La Provence romaine, entre Aix et Arles
Roman Provence, between Aix and Arles
Римская Провансе, между Aix и Arles
WORDS OF BEYOND THE GRAVE
EPIGRAPHIC POEMS OF SEXTUS IULIUS FELICISSIMUS - AQUAE SEXTIAE, IIe S.
"Stop a little your steps, please young and pious traveler, to know so, by this inscription, the cruelty of my fate. I lived twice ten years less one, pure, innocent, always considered for my devotion. Perfectly educated in the learned exercises which learn young people on the arena of amphitheaters, I was also famous Pulcher. Dressed in diverse weapons, I often deceived predators ; however I also lived as doctor and as companion of those who fight the bears and of those who, often, are in the habit of sacrificing a victim during religious ceremonies ; and also of those who, when is reborn the spring, with interlaced flowers give life to the statues of the gods. If you ask for my name, the inscription declares you the truth : Sextus Iulius Felicissimus. Sextus Iulius Felix, for the being incomparable whom he raised ; congratulated, for his brother"
"Whoever you are, you who read the epitaph of the one that we buried, learn what I was, which were my wishes, which was my glory. I lived twice ten years less (some) months, the powerful by my value and beautiful of the flower of the youth, the favorite of the people who loved me and praised me. Why do you regret my misfortune? We do not triumph over the chain wanted by the fate. He goes away people as fruits of the lemon tree : they fall ripe or are picked still green"
Fresco of first century after Christ, discovered in Italy in Campania, in the region of Naples, at the foot of Vesuvius. It would represent Sapho, a Greek poet who lived on the Greek island of Lesbos, at the end of the VIIth century before Christ, and who knew a considerable success in Antiquity.