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Towards a Study of Eleventh Century's Carmina Latina Epigraphica: the Renewal of an Ancient Tradition

J. Gómez Pallarès
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Joan.Gomez@uab.es

Introduction(1)

I wish to explain that I focuse this “electronic” paper upon the evolution of the medieval epigraphic poetry, and this means to study and to follow dated metrical inscriptions between the sixth and the eleventh centuries. I have tried to work only with latin metrical inscriptions containing an almost sure, or even a sure datation. Why this chronological frame? The eleventh century is obvious: this is the reason why the IIIrd International Medieval Congress was organized (to specifically study that century). The sixth century directly connects with my other paper concerning this topic, presented to the previous congress held in Florence in 1993, and published several months ago(2). In that paper I tried to show and demonstrate (I hope so!) that the latin metrical inscriptions written between the first century BC and the fourth/fifth centuries AD and devoted to women and men, both in non christian and in christian contexts, belonged to a same (let me tell you that) literary genre, wich we could call “epic-biographic-funerary-hagiographic”, and so..., without significative breaking zones in the topics or the style’s domains.

My goal now is to analyze the texts wich are, by nature, the chronological and cultural successors of the material presented five years ago, in 1993 (but published in 1998!); and my hypothesis still remains the same as it was five years ago: I’ll try to demonstrate that, within the frame of the CLE written in latin in the european roman domain (and I pray to the readers to understand that “european” signifies in my work “spanish”, but that I guess that the same hypothesis could be demonstrated with the material collected from other countries) there’s no breaking time or zone between the classic-postclassic texts and the late and medieval latin texts. Certainly, we have always to look to and be aware of the peculiarities that both time and cultural space give to each CLE, but at the same time I guess we can draw a line of basic continuity, detectable mainly in the topics and in the style we find in the CLE (I mean the “what” we read and the “how” we read in the CLE), between the classic and late CLE and the texts we can date from the seventh to the eleventh century. In my paper it will be more difficult to find comments upon a strictly linguistic approach, or even a metrical one, because these two features have been extremely well studied in previous times by distinguished scholars, and, thus, I think its comment could be less productive to us today.

Looking at the inscriptions here presented, I have decided to divide my material all along the centuries inquired through three main labels (when the epigraphic remains allow me to do that) concerning “private epitaphs,” “public epitaphs” and inscriptions with “building references,” trying to present, within each of these labels, inscriptions devoted to “men” and “women.” I think this division shows the closest respect to the material I have collected from “my territory” and, at the same time, offers a first comprehensive conclusion about our inscriptions’ contents.

Finally, it is important to me to say that I have worked only with a comprehensive selection of the dated inscriptions available to me, and that my first criterium in the way of choosing my material has been the chronological one. I mean, I have preferred a poorer inscription (from the literary point of view), but accurately dated, than another one richier but dated without precision. And two final remarks: 1. It is not the goal of this paper to present new editions of the epigraphs discussed today. I wish to deal only with previous published texts, and only in the cases in wich my discrepancy with these previous editions could be really serious, I shall offer a temptative, different and new edition. 2. I don’t want to present exhaustive paralells, both epigraphic and literary, of the most important parts of these inscriptions. I’ll try to offer only concise, but significant parallels in order to clearly show the continous literary line wich, following my hypothesis, beginns with the classical texts, follows along the late latin texts and ends in the vast sea of our medieval literary world.

Inscriptions Collected, with Commentary

Sixth Century

1. * Annis 529-534: in ICERV, n.356. I give my own edition of the text, based on autopsy. I have to say that ICERV’s supplements are not sure and this is because I prefer to offer my own edition, wich does not have supplements:

        (Crux) constructu(m) p[---cu]rrun^t
        fastigium quis[---]la ·
        nempe nam · in[---a]nnos
        hoc probidens [---]tis ·
5      tertio antist[es---] anno
        robore contri[---]rimbi ·
        aptantur hi mi+[---]sius idem
        fulbida preterea [---]a prossus ·
        lammina · sub · lat[---]mine · au+[---]
10    [c]ulmine cu(m) solid[---]quinque[---]

2. * Anno 543, 22 ianuarii: in ICERV, n.291. Evora (Pacensis). CLE 718, ILCV 1521.

+ dum simul d(u)lcem cum viro carpere vitam /
ilico me fortuna tulit semper noxsea cuntis
vita dum vix(i), Venantia nomen in seculo gesi.
Ter deciens quater in pace quietos pert<uli> annos.
Ultimum iam solvi devitum comunem omnibus unum.
Hoc loco erga meos elegi quiescere proles,
[nondum quos Dominus [vo]cavit purgatos un[da l]abacri
requi[ev]it in pace d.XI kal. Februar. er. DLXXXI

3. * Anno 549: in ICERV, n.289. Mérida. IHC 34a (de Moreno y Vargas); CLE 1380; ILCV 4362.

Lux mihi Siricia divin<o> rapta flagello,

te matremq(ue) tuam tempus enorme tulit.
necdum ter binos crescens attigeras annos,
liquisti moesto vulnera dira patri.
fletibus ecce tuis renovasti funus opertum,
quod, atris tumulo iungeris ipsa cito
.

Aera DLXXXVII.

4. * Annis 589-590: in ICERV, n.362. Cartagena (Cartagin.). IHC 176; CLE 299; ILCV 792.

(Crux) quis quis ardua turrium miraris culmina
vestibulumq(ue) urbis duplici porta firmatum,

dextra levaq(ue) binos porticos arcos,
quibus superum ponitur camera curva convexaq(ue):
Commenciolus sic haec iussit patricius
missus a Mauricio Aug. contra hostes barbaros,
magnus virtute magister mil. (hedera) Spaniae.
sic semper Hispania tali rectore laetetur,
dum poli rotantur dumq. (Hedera) sol circuit orbem.

Ann.VIII Aug, ind. VIII

Seventh Century

5. * Anno 630: in ICERV, n.285. León (Cluniense). IHC 142' con facs. de Risco; CLE 720; ILCV1645.

(crux) haec tenet urna tu(u)m venerand(um) corpus, Vincenti abb(a),
set tua sacra tenet anima caeleste, sacerdos,
regnum, mutasti in melius cum gaudia vite. (hedera)
martiris exempla signat, cuod membra sacrata (hedera)
demonstrante D(omin)o vatis hic repperit index. (hedera)
cuater decies cuinos et duos vixerat annos,
misterium Xr(ist)i mente sincera minister. (hedera)
raptus aetereas subito sic venit ad auras,
sic simul officium finis vitamque removit,
sp(iritu)s adveniens D(omin)i cuo tempore s(an)c(tu)s
in regionem piam vixit animamque locabit.
Omnibus hi’s (sic!) mox est de flammis tollere flammas. (palma)
obiit (hedera) in p(ace) D(omini) V id(ibus) Mart(ii) era DCLXVIII.

6. * Anno 642, mortuus 12 septembrii; sepultus 10 octobris. “Villafranca de Córdoba. IHC 123; CLE 721; ILCV 274.”

(Crux) haec cava saxa Oppilani continet membra,
g[lorios]o ort[u] natalium, gestu abituq. co[nspi]c[u]m.
Opibus quippe pollens et artuum viribus cluens
iacula vehi precipitus predoq. Bacceis destinatur.
In procinctum belli necatur opitulatione sodaliu(m) desolatus
naviter cede perculsum clintes rapiunt peremtum.
Exanimis domu reducitur, suis a vernulis humatur.
Lugit coniux cum liberis, fletibus familia prestrepit.
Decies ut ternos ad quater quaternos vixit per annos,
pridie Septemb(r)ium idus morte a Vasconibus multatus
era sescentesima et octagensima id gestum memento.
Sepultus sub d. quiescit VI id. Octubres
.

7. * Anno 661: in Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Auctorum Antiquissimorum Tomus XIV. ...Eugenii Toletani Episcopi Carmina, Berolini, 1905, p.280.

XLVIII. VERSUS DE ECCLESIA SANCTI IOHANNIS

Praecursor domini martyr baptista Iohannes,
posside constructam in aeterno munere sedem,
quam devotus ego rex Reccesvinthus amator

nominis ipse tui proprio de iure dicavi
tertio post decimum regni comes inclitus anno,
sexcentum decies aera nonagesima nona
.

The commentary on bottom of the edition’s page says: “Ex Morale IHC, IHC, 143, inde CLE, carm.epigr., 322. Morales testatur se legisse in ecclesia S.Iohannis in Gallaeciae regione Baños. Díaz y Díaz 1959, n.376, says “lapis exstat suo loco positus.”

Apparatus criticus:
Versi in titulo M
2 constructum (corr. in -am) M
era L+ a kind of inverted B VIIIIa sic M
novem Morales

8. * saeculis VI-VII dubium: in ICERV, n.292. Vives wrote “Oviedo (Asturum). IHC 144; CLE 1397; ILCV 3700; Carriazo en AEArq 1 1925 7, foto parcial....sarcófago que CLE atribuye al s.V; IHC al IX y Carriazo, que lo ha estudiado recientemente, al VI-VII; muy probablemente es de estos dos últimos siglos.”

(Hedera) inclusi tenerum praetioso marmore corpus (hedera)
aeternam in sedem nominis Ithacii
.

Eighth Century

9. * Anno 737: in ICERV, n.315. Vives wrote: “Cangas de Onís (Asturum). IHC 384 y 149 (de Vigil).”

Resurgit ex preceptis divinis hec macina sacra,
opere exiguo comtum fidelibus votis
perspicue clareat oc templum obtutibus sacris
demonstrans figuraliter signaculum alme crucis.
Sit Chr(ist)o placens ec aula sub crucis tropheo sacrata,
quam famulus Faffila sic condidit fide promta
cum Froiliuba coniuge ac suorum prolium pignora nata,
quibus, Chr(ist)e, tuis muneribus pro hoc sit gratia plena
ac post uius vite decursum preveniat misericordia larga.
Hic vate Asterio sacrata sunt altaria Cristo

diei revoluti temporis anni CCC,
seculi etate porrecta per hordinem sexta,
currente era septingentesima septagesima quintaque
.

The most important discussion concerning this inscription affects its dating. I think the arguments written by Vives are convincing, and thus I include this text in the eigth century. Vives said: “la interpretación del texto ha dado lugar a fantásticas suposiciones. Según Hernández Guerra seguido por Vigil se trataría de un templo construido por Faffila en el año 737 en el lugar mismo donde en el siglo III, o trescientos años antes, en 437, el obispo Asterio habría levantado un altar. IHC, que no entendió el razonamiento de Fernández Guerra, cree verosímil esta hipótesis. Tales fantasías para explicar el v.11...Por el contexto se ve clarísimamente que el obispo Asterio consagró el altar en la basílica construída por Faffila, es decir, en 737. En el v.11, decimos nosotros, ha de ir marcado el día de la consagración, como de costumbre. El versificador lo notó en forma cabalística (sic!) siguiendo la moda de su tiempo; hay que leer: die revoluti temporis anni CCC, esto es, el día trecentésimo del año, o sea el 27 de octubre, que en el año 737 cayó precisamente en domingo, coincidencia ésta suficiente para asegurar nuestra interpretación.”

10. * Anno 743: in ICERV, n.293. “Guarrazar (Cartagin.). IHC 724; ILCV 3483. Estaba en un oratorio.”

(Crux en círculo)

crux quisquis hunc tabule [lege]ris titulum huius
[...]e locum respice situm [cerne] vicinum.

Malui abere [locum sacr]um [......]
Annis sexsa[ginta p]eregi tempora [vite].
[fune]re perfunctum s(an)c(t)is [com]mendo tuendum,
[ut cu]m flamma vorax ve[n]iet conburere terras,
ce[ti]bus s(an)c(t)orum. merito sociatus resurgam.
Hic vite curso anno finito Crispinus pr(e)sb(i)t(er) peccator
in Chr(ist)i pace quiesco. Era DCCLXXXI
.

From Vives’ commentary, we extract the following data: “vv.5-7. Estos versos están separados de los anteriores por un espacio en blanco, lo que ya da a entender (sic!) que están tomados de otro epitafio, del dedicado a Reciberga, la mujer de Chindasvinto (MGH, AA XIV, 251), por este rey, que es quien habla; por esto, en v.5 no se halla el pronombre me, que encuentra a faltar IHC, pues en el de Reciberga el pronombre te está en el verso anterior (hinc ego te, coniux), no copiado en el de Crispín. Vv.8-9. Estos dos versos procederían de un sólo que diría: hic vite curso finito in Christi pace quiesco, sin el Crispinus peccator, como ya supone CLE, 9-10. Incierto el numeral en el facsímil de IHC, lo cual ha dado lugar a cavilaciones. En la piedra se lee, como asegura Gómez Moreno (Iglesias Mozárabes, p.11): DCCLXXXI, a.743.”

10 bis. * Anno 693 aut anno 748 (vid. comment.): in IHC, n.158. “In parietis oratorii christiani in valle Gadamur prope Guarrazar rep. a.1859; tabula marmorea grandis, servata in bibliotheca publica Matritensi.” CLE 724 adds “rep. in otarorio christiano regionis carthaginiensis tabula marmorea grandis.”

Quisquis hunc tabule / [lustra]ris titulum huis, /
[Ecce] locum respice, situm / [perquire v]icinum.
Malui abere / [sacrum loc]um /sacer ipse minister].
Annis sexsa/[ginta p]eregi tempora / [vite].
[Fune]re perfunctum s(an)c(t)is / [com]mendo tuendum, /
[Ut cu]m flamma vorax ve/[n]iet comburere terras, /
Ce[ti]bus s(an)c(t)orum merito / sociatus resurgam.

Hic vite curso anno finito / Crispinus
Pr(e)sb(y)t(er) peccator / in Chr(ist)i pace quiesco.
Era DCC cu[m] / XXXI

IHC prefers to read Era DCC cu[m] / XXXI (i.e.anno 693), but while seeing the facsimile he presents (p.50), we can read too (and both CLE and IHC regard that possibility, and both reject it) era DCCLVXXXI (i.e. anno 748). Considering this, I have decided to include this inscription in my study, because the two possible dates deal with a text belonging to the eight century, to the very early beginning or to the middle of the century.

These two last inscriptions are the same text. I think IHC’s edition is the best one and I prefer to follow it.

11. * Ca. anno 785: in CLE 727. ICUR, II 295, 7 ex anthologia codicis Parisinis Hispanica.

Te moderante regor, deus. sit mihi vita beatA
Vt merear abitare locis tuus incola s(anct)iS
Spem capio fore quod egi veniabile. Ob hoC
Exaudi libens et sit fatenti venia largA
Reor, malum merui, set tu bonus arviter aufeR
Heu ne cernam tetrum quem vultu et voce minacI
Eden in regione locatus sim floribus ad hoC

Deboret ne animam mersam fornacibus astV
Occurrat set tua mihi gratia longa perenniS

CLE’s commentary says that “carmen acrostrichum et telestichum Tuserhedo Ascaricus, epistula Ascarici episcopi Asturum ad Tusaredum et huius responsio leguntur in PL Migne 99, p.1231, Ascarici episcopi Hispani meminit Hadrianus a.785, epistularum et epigrammatis rudis stilus saeculo octavo convenit.” In fact these are Rossi’s words, not CLE’s. CLE only comments that “poema genere proxumu sepulcralibus.”

Ninth Century

12. * Anno 866: in IHC, n.251 and suppl., p.97. IHC says: “Oviedo, in ecclesia regis casti, in sarcophago. Aliud eiusdem tituli exemplum Legione extabat in ecclesia cathedrali (Morales, coron., 3, f.208 v.).”

ORDONIVS ILLE PRINCEPS QVEM FAMA LOQVETVR
CVIQVE REOR SIMILEM SECVLA NVLLA FERENT
INGENS CONSILIIS ET DEXTERAE BELLIGER ACTIS
OMNIPOTENSQVE TVIS NON REDDAT DEBITA CVLPIS

OBIIT SEXTO KAL. IVNII ERA DCCCCIIII

13. * Anno 894, in IHC, n.242. IHC says “Legione in ecclesia cathedrali, in sarcophago regis Ordonii, iuxta altare maximum.”

OMNIBVS EXEMPLVM -SIT QVOD VENERABILE TEMPLVM
REX DEDIT ORDONIVS - QVI IACET IPSE PIVS
HANC FECIT SEDEM - QVAM PRIMO FECERAT AEDEM
VIRGINIS HORTATV - QVAE FVLGET IN PONTIFICATV
PAVIT EAM DONNIS - PER EAM NITET VRBS LEGIONIS
QVAESVMVS ERGO DEI - GRATIA PARCAT EI AMEN

We include this inscription in our study because of the era we have at the end of the prosastic part (subscripta), wich is era DCCCCXXXII (i.e. anno 894). IHC’s commentary says that “apparet enim alteram certe tituli partem non esse saeculi noni; sed multo recentiorem; sed cum prior pars posset sane antiqua esse, titulum loco suo non movi.”

Tenth Century

14. * Anno 906: in R.Fernández Pousa, San Valerio. Obras, Madrid, 1944, p.xxii, nota 50 et tab.iv (imm.photo.). Speaking about the church of San Pedro de Montes, he says “fue la segunda fundación de San Fructuoso, en lo alto de la Sierra Aquiliana, donde se retiró buscando soledad e hizo un oratorio pequeño dedicado a San Pedro. Unos treinta años después, otro desengañado del mundo, Valerio, siguiendo las huellas del primero, fue allá y recogióse en la celda del santo...hasta que al fin, y por esfuerzo de un sobrino suyo llamado Juan, logró hacer habitable aquello, construyendo un monasterio, amplió la iglesia y fue ya célebre en todo el Bierzo: dicen que murió en 695...Genadio y doce compañeros, para restaurar la vida eremítica en 895. ...promovió entonces el reedificar la iglesia ...Genadio y tres obispos la consagraron en 919. Se conserva una inscripción que llena una losa de mármol blanco, de 46 cm de alto por 1,01 m de ancho, con orla relevada y caracteres poco elegantes del siglo X; su línea quinta es visiblemente más alta que las demás, como dando valor al contexto. Su texto, hechas algunas pequeñas rectificaciones a Gómez Moreno, es el siguiente:”

Insigne meritis beatus Fructuosus. postquam. complutense condidit /
cenobium: et ne sci. Petri brebi opere in hoc loco fecit oratorium/:
post quem non inpar meritis Valerius scs opus aeclesie dilatabit/:
nobissime Gennadius, prsbtr cum XII fribs restaurabit:[era DCCCCXXX IIIa /]
pontifex effectus a fundamentis mirifice ut cernitur denuo erexit/
in oppressione vvlgi. sed largitate pretii et sudore frum huis. monasterii/
consecratum. [e hoc templu ab epis IIIIor: Gennadio astoricense: Sabarico dumiense: Frunimio legionense: et Dulcidio. salamanticense: sub era /
nobies centena: decies quina: terna: et quaterna: VIIIIo kldrm: nbmbrm/.]

15. * Anno 925: in IHC, n.239. IHC says “in monasterio S.Stephani de Riba de Sil. Lapis antiquus periit, extat exemplum a.1463 denuo insculptum.”

EN QVEM CAVEA SAXA - TEGET COMPAGO SACRA
PRESVL ISAVRI - PER OMNIA INLVSTRISSIMI VIRI
AFFATIM FVIT DOGMA SANCTA - ET VITA MILITAVIT CLARA
NON EXTITIT ANCEPS DE DOMINI VITA - QVI SIC PRORSVS FALERAVIT CONFESSIO PIA]
SINENS CATHEDRA PREDICTA -CONGLUTINANS SE NORMA MONASTICA
IBIQVE EGIT CVNCTA QVI DOMINO CONGRVIT - SVBSEQVENS DOMINI VOCE REQVIEVIT]
IN PACE IN PVNCTO -NEMPE SACRI CORPORIS SIMVL DEPOSITIO
SVB DIE VII KAL FEBRVARII ERA DCCCCLXIII ETATE SECVLI PORRECTA PER ORDINE SEXTA]

Morales Coron. 3, f.212v., literis minoribus (inde Velazquez ms.Matrit., vol.13); Riobóo misit Academiae Matritensi a.1749 ms.Est., 18, 54 descriptam ex exemplo novicio.

16. * aetas incerta sed saeculo decimo adsignata: in IHC, n.130 et suppl., p.59 (CLE 1622). IHC said that “Cordubae rep. a.1586, servata primum apud Hieronymum Moralem, deinde apud Antonium de Lara presbyterum, postremo apud Bernardum Gamiz de Cabrera. Videtur periisse.”

MEMBRA FVLGENT HIC VRNA
ANUS RELIGIOSE
RITE CARNE DEVICTA
IN SOBRIA FAMA CASTA
ARCE CELESTI ET AVLA
SVM TECTA HIC CAVEA SAXA

Morales, Coron., 3, f.207 v....qui saeculo decimo medio adscribit, fortasse recte. initia versuuum Maria nomen efficere perspexit iam Morales. Fortasse eiusdem temporis ut n.129 (saeculi aut noni aut recentioris).

17. * Anno 966: in IHC, n.222. “Cordubae in ecclesia S.Andreae (Morales said), postea in museo Zevallos.

Hic Speciosa condita - / simul cubat cum filia
Tra(n)quilla, sacra virgine,
Quae novies centessima - / quintaq(ue) sexagesima
Iera subivit funera;
Postq(uam) mater millessima - / quarta recessit ultima.

Descripsi et ectypum sumpsi.

18. * Ca. anno 1000: in Flórez, vol.16, pp.61-62 (the p.61, containing a facsimile of the inscription; the p.62, a transcription). P.61: “por conclusión de tantas iglesias referidas, ha parecido conveniente hacer memoria de un Artífice de Templos” (this is an allusion to the inscription’s protagonist) “que perpetuó su nombre con el título de fabricador de Iglesias en la Inscripción sig.” (Facsimile). P.62: “Existe en el Monasterio de San Pedro de Montes” (he speaks about “Bierzo y sus monasterios”) “en una piedra quadrada, con los caracteres propuestos, pero mas que al doble mayores, en quatro renglones, de este modo.

(Crux) Quem tegit hic paries dictus fuit hic Vivianus.
Sic Deus huic requies, Angeliceque manus.
Iste Magister erat, conditor Ecclesiarum.
Nunc in eis sperat, qui preces poscit earum
.

And a note on the text, concerning poscit: “el original pone pocis por poscit.” The facsimile confirms that. Flórez ends his commentary saying that “la idea del poeta fue poner consonantes los medios y fines del primer verso, con los medios y fines del segundo”.

Paries Vivianus
requies
manus
erat
Ecclesiarum
sperat
earum

paries Vivianus
requies manus
erat ecclesiarum
sperat earum
Eleventh Century

19. * Anno 1000: in IHC, n.213, “Badajoz, rep. a.1520 iuxta ecclesiam cathedralem in fundamentis domus, quae erat Alvaris Perez Dosma canonici, deinde seminarii.”

DESERIT FVNERA DANIEL ORRIDA
ATLETIS IVNGITVR RITE CELESTIBVS
NEXVS MILITIBVS QVI FVIT OPTIMVS
INMVNIS POPVLIS AC VENERABILIS
EN IACENT PRAESVLIS MEMBRA PVRIFICI
LISIMATHI ECCE TECTAQ CESPITE
EXCEPTVS SPIRITVS ARCE DOMINICA
PISCATOR OBIIT PRILVLA FERITVS
CORVSCO FRVITVR CAELITVS GAVDIO
OBTVTV DOMINI MENSE IANVARIO
PRECEPS DVCITVR AERAE MILLESSIMO
IN ET TRICESIMO BIS QUATER ADDITO

aera 1030, p.C. 1000. Acrostichon est DANIELIS EPISCOPI. Ad piscatoris, v.8 titulum cf. Math., 4, 10; Marc., 1, 17.

20. * Anno 1002: in F.Fita, “Epitafios poéticos de Badajoz, Granada y Málaga,” BRAH 70 1917 85-91 (90-91). Fita wrote “ los dos (fragmentos) pueden verse juntos ahora en el Museo prov. de Granada. IHC (IHC, n.456) adquirió la impronta, que fotografiada exhibe en el n.456... Consta la inscripción de ocho versos hexámetros rimados y acrósticos, cuyas iniciales dan a leer CIPRIANI, grabados en un cuadro de mármol de medio metro por cada lado, y letras altas de 4 cm. Desgraciadamente le faltan dos fragmentillos.”

[Claru]s Ciprianus in celestibus almis
Is nobilis mundoque purus et natus Elianis,
Pacificus, dulcis, genitus parentibus altis,
Rore celi tinctus Christi laticibus amnis;

Iovis namque die hic sivit corpora arvis
A ter quinque Iani diebus quoque mense dic[atis].
Nam quadrageni in milleni temporis era
Is mundo vixit ter denis bis quater annis.

21. * Anno 1008: in Fita, art. supra cit., p.91 (IHC, n.216). “Corriendo el año 1838, este epitafio de Albaro que fue ocho años obispo mozárabe de Málaga se halló dentro del distrito municipal de esta ciudad, en el partido de Jotrón, en la hacienda de D.Juan Barreros nombrada de las Aves Marías, cercana a las ruinas del monasterio...estaba recortada (la lápida) en su parte superior y fechada en sábado, 7 de enero del año 1008. Su metro trocaico no difiere del de la inscripción de Amansvindo”:

[Alb]ar d(e) Altissimi [sacerdos et militi]
Judexque et pontifici et dibino nes[tidi]
Conclusit vite terminum, suum percepit debitum
Medio die sabbati, diebus septem Januarii
Hoc et in era centies decem et (quattu)or decies
Et octabo in serie conflatos et in ordine

22. * Anno 1028: in F. De Berganza, Antigüedades de España, vol.1, Madrid, 1719, p.314. Speaking Berganza about the count Don Garcia, he says “Fue sepultado el conde en el monasterio de San Juan Bautista y sobre su sepulcro se gravó este epitafio” (in prose) “...Pocos años despues, el Rey Don Sancho dispuso, que fuessen trasladados los huesos del Conde Don Garcia al Monasterio de Oña; y puestos en una arca de piedra, à la puerta de la Iglesia con este Epitafio, que hallè en el mismo libro, donde estaba el de su Padre, el Conde Don Sancho:”

HIC AETATE PUER GARSIAS ABSALON ALTER, FIT FINIS:
ILLUD ERIT, QUI GAUDIA MUNDI QUAERIT.
MARS ALTER, DURUS BELLIS, ERAT IPSE FUTURUS;
SED FATIS SERIE TUNC PRIUS OCCUBUIT.

“Siguese esta prosa: Hic filius fuit Danctij ipsius Comitis, qui interfectus est proditione à Gundisalvo Munione, à Munione Gustios, à Munione Rodriz, a multis alijs apud Legionem Civitatem, era M.L.XVI. Dize en romanze...Los anales de Santiago estan conformes con dicho Epitafio.”

23. * Anno 1039: in IHC, n.258. Oviedo in monasterio S. Pelagii.

EN QVEM CERNIS SAXA CAVEA TEGET COMPAGO SACRA
HIC DILECTA DEO RECUBANS TARSIA CHRISTO DICATA
PROLES VEREMVNDI REGIS ET GELOYRAE REGINAE
GENERI ORTA CLARA PARENTATV CLARIOR ET MERITO

VITAM DVXIT PRAECLARAM VT CONTINET NORMA
HANC IMITARE VELIS - SI BONVS ESSE CVPIS

VEL SI OBIIT SVB DIE VII KAL MAGII FERIA IIII
HORA MEDIAE NOCTIS ERA MLXXVII POST PERACTA
AETATE SAECVLI PORRECTA PER ORDINE(M) MVNDI SEXTA
DA CHRISTE QVAESO VENIAM PARCE PRECOR AMEN

Morales Coron., 3, f.328 v (inde Velazquez ms. Matrit., vol.13).

24. * Anno 1084: in Flórez, vol.17, pp.76-77, speaking about bishop Ederonius (about 1071 to 1088, in Orense) he says “pues sabemos que quatro años despues” (he speaks about 1080, then we are in 1084) “vivia el mismo Ederonio, en virtud de su mas ilustre memoria, que fue la de fabricar la Iglesia, (que hoy llaman de Santa Maria la Madre) o bien porque el tiempo de su ancianidad obligaba a renovarla, o porque Almanzor la huviese derrivado. Esta noticia ha quedado perpetuada en una Inscripción, que persevera hoy sobre la puerta que cae al Claustro antiguo, la qual anda mal publicada, y no ha salido à luz en su propria forma de letra, que es como se sigue...(facsimile). Esto es:”

(Crux) Panditur hen (sic!) cuntis sacrati ianua Templi:
Ante fores Domini fundite corda viri.
Hic mesta facies lacrimis rorescat obortis
qui tristis veniet, laetus obinde reddit.
Omnia humana Christus delet errata fatenti,

si se cum gemitu dixerit esse reum.
Ederonius aepiscopus incoabit opus sub Era
Milesima centesima vigesima secunda
.

“Acerca de los caracteres se ve que prosiguen la L sin linea intermedia que a veces ponen encima. Usan de la a que hay: y el Cincelador permuto el rasgo de la Q poniendole inverso. La Orthografia usa de la H y del diptongo quando no corresponden, como hen, y Aepiscopus; y no pone diptongos, ni aspiracion donde debia. Usa tambien B por V. El año de la era fue el 1084. Entonces empezo Ederonio la fabrica de esta Iglesia, que segun refiere Gil Gonzalez, duro cinco años pues dice se concluyo enel 1089. Esta servia de Cathedral en aquel tiempo...no consiguió el Prelado ver la obra concluida.”

Some Conclusions

I guess that the most interesting thing I can do in order to conclude this paper is to summarize the features I have found in the mediaeval epigraphic poems I have discussed and wich are common to all times, from the first century BC to the medieval, 11th century’s times, with specification of the inscription’s number and, within it, the verse where the feature has been marked. This is the easier way I have if I try to demonstrate that my hypothesis is not completely wrong :

About Topics:

* n.2, v.1: the topic of a whole and sweet life passed in the husband’s company, suddenly cut and the expression of these feelings through the verb carpo.

* n.2, v.2: Fortuna as the worst enemy. Death as Unjustice and coming always untimely.

* n.2, v.5: the idea that it is a benefit to the dead’s tranquillity (obviously before dying), to be buried in a good company, for instance, in the same grave wich contains the relative’s remains.

* n.3, v.1: the metaphor of the dead person as the Light who, when living, “illuminated” his/her relatives and gave them “life” i.e.”light” (in connection with the use of the verb rapio, because it is dealt with the mors immatura topics: cf.n.22 too).

* n.3, vv.4-5: the topic that a death added to another recent one can be expressed through the metaphor of the “reopened wound.”

* n.4, vv.1-4: the ecphrasis’ technique in the job of describing a physical and well known architectural object, mainly a church or a monastery.

* n.4, v.8: votive desires in the inscriptions are common to building and funerary contexts of every time and condition (n.18, v.4; n.23, v.10, and so).

* n.5, v.9: the continuity, in late antiquity and the middle ages, of the laudatio a professionibus topic.

* n.6, v.8: continuity of the metaphor of the tears as the pain’s expression, with metaphor’s origin in the classical times’ libations ceremonies.

* n.7: it is always important to make sure the building inscriptions’ readers about the payer’s identity, the building’s destination and the dedication’s date. The tradition of this kind of messages comes from the imperial devotion to the public buildings and from the advertising and political role of the alexandrian and roman munificentia principis and of the inscriptions as secondary (the first are always the buildings themselves) reminders of this munificentia (cf. n.13).

* n.8, v.1: the topic that the inscription and the grave’s seeing produce a kind of consolation to the relatives.

* n.10bis, vv.1-2 and 5: the topic of the metaepigraphy of the inscription’s reading, precisely when the reader is acting, following the text’s instructions.

* n.10bis, v.7: the writing in the stone of the dead’s last hopes means a crossing point between a lamentatio’s topic (that of the relatives lammenting the breaking of the hopes placed in a child prematurely dead); a consolatio’s one (that of the tomb and the messages there written giving some kind of consolation to the relatives); and, in some cases, a juridical one (to divulge the dead’s will because of the problems its resolution can produce).

* n.12, vv.1-2: the possibility of avoiding the fall into oblivition given by death thanks to the res gestae and to the dead’s character, described and remembered in the text’s inscription.

* n.15, v.2: the maintainance of the “gloria raggiunta in vita” topic (cf.n.19 too).

* n.21, v.3: the sine crimine life topic as a laudatio’s motive (cf. n.23, v.5).

* n.22: the whole complex of topics concerning the mors immatura theme: for instance, the presence of the emblematic word aetas; the hopes placed in the dead and now broken by death; death coming always untimely, but specially when young people is concerned.

About Style:

* n.1, vv.9-10: love for the anastrophic patterns.

* n.1: absolute supremacy of the dactylic hexameters, but without control of the phonological distinction between long and shorts: stressed, accentuated hexameters.

* n.2, v.3: presence of the figura etymologica’s pattern.

* n.2, v.3: words’ games, by way of amphibology or not, sometimes in addition (n.11) of the lusus nominis’s patterns, acrostica, telestica and so (cf., too, nn.18 and 19).

* n.2, v.4: the way of introducing into the verses the numbers wich compound the dead’s age.

* n.4, v.1: the habit of the “Du-Rede” and the mention of the addressee as an anonimous reader, because of the dead person’s “need” of speaking to the widest public possible.

* n.4, vv.1 and 3: anaphoric and cataphoric homoioteleuta.

* n.4, v.9: love for the “lapidary sentences,”, the “gnomic literature.”

* n.6, vv.1-7 (cf. too the commentary in n.1, and in n.4, vv.1 and 3): the anaphoric system, combined in classical times with the metric short-long quantitative pattern, produces in late antiquity and the middle age a new system based upon qualitative, stressed times in each verse, but maintaining the same structure within the verse, that of the anaphora combined with the rhyme patterns, in the middle and at the end of the verse.

* n.9, vv.1-3: key position of important words in the poem’s beginning.

* n.12, v.1 (here and elsewhere): the late and medieval inscriptions tend to repeat the same classical formulae in similar positions of the verse and the poem (cf. n.15, v.1; n.16, line 6; n.17, v.1; n.19, v.5; n.23, v.1) as we find in previous times’ texts.

* n.16: sometimes, the inscriptions’ rhythm tries to show the dead’s character.

* n.20, vv.2-3: the descriptions made through asyndetic compositions.

To sum up: the basic conditions, the frame of references of what a carmen latinum epigraphicum says, of how it says it and to whom it communicates it are, from the point of view I have tried to defend, always the same, and it is worth noting that these features not depend upon the texts’ chronology, or the place where the inscriptions were written or the typology of boths text and inscription.

Each time and place has its specific literary background and its own social and cultural and religious atmosphere, wich obviously confers some peculiarities to the related CLE. But, at the same time, common features and habilities in the developing of topics and style can be traced from the Allia Potestas’ old times to the Ciprianus’ and Garcia’s “new times.” In conclusion, I think we can assume one of the important ideas that Valette-Cagnac wrote in her 1997 Phd, p.75 and note 7, in the sense that “on constate une étonnante permanence des thèmes et des formes de l’épitaphe latine, jusque dans l’antiquité tardive.” I hope that, thanks to the “evidences” here collected, I can propose to the reader to enrich this point of view and to critically and carefuly extend it to “our” medieval times.

Abbreviated Bibliography

* CLCLT = Cetedoc Libabry of Christian Latin Texts. CD-Rom, 3rd edition, Louvain-La-Neuve, 1996.

* CLE = Carmina latina epigraphica in CLEi-Lommaztschi collectione collecta, cuius nomen Anthologia Latina est, Stuttgart, 1898-1926.

* Colafrancesco 1986 = P.Colafrancesco-M.Masrao-M.L.Ricci, Concordanze dei Carmina Latina Epigraphica, Bari, 1986.

* Díaz y Díaz 1959 = M.C.Díaz y Díaz, Index Scriptorum Latinorum Medii Aevi Hispanorum, Madrid, 1959.

* ECIMH = J.Gómez Pallarès, Edición y comentario de las inscripciones sobre mosaico de Hispania. Inscripciones no cristianas, Roma, 1997.

* Fele 1988 = M.L.Fele et alii, Concordantiae in Carmina Latina Epigraphica, Hildesheim-Zürich-New York, 1988.

* Flórez = H.Flórez, España Sagrada. Theatro geographico-historico de la Iglesia de España, vol.16, Madrid, 1787; vol.17, Madrid, 1789.

* Hernández 1998 = R.Hernández, Aspectos literarios de los carmina sepulcralia de Hispania romana, Diss. València, 1998.

* ICERV = J.Vives, Inscripciones cristianas de la España romana y visigoda, Barcelona, 1969.

* ICUR = Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae.

* IHC = E.Hübner, Inscriptiones Hispaniae Christianae cum supplemento, Berlin, 1871 and 1900 (= Hildesheim-NewYork, 1975).

* ILCV = E.Diehl, Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, Berolini, 1925-1967.

* ILER = J.Vives, Inscripciones latinas de la España romana, Barcelona-Madrid, 1971.

* MGH = Monumenta Germaniae Historica.

* OLD = Oxford Latin Dictionary.

* PHI = CD-Rom de textos latinos del Packard Humanities Instituye, versión 5.3.

* PL = Patrologia Latina.

* Valette-Cagnac 1997 = E.Valette-Cagnac, La lecture à Rome, Paris, 1997.

* Wills 1996 = J.Wills, Repetition in Latin Poetry. Figures of Allusion, Oxford, 1996.

Nota bene: the abbreviations of classical journals here cited follow those used by the Année Philologique.

(1) This paper (23-X-1998) has been written thanks to a PB 96-1188 of the Spanish Research Ministry’s DGICYT. An abbreviated and reduced version of this paper was presented to the IIIrd International Medieval Congress, held in Cambridge in September 1998.

(2) “La tradición medieval de los Carmina Latina Epigraphica”, in C.Leonardi (ed.), Gli Umanesimi Medievali, Firenze, 1998, pp.171-190.