DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0490
SEPULCHRE OF A PHILOSOPHER.
443
declaring that life is a comedy;1 and, when the tragic mask is pre-
sented, it may imply only " flebat contrarius alter ;"2 and that, like
the two philosophers of old, different persons feel the same objects
very differently!
The next tomb to this contained only a large sea shell, indi'-
cating perhaps the final resting-place of a sailor, or a foreigner:
sea shells are frequently found in sepulchres, and sometimes within
the funereal vases.
In another was the terra cotta figure of a philosopher, sitting on
a chair without a back, nearly resembling the sella curulis of the
Romans; it is of small dimensions,3 and of the polychrome kind,
having been painted of different colours, the parts which are naked
are of flesh colour; a loose ample garment is thrown over the left
arm and shoulder, and the lower part of the body is white: the
chair is of light blue; and the volume which rests upon his rio-ht
knee is red. The head has been detached. This figure bears the
1 Scgnj fiC o ftioc kcu naiyviov, 7} fxa3e naifeiv
TV CTrovCrji' fizOitiry r\ <prpe rue ocvyac. Antholog.
£ Juvenal. Sat. 10. v. 30.
3 Three inches six-tenths in height.
443
declaring that life is a comedy;1 and, when the tragic mask is pre-
sented, it may imply only " flebat contrarius alter ;"2 and that, like
the two philosophers of old, different persons feel the same objects
very differently!
The next tomb to this contained only a large sea shell, indi'-
cating perhaps the final resting-place of a sailor, or a foreigner:
sea shells are frequently found in sepulchres, and sometimes within
the funereal vases.
In another was the terra cotta figure of a philosopher, sitting on
a chair without a back, nearly resembling the sella curulis of the
Romans; it is of small dimensions,3 and of the polychrome kind,
having been painted of different colours, the parts which are naked
are of flesh colour; a loose ample garment is thrown over the left
arm and shoulder, and the lower part of the body is white: the
chair is of light blue; and the volume which rests upon his rio-ht
knee is red. The head has been detached. This figure bears the
1 Scgnj fiC o ftioc kcu naiyviov, 7} fxa3e naifeiv
TV CTrovCrji' fizOitiry r\ <prpe rue ocvyac. Antholog.
£ Juvenal. Sat. 10. v. 30.
3 Three inches six-tenths in height.