Graffiti from Pompeii - for Benjamin

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
Or, as L&S puts it in a different style, "to desire to go to stool", lol. I wondered how those prudish 19th-century scholars would define it, so I looked.
 

Puer Pedens

Member

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

Written on a dish: fur cave malum.
Thief, beware of trouble.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/676/mode/2up

On a dish: Redde me.
Give me back.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/676/mode/2up

On a vessel: Epaphroditi sum tangere me noli.
I belong to Epaphroditus, do not touch me.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/676/mode/2up

Circinaeus hic habitat.
Circinaeus lives here.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/736/mode/2up

Stercorari ad murum progredere, si presus pueris poena patiare necese est. Cave.
Proceed and relieve yourself against the wall, if you are caught, you will inevitably suffer a punishment. Beware.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/736/mode/2up

Bellicus hic futuit quendam.
Bellicus fucked some guy here.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up

Formonsa domus domino veneranda futura.
A beautiful house that shall be worthy to be treated with profound respect by its master.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up

Futuitur cunnus pilossus multo melius quam glaber (they say something follow but I don't have it).
Hairy female pudenda are much better to fuck than hairless ones.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up

Hic ego nunc futui formosa forma puella (+ something I don't have).
I have just fucked a good-looking girl here.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up

Otiosis locus hic non est, discede morator.
There's no place here for idle ones, go away, loiterer.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up

Pupa que bela is, tibi me misit qui tuus est. Vale.
You girl who are pretty, the one who is yours sent me to you. Take care.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/inscriptions.html

Quisquis amat nigra nigris carbonibus ardet (+ ...).
Whoever loves a black-haired girl burns with black charcoal.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up

Felicem Aufidium felicem semper deus faciat.
May god always make Felix Aufidius happy.
OR
Happy, may god always make Aufidius happy. The first felix might be a proper name, or it might not be...
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/714/mode/2up

M. Lucretium Frontonem aed. vicini rogamus.
We, the neighbours, ask for M. Lucretius Fronto as an aedile.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/698/mode/2up

Si pudor in vita quicquam prodesse putatur, Lucretius hic Fronto dignus honore bono est (same hand as the above).
If scrupulousness is thought to be of any use in life, this Lucretius Fronto is worthy of a good honour.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/698/mode/2up

Caesaris Augusti femina mater erat.
Augustus Caesar's mother was a woman.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/722/mode/2up

Hic ego cum veni futui deinde redei domi.
Here when I came I fucked then I went back home.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up/search/redei

Invidiose qui deles aegrotes.
You odious man who deletes this, may you be sick.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Acti amor populi cito redi va.
Actius, love of the people, come back soon. Take care.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Bene tibi ego volo.
I wish you well.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Felix est Ianuarius Fuficius qui hic habitat.
Blessed is Ianuarius Fuficius who lives here.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Felix hic locus est.
Blessed is this place.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Satur noli cunnum lingere.
Do not lick a woman's pudenda when you're replete.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Epaphra redde penicillum.
Epaphra, give the paint-brush back .
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Vobis salvis felices sumus perpetuo.
If you are safe we are happy forever.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Aemilius Fortunato fratri sal.
Aemilius says hello to his brother fortunatus.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Aephebus Successo patri suo salut.
Aephebus says hello to his father Successus.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Cresces conservis universis sal.
Cresces says hello to all his fellow slaves.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up/search/redei

Actius Cossiniae mamme suae plurima salut.
Actius says a big hello to his mum Cossinia.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Mendax veraci ubique salute.
The liar says hello to the truthful one, wherever he is.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Suaviter sternutes.
Let you sneeze sweetly.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Nycherate vana succula que amas Felicione et at porta deduces, illuc tantu in mente abeto...
Nycherate, you foolish sow who love Felicio and bring him to the gate, just bear that in mind...
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/inscriptions.html

Rufa ita vale quare bene felas.
Rufa, be well because you do nice fellatios.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Valeat qui legerit.
Let him be well who shall read this.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Quisquis me ad cenam vocarit v(aleat).
Whoever invites me to dinner, let him be well.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis

Valeas qui bene futues.
Let you be well you who fuck well.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/784/mode/2up/search/quisquis
Valeas qui bene futues. I didn't get this sentence, Present Subjunctive , ok, once you're wishing something to someone else, but why futues in the present future ?!
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
Valeas qui bene futues. I didn't get this sentence, Present Subjunctive , ok, once you're wishing something to someone else, but why futues in the present future ?!
It could simply be future tense. There's a chance that it's meant as present tense since i and e were sometimes confused, but I don't know if it's the case here.
 

IANNICOLÆ

New Member

Thank you so much for this smörgåsbord, Pacifica! I feel a strong cultural connection to the Ancients through your curation :). It's transporting and I feel inspired to study Latin again. (I stopped studying Latin around 1980!)

One item threw me off, and I wonder what others think about it...
The following item seems to me to be mistranscribed, typographically, in the source you quoted, as well as elsewhere on the internet I see.

Hic ego cum veni futui deinde redei domi.
Here when I came I fucked then I went back home.
http://archive.org/stream/inscriptionespar42zang#page/776/mode/2up/search/redei
Right away this one struck me as ungrammatical -- no, I'm not a native speaker of Latin ha ha. It was surprising to see the locative domī complementing a verb of motion (redīre) -- the semantics of the accusative seem better suited to this context, so I sought out an image of the original writing. I found one here, on the Ancient Graffiti Project website:
I'm attaching a .jpeg as well, for your convenience.

Judging from the image, it looks like the writer hastily wrote "DOMM"-- the accusative, not only abbreviated, but also with the final vertical stroke of the M missing. Here's my thinking...

I presume "MM" would normatively require 6 vertical strokes, 3 for each M. In the image, we see that after the O, there are 5 vertical strokes. MI (of the locative domī) would entail only 4. *DOME, although a non-sense form, would de rigueur require 5 vertical strokes -- and this is exactly what we see in the image -- 3 composing the M and the remaining 2 composing an E. Now, I would think that the expected DOMVM, abbreviated here as DOMM, would entail 6 such strokes, but informally (like on the wall of a brothel), 5 would do the job, especially if the writer recorded his sexual exploit in haste.

The equivalent in English handwriting would be the omission of a peak or a valley when hastily writing cursive "sWIMMINg," "dIMWIt," "doWNWINd," etc. (As I get older, I find I make this kind of handwriting mistake more frequently, reducing the number of conventional vertical strokes in letterforms that repeat.) These letter sequences aren't just hard for people who are learning to write, they can also be difficult to read. Imagine a highway patrol officer trying to discern your license plate "MMWMWM" as you speed down the road... (I do not recommend this.)

Anyway, I'm not a Classicist; my training is in linguistics, in particular "cognitive grammar," hence my interest in grammatical cases and their metaphorical extensions, e.g. the basic meaning of transfer of objects (the accusative) as a metaphor for destination (transfer of location, "movement towards"). Do any Classicists out there know of any independently-motivated grammatical precedent for using the locative (e.g. redii domi), rather than the accusative (redii domum), with verbs of motion in Latin? Or am I correct in surmising that the original writing has been misinterpreted, mistranscribed in print and online?
 

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Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
I'm not sure what's exactly written. I'm not used to deciphering this type of handwriting. DOMM seems an unlikely abbreviation. I guess it could be DOMV. It wasn't rare for final ms to be dropped in inscriptions. But that last long stroke does look like an i. Domi is, of course, ungrammatical. I wasn't overly surprised by it because random people have always made grammatical mistakes (this wasn't written by Cicero). In sum, someone clearly went wrong here, either the original author or the transcriber, but I can't tell for sure which one it is.
 

IANNICOLÆ

New Member

[...] I guess it could be DOMV. It wasn't rare for final ms to be dropped in inscriptions. But that last long stroke does look like an i. [...]
Agreed! DOMV would be more likely, and it does indeed look like an i at the end there.

This tickles my brain: if the lupanar patron/graffiti author could have only known that some *2000 years later* his indecent scrawl would become the topic of a discussion of his grammar and his handwriting...and on this thing called the internet...
 
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