Frequently members of the same family were buried in the same grave—lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death not divided. Thus we read of a brother and sister who died in one day, and were buried together—VNA DIE MORTVI ET PARITER TVMVLATI SVNT; of a certain Antigonus who occupied the same tomb with his sister—LOCVM HABET CVM SORE (sic) SVA; and of a mother who shared her daughter’s grave—FELICIA CVM FILIA IN PACE; also of Claudia and Julia, who had secured their places by the side of their sweet friend Calpurnia. The same custom sometimes obtains in pagan sepulture, as indicated by the following epitaph of a husband and wife who, not to be divorced even in death, mingled their ashes in one urn:
PARATO HOSPITIO CARA IVNGVNT CORPORA
HAEC RVRSVM NOSTRAE SED PERPETVAE NVPTIAE.
In a prepared rest they join their dear bodies. These are our second but our perpetual nuptials.[758]
Sometimes the funeral tablet was erected by the hand of friendship, probably when there were none of kin to
pay this last sad tribute of affection. De Rossi thinks that which follows one of the most ancient in Rome: DORMITIONI T. FLA. EVTYCHIO. HVNC LOCVM DONABIT M. ORBIVS AMICVS KARISSIMVS KARE BALE—“As a resting place for Titus Flavius Eutychius, his dearest friend, Marcus Orbius, gave this spot. Farewell, beloved.” One fair friend thus commemorates the loss of another: AELIA VICTORINA POSVIT AVRELIAE PROBAE—”Ælia Victorina erected this stone to Aurelia Proba.” We find also such expressions as, “Best friend,” “Dear and faithful companion,” “Constant in love and truth.” Sometimes a lowly servant or freedman records a master’s virtues, as in the epitaph of Gordianus, erected by his handmaid Theophila—ΥΘΦΗΛΑ ΑΝCΗΛΛΑ ΦΕCΙΤ (sic); and that of Prosenes, which Ampelius, his freedman, wrote—SCRIPSIT AMPELIVS LIB. Another was buried by her sweet and holy nurse in Christ—ΘΡΕΠΤΕΙΡΑΝ ΓΛΥΚΕΡΗΝ ΑΓΙΑΝ ΕΝ ΧΡΩ.
The duration of sickness, or cause of death, is sometimes, though very rarely, mentioned in Christian inscriptions. Thus we have such particulars as PERIT IN DIES V—“He died in five days;” ΕΝΟϹΗϹΕΝ ΗΜΕΡΑϹ ΙΒ—“He was ill twelve days.” A pagan epitaph complains of the death of the deceased by magical incantations: CARMINIBVS DEFIXA IACVIT PER TEMPORA MVTA VT EIVS SPIRITVS VI EXTORQVERETVR QVAM NATVRAE REDDERETVR—“Overcome by charms she lay at times dumb, so that her spirit was torn from her by force rather than given back to nature.” Another was snatched away while she too sedulously nursed a sick husband—DVM FOVIT NIMIA SEDVLITATE VIRVM. Another died of internal burnings, which medical skill was powerless to cope with—ARDENTES INTVS VINCERE QVOS MEDICAE NON POTVERE MANVS. Of another
we read that after long and various infirmities she is freed from human things—POST LONGAS ET VARIAS INFIRMITATES HVMANIS REBVS EXEMPTA EST.[759] Like this is the expression in a Christian epitaph—POST VARIAS CVRAS POST LONGAE MVNERA VITAE—“After various cares, after the duties of a long life.”
The same spirit which thus commemorated the departed would lead also to the decoration of their sepulchres with pious frescoes or elaborate sculpture, limned or carved often as a last offering of love by the hand of affection or of friendship—now for fifteen centuries kindred dust with that whose resting-place it so fondly sought to beautify.
We should do scant justice, however, to the blameless character, simple dignity, and moral purity of the primitive Christians, as indicated in these posthumous remains, if we forgot the thoroughly effete and corrupt society by which they were surrounded. It would seem almost impossible for the Christian graces to grow in such a fetid atmosphere. Like the snow-white lily springing in virgin purity from the muddy ooze, they are more lovely by contrast with the surrounding pollutions. Like flowers that deck a sepulchre, breathing their fragrance amid scenes of corruption and death, are these holy characters, fragrant with the breath of heaven amid the social rottenness and moral death of their foul environment.