I will conclude this subject of the "affectus conjugum" by the quotation of a beautiful inscription, said to have been found on a monument at Rome, which is figured in Gruter.[107] It purports to be a dialogue between Atimetus, a freedman of Tiberius Cæsar, and his deceased wife (collibertæ et contubernali) Claudia Homonoea, the husband professing his desire to die and rejoin his wife; the wife expressing her hope, that what had been taken from her own life might be added to his. It has not escaped suspicion, though the majority of critics admit its genuineness. If genuine, it proceeds from the golden age of Latin literature; if the work of a scholar of the sixteenth century, it will still have an interest for the reader of taste.
Tu qui secura procedis mente parumper Siste gradum quæso, verbaque pauca lege.
Illa ego quæ claris fueram prælata puellis Hoc Homonoea brevi condita sum tumulo. Cui formam Paphie, Charites tribuere decorem; Quam Pallas cunctis artibus erudiit. Nondum bis denos ætas mea viderat annos: Injecere manus invida fata mihi. Nec pro me queror hoc, morte est mihi tristior ipsa Moeror Atimeti conjugis ille mei.
Si pensare animas sinerent crudelia fata Et posset redimi morte aliena salus, Quantulacumque meæ debentur tempora vitæ Pensarem pro te, cara Homonoea libens. At nunc, quod possum, fugiam lucemque deosque Ut te matura per Styga morte sequar.
Parce tuam conjux, fletu quassare juventam, Fataque moerendo sollicitare mea. Nil prosunt lacrimæ, nec possunt fata moveri: Viximus: hic omnes exitus unus habet. Parce: ita non unquam similem experiare dolorem, Et faveant votis numina cuncta tuis. Quodque mihi eripuit more immatura juventæ Id tibi victuro proroget ulterius.
We know from the Latin poets that favourite animals were honoured by a monument ("Lusciniæ tumulum si Thelesina dedit," Martial, 7, 86). The following inscription on a pet greyhound is found in the "Anthologia:"--
Docta per incertas audax discurrere silvas Collibus hirsutas atque agitare feras; Non gravibus vinclis unquam consueta teneri, Verbera nec niveo corpore sæva pati. Molli namque sinu domini dominæque jacebam, Et noram in strato lassa cubare toro. Et plus quam licuit muto canis ore loquebar; Nulli latratus pertimuere meos.[108]