Fig. 33.—Phonetic Symbol.
The friends of Leo were probably unable to read this inscription, whose atrocious latinity betrays the ignorance of the mason by whom it was executed, and therefore had engraved upon the stone the rude outline of a lion, the symbol of his proper name.
Another slab bears the outline of a little pig, the pictorial translation of the somewhat singular name Porcella.
It was, perhaps, a term of endearment, like the obsolete English “Pigsney.”
PORCELLA HIC DORMIT IN P ·
Q · VIXIT ANN · III · M · X · D · XIII ·
“Here sleeps Porcella in peace. She lived three years, ten months, and thirteen days.”
Fig. 34.—Phonetic Symbol.
In like manner the tombs of Dracontius, Vitulus, and Onager, bear respectively a dragon, a steer, and an ass, the phonetic synonymes of these names. These figures may in some cases be a mere pictorial paronomasia, but the explanation above suggested is the more probable one. In the following example this is almost asserted:
NABIRA IN PACE ANIMA DVLCIS QVI VIXIT ANOS XVI · M · V · ANIMA MELEIEA TITVLV FACTV APARENTES SIGNVM NABE. [sic.] |