Vita Romanorum

Epitaphs

The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, the great store-house of Latin inscriptions, has been evolving for well over a century. Seventeen massive volumes have appeared so far, containing approximately 180,000 inscriptions, with more still being published every year.

STTL sit tibi terra levis “May the earth be light for you” is the most familiar of all Latin sepulchral inscriptions. The following are also very common, most being completed by the addition of the relevant names:

DM dis manibus

To the kindly gods of the underworld

HF heres fecit

The heir constructed (this tomb)

HMHNS hoc monumentum heredem non sequitur/ne sequatur

This tomb does not/is not to follow the heir (is not/is not to be part of the inheritance)

Just such a hard-headed attempt by the deceased to retain his property rights is expressed more specifically, if not altogether coherently, on this tombstone found near Rome:

While he was still alive he built this tomb for himself and for Caricus his freedman and for his other freedmen and freedwomen and for the descendants of them all in the future. I built this tomb through my own frugality for myself and for those whose names are written above. My other friends, you pardon me for this. This tomb does not take in a guest. Fare well (Corpus of Latin Inscriptions 6.7582).

The same formulaic language occurs, with a more brutally specific addendum, in the following inscription:

Marcus Aemilius Artema built this tomb for Marcus Licinius Successus, his well deserving brother, and for his own wife, Caecilia Modesta, and for himself and for his freedmen and freedwomen and for their descendants. Except for the freedman Hermes, whom I forbid, because of his crimes, to approach the tomb, or walk round it, or have any access to it at all (Corpus of Latin Inscriptions 6.11027).

HSE hic situs est

Here lies

OHSS ossa hic sita sunt

Here lie the bones

OTBQ ossa tibi bene quiescant

May your bones lie well

SP sua pecunia

At his own expense

TPI testamento poni iussit

He/she ordered in his/her will to be built

VF vivus fecit

He/she built in his/her lifetime

A common alternative is se vivo (“himself/herself being alive, [sc. he/she built this tomb]”), a fine violation of the rule that the ablative absolute should be distinct from the main clause.

VSLLM votum solvit laetus libens merito

He/she paid the vow gladly and happily according to his merits

NFFNSNC is a particularly splendid epitaphic abbreviation:

Non Fui, Fui, Non Sum, Non Curo

I didn’t exist, I did exist, I don’t exist, I don’t care [ or I am free from care]

(Corpus of Latin Inscriptions 5.2283).