PARENT’S EPITAPH, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.115.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.115 AshLI 114

An unadorned rectangular slab (0.135 0.253 0.02) of white marble (in a modern mount). The rear is smoothly finished. Two circular marks with traces of metal occur half way up (but not quite in alignment with each other) on either side of the front surface. The sides of the stone are also damaged where the metal clamps have been.

Traces of red dye are still visible in the lettering. The slab itself is not quite rectangular, and the lettering is rather unevenly carved in places; the lettering at times varies in size and deviates from a straight line. The stonecutter’s attempt at centring the text is not entirely accurate, either. Interpuncts are represented by oblique slashes throughout.

: 0.013 (line 1); 0.009 (lines 2-5), with S of FILIVS and P of PIVS 0.015 in line 5. Rome possibly second century AD (use of DM formula and onomastics; Solin 2003, vol. 1: p.298) According to CIL, this inscription was first recorded seen in Rome in the mid-seventeenth century by Marquard Gude [= Gudius], in the possession of the painter Giovanni Angelo Canini. The edition of Gude published later by Hesselius (1731), however, records its location as in the palazzo of Cardinal Camillo II Massimo, titular patriarch of Jerusalem (died in 1677). It is also mentioned (Ainsworth 1720; Muratori 1740, with information sent by Henri Joseph de Thomassin de Mazaugues) as having been in the collection of the London antiquary John Kemp (1665–1717: Goodwin 2008) until his death in 1717 (Ainsworth 1720), and it may earlier have been part of the collection of John Gailhard, much of whose collection was bought by John Kemp in 1695 (Nichols 1812: p.249). In his will, Kemp stipulated that Robert Earl of Oxford or his son should inherit the collection and books for 2,000 pounds, but the bequest was not accepted on these terms. Kemp’s collection was subsequently sold in 293 lots for £1090 8s. 6d in total at an auction in the Phoenix Tavern, Pall Mall, Westminster between 23rd-25th and on 27th March 1721: the auctioneer’s catalogue for March 1721 includes several entries for ‘Latin inscriptions’ (Online Catalogue, Sir John Soanes Museum). It is subsequently listed in the sale catalogue (Langford 1749) for the collection belonging to Christopher Wren, Esq., of Hampton Court (son of Sir Christopher Wren) sold at auction in London as lot 50 on 5th April 1749, after his death. Lot 50 comprised seven marble inscriptions in frames (but only six listed in the catalogue: also C3-107, C3-114, C3-119, C3-124, C3-125). This lot was bought by Richard Rawlinson: he is listed in the sale catalogue as one of the buyers at the auction, and also himself writes later that year of having bought Latin inscriptions from Mr Wren’s sale (Enright 1956: p.306 - Rawlinson Bod. MS. C 989 f.123, 16 Nov 1749, letter to Bodleian’s librarian). All of these Latin inscriptions are in the Ashmolean as part of the Rawlinson Collection, which was given to Oxford University in 1753, and at first kept in the University Collection in the Bodleian Library (Enright 1956: p.340). It is included in a list of antique marbles transferred from the Ashmolean Museum basement room to the marble rooms of the Randolph Building in January 1888 (Archive MS. ‘Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum’ p.34, no.164). It is currently in a storeroom. photograph
dis manibus sacrum Caio Ennio Apollonio et Enniae Nice parentibus bene merenti fecit Caius Ennius Felix filius pius

Sacred to the spirits of the dead. Gaius Ennius Felix, devoted son, set this up for Gaius Ennius Apollonius and Ennia Nice, well-deserving parents.

Both parents and son share the same gentilician name, so it is possible that Apollonius and Nice were freed by the same patron, or that Apollonius was both patron and husband of Nice. Their son Felix might be either freed or freeborn.

Gude MS. 601, 4 (according to CIL); Ainsworth (1720) p.40 no.17; Hesselius (= Marquard Gude) (1731) p.255, no.1; Muratori (1740) vol.3, p.1255, no.2 (from de Mazaugues); Chandler (1763) Part 3, Pl.III.cxv, with drawing; CIL VI.3 no.17161 [Hübner] (1886)

Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum Sir John Soane's Museum, Collection Online / Monvmenta vetustatis Kempiana http://collections.soane.org/b9499 [accessed 29/10/15] Ainsworth R. 1720 Monumenta vetustatis Kempiana London Vaillant Chandler R. 1763 Marmora Oxoniensia Oxford Clarendon Press Enright B.J. 1956 Richard Rawlinson: collector, antiquary, and topographer (Bod. MS. D.Phil. d.1786) Goodwin Gordon 2008 Kemp, John (1665–1717) rev. Philip Carter, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press (online edn) [accessed 24/07/14] Hesselius F. 1731 Antiquae Inscriptiones quam Graecae tum Latinae olim a Marquardo Gudio collectae Leovardia Langford A. 1749 A catalogue of the genuine and entire collection of medals and statues of Christopher Wren Esq, late of Hampton Court, deceased; together with the collection of drawings of architecture of the late Sir Christopher Wren, his father (London 1749) http://artworld.york.ac.uk R. Stephens The art world in Britain 1660 to 1735 Muratori L.A. 1739, 1740, 1740, 1742 Novus thesaurus veterum inscriptionum I-IV Milan Nichols J. 1812 Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. Vol. 5 London Nichols, son, and Bentley Solin H. 2003 Die griechischen Personennamen in Rom. Ein Namenbuch (2nd edn) 3 vols Berlin De Gruyter