Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Epitaph of Lucius Runnius Pollio
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum XII 5102 = Carmina Latina Epigraphica 188 = Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 8154 (from Narbonne, now lost; my translation):
Newer› ‹Older
Lucius Runnius Pollio, son of Gnaeus, of the Papirian voting tribe.Franz Cumont, After Life in Roman Paganism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922), p. 54 (footnote omitted):
For this reason I drink to the dregs more greedily (than ever) in my tomb,
because I must sleep and remain here.
L(ucius) Runnius Pap(iria) Cn(aei) f(ilius) Pollio.
[eo] cupidius perpoto in monumento meo,
quod dormiendum et permanendum heic est mihi.
eo vel hoc suppl. Ritschl
An epitaph of Narbonne jokingly expresses the vulgar idea as to the participation of the deceased in the banquet: "I drink and drink again, in this monument," says the dead man, "the more eagerly because I am obliged to sleep and to dwell here."See Maria José Pena, "Sur quelques carmina epigraphica de Narbonnaise," Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise 36 (2003) 425-432 (at 426-427).
