ADFVIT HIS VOTIS EXCELSI GRATIA CHRISTI
FELIX VITA FVIT FELIX ET TRANSITVS IPSE. (A. D. 534.)
Alas, O father, ever to be remembered, cause of long grief to me, thou didst often desire to die in the arms of thy children, to gently pass away in the sweet embrace of thy offspring. These wishes the grace of the exalted Christ fulfilled. Happy was thy life, and happy also thy passing away.
We find also the epitaphs of foster-parents and adopted children, showing the exercise, under the influence
of Christian sentiment, of the beautiful charity of rescuing foundlings and orphans[754] from poverty, infamy, or death. The following example is of date A. D. 392:
PERPETVAM SEDEM NVTRITOR POSSIDES IPSE
HIC MERITVS FINEM MAGNIS DEFVNCTE PERICLIS
HIC REQVIEM FELIX SVMIS COGENTIBVS ANNIS
HIC POSITVS PAPASANTIMIO QVI VIXIT ANNIS LXX.
“You yourself who reared (us) now occupy a lasting resting-place. Here you have reached the end that you deserved, of a course fraught with great perils. Here, in happiness, you take the repose that age compels. Here is laid foster-father Antimio, who lived seventy years.”[755]