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THREAD: comic-stripsAlso, I'm looking for a "comic strip" graffito that I saw somewhere on LatinD quite a while ago. It showed two guys playing dice, arguing about the result (with one claiming the other cheated), and the tavern-keeper telling them to take it outside. Can anyone point me to this?
This reading, "(From a woman to a woman)", is very controversial. Another interpretation (also controversial) is that this is a woman addressing herself: in the first line, she's merely lamenting the absence of a lover - a male lover, as is clear from her lamentation over men's "shallow" nature (others have translated it as "fleety" or "fickle").O utinam liceat collo complexa tenere
Braciola et teneris oscula ferre labelis
I nunc, ventis tua gaudia, pupula, crede
Crede mihi, levis est natura virorum
Saepe ego cu media vigilare perdita nocte
Haec mecum meditas: multos Fortuna quos supstulit alte
Hos modo proiectos praecipitesque premit.
Sic Venus ut subito coiunxit corpora amantum
Dividit lux et se... (undeciphered words)
(From a woman to a woman)
VI.13.19 (House of Sextus Pompeius Axiochus and Julia Helena; left of the door); 4485: Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you.
Hectice pupe, vale Mercator tibi dicit.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/534/mode/2up/search/mercator
Iatacus cum Nicephora lusit.
Iatacus played with Nicephora.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/554/mode/2upr
"Fire" is an unlikely translation of accensum. Elsewhere, it has been translated as "the angry one" or "the horny one" (burning is a frequent metaphor for sexual desire in ancient poetry). Accensum could also be an official's title. In any case, it's clearly a male, and some believe this is a reference to STI infection through anal sex with a certain guy.VIII.2 (in the basilica); 1882: The one who buggers a fire burns his penis.
Accensum qui pedicat urit mentulam.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up/search/mentulam
VIII.2 (in the basilica); 1816: Epaphra, you are bald!
Epaphra glaber es.
I have a suspicion they don't necessarily speak about the head.
http://www.noctes-gallicanae.fr/Pompeii/Basilique.htm
- Dolete puellae. Vos mentula desuerit, dolete puellae. Pedicare volo. Cunne superbe vale! ("Cry, girls. My penis has given you up. [Now] I want to fuck ass. Goodbye, arrogant vagina!" It's clear from the part where he says "My penis has given you up" that he's not talking of avoiding vaginal sex only, but straight sex as a whole.)
O utinam liceat collo complexa tenere
Braciola et teneris oscula ferre labelis
I nunc, ventis tua gaudia, pupula, crede
Crede mihi, levis est natura virorum
Saepe ego cu media vigilare perdita nocte
Haec mecum meditas: multos Fortuna quos supstulit alte
Hos modo proiectos praecipitesque premit.
Sic Venus ut subito coiunxit corpora amantum
Dividit lux et se... (undeciphered words)
(From a woman to a woman)
Oh I wish I could hold you with my arms around your neck and give kisses to your soft lips! Go now, entrust your joys to the winds, little girl. Believe me, shallow is the nature of men. Often, as I stayed awake in despair in the middle of the night, contemplating these things in my mind: many whom Fortune raised high, then she crushes them, thrown away head foremost. Thus, as soon as Venus united the bodies of the lovers, does sunlight separate them and...
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/588/mode/2up
Ah, well: מַה־שֶּֽׁהָיָה֙ ה֣וּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶ֔ה וּמַה־שֶׁנַּֽעֲשָׂ֔ה ה֖וּא שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂ֑ה וְאֵ֥ין כָּל־חָדָ֖שׁ תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃Restitutus has deceived many girls./Restitutus multas decepit saepe puellas.
I regret noticing this, but it should be "on his back".Seni supino colei culum tegunt.
When an old man lies on his face, testicles cover his ass.
It shows it's a different handwriting... (Or could the person have been drunk while writing? )
A somewhat close transcription (with interpuncts omitted, macrons added, line endings of the poem (not the inscription) marked as "//", and the caesuras of the lines that are similar to elegiac pentametres marked with "/"):
Ō utinam liceat collō complexa tenēre // brāciola, et tenerīs /
ōscula ferre labellīs. // Ī nunc. Ventīs tua gaudia, pūpula, crēde. //
Crēde mihī, levis est nātūra virōrum. // Saepe ego cu(m) mediā
vigilārem perdita nocte, // haec mēcum meditā(n)s: //
"multōs Fortūnā quōs supstulit altē, // hōs modo prōiectōs subitō /
praecipitēsque premit; // sīc Venus ut subitō coniunxit
corpora amantum, // dīvīdit lūx, et sē-
*pariēs quid ama-*
The last line is written by a different person (different handwriting), and is a partial quote of Ovid (Metamorphoses 4.73-75):
I wonder how well that line worked.Amo te, facilis fac mi copia.
I just wonder, is this is a joke, or a serious idea for how to read it? (Honest question; either way I enjoyed your post.)Facilis is a male name.
No, it's not a joke, and there can be no reasonable doubt about it either. The name occurs elsewhere in Pompeii and means roughly "prompt" or "easy-going". It stands in the usual vocative position.I just wonder, is this is a joke, or a serious idea for how to read it? (Honest question; either way I enjoyed your post.)