Wednesday, November 16, 2022
A Syllogism in Some Inscriptions
Werner Peek, Griechische Vers-Inschriften, Vol. I: Grab-Epigramme (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1955), p. 320, number 1126 (Eretria, 3rd century BC, simplified text followed by my translation):
Peek, p. 600, number 1941 (from Thisbe, 2nd-3rd century AD):
Pseudo-Epicharmus, in D.L. Page, Further Greek Epigrams (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 154:
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum VI 29609 = Carmina Latina Epigraphica 974, followed by my translation:
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum VI 35887 = Carmina Latina Epigraphica 1532, followed by my translation:
An inscription from Cyrene has recently come to light which is similar to the above. I've combined text (simplified) and translation from Angela Cinalli, "Pseudo-Epicharmean verses in a new inscription from the Necropolis of Cyrene (Tomb S147)," in Francesco Camia et al., edd., Munus Laetitiae. Studi Miscellanei offerti a Maria Letizia Lazzarini (Rome: Sapienza Università Editrice, 2018), Vol. I, pp. 77-92 (at 79), and Federico Favi, "Textual and Exegetical Notes on a New Funerary Inscription from Cyrene," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 209 (2019) 112–114:
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χαῖρε, Διοδώρου Διόγενες, φὺς δίκαιος καὶ εὐσεβής.
εἰ θεός ἐσθ' ἡ γῆ, κἀγὼ θεός εἰμι δικαίως·
ἐκ γῆς γὰρ βλαστὼν γενόμην νεκρός, ἐκ δὲ νεκροῦ γῆ.
Διογένης.
Hail, Diodorus' son Diogenes. You were just and pious.
If the earth is a god, I too am rightly a god;
for, sprung from earth, I became a corpse, and from a corpse, earth.
Diogenes.
Peek, p. 600, number 1941 (from Thisbe, 2nd-3rd century AD):
ἐπὶ ἱερείᾳ Χάροπος.Translation in Andrzej Wypustek, Images of Eternal Beauty in Funerary Verse Inscriptions of the Hellenistic and Greco-Roman Periods (Leiden: Brill, 2013), p. 32:
τύµβος ὁ µυριόκλαυστος, ὁδοιπόρε, τᾶς ἱερείας,
ἇς ὁ τόπος ναῶν ἄξιος, οὐχί τάφων.
εἰ δ' ἄρα τὰν ἀίπαιδα ὁ βάσκανος ἅρπασεν ῞Αιδας,
οὐ µέγα· καὶ µακάρων παῖδας ἔκρυψε κόνις.
ἐνθάδ' ἐγὼ κεῖµαι νεκρὰ κόνις· εἰ δέ κόνις, γῆ·
εἰ δ' ἡ γῆ θεός ἐστι, ἐγὼ θεός, οὐκέτι νεκρά.
For the priestess of Charops.
This tomb, traveller, which many times with tears has been bedewed,
belongs to a priestess; her place worthy of a temple not of a tomb.
If indeed issueless she was snatched by jealous Hades,
it's no great matter; dust also envelops the children of the blessed.
Here I lie, dead, and I am dust; if dust, then the earth.
If earth is a goddess, I am a goddess, and I am not dead.
Pseudo-Epicharmus, in D.L. Page, Further Greek Epigrams (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 154:
εἰμὶ νεκρός, νεκρὸς δὲ κόπρος, γῆ δ' ἡ κόπρος ἐστίν·Translation by Kathleen Freeman, Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1948), p. 40:
εἰ δ' ἡ γῆ θεός ἔστ', οὐ νεκρὸς ἀλλὰ θεός.
I am a corpse. A corpse is dung, and dung is earth.
If Earth is a god, then I am not a corpse but a god.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum VI 29609 = Carmina Latina Epigraphica 974, followed by my translation:
invida sors fati rapuisti Vitalem, sanctam puellam,See Peter Kruschwitz, "Five Feet Under: Exhuming the Uses of the Pentameter in Roman Folk Poetry," Tyche: Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte, Papyrologie und Epigraphik 35 (2020) 71-98 (at 92-94).
bis quinos annos, nec patris ac matris es miserata preces.
accepta et cara sueis, mortua hic sita sum.
cinis sum, cinis terra est, terra dea est, ergo ego mortuua non sum.
O hostile chance of Fate, you snatched away Vitalis, an innocent girl,
twice five tears old, and you did not take pity on the prayers of her father and mother.
Pleasing and dear to mine own, I lie here dead.
I am ash, ash is earth, earth is a goddess, therefore I am not dead.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum VI 35887 = Carmina Latina Epigraphica 1532, followed by my translation:
cara meis vixi, virgo vitam reddidi,
mortua heic ego sum et sum cinis, is cinis terrast,
sein est terra dea, ego sum dea, mortua non sum.
I lived dear to mine own, I gave up my life while a maiden,
I am dead here and I am ash, this ash is earth,
but if earth is a goddess, I am a goddess, I am not dead.
An inscription from Cyrene has recently come to light which is similar to the above. I've combined text (simplified) and translation from Angela Cinalli, "Pseudo-Epicharmean verses in a new inscription from the Necropolis of Cyrene (Tomb S147)," in Francesco Camia et al., edd., Munus Laetitiae. Studi Miscellanei offerti a Maria Letizia Lazzarini (Rome: Sapienza Università Editrice, 2018), Vol. I, pp. 77-92 (at 79), and Federico Favi, "Textual and Exegetical Notes on a New Funerary Inscription from Cyrene," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 209 (2019) 112–114:
νεκρὸς ἠμὶ κόπρος· κόπρος δὲ γῆ·
Γῆ δ' ἐστὶ θεός· ἤ τι θέον Γῆ,
καὶ θεὸς δ' ἐστὶ νεκρός.
χαῖρε Φιλησὼ Ἱλρίωνος Lz.
I, a corpse, am dirt. But dirt is earth.
But Earth is god. If Earth is something divine,
then a corpse is god too.
Farewell Phileso daughter of Hilarion, aged seven.
