Grammarians in the Grave: Roman Grammatici In Latin Epitaphs
Elizabeth Dillon, Georgetown University Class of 2023
Introduction
A plethora of occupational titles is associated with educators under the Roman Empire, from praeceptor and magister to grammaticus.[1] Since the Roman education system was not centrally regulated, the functional differences between these occupational titles are difficult to delineate.[2] A Roman grammaticus—a term from the Greek word γραμματικός and translated into English as “grammarian”—was generally involved in higher education, teaching students the proper usage of language, either Latin or Greek, and acquainting them with major poetry and prose authors.[3] While many scholars have studied Roman grammarians as they appear in Latin literary texts, especially De Grammaticis et Rhetoribus (“On Grammarians and Rhetors”) by the Roman historian Suetonius, the epigraphic evidence for Roman grammarians has not been investigated exclusively or comprehensively. In the Roman Empire, commissioning an inscribed funeral monument for loved ones—or, for forward-thinking Romans, for oneself—was often the only way to keep a deceased person’s memory alive in the public sphere.[4] The number of letters inscribed on gravestones not only increased the cost of the monument, but also the amount of information about the deceased’s life that could remain for posterity.[5] This analysis of Latin epitaphs provides a window both into the range of social and occupational roles among Roman grammarians and how their positions were constructed and conveyed in a funerary context. As supported by a study of the inscriptions in this corpus, the social standing of grammatici could vary widely, from imperially honored grammarians, such as the father of the poet Statius, to enslaved people and freedmen struggling to make ends meet[CT1] [RN2] .[6] Thus, epitaphs provided many grammatici and their loved ones with the opportunity to elaborate on their occupational role and to clarify their social position for a public, lasting audience in ways that emphasized grammarians’ social prestige.
All 32 texts analyzed in this study are Latin epitaphs which include the term Grammaticus or the qualifying phrase ars grammatica (“grammatical art”). Fragmentary epitaphs in which the use of the term grammaticus is not certain have been included in the presence of overwhelming evidence, but texts whose legitimacy is under question (as denoted in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum by an asterisk) have been excluded. The online database Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss-Slaby (EDCS) was used to collect the corpus. This database includes almost all extant Latin inscriptions, totaling 532,661 unique inscriptions.[7] Preservation bias is relevant, as epitaphic texts on stone are more likely to survive than those on other media, in addition to the fact that people of higher financial means could better afford to erect stone monuments. Greek-language epitaphs from the geographical area of the Roman Empire in which the word γραμματικός appears have not been included in this study so as to focus on the ideas attached to the Latin term in specific. In addition, this study does not examine the handful of other existing inscriptions, such as dedications or decrees, that mention grammatici, as well as the extensive papyrological evidence from Greco-Roman Egypt studied by Raffaella Cribiore.[8] The exclusion of non-funerary inscriptions serves to limit this analysis to the identity construction of grammatici in the Roman funerary landscape, where the represented perspective belongs either to the grammarian themself or to a loved one.
The dating of these texts ranges from the late Republican period (42 BCE) to Late Antiquity (375 CE). The epitaphs also cover a wide geographical range spanning much of the Roman Empire, from Belgica to Mauretania and Hispania to Dalmatia, with 13 epitaphs from the city of Rome itself. Grammarians appear either as the deceased dedicatees or as living dedicators in the epitaphs of this corpus. In the appendix, epitaphs are organized into six categories based on their terminology: grammaticus (grammarian, male); grammatica (grammarian, female); grammaticus Latinus(Latin grammarian); grammaticus Graecus (Greek grammarian); ars grammatica (grammatical art); grammaticus + another occupational term. Within these categories, the texts are arranged in roughly chronological order starting with the oldest. Moreover, Suetonius’ De Grammaticis et Rhetoribus will be referenced as a Roman perspective on the lives and influence of famous grammarians.
Grammarians Across the Social Spectrum
Grammarians from a wide range of social statuses appear in funerary inscriptions. Of the 32 grammatici in this corpus, one slave (4) and six freedmen (1, 2, 3, 18, 26, 30) can be identified with assurance, and undoubtedly freedmen make up a portion of the 20 grammatici whose social status is ambiguous (see 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 31, 32). Restitutus was an enslaved grammarian (servus grammaticus) and was honored with an epitaph in Rome in the 1st century CE (4). Education and slavery were not incompatible, and in fact, educated enslaved people played an important role in Roman society, especially in the education of young Romans.[1] Many teachers arrived in Rome after being captured and enslaved as war booty, and twelve grammarians discussed by Suetonius were at one point enslaved.[2] Enslaved people may have been purchased specifically for their knowledge, which made them more valuable to their masters; Suetonius reports that the grammarian Lutatius Daphnis was purchased for seven hundred thousand sesterces.[3] In addition, some enslaved people received education after their purchase by accompanying their master’s children to lessons or, in large households, by attending lessons organized for the enslaved.[4]
Most freed grammatici probably began their work during their enslavement. For the especially skilled, like Staberius Eros, scholarly renown could be cause for manumission.[5] The most fortunate had elite patrons who could recommend them as salaried private tutors to higher-status clients.[6] According to Anthony Corbeill’s research concerning grammatici in late Republican literary sources, 30 out of 39 private grammatici mentioned were likely slaves or freedmen of elite families.[7] Despite the importance of patronage, the epitaphic evidence shows that many freedmen grammatici cultivated personal relationships with other freedpeople. These relationships manifest themselves through the sharing of gravestones among freedpeople and the commissioning of memorials for and by freedpeople. It appears that the Roman grammarian Mylaeus went in on a gravestone with two other freedpeople, Gorgias and Peloris, although the expansion of the epitaph’s abbreviation is uncertain (3). During the early imperial period in the Roman region of Campania, two freedmen erected a memorial for Marcus Marcius and the grammarian Heracleo, likely also a freedperson (1). Grammarians also maintained relationships with freedpeople of the same patron, as two epitaphs from Rome show: the grammarian Gaius Serveilius Croesus and his partner Serveilia Chelido, both freedpeople of Gaius, share a monument (2), and the freedman Marcus Mettius Germanus wrote an inscription for Marcus Mettius Epaphroditus, Greek grammarian (18). The fact that deceased grammaticus Publius Aelius Sotio shares two names with his dedicatee, Publius Aelius Polybius, suggests that they were freedmen of the same master or that one individual freed the other (30).
As with enslaved people, the education level of women of the Roman Empire varied considerably and was highly dependent upon the household in which they were raised.[8] Elite women commonly received a literary education, with the grammarian’s course being the highest level they could achieve.[9] Possibly Volusia Tertullina from Caesarea in the 2nd century CE was one of those upper-class women, called a marita and grammatica in her epitaph (9). [e1] [CT2] [RN3] It is tempting to assume that grammatica is meant to convey Volusia’s love of literature rather than her actual occupation, especially considering that the education of women was thought “to be acceptable only insofar as it could be presented as contributing to their conventional role as wives and mothers.”[10] However, eight out of 87 teachers mentioned by name in papyri from Roman Egypt are women, and there is no reason to assume that Volusia did not teach students.[11] Indeed, male grammarians were not precluded from family life; epitaphs attest to their being husbands and romantic partners (see 5, 19, 20, 21, 27, 28) as well as fathers (see 5, 7, 8). Interestingly, Volusia’s wifely role is mentioned first in her epitaph, suggesting its greater importance in her life. This may reflect societal emphasis upon a woman’s married status above all else, or simply be a result of the fact that her husband, Domitius Flavianus, was the one to erect the gravestone. The adjective incomparabili (“incomparable”) may be meant to highlight Volusia’s uniqueness as a woman grammarian, although such laudatory adjectives are part and parcel of funerary vocabulary. Regardless, Volusia’s tombstone proves that Roman women could be grammarians, even as they maintained a more traditional role as faithful wives.
Grammarians could also be men of rank or military experience. Lucius Terentius Iulianus held the Late Antique rank of vir perfectissimus (16), and Marcus Rutilius Aelianus was a Beneventan decurion (28). Suetonius writes of another Beneventan grammarian, Lucius Orbilius Pupillusa, who served as a junior officer and cavalryman and afterwards returned to and gained renown in grammatical studies.[12] It is clear, however, that the teaching of grammar was not for those wishing to truly excel politically, with the highest positions apparently available only to those willing and financially able to give up the profession.[13]
Striving for Distinction
Since the title grammaticus could apply to enslaved people, freedpeople, freeborn people, and even women, more context than the title alone is necessary to ascertain a Roman grammarian’s precise social standing. It is no surprise, therefore, that many grammatici and their dedicators chose to elaborate on their social status in their epitaphs in ways that emphasized their prestige. One grammarian’s epitaph from Asturica Augusta in Hispania displays his attainment of Roman citizenship status, which can be seen as an attempt to set him apart from others in his occupation and from his province (6). The epitaph of Quintus Tuticanus Eros declares him to be a Claudian sexvir with decurion distinctions and honor at Verona (10), proudly making known the honors and political achievements that prove his high social standing. Similarly, the epitaph of Publius Atilus Septicianus of Comum records that he was voted the decurion distinctions by the order of the Comenses (14). His intention of giving his entire property over to the state is also included as evidence of his devotion to the res publica, or Roman state (14). [e1] [CT2] [CT3] It is possible that their occupation aided some grammarians in attaining distinction. The profession’s borderline social standing meant that it could act as what Robert Kaster calls a “social bridge” for freedmen and lower-class individuals attempting to move up in the social hierarchy.[1] Emphasizing honors and status in one’s epitaph was a way to convey to readers that the deceased indeed filled an important social role.
Publishing salary was another way to make a grammarian’s social standing crystal clear for posterity. An epitaph for Lucius Memmius Probus Cluniens, a Latin grammarian from Tritium Magallum in Hispania in the first or second century CE, states that he received 1100 denarii in salary from the republic of Tritium (12). As a publicly funded grammarian, Lucius was probably appointed by the local town council to receive a municipal salary derived from city revenue.[2] Indeed, Lucius had reason to be proud of his salary, which is more than double the 500 denarii promised to public grammarian Lollianus of Oxyrhynchus, whose 258 CE petitions for payment still survive.[3] The Roman emperor Diocletian’s Edict on Maximum Prices from 301 CE fixed a grammarian’s fees at 200 denarii per student per month, although the extent to which the Edict was representative of actual wages at the time is unknown.[4] While it is difficult, therefore, to determine just how exceptional Lucius’ salary was, his dedicator certainly thought it was worth inscribing on his gravestone. Indeed, his position as a public grammarian would have provided him with more stability and honor than the average grammarian, subject to the number of his or her students and their ability to pay.[5] As Christian Laes expresses in his study of Roman school-teacher inscriptions, in the face of aristocratic stigma against wage labor, paid laborers often saw their salary as proof of their self-sufficiency and therefore their professional success.[6] While having his salary on his gravestone does not portray Lucius as aristocratic, it nonetheless emphasizes his success in his profession.
Just as the term grammaticus did not connote a specific social background, the word could apply to experts in either Latin or Greek. The Greek origin of the word, which is transliterated from the Greek word γραμματικός, reflects Roman society’s adaptation of Greek paideia, or the Greek education system, and many of its traditions.[7] According to Suetonius’ account, the study of Latin grammar by Romans was inspired by increased contact with Greek scholars of poetry.[8] No doubt because of the occupational title’s ability to refer to specialization in either language, some epitaphs use the adjectives Latinus or Graecus to specify the grammarian’s language of instruction. In this corpus, seven epitaphs are dedicated to grammatici Latini (see 10-16) and six to grammatici Graeci (see 17-22). Using the epitaph to convey the grammarian’s language of instruction served to emphasize their particular abilities and distinguish them from their colleagues.
Another way for Roman grammarians to set themselves apart was to include verses in their epitaphs. Five epitaphs incorporate verses in elegiac couplets, which reflect upon the peace of death (14) or the occupation and life of the deceased (16, 26, 31, 32); Blaesianus Biturix’s entire epitaph is composed in dactylic hexameter (25). While funerary poems were a common occurrence in Roman epitaphs, they are particularly fitting for grammarians, whose job consisted of the teaching and study of poetry.[9] Often grammarians wrote poetry of their own.[10] There is no way of knowing whether any of these deceased grammarians composed the verses on their own epitaphs, or whether the verses were written or commissioned by loved ones. In any case, the incorporation of poetry in their epitaphs acts, at least, as an homage to their profession and, at most, as proof of the deceased grammarian’s poetic knowledge and skill.
More Than Grammarians
Because grammar formed such a fundamental aspect of Roman education, it “had a hard time finding its own identity and distinguishing itself from other disciplines, such as philology, philosophy, and rhetoric.”[1] The use of differing terminology in epitaphs of grammarians is evidence of this lack of technical distinction, with the phrase ars grammatica (“grammatical art”) sometimes appearing rather than the title grammaticus. Lucius Aelius Cerialis is described as an “instructor (magistro) in the arts of grammar” (23), Gaius Cordius Maximianus is identified as “most skilled (peritissimo) in the arts of Greek grammar” (24), and Blaesianus Biturix is called “instructor (doctor) of grammatical arts” (25). These epitaphs conceive of the discipline in a way that aligns with the Greek concept of technē, a set of expertise passed down and not simply acquired through practice.[2] This idea was not necessarily pervasive in Roman thought; in her reading of Plutarch’s Table Talk, Kendra Eshleman finds the ancient idea that grammar was a research-based, almost scientific field of study.[3] The phrase ars grammatica may also reflect an effort to specify the deceased’s specific area of educational expertise underneath the more general titles of magister (23) and doctor (25).
The Roman education system’s reliance upon the study of grammar meant that a grammarian’s domain overlapped with that of other teachers. In reality, the job of a grammaticus often intersected with other pedagogical roles; for example, ludimagistri (elementary school teachers) might introduce their students to higher education, while grammaticimight be employed to work with elementary students.[4] Four epitaphs designate the deceased as both magister and grammaticus (16, 22, 25, 29), and two pair grammaticus with the title praeceptor (27, 30). These epitaphs show that a grammarian’s work intersected with that of other educational occupations such that a grammarian may be identified by more than one title. A grammarian’s training also qualified him or her to work in education-adjacent fields. Marius Fidens was both a grammaticus and lector, or reader (31), and Bonifatius seems to have been a scriba and librarius (scribe and librarian) who worked at the libraries of Trajan and the Forum of Nerva (32). Literary evidence provides examples of grammarians working in libraries and consulting notable Romans on literary matters, and papyri reveal that teachers in Greco-Roman Egypt often worked as scribes and notaries.[5] For these Roman grammarians, the term grammaticus alone did not suffice to comprehensively describe their occupation on their gravestones.
Some grammarians even ventured into instructing etiquette and proper behavior, or mores. Blaesianus Biturix is called a “master of manners” (morumque magister, 25). Notably, the epitaph of the freedman and grammarian Pudens recounts that he was a procurator, or administrator, of his student Lepida—wife of Drusus Caesar—and “was managing her conduct” (moresque regebam, 26). The writings of Roman thinkers Seneca and Tacitus link linguistic decay with moral vice, supporting the idea that grammarians worked not just to ensure linguistic accuracy among their pupils, but to “shape conduct.”[6] Indeed, the Roman education system aimed above all to prepare students for the assumption of power and authority, creating and sustaining a separation between the uneducated lower classes and the educated elite.[7]Training in proper writing and speech went hand in hand with enforcing the etiquette of the Roman nobility. The dedicatees of Biturix and Pudens wanted to emphasize these men’s role in shaping the conduct of their students.
Conclusion
The Latin epitaphic evidence for grammarians is marked by diversity. The Roman grammarians of this corpus come from a range of identifiable social backgrounds, including enslaved, freed, decurion, and the rank of vir perfectissimus, as well as one woman grammarian. The precise social standing of most grammatici in this corpus is unclear, but the prevalence of freedpeople aligns with their prominence in Suetonius’ De Grammaticis and with the Greek origin of the discipline. While the occupation is most often described using the term grammaticus, the modifying phrase ars grammatica sometimes appears, and many epitaphs specify the language of instruction as Latin or Greek. The title grammaticus often occurs in conjunction with other educational titles such as praeceptor and magister, and some grammarians possessed other occupational titles such as procurator, lector, librarius, and scriba. It is clear, therefore, that a grammarian’s training could qualify him or her to work in other educational roles, in other jobs requiring a literary education, and even in the training of students in etiquette and proper behavior. In and of itself, the title grammaticusconveys no concrete information about the individual’s place in society, the language of study, or day-to-day activities. The instances where epitaphs specify and elaborate on these concepts can be seen as attempts to clarify this ambiguity for posterity, especially in ways that highlight social prestige. Accounts of local recognition (10, 14), devotion to the state (14), and precise salary (12) aimed to enhance the grammarian’s perceived honor and success. Even a famous student of the Roman nobility was worth mentioning (26). Funerary poems immortalize the life of the deceased even as they allude to their profession and act as displays of literary prowess (see 14, 16, 25, 26, 31, 32). Roman grammarians inhabited a strange social in-between, above uneducated laborers but beneath the educated, unsalaried elite.[1] They provided education that prepared their students to inherit an authority and social status beyond their reach.[2] Epitaphs gave grammarians and their loved ones the chance to make the most of this liminal social position and be publicly remembered as important members of Roman society.
Notes
1. Christian Laes, “School-teachers in the Roman Empire: A Survey of the Epigraphical
Evidence,” Acta Classica 50, no. 1 (2007): 111.
2. Raffaella Cribiore, Gymnastics of the Mind: Greek Education in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 45.
3. Charles McNelis, “Grammarians and Rhetoricians,” in A Companion to Roman Rhetoric, ed. William J. Dominik and Jon Hall (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007), 286.
4. Valerie Hope, Roman Death: Dying and the Dead in Ancient Rome (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009), 153.
5. Hope, Roman Death: Dying and the Dead in Ancient Rome, 154.
6. Charles McNelis, “Greek Grammarians and Roman Society during the Early Empire: Statius’ Father and his Contemporaries,” Classical Antiquity 21, no. 1 (2002): 67-94; McNelis, “Grammarians and Rhetoricians,” 287-288.
7. Manfred Clauss et al., Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, accessed May 11, 2022. https://db.edcs.eu/epigr/hinweise/ hinweis-en.html.
8. Cribiore, Gymnastics of the Mind: Greek Education in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, 5.
9. Kelly L. Wrenhaven, “Slaves,” in A Companion to Ancient Education, ed. W. Martin Bloomer (Chichester, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2015), 467.
10. McNelis, “Grammarians and Rhetoricians,” 287-288.
11. Suetonius, De Grammaticis et Rhetoribus, trans. J. C. Rolfe (Cambridge: Loeb Classical Library, 1997), 3.
12. Suetonius, 23; Wrenhaven, “Slaves,” 468.
13. Suetonius, 13.
14. Laurentino García y García, Pupils, Teachers and Schools in Pompeii: Childhood, Youth and Culture in the Roman Era (Roma: Bardi Editore, 2005), 66.
15. Anthony Corbeill, “Education in the Roman Republic: Creating Traditions,” in Education in Greek and Roman Antiquity, ed. Yun Lee Too (Leiden: Brill, 2001), 270.
16. Emily A. Hemelrijk, “The Education of Women in Ancient Rome,” in A Companion to Ancient Education, ed. W. Martin Bloomer (Chichester, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2015), 293.
17. Hemelrijk, 299.
18. Hemelrijk, 299.
19. Cribiore, Gymnastics of the Mind: Greek Education in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, 46.
20. Suetonius, De Grammaticis et Rhetoribus, 9.
21. Robert A. Kaster, Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 104.
22. Kaster, 106
23. Kaster, 114.
24. Kaster, 115.
25. Kaster, 119.
26. Kaster, 115.
27. Christian Laes, “School-teachers in the Roman Empire: A Survey of the Epigraphical
Evidence,” 110.
28. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, “Greek Knowledge, Roman Power,” Classical Philology 83, no. 3 (1988): 226.
29. Suetonius, De Grammaticis et Rhetoribus, 1-2.
30. McNelis, “Greek Grammarians and Roman Society during the Early Empire: Statius’
Father and his Contemporaries,” 83.
31. Cribiore, Gymnastics of the Mind: Greek Education in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, 55.
32. Cribiore, 185.
33. Cribiore, 186.
34. Kendra Eshleman, “‘Then Our Symposium Becomes a Grammar School’: Grammarians in Plutarch’s Table Talk,” Syllecta Classica 24 (2013): 161.
35. Laes, “School-teachers in the Roman Empire: A Survey of the Epigraphical Evidence,” 121.
36. McNelis, “Grammarians and Rhetoricians,” 291. (Cribiore 2001, 60)
37. McNelis, 291.
38. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, “To Be Roman, Go Greek: Thoughts on Hellenization at Rome,” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, no. 71 (1998): 85.
39. Kaster, Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity, 133.
40. Wallace-Hadrill, “Greek Knowledge, Roman Power,” 232.
Appendix
Corpus of Texts
All translations are my own. All texts follow standard editorial conventions:
[abc] Letters or words that are missing in the original text and have been restored by the
editor
{abc} Letters that were included erroneously by the stonecutter
<abc> Letters mistakenly inscribed or omitted in antiquity
(abc) Expanded letters of abbreviations
[...] Lost or illegible letters whose number is known
[---] Lost or illegible letters of uncertain number
--- An uncertain number of lines at the beginning or the end of a text
/ Beginning of a new line on the stone
// A break between lines (i.e.. a different face of the stone)
| A symbol in place of a word in the original text
(!) Indicates a mistake or unusual spelling in the original text
(?) Uncertain transcription or expansion
1. = (AE 2011, 00218a)
Place: Sora, Latium/Campania Date: 42 BCE to 50 CE
M(arci) Marcii M(arci) l(iberti) [...]ras[...] / Heracleotis grammatici / Agrippa et Euphronius lib(erti)
Of Marcus Marcius, freedman of Marcus ... [and of ...ras...] Heracleo the grammarian, the freedmen Agrippa and Euphronius [set this up?]
2. = (CIL 06, 07883 = MEFR-1994-667)
Place: Roma Date: 1 to 100 CE
C(ai) Serveilei(!) / C(ai) l(iberti) Croesi / grammatici et / Serveiliae C(ai) l(ibertae) /5 Chelidonis / libertae h(oc) m(onumentum) h(eredem) n(on) s(equetur) / in fr(onte) p(edes) XXVII / in agr(o) p(edes) XXIV
Of the grammarian Gaius Serveilius Croesus, freedman of Gaius, and Serveilia Chelido, freedwoman of Gaius; this monument will not pass to an heir. In length 27 feet, in breadth 24 feet.
3. = (CIL 06, 33859 = MEFR-1994-666)
Place: Roma Date: 1 to 100 CE
(G)orgias / Ierinonis f(ilius) / Mylaeus gramm(aticus) / Peloris l(iberti?) sibi p(ii) f(ecerunt)
Gorgias son of Ierino; Mylaeus the grammarian; Peloris, pious freedpeople, made this for themselves.
4. = (CIL 06, 09450 = MEFR-1994-667)
Place: Roma Date: 51 to 100 CE
Dis Man(ibus) Restituti / C(ai) Bellici Natalis ser(vi) / grammatici Plocamio / amico amantissimo fecit
To the divine shades of Restitutus, slave of Gaius Bellicus Natalis [and a] grammarian; Plocamio made [this] for his most loving friend.
5. = (CIL 06, 09445 = MEFR-1994-670)
Place: Roma Date: 51 to 300 CE
D(is) M(anibus) / M(arco) Attio Amaranto grammatic(o) / defunct(o) Iulia Silvana coniunx / Iulius Amor filius et sibi /5 vivi posuerunt
To the divine shades. For Marcus Attius Amarans, deceased grammarian, and for themselves, Iulia Silvana his partner and Iulius Amor his son placed [this monument] while alive.
6. = (CIL 02, 05079 (p 911) = IRPLeon 00103 = EAstorga 00072 = ERPLeon 00249 = ILAstorga 00042 = MEFR-1994-681)
Place: Asturica Augusta, Hispania citerior Date: 101 to 200 CE
[---] / civis / grammati/cus / annor(um) LXX / h(ic) s(itus) e(st) /5 soror f(aciendum) c(uravit)
... citizen, grammarian, of 70 years, is placed here. His sister attended to its creation.
7. = (CIL 06, 09448 = ILGVatikan 00018 = MEFR-1994-669)
Place: Roma Date: 201 to 300 CE
D(is) M(anibus) / Pontio Cle/menti gram/matico Nur/5vanus Cleme(ns) / patri pientis/simo posuit
To the divine shades. For the grammarian Pontius Clemens, Nurvanus Clemens placed [this] for his most pious father.
8. = (ICUR-08, 23413 = ICaRoma 00107 = NICatacombe 00004 = MEFR-1994-672 = AE 1969/70, 00071)
Place: Roma Date: 372 CE
Carissimae filiae Crispinae / quae vixit annos XV menses / VIIII dies XII Crispinianus / pater grammaticus curavit /5Modesto et {H}Arintheo conss(ulibus)
For his most dear daughter Crispina, who lived 15 years, 9 months, [and] 12 days, Crispinianus her father, grammarian, attended to [this], with Modestus and Arintheus being consuls.
9. = (AfrRom-11-01-164 = BCTH-1993/95-101 = MEFR-1994-710 = AE 1994, 01903 = AE 1996, 01903 = AE 2017, +01671)
Place: Caesarea, Mauretania Caesariensis Date: 131 to 170 CE
D(is) M(anibus) s(acrum) / Volusiae Tertullinae maritae / castae et incomparabili grammat(icae) / quae vix(it) an(nos) XLIII m(enses) III die(s) V quae cum /5 marito fecit an(nos) XX m(ensem) I dies XIIII / Domit(ius) Flavianus incompa[rabili(?)
Sacred to the divine shades. For Volusia Tertullina, guiltless wife and incomparable grammarian, who lived 43 years, 3 months, [and] 5 days, who was married to her husband for 20 years, 1 month, [and] 14 days. Domitius Flavianus [made this for his] incomparable(?) [wife]
10. = (CIL 05, 03433 = MEFR-1994-678 = Gregori-2018-OD38)
Place: Verona, Venetia Date: 41 to 79 CE
D(is) M(anibus) / Q(uinti) Tuticani Q(uinti) f(ilii) Erotis / grammatici [L]atini / VIvir(i) Cl(audialis) ornam(entis) decu[r(ionalibus)] honorato Veron(ae) /5 et Variai(!) [Q(uinti)] Tuticani Feliciani / et suis
To the divine shades of Quintus Tuticanus Eros, son of Quintus, Latin grammarian, Claudian sexvir with decurion distinctions [and] honor at Verona, and of Varius(?) [Quintus] Tuticanus Felicianus and for their [family]
11. = (CIL 09, 05545 = Piceno-Ur, 00004 = MEFR-1994-678)
Place: Urbs Salvia, Picenum Date: 51 to 100 CE
[D]is Ma[n(ibus?)] / L(uci) Lictor[i Cle]/mentis g[ram]/matici L[atini] /5 herede[s ...] / an(nos) I[...] / CV[---]
To the divine shades. For Lucius Lictor Clemens, Latin grammarian ... heirs ... years ... 105 ...
12. = (CIL 02, 02892 = ERRioja 00025 = HEp 1989, 00516 = ZPE-68-241 = MEFR-1994-681 = AE 1987, 00617)
Place: Tritium Megallum, Hispania citerior Date: 51 to 200 CE
D(is) M(anibus) / L(ucio) Memmio / Probo Clu/niensi gram/5matico Latino / cui res [p(ublica)] Tritien/sium an(nos) haben(ti) XXV / salar(ium) con(s)tit(uit) |(denarios) / MC hic (est) s(it) t(ibi) t(erra) l(evis)
To the divine shades. For Lucius Memmius Probus Cluniens, Latin grammarian, for whom, possessing 25 years, the republic of Tritium arranged as salary 1100 denarii; here he lies. May the earth be light upon you.
13. = (CIL 06, 09455 (p 3470) = MEFR-1994-675)
Place: Roma Date: 51 to 200 CE
D(is) M(anibus) / Q(uinto) Spedioleio Ceriali / grammatico Lat(ino)
To the divine shades. For Quintus Spedioleius Cerialis, Latin grammarian.
14. = (CIL 05, 05278 = IRComo-Mc, 00004 = CLE 01274 = CLENuovo p 122 = D 06729 = CEN 00003 = MEFR-1994-679 = AE 2005, +00162 = Gregori-2018-OD47)
Place: Comum, Transpadana Date: 51 to 200 CE
P(ubli) Atili / P(ubli) f(ilii) Ouf(entina) / Septiciani / grammat(ici) Latini /5 cui ord(o) Comens(ium) / ornamenta / decur(ionalia) decrevit / qui universam / substantiam /10 suam ad rem publ(icam) / pertinere voluit // Morborum / vitia et vitae / mala maxima / fugi /5 nunc careo / poenis pace / fruor placida
Of Publius Atilus Septicianus, son of Publius, a member of the Oufentina voting tribe, Latin grammarian, to whom the order of the Comenses voted the decurion distinctions, who wanted to extend his own entire property to the state. // I have fled stains of disease and the greatest evils of life; I am now free from punishments, I delight in placid peace.
15. = (CIL 08, 21107 = BCTH-1993/95-106 = MEFR-1994-709)
Place: Caesarea, Mauretania Caesariensis Date: 51 to 300 CE
[D(is)] M(anibus) s(acrum) / [...]o Volus[io] / [i]uniori g[ram]/[mati]co Latino [...] /5 [...] annis XX[...] / [...]I die(bu)s IIII [...] / [Cor]nelia Afr[...] / mater filio i[nnocentissi]/mo(?) adque d[...] / [...]issimo ---
Sacred to the divine shades. For ... Volusius junior, Latin grammarian ...[who lived] twenty (?) years ... [and] four days ... Cornelia Afr(?) ... his mother [set this up] for her most blameless(?) son and to ...
16. = (Schillinger 00002 = CLEGall 00088 = MEFR-1994-685 = AE 1978, 00503)
Place: Augusta Treverorum, Belgica Date: 301 to 400 CE
D(is) M(anibus) / hic fecit cla[r]o vigu[it qui] / nomin[e(?) s]emper / doctor Rom[ani n]ob[ilis] /5 eloqu[i]i / L(ucius) Terentius Iulianus qui et Concor/[dius?] v(ir) p(erfectissimus) magister s[t]udiorum gram/maticus Latinus
To the divine shades. This man made [me], who always thrives by [his] brilliant name, an instructor of Roman elite speech. Lucius Terentius Iulianus who [is] also [called] Concordius, vir perfectissimus, teacher of studies, Latin grammarian.
17. = (CIL 06, 09453 = MEFR-1994-673)
Place: Roma Date: 51 to 100 CE
D(is) M(anibus) s(acrum) / Q(uinto) Gargilio / Lysandro / grammatico /5 Graeco
Sacred to the divine shades. For Quintus Gargilius Lysander, Greek grammarian.
18. = (CIL 06, 09454 (p 3470, 3895) = IG-14, *00227 = D 07769 = ZPE-124-219 = MEFR-1994-674 = AE 1997, +00099)
Place: Roma Date: 51 to 150 CE
M(arcus) Mettius / Epaphroditus / grammaticus Graecus / M(arcus) Mettius Germanus l(ibertus) fec(it)
Marcus Mettius Epaphroditus, Greek grammarian. Marcus Mettius Germanus, freedman, made [this].
19. = (CIL 10, 03961 = ECapua 00078 = MEFR-1994-677)
Place: Capua/Catilinum, Campania Date: 51 to 200 CE
D(is) M(anibus) s(acrum) / Ti(berio) Claudio / Laconi gramma/tico Graeco /5 Claudia Vera / marito ben/e merenti fecit / cum quo vixit / annis XXVI
Sacred to the divine shades. For Tiberius Claudius Laco, Greek grammarian; Claudia Vera made [this] for her well deserving husband with whom she lived 26 years.
20. = (AE 1993, 00546 = Laes-2020, 00118)
Place: Grumentum, Bruttium/Lucania Date: 71 to 200 CE
[---] / [g]rammatico / Graeco / Iulia /5 uxor
... to a Greek grammarian, Julia [his] wife ...
21. = (CIL 13, 03702 = D 07768 = MEFR-1994-684)
Place: Augusta Treverorum, Belgica Date: 101 to 200 CE
[D(is)] M(anibus) / Aemilius Epictetus sive Hedonius gram/maticus Graecus Primaniae Ianuariae con(iugi) / sanctissimae defunctae et sibi vivus fec(it)
To the divine shades. Aemilius Epictetus, or Hedonius, Greek grammarian, [while] living made [this] for his most holy deceased partner Primania Ianuaria and for himself.
22. = (CIL 02-07, 00336 = CIL 02, 02236 (p 886) = D 07766 = MEFR-1994-683)
Place: Corduba, Baetica Date: 101 to 200 CE
D(is) M(anibus) s(acrum) / Domitius Isquilinus / magister gramm(aticus) / Gr(a)ecus annor(um) /5 CI / h(ic) s(itus) est s(it) t(ibi) t(erra) l(evis)
Sacred to the divine shades. Domitius Isquilinus, instructor [and] Greek grammarian of 51 years, is placed here. May the earth be light upon you.
23. = (CIL 02-14, 00377 = CIL 02, 03872 (p 967) = CIL 02-14, p 1026 = D 07765 = ELST 00085 = IRSAT 00096)
Place: Saguntum, Hispania citerior Date: 101 to 200 CE
D(is) M(anibus) L(ucio) Ael(io) C{a}er/iali magistro / artis gramma/ticae L(ucius) Ael(ius) Aeli/5anus libertus / pat(rono) ben(e) merito / vixit ann(os) LXXXV
To the divine shades. For Lucius Aelius Cerialis, instructor in the arts of grammar, freedman Lucius Aelius Aelianus [set this up] for his most deserving patron, [who] lived 85 years.
24. = (CIL 03, 12702 = CIL 03, 13822 = D 07767 = ILJug-03, 01831 = Doclea 00040 = CILGM 00212 = MEFR-1994-696 = AE 1897, 00009)
Place: Doclea, Dalmatia Date: 101 to 200 CE
D(is) M(anibus) C(aio) / Cord(io) Maxi/miano art/is grammatic/5ae Graecae peri/tissimo Q(uintus) Fl(avius) / Helenus ami/co inco<m=N>pa/rabili
To the divine shades. For Gaius Cordius Maximianus, most skilled in the arts of Greek grammar, Quintus Flavius Helenus [set this up] for his incomparable friend.
25. = (CIL 13, 01393 = CLE 00481 = D 07764 = CAG-87, p 124 = MEFR-1994-688 = AE 1989, 00520)
Place: Augustoritum, Aquitanica Date: 151 to 220 CE
Artis grammatices / doctor morumq(ue) mag(is)/ter / Blaesianus Biturix m/5usarum semper amator / hic iacet aeterno dev/inctus membra sopore
Instructor of grammatical arts and master of manners, Blaesianus Biturix, always a lover of the Muses, lies here, having bound his limbs in eternal sleep.
26. = (CIL 06, 09449 (p 3470, 3895) = CIL 05, *00592 = CLE 00994 = D 01848 = MEFR-1994-662 = AE 1999, +00024)
Place: Roma Date: 1 to 36 CE
Pudens M(arci) Lepidi l(ibertus) grammaticus / procurator eram Lepidae moresq(ue) regebam / dum vixi mansit Caesaris illa nurus / Philologus discipulus
Pudens, freedman of Marcus Lepidus, grammarian. I was an administrator of Lepida and I was managing [her] conduct. While I lived, that daughter-in-law of Caesar remained [my student]. Philologus [his] student.
27. = (CIL 03, 10805 = AIJ 00249 = RINMS 00129 = ILSlov-01, 00035)
Place: Neviodunum, Pannonia superior Date: 1 to 50 CE
C(aius) Marci/us C(ai) f(ilius) / Ce{i}ler / praec(eptor) gr(ammaticus?) /5 an(norum) L h(ic) s(itus) / Pompeia / Q(uinti) f(ilia) Respec/ta sibi et con/[i]ugi v(iva) f(ecit)
Gaius Marcius Celer, son of Gaius, instructor, grammarian(?) of 50 years, is placed here. Pompeia Respecta, daughter of Quintus, living, made [this] for herself and for her partner.
28. = (CIL 09, 01654 = D 06497 = MEFR-1994-678)
Place: Beneventum, Apulia/Calabria Date: 51 to 200 CE
D(is) M(anibus) / M(arco) Rutilio / Aeliano de/curioni Be/5neventano / grammatico / q(ui) v(ixit) a(nnos) LXXV / Rutilia Primitiva / coniugi cum / quo vix(it) an(nos) XVIII
To the divine shades. For Marcus Rutilius Aelianus, Beneventan decurion, grammarian, who lived 75 years. Rutilia Primitiva [made this] for her partner with whom she lived for 18 years.
29. = (CIL 02-14, 01282 = RIT 00443 = MEFR-1994-683 = AE 1928, 00200 = AE 1938, +00013 = AE 1938, 00017)
Place: Terraco, Hispania citerior Date: 101 to 200 CE
D(is) M(anibus) / [... Fabio(?) De]metrio [ma]gistro / [gramma]tico Q(uintus?) [F]abius / [... fra]t(ri?) piiss[imo b]ene me/[renti]
To the divine shades. For ... [Fabius?] Demetrius, teacher, grammarian(?), Quintus(?) Fabius ... [set this up] ... for his most pious, well deserving [brother?]
30. = (CIL 06, 09444 (p 3470) = MEFR-1994-664)
Place: Roma Date: 101 to 200 CE
P(ublius) Aelius Poly(bius?) / P(ublio) Ae(lio) Sotio(ni) / praeceptori / suo gr(am)matico /5 fe(ci)t
Publius Aelius Polybius(?) made [this] for Publius Aelius Sotio, his instructor [and] grammarian.
31. = (CIL 06, 09447 (p 3470, 3895) = ILMN-01, 00625 = CLE 01012 = D 07770 = MEFR-1994-673)
Place: Roma Date: 101 to 200 CE
Grammaticus lectorque fui / se<d=T> lector <e=F>orum more incor/rupto qui placuere sono co(n)iugis / [e]xi<g=C>uo nata(e) pietate sepultus /5 hoc Marius fidens conte<g=C>or a tum(u)lo / v(ivit?) Maria Didyme Maria Achelois / vivit / te lapis o<b=P>{st}testor leviter super ossa residas
I was a grammarian and reader, but a reader by the custom of thom who give pleasure with unspoiled sound. By the trifle of a partner, by the piety of a daughter, buried here I, Marius Fidens, am covered by a tomb. Maria Didyme lived(?) [and] Maria Achelois lived. I bear witness, stone, that you rest(?) lightly above my bones.
32. = (CIL 06, 09446 (p 3470) = CIL 06, 33808 = ICUR-01, 01549 = ILCV 00726 (add, em) = CLE 01343 = MEFR-1994-668 = ICVaticano p 229 = AE 1997, +00166)
Place: Roma Date: 326 to 375 CE
Bene merenti Bonifatio sc[ribae librario] / grammatico Aeliana c[oniux infelicis]/sima(?) posuit qui vixit ann(os) [...] / in pace et fecit cum uxor[e ann(os) ...] /5 depositus Kal(endis) Ianuari(i)s [eum bibliothecae] / Traiani qu(a)eren(t) atria M[inervae lugent] / tota Roma flebit et ipse [---]
Aeliana, his most unlucky partner(?), placed [this] for well-deserving Bonifatius, scribe, librarian, grammarian, who lived .... years ... in peace and was married for .... having died on the kalends of January .... The libraries of Trajan will miss him, the halls of Minerva will lament him, all of Rome will weep and he himself ...