Sunday, July 10, 2022

 

Epitaph of Narcissus

Inscriptiones Graecae Urbis Romae III 1281 (my translation):
Life is good, but short; the light is sweet,
but it is left behind; revel so long as you can,
for here eternal night awaits you.
Maturus and Magna made this for their well-deserving foster father Narcissus.

χρηστὸς ὁ βίος, ἀλ[λ'] ὀλίγος· γλυκὺν τὸ φῶς,
ἀλλὰ καταλείπεται· τρύφησον ὡς δύνῃ,
ἐνθάδε γάρ σε περιμένει ν[ὺξ] αἰώνιος.

Maturus et Magna Narcisso nut<r>itori b(ene) m(erenti) f(e)c(e)r(unt).
I can only see Inscriptiones Graecae Urbis Romae. Curavit L. Moretti. Fasciculus III (1142-1490) (Rome: Istituto Italiano per la Storia Antica, 1979), p. 140, in Google Books' snippet view, which shows this before the inscription:
1281 Ad S. Agnatem: Marini, Vatic. 9073 f. 9: 9086 f. 198 qui ex Suaresio expilavit (cfr. Ferrua, Riv. Arch. Crist. 33 [1957] p. 212 sq.) Litterae εϲω traduntur; verba plerumque punctis divisa. Periisse videtur.
and this after the inscription:
In fine uniuscuiusque versus trochaeos (quorum ultimum catalepticum) audire credas. — Narcissus nutritor, id est ὁ θρέψας, fuit Maturi atque Magnae. — V.1: cfr. GVI 456a, χρηστὸν βίον βραχὺν ἰδοῦσα. — V.2: τρύφησον ὡς δύνῃ, cfr. ad nr. 1159. — V.3: νὺξ αἰώνιος, cfr. supra 411.9. — Totum carmen quodammodo Catull. 5 sapit: nobis .. cum semel occidit brevis lux / nox est perpetua una dormienda.
There is a translation of the Greek portion by H. Gregory Snyder, "The Discovery and Interpretation of the Flavia Sophe Inscription: New Results," Vigiliae Christianae 68 (2014) 1-59 (at 41):
Pleasant is life, but short; sweet, the light,
but left behind. Make merry while you may,
For here, eternal night awaits you.



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