Sunday, October 30, 2022

 

Epitaph of Titus Cissonius

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum III 6825 = Carmina Latina Epigraphica 243, from Antioch in Pisidia, 1st century AD, tr. William C. McDermott, "Milites Gregarii," Greece & Rome 17.2 (October, 1970) 184-196 (at 188):
Titus Cissonius, son of Quintus, of the Sergian tribe, a veteran of the fifth Gallic legion. (He says):
"While I lived, I drank freely; you who are alive, drink".
Publius Cissonius, son of Quintus, of the Sergian tribe, his brother, constructed (this tomb).

T(itus) Cissonius Q(uinti) f(ilius) Ser(gia) vet(eranus) leg(ionis) V Gall(icae).
dum vixi, bibi libenter; bibite vos qui vivitis.
P(ublius) Cissonius Q(uinti) f(ilius) Ser(gia) frater fecit.
McDermott adds disapprovingly:
Parallels are not far to seek: Petronius (35) and a myriad pseudo-sophisticated pseudo-Epicureans from every generation. Titus Cissonius and his brother Publius are exemplars of a universal, timeless frivolity.
Photograph (not a very good one) of the stone:

# posted by Michael Gilleland @ 12:22 PM


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