or, with a little more fulness of expression,—
DVLCISSIMO FILIO ENDELECIO BENEMERENTI QVI VIXIT ANNOS II MENSE VNV DIES XX IN PACE
To the sweetest son Endelechius, the well-
deserving, who lived two years, one month,
twenty days. In peace.
The word benemerenti is of constant recurrence. It is used both of the young and the old; and it seems to have been employed, with comprehensive meaning, as an expression of affectionate and grateful remembrance.
Here is another short and beautiful epitaph. The two words with which it begins are often found.
ANIMA DVLCIS AVFENIA VIRGO BENEDICTA QVE VIXIT ANN: XXX DORMIT IN PACE
Sweet Soul. The Blessed Virgin Aufenia,
who lived thirty years. She sleeps in peace.
But the force and tenderness of such epitaphs as these is hardly to be recognized in single examples. There is a cumulative pathos in them, as one reads, one after another, such as these that follow:—
ANGELICE BENE IN PACE
To Angelica well in peace.