To the Divine Manes of Tiberius Claudius Secundus. Here he enjoys every thing. Baths, wine, and lust ruin our constitutions, but—they make life what it is. Farewell, farewell.[717]
The following expresses the very essence of coarse sensualism: QVOD EDI ET BIBI MECVM HABEO QVOD RELIQVI PERDIDI—“What I ate and drank I have with me; what I left I have lost.” Compare the moral antithesis of the sentiment expressed by John Wesley: “What I gave away I have still; what I kept I have lost.”
Frequently the pagan epitaphs contain an outburst of scorn or defiance of the unjust gods that sit aloft and make their sport of human woe, as is seen in the accompanying examples:
PROCOPE · MANVS · LEBO · CONTRA · DEVM
QVI · ME · INNOCENTEM · SVSTVLIT.
I, Procope, lift up my hands against the god who snatched away me innocent.
In an epitaph in the Lapidarian Gallery a bereaved mother in the bitterness of her soul cries out:
ATROX O FORTVNA TRVCI QVAE FVNERE GAVDES
QVID MIHI TAM SVBITO MAXIMVS ERIPITVR
QVI MODO IVCVNDVS GREMIO SVPERESSE SOLEBAT
HIC LAPIS IN TVMVLO NVNC IACET ECCE MATER.