11-29-2012, 02:01 AM
The last sentence of this gravestone, and the possible interpretation, is discussed in pp. 85-86 in the article: TERMALISMO Y RELIGIÓN La sacralización del agua termal en la Península Ibérica y el norte de Africa en el mundo antiguo (in Spanish) of Francisco Diez De Velasco.
This is the rusty translation for the part in the article that discuss the inscription (please forgive my errors but Spanish is not my mother language and please correct my mistakes):
- The greatest problem with this inscription of the “miles gloriosus” is in the last line, and the “curiositas” (v., for example Le Glay 1983, 47) […] can be explained in several ways.
The editor (?) present the hypothesis that the expression "seeing the nymphs naked" could be refer to a premonitory dream of healing. Balland, that has dedicated an article to this matter, doubt and say that "we don't have any documentation that these nymphs (Aquae Flavaniae) were healthy", defending an approximation with three verses of Catullo (64, 16-18) that would point out the desire of heroisation of the soldier ( after having acquired all the success that he have looked-for himself in life, he finally imagined himself almost touching the life of the supernatural beings). The dossier on the thermal cults of Aquae Flavianae is very rich […] The fact that the tombstone has appeared in the thermal pool was not casual and we think that who dedicate the tombstone has finished the inscription quoting the Nymphs not to mark an arrival to happiness, but on the contrary since it was convenient in that particular place were the tombstone would have been exhibited. - p.85
This is the rusty translation for the part in the article that discuss the inscription (please forgive my errors but Spanish is not my mother language and please correct my mistakes):
- The greatest problem with this inscription of the “miles gloriosus” is in the last line, and the “curiositas” (v., for example Le Glay 1983, 47) […] can be explained in several ways.
The editor (?) present the hypothesis that the expression "seeing the nymphs naked" could be refer to a premonitory dream of healing. Balland, that has dedicated an article to this matter, doubt and say that "we don't have any documentation that these nymphs (Aquae Flavaniae) were healthy", defending an approximation with three verses of Catullo (64, 16-18) that would point out the desire of heroisation of the soldier ( after having acquired all the success that he have looked-for himself in life, he finally imagined himself almost touching the life of the supernatural beings). The dossier on the thermal cults of Aquae Flavianae is very rich […] The fact that the tombstone has appeared in the thermal pool was not casual and we think that who dedicate the tombstone has finished the inscription quoting the Nymphs not to mark an arrival to happiness, but on the contrary since it was convenient in that particular place were the tombstone would have been exhibited. - p.85
--------
SM.
ὁπλῖται δὲ ἀγαθοὶ καὶ ἀκροβολισταί (Strabo,IV, 6, 2)
SM.
ὁπλῖται δὲ ἀγαθοὶ καὶ ἀκροβολισταί (Strabo,IV, 6, 2)
