Funerary verse
created: Transcription (Reynolds, Ward-Perkins)
source date: First to fifth centuries CE
language: ar; en; fr; de; grc; grc-Latn; el; he
availability: Creative Commons licence Attribution UK 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/). All reuse or distribution of this work must contain somewhere a link back to the URL http://irt.kcl.ac.uk/

[...], 24.10.27; [...] , whence [...] 1951.247, 1953.257 (p.202), [...] 189518, 189519, 189520, 189521, 189522; [...], 690, whence [...], 690, whence [...] 189517 [...] 059541; for BSR images see BSR Digital Collections.; this edition by Catherine Dobias-Lalou

ἐνθάδε δὴ Λάρκιϲ κῖμε ζωὴν ἀποτίϲαϲ
ὀυδὲν φῶϲ ὁρόω γλυκὶ ὄν μᾶλλον θανάτοιο
ἀλλὰ δόμον Πλουτῆοϲ ἔχω κὲ χάλκεον ὕπνον
τὸν πάντεϲ φιλέεϲκον Ἀλεξανδρίϲ τ’ἔτεκε
ἀφροπώδει ἐνὶ Κρήτᾳ
ϲωφροϲύνηϲ ἔνεκεν κὲ πίϲτειοϲ

ζῆϲα δὲ αὐτὸϲ ἔτη ο κὲ ε ἐν πάϲῃ ϲοφίῃ κὲ πεδίῃ βιότοιο κὲ χρηϲιμότητι
ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ἐποιήϲαντο οἱ ἴδιοι θρεπτοὶ τοῦ με καλῶϲ ποιῖν οἵ μου τάφον ἔγιραν ὅπωϲ πᾶϲι φίλοιϲ γνωϲτὸϲ ὧ κὲ θανάτῳ κεκαλυμμένοϲ ἐν ζῶϲι λαλῶμe

Εὐψυχί ι χ φίλοι, οὐδὶϲ ἀθάνατοϲ

[^a1: at 1-2: ΕΝΘΑΛΕΛΗ/ΛΑΡΚΙΣΚΙΜΕ | ἐνθάδε Δηλάρκης κῖμε]

[^a2: at 14-16: ΑΛΕΓ̣ΑΝΛΡΙϹΤΕ/ΤΕΚΕΑΦΡΟΠΩ/ΛΕΙΕΝΙΚΡΗΤΑ | Ἀλεξανδρὶς τ'ἔτεκε Ἀφροπωλεῖ ἐνὶ Κρήτᾳ | Ἀλεξανδρεῖς τε καὶ Ἄφροι ΤΩΔΕΙ ἐνὶ Κρήτᾳ]

[^a3: at 21: Θ[.]ΚΕΕΕΝΙΙΑϹΗ | θ´ καὶ ε´ ἐν πάϲῃ]

[^a4: at 22-23: ΚΕΠΕΛΙ/ΗΒΙΟΙΟΙΚΕΧΡΗ | κὲ φελί/ῃ βίοτοιο καὶ χρη- | καὶ παιδεί/ῃ βίοτοιο καὶ χρη-]

[^a5: at 31-32: ΝΩϹΙΟ Ο/ΚΕΘΑΤΩ | (Κ)νώσιος (λη)θαίῳ]

[^a6: at 34: [.]ΓΥΧΙΙ ΧΦΙΛΟΘΥ[.]ϹΑΘΑΝΑΤΟ[.] | [.]ΓΥΧΙΙ Χ φίλοι ΘΥ[.]Ϲ ἀθάνατο[ϲ] | om. | οὐδίς ἀθάνατος]

Here I lie, Delarkes, having paid the debt of life; light, which is much sweeter than death, I do not see, but I inhabit the house of Pluto and I sleep a bronze-like sleep. . . . I lived for ?sixty-five[^1] years, in all wisdom, in teaching of the world, and in usefulness. All this that you see my pupils did, who built my tomb in order to advantage me, so that I may be known to all my friends, and, although buried in death, I may be talked of among the living [...] friends; ? no one is immortal.

[^1: ? the printed figures make no sense]

[^2]: Ici, moi Larkis (Larcius), je repose, m’étant acquitté de ma vie, Et je ne vois nulle lumière, qui serait douce, plutôt que la mort ; Au contraire, j’habite les demeures de Pluton et mon sommeil est d’airain, Moi que tous aimaient – Alexandris m’enfanta dans la Crète écumeuse ( ?) – Pour ma sagesse et ma bonne foi.

[^2: Hexameters]

[^3]: Pour ma part, j’ai vécu 75 ( ?) ans dans une totale sagesse, une éducation pour la vie et une bonne serviabilité. Tout ceci a été fait par mes propres esclaves familiers, qui pour m’honorer ont érigé mon tombeau, afin que tous mes amis puissent me reconnaître et que, quoiqu’enseveli dans la mort, je sois l’objet des conversations des vivants.

[^3: Prose, with dactylic rythms]

Haut les cœurs, amis ! Nul n’est immortel.

The stone-cutter was following, with partial success only, a model which he did not understand.