DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0568
THE GRAFFITI
485
Of extant elegiac poets Ovid, Propertius, and Tibullus are
quoted or paraphrased. Among the quotations is the familiar
couplet of Propertius : Nunc est ira recens, mine est discedere
tempus; Si dolor afuerit, erode, re dibit amor,—
1 Now is it time to depart,
Now anger freshly burns ;
When one ceases to feel the smart,
Believe me, love returns.’
If it was written by a lover after a quarrel, reconciliation was
not far off. Another discouraged suitor perhaps consoled him-
self by writing on the wall of the Basilica this distich from
Ovid’s “Art of Love,” the form of which differs slightly from
that given in the manuscripts : Quid pote tarn durum saxso aut
quid mollius unda f Dura tamen molli saxsa cavantur aqua, —
‘What is so hard as rock, or what can be softer than water ?
Hard rocks nevertheless by water are worn away.’
Amatory inscriptions often have the form of a message or
greeting to a loved one, as in this example : Victoria, vale, et
ubique es, suaviter sternutes, — ‘ Health to you, Victoria, and
wherever you are may you sneeze sweetly,’ that is, may good
luck follow you. Often the greeting is more ardent, as that to
Cestilia: Cestilia, regina Pompeianorum, anima dulcis, vale, —
‘ Cestilia, queen of the Pompeians, sweet soul, greeting to you.’
Sometimes the lover avoided writing the lady’s name : Pupa
quae bella es, tibi me misit qui tuus est; vale, — ‘Maiden who
are so beautiful, he who is yours sent me to you; good-by.’
Now and then we find an inscription of this class that leaves an
unfavorable impression. The following is repeated several times
on the outside of a house in the first Region : Serenae sodales
sal\utem~\, — ‘ Greeting to Serena, from her companions ! ’
Spurned lovers also confided their woes to graffiti, sometimes
adding an appeal to the obdurate one, as in this wretched coup-
let, which can scarcely have been taken from a poet; the play
upon words in the last clause was apparently intentional : Si
quid amor valeat nostei, sei te hominem seis, Commiseresce mihi,
da veniam ut veniam, —
485
Of extant elegiac poets Ovid, Propertius, and Tibullus are
quoted or paraphrased. Among the quotations is the familiar
couplet of Propertius : Nunc est ira recens, mine est discedere
tempus; Si dolor afuerit, erode, re dibit amor,—
1 Now is it time to depart,
Now anger freshly burns ;
When one ceases to feel the smart,
Believe me, love returns.’
If it was written by a lover after a quarrel, reconciliation was
not far off. Another discouraged suitor perhaps consoled him-
self by writing on the wall of the Basilica this distich from
Ovid’s “Art of Love,” the form of which differs slightly from
that given in the manuscripts : Quid pote tarn durum saxso aut
quid mollius unda f Dura tamen molli saxsa cavantur aqua, —
‘What is so hard as rock, or what can be softer than water ?
Hard rocks nevertheless by water are worn away.’
Amatory inscriptions often have the form of a message or
greeting to a loved one, as in this example : Victoria, vale, et
ubique es, suaviter sternutes, — ‘ Health to you, Victoria, and
wherever you are may you sneeze sweetly,’ that is, may good
luck follow you. Often the greeting is more ardent, as that to
Cestilia: Cestilia, regina Pompeianorum, anima dulcis, vale, —
‘ Cestilia, queen of the Pompeians, sweet soul, greeting to you.’
Sometimes the lover avoided writing the lady’s name : Pupa
quae bella es, tibi me misit qui tuus est; vale, — ‘Maiden who
are so beautiful, he who is yours sent me to you; good-by.’
Now and then we find an inscription of this class that leaves an
unfavorable impression. The following is repeated several times
on the outside of a house in the first Region : Serenae sodales
sal\utem~\, — ‘ Greeting to Serena, from her companions ! ’
Spurned lovers also confided their woes to graffiti, sometimes
adding an appeal to the obdurate one, as in this wretched coup-
let, which can scarcely have been taken from a poet; the play
upon words in the last clause was apparently intentional : Si
quid amor valeat nostei, sei te hominem seis, Commiseresce mihi,
da veniam ut veniam, —