298 CHRISTIAN EPITAPHS OF 



septuaqinta. JDepositus Domino Nostra Arcadio II et Flavio Bu- 

 fino, Viris Clarissimis, Nonas (Nonis) Nohemhres (Novembribus) . 



"You yourself, who reared (us or me), no^w occupy a lasting resting- 

 place ; kere you have reached the end that you deserved, of a course 

 ffaught with great perils : here-, in happiness, you take the repose that 

 age compels. Here is laid Foster-father Antimio, who lived seventy 

 years. Buried in the Consulship of our Lord Arcadius, for the second 

 time, and Flavins Eufinus, most distinguished, men, on the Nones of 

 November," i.e. November 5th, 392, a.d. 



The history of this epitaph is very curious and instructive. De. 

 Rossi's comment on it, in which he gives an account of the contro- 

 versy that it excited, is well worth reading. It is a good specimen 

 of the slashing style of annotation, with which Bentley has made 

 English scholars familiar. 



The stone bearing the inscription was found near Rome, in the 

 year 1787. Antonio Paoli first published it, with an engraving and a 

 long dissertation, Di 8. Fciice papa e martire, in which he attempted 

 defendere la sua santUa, ed il suo pontificate, referring FELIX, in 

 the third verse of the epitaph, to the Pope, known as "Felix the 

 Second." Such an attempt, of course, drew down on him the cen- 

 sure of men of superior learning, who knew, from unquestionable 

 historical authority, that Felix the Second was not buried even near 

 the place where the stone was found, and, besides, that his death 

 occurred not in A.D. 392, the date on this stone, but in a.d. 365. 

 *Marini published a short treatise on the subject, in which he com- 

 pletely refuted Paoli, and showed that the epitaph was neither of 

 Felix the Second, nor of any other Pope, but of a foster-father 

 (papas), whose name was Antimio, i.e. PAPAS ANTIMIO. Paoli, 

 however, was not convinced of his error, but attempted to vindicate 

 his views in 'Lettera in difesa deW epitaffio di 8. Felice II. 

 Oderic and Tiraboschi then assailed him, sustaining Mai'ini's inter- 

 pretation, and Juvenati satirized him in severe hendecasyllabics. 

 Even then Paoli clung to his mistake, and published another letter 

 in his defence, so absurdly erroneous, that De Rossi designates it as 

 stuporis plenam, quam eruditorum nemo vel uno verho refutare 

 dignatus est. 



The controversy relative to the interpretation of the epitaph here 



* This learned Epigraphist arranged the inscriptions in the Oalleria 

 delle Lapidi in the Vatican. 



