone (gave us) an (undying) example. Although you are below this stone (for ever and ever), (we will equally hold you) deep in our hearts. You who pass by and observe ***, say this, I pray you: Crene, (may the earth rest lightly on you).

Bibliography

RECIO 1976, 95–99 cum im. phot.; ATENCIA 1978, 191–195, cum im. phot. et suppl. scripto a MARINER; GONZÁLEZ FERNÁNDEZ, CILA II, 657; id. II2/5, 1074; (inde HEp 2001, 461); FERNÁNDEZ MARTÍNEZ – CARANDE 2005 (CD), 693–700; id., CLEB, SE13, cum im. phot, quae in linguam Hispanicam verterunt (inde HEp 2005, 317); FERNÁNDEZ MARTÍNEZ 2010, 87-96, cum im. phot., quae in linguam Hispanicam vertit; CUGUSI 2012, 44.

Apparatus

1 Valeria [Crene] MARINER; Valeria [- l(iberta)? Crene] supp. GONZÁLEZ FERNÁNDEZ. – 3 qu[od Crene nostra recessit?] suppl. MARINER. – 4 contumu[lata solo] MARINER, fortasse loco nos (cf. infra). – 5 de[gerat annos] MARINER. – 6 sola [perenne dedit] MARINER. – 7 in [saecula cuncta] MARINER, fortasse [saecula longa] aut [tempora longa] nos (cf. infra). – 8 se et in nostro fixsa s… RECIO; fixsa [manebis item] MARINER; fixsa +[ ] GONZÁLEZ FERNÁNDEZ. – 9 percurris v[iam] RECIO; per¬curris [busta viator] MARINER, GONZÁLEZ FERNÁNDEZ, carmina hospes SCHMIDT in GONZÁLEZ FERNÁNDEZ; [carmina cuncta] aut [limina busti] nos (cf. infra).

Comentary

Praescriptum in prose with the nomen of the deceased: Valeria; the cognomen is deduced from the last verse. Stylow (Cf. González Fernández CILA, critical apparatus) saw in Crene, of Greek origin and unknown in the peninsular onomastics, an indication of the probable status of freedwoman of the deceased. In any case, we must also mention the possibility that the fragmentary Cren[—] in AE 1984,495, hides this same cognomen. Outside Hispania, Κρήvη “source” appears as a proper name in the Scholia Graeca in Aesch., Olms 1962 (= Oxford 1851), ad Persas 483. We also find another Κρήvv[η], although with a reduplicated v spelling in Illyria (cf . Fraser – Matthews 1997, s.v.). In short, very rare cognomen, in Solin 1982, it appears only once, as Auircia Crene (vol. II, 1133). Carmen develops the topic of mors immatura, with its usual expressions (l. 3: invida fata, l. 4: rapta, etc.). Lll. 3-10 contain the carmen, in 4 elegiac couplets.
The deceased found death in a strange land, Vrso, cf. Cugusi 1996, 199-217). The noun that accompanies pilgrim is missing, Mariner proposed alone, but it could also be crazy (cf. CLE 501,1: hisce locis Flori requiescunt ossa sepulta; 473,3: his requiesco locis). The virtues praised in the deceased (caste, pia, exemplum…), are part of a very productive epigraphic tradition, adjusting to the pattern of feminine praise that we find since the first republican epitaphs dedicated to women (Cf. Galletier 1922, 122 ff. . and De Marchi 1909, 771-786, Fernández Martínez – Gómez Pallarès 1999, 262-268). The restitution proposed by Mariner for the third hexameter: in [saecula cuncta], fits the metric scheme and the content of the verse, although the final word could be either cuncta or longa: CLE 712.34: per saecula cuncta; 1969,3: per saecula longa; 301.13: per saecula longa tenebis. Also tempora would be equally plausible (CLE 1552A,6: in tempora plura). In the third pentameter Mariner restored manebis item; Direct observation of the stone shows very clear remains that behind fixsa there is a <T>; perhaps it should be read fixsa teneris item. In him. 8 et superfluous or adverbial. L. 10: topical imprecation to the walker; Mariner restored busta uiator; Schmidt (cf. González Fernández CILA, in critical apparatus, where his reservations are expressed in admitting busta as an object of percurris) proposes carmina hospes, but supposes a hiatus in the hexameter clause, without the rest of the poem presenting any prosodic irregularity; an alternative: carmina cuncta, limina busti (CLE 1111,1 tu quicumque mei veheris prope limina busti).

Images

Photo author: C. Fernández Martínez

Link to DB

Author

  • Author:C. Fernández Martínez, R. Carande Herrero
  • Last Update2024-05-07 16:08:38
  • Autopsy date:2001

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