A.—MONUMENTS FROM THE ALYSCAMPS.
1. The inscription to Cornelia, daughter of Marius, is something of a
puzzle. Against its genuineness may be urged that he is represented as
conqueror of the Cimbri, whereas the Cimbri were not defeated till the
following year, near Vercelli. Now it is strange that he should have left
his daughter at Arles instead of moving her into Italy; and it is also odd
that, if she were left there, he should be designated as conqueror of the
Cimbri, whereas in the engagement with the Cimbri he shared the glory with
Catulus; and he alone was victor over the Teutons and Ambrons near Aix. Moreover, one would have supposed that at Arles he would have been entitled the conqueror of these latter, the terror of whom had fallen on the province, and not of the Cimbri who did not menace it.
On the other hand, the inscription is in shockingly bad Latin; Calpurnia
is made conqueror of the Cimbri, not her father, by a grammatical blunder; and one would suspect a forger would have avoided such a grotesque error, which is quite in agreement with other blunders made by the sculptors of monuments in the Alyscamps, who were clearly Gallo-Greeks, and hardly understood Latin.
Also—and this is remarkable—the name of the girl is Calpurnia; and Caius
Marius was a native of Arpinum, and when this town was taken by the Romans
from the Samnites, in B.C. 188, the franchise was given to the inhabitants, who were enrolled in the Calpurnian gens. Now this is a little fact that it is most improbable a forger would know—but it quite explains the girl receiving the name of Calpurnia, if genuine.
2. The Tomb of Julia Tyranna. The inscription runs:—
IVLIÆ . LVC . FILIÆ . TYRANNIÆ . VIXIT ANN . XX . M . VIII . QVÆ MORIBVS . PARITER . ET . DISCIPLINA . CETERIS . FEMINIS . EXEMPLO . FVIT . ANTARCIVS . NVRVI . LAVRENTIVS . VCXORI . It was raised to her memory by her father-in-law Antarcius, and by her husband, Laurentius. The organ is represented with seven pipes.
3. O DOLOR . QVANTÆ LACHRIMÆ . FECERE SEPVLCRVM . IVL . LV CINÆ . QVÆ . VIXIT . KA D . RISSIMA . MATRI . FLOS . Æ M. TATIS . HIQ . IACET . INTVS . CONDITA . SAXOO . VTINAM . POSSIT . REPARARI . SPIRITVS . ILLE . VT . SCIRET . QVANTVS . DOLOR . EST . QVÆ . VIXIT . ANN . XXVII . M . X . DIE XIII . IVL . PARTHENOPE . POSVIT . INFELIX MATER . "O Grief! what tears have watered this tomb of Julia Lucina who in life was very dear to her mother. Carried off in the flower of her age, here she lies, buried in this marble tomb. Would that her spirit might be restored, that she might learn how great is my grief. She lived twenty-seven years, ten months, and thirteen days. Julia Parthenope, her unhappy mother, raised this."
4. HYDRIÆ TERTVLLÆ C . F . CONIVGI . AMANTISSI MÆ ET AXIÆ OELIANÆ . FILIÆ DVLCISSIMÆ . TERENTIVS MVSEVS HOC SEPVLCRVM POSVIT . "Terentius Musæus placed this to his most loving wife, Hydria Tertulla, and to his most sweet daughter, Axia Oeliana." On this is a child with a cock in hand, an oblation to the infernal deities.
5. F . MARIO . MF . MARINO . EXS . TESTA MENTO . Observe in this, as in No. 3, the queer spelling, in both phonetic:—HIQ, SAXOO, EXS.
6. Here is a Christian inscription:—
INTEGER . ATQVE . PIVS . VITA . ET . CORPORE . PVRVS . ÆTERNO . HIC . POSITVS . VIVIT . CONCORDIVS . ÆVO . QVI . TENERIS . PRIMVM . MINISTER . FVLSIT . IN . ANNIS . POST . ETIAM . LECTVS . COELESTI . LEGE . SACERDOS TRIGINTA . ET GEMINOS . DECEM . VIX . REDDIDIT . ANNOS . HVNC . CITO . SIDEREAM . RAPTVM . OMNIPOTENTIS . IN AVLAM MATER . BLANDA . ET . FRATER . SINE FVNERE QVÆRVNT . "Intact and pious, pure in life and body, here lies buried, but eternally lives Concordius, who in his tender years shone first as a deacon, afterwards chosen by the celestial law a priest; he lived hardly fifty years. Transported too soon to the starry hall of the Almighty, his gentle mother and his brother seek him without bewailing him."
This is on a sarcophagus of white marble with a colonnade carved on the
face, the pillars channeled and spiral. In the centre is Jesus Christ, seated on a throne, instructing His apostles and a crowd, which is seen through the arcade, at the right a man, on the left a woman, on the cover are the twelve apostles with rolled volumes before them. This sarcophagus belongs to the fourth century.