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Inscriptions: Funerary altar for Bassa and Laberius

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Identification

Reference as: MPL00514
Title Funerary altar for Bassa and Laberius
Trismegistos-No. 241097

Object

Provenance and Location

Find Place Roma
Find Context Rome, lost (first seen in Rome, by Giovanni Antonio Bovio)
Latitude 0.0
Longitude 0.0
Current Location Città del Vaticano, Musei Vaticani, Galleria Lapidaria
Inventory number 5492
Current Location Details
Vicinity

Object Details

Object Type altar
Material marble
State of Preservation complete
Dimensions

width: 70.0 cm

height: 110.0 cm

depth: unknown

Letter Size in cm (min) 0.0
Letter Size in cm (max) 0.0
Execution Technique chiselled
Religion

Decoration

Decoration and Iconography
Decoration Tags

Verse Layouts

  • Prose Verse PresencePraescriptum + carmen
    Prose Verse Distinction
    • No distinction
    Layout Types (Verse)
    • Centered
    Scriptio Continua in verse partyes
    Abbreviations in verse partno
    Verse Line CorrespondenceYes
    Graphic Signs and Spaces for Easier Carmen Reading
    • To mark a change in the metrical scheme - Dash

Text

Function funerary inscription
Language(s)
  • Latin
Verse Type(s)
  • Dactylic hexameter
  • Elegiac couplet
  • Iambic senarius
Rhythmisation

Inscription & Translations

On the pediment:
BASSAVATISQ̲VAELABERICONIVGAHOCALTOSINV
FRVGEAEMATRISQVIESCITMORIBVSPRISCISNVRVS
ANIMVSSANCTVSCVMMARITOSIANIMACAELOREDDITAEST
In the epigraphic field:
PARATOHOSPITIVM:CARAIVNGANTCORPORA
5HAECRVRSVMNOSTRAESEDPERPETVAENVPTIAE
INSPICAETCASIAESBENEDORASTACTAETAMOMO
INDEOROGRAMENVENOVVMVELFLOSORIATVR
VNDECORONEMAMENSARAMCARMENQVEMEVMETME

PVRPVREOVARVMVITISDEPICTARACEMO
10QVATTVORAMPLESASTVLMOSDEPALMITEDVLCI
SCAENALESFRONDESDETEXVNTHINCGEMINAMVMBRAM
ARBOREAMPROCAERAMETMOLLISVINCLAMARITAE

HICCORPVSVATISLABERINAMSPIRITVSIVIT
ILLVCVNDEORTVSQVAERITEFONTEMANIMAE
15QVODFVERAMNONSVMSEDRVRSVMEROQVODMODONONSVM
ORTVSETOCCASVSVITAQVEMORSQVEITIDEST
On the pediment:
Bassa vatis q̲uae Laberi coniuga hoc alto sinu
Frugeae matris quiescit, moribus priscis nurus.
Animus sanctus cum marito si anima caelo reddita est.
In the epigraphic field:
Parato hospitium: cara iungant corpora
5haec rursum nostrae sed perpetuae nuptiae.
In spica et casia es benedora stacta et amomo.
Inde oro gramenve novum vel flos oriatur,
unde coronem amens aram carmenque meum et me.

Purpureo u(v)arum vitis depicta racemo
10quattuor amplesast ulmos de palmite dulci.
Scaenales frondes detexunt hinc geminam umbram
arboream procaeram et mollis ⸢vincula⸣ maritae.

Hic corpus vatis Laberi, nam spiritus ivit
illuc unde ortus. Quaerite fontem animae.
15Quod fueram non sum, sed rursum ero quod modo non sum.
Ortus et occasus vitaque morsque itid(em) est.
On the pediment:
Bassa vatis q̲uae Laberi coniuga hoc alto sinu Frugeae matris quiescit, moribus priscis nurus. Animus sanctus cum marito si anima caelo reddita est.
In the epigraphic field:

Parato hospitium: cara iungant corpora
haec rursum nostrae sed perpetuae nuptiae.
In spica et casia es benedora stacta et amomo.
Inde oro gramenve novum vel flos oriatur,
unde coronem amens aram carmenque meum et me.

Purpureo u(v)arum vitis depicta racemo
quattuor amplesast ulmos de palmite dulci.
Scaenales frondes detexunt hinc geminam umbram
arboream procaeram et mollis ⸢vincula⸣ maritae.

Hic corpus vatis Laberi, nam spiritus ivit
illuc unde ortus. Quaerite fontem animae.
Quod fueram non sum, sed rursum ero quod modo non sum.
Ortus et occasus vitaque morsque itid(em) est.
Apparatus

l.2 reg., orig. Frugeae
l.6 reg., orig. benedora
l.10 reg., orig. amplesast
l.12 vincula

Text follows CIL, picture checked by Cenati 2022.

Main Translation

Translation Bassa, who is the wife of the poet Laberius, rests in the deep lap of her fertile motherland, she who was a young married woman of traditional customs. Her holy memory remains with her husband and her soul has been returned to heaven. Make a place for me next to you: may these new nuptials unite, but forever, our beloved bodies. You are among the wheat, among the cinnamon, among the fragrant myrrh and among the amom; and I pray that new plants and new flowers emerge from them so that I, crazy about you, can crown your altar and my verses and even myself. The vineyard painted with purple clusters of grapes has surrounded four elm trees with their sweet branches. The fronds, as if forming a curtain, completely weave a double shadow: that of the tall elms and that of the clusters of his tender wife. Here is the body of the poet Laberius, since his soul went where he came from. Seek the gene origin of his soul. I am not what I had been, but I will be again what I am not now. Birth and sunset, life and death, everything is the same thing.
Citation Anna Pokorny

Other Translations

Prosopographical Information

  • NameBassa
    GenderFemale
    Age RangeAdult (21–60) [expression: Canonical, precision: low]
    RoleDedicatee
  • NameLaberius
    GenderMale
    ProfessionOther profession
    RoleDedicator

Further Information

Comment

Squeeze

Have Squeeze? no

Dating

Date (From) 271 AD
Date (To) 330 AD
Date (Criteria)
  • names

Bibliography

Images

  • Funerary altar of Bassa

    Funerary altar of Bassa

    Musei Vaticani, MV.5492.0.0

Editing History

Created 2025-05-19, by Chiara Cenati
Work Status Confirmed
Import Notice Imported from Epigraphic Database Roma at 2023-12-07T09:55:21, ID there: EDR185765
Revisions
  1. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2023-12-07 09:55
  2. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-05-11 10:06
  3. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-05-11 10:16
  4. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-05-11 10:16
  5. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-05-11 10:28
  6. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2024-05-27 11:55
  7. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2024-05-27 17:42
  8. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2024-05-27 17:46
  9. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2024-05-27 17:46
  10. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-05-28 08:34
  11. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-05-28 08:35
  12. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-05-28 08:36
  13. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-05-28 08:45
  14. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-05-28 08:47
  15. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2024-10-26 11:33
  16. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2024-10-26 11:36
  17. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2024-10-31 12:35
  18. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-11-02 20:18
  19. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-11-02 20:19
  20. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-11-02 20:29
  21. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-11-02 20:51
  22. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-11-02 20:51
  23. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-11-05 21:51
  24. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-11-05 21:51
  25. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2025-03-19 14:25
  26. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2025-03-19 17:01
  27. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2025-03-19 17:15
  28. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2025-05-19 14:36
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