Graham, Alexander: Roman Africa: an outline of the history of the Roman occupation of North Africa ; based chiefly upon inscriptions and monumental remains in that country (London [u.a.], 1902)

Africa under Trajan

81

Talem post obitum doming Valeria non invenipu dices
Vitam ; cum potui gratam, habui cii7n conjuge sand am.
Natales hotieste meos centum celebravi felices

At venitpostrema dies, nt spiritus mania mcmpra (sic) reli{n)quat;
Titulos quos legis vivus mee {sic) morti paravi,
Ut voluit Fortima; nunqnain me deseruit ipsa,
Sequimini tales ; hie vos ex{s)pecto ; venitee (sic).

' Here I lie in silence, describing my life in verse. I have
enjoyed a good reputation and great prosperity. My name is
Praecilius. I reside in Cirta, and follow the art of a silversmith
My honesty was extraordinary in everything, and I always spoke
the truth. I was known to everybody, and my sympathies
were with others. I was merry, and always enjoyed entertain-
ments in the company of my dear friends. After the decease
of the virtuous lady Valeria, I did not find life to be the same.
As long as my wife lived I found life agreeable. I have cele-
brated a hundred happy birthdays in a becoming way. But the
last day arrived when breath was to forsake this mortal body.
The epitaph which you read I prepared while waiting for my
death. Good fortune, which has never deserted me, wills it so.
May fortune accompany you in a like manner through life!
Here I await you. Come !'

Another inscription, too lengthy to repeat, may be read on
the faces of a mausoleum in very fair preservation at Scillium,
sometimes called Scillitana Colonia, but now known as Kasrin.
This town was on the southern frontier and on the high road
between Sufetala and Theveste. The monument is a conspicuous
object amidst a mass of stones and fallen buildings, and is three
stories in height, erected on a pyramid of steps now mostly
hidden under the surface of the ground. The lowermost story,
which is quite plain, is twelve feet square, and has two entrances,
each three feet square. The next story, slightly receding from
the bottom one, is ornamented with four Corinthian fluted
pilasters, of great delicacy of workmanship, on each face (the
two central ones on the principal side being spaced a little
further apart in order to find room for a lengthy inscription).
The top story consists at present of a large niche, square
externally, and without any traces of ornamentation or of the
statue which filled it. The height of the mausoleum may be
estimated at 50 feet. At the summit, surmounting a pyramid