Among Reflections on Religion and Death: Roman Poem Calls into Question an Afterlife- Poems Found in Translation

This may seem odd. But all these deaths we have had in the world lately-- and the number always seems to keep rising from all sorts of causes-- war, disease, and racial and religious conflict-- that it reminds us that one of the great religions of Southeast Asia does not preach belief in an afterlife.

In the West, this is not as prevalent; and of course Islam has all sorts of visions of an afterlife it seems, complete with all these virgins for heroes, etc.

This poem dwells on the idea that perhaps there is no afterlife and is translated again by A.Z. Foreman:

Poems Found In Translation: “Marcus Antonius Encolpus: Carellia's Epitaph (From Greek)”

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Marcus Antonius Encolpus: Carellia's Epitaph (From Greek)  Posted: 27 Dec 2014 07:54 PM PST Skepticism about the afterlife is not recent. Even in incredibly superstitious societies of millennia past, there have often been those who didn't buy into their culture's mythology about death, or at least didn't take it very seriously. It is indeed a well-attested (if not widely-known) fact that there were plenty of unbelievers and skeptics even in ancient Greece and Rome. A perusal of Cicero's De Natura Deorum will give the reader some idea of the frankness and sophistication with which the gods' existence, or lack thereof, could freely be discussed by an educated member of the Roman upper class of 45 B.C. Though it was not merely the extremely well-educated and philosophically inclined who contemplated such things. An excellent example is the Greek epitaph inscribed by one Marcus Antonius Encolpus on the grave of his wife Cerellia Fortunata, dating to sometime around 200 A.D., and which I translate here. (I've taken some extreme liberty with line 8, because an idea for a cool English phrase came to mind and I couldn't resist.) The lack of belief in the afterlife evinced in the Greek verse epitaph may be compared quite profitably with the Latin prose inscription, in which great pains are taken to see that the tomb not be desecrated by the visitation of someone who has fallen out of favor with the family patriarch, as well as to reward someone who did him a good turn with a place in it. It is an almost unbelievably perfect illustration both of Roman culture's free-wheeling approach to religious belief and of Romans' profound concern, bordering on obsession, with proper religious practice, and of how little contradiction Romans usually saw between the two. Attributing authorship is somewhat difficult, as is often the case with funeral epigraphy. The dedication preceding the epitaph on the stone is in Latin. The first 8 lines are in Greek iambics and give the impression of being a complete poem on their own. It makes them a much stronger and more sensical poem if they are read thus, in any case. The 6 lines after that in elegiac meter, with their dry irreverent take on traditional funeral offerings, may be a later addition. They are extremely different in tone. Four of those lines also appear (without attribution) as an epigram in the palatine anthology, though the last line is attested only in this inscription. Nonetheless I have, for lack of a better option, listed Marcus Antonius Encolpus as the "author". For all I know, though, it could be his wife who composed it herself while alive and kicking, with the intent of having it inscribed on her tomb when she kicked the proverbial bucket. Or a third party could've been paid to compose it for her. It's really anybody's guess. I don't know, really, I ain't no epigraphist. The text was taken from (and, as a matter of fact, found by chance in) the Packard Humanities Institute's wonderful Greek epigraphy database, available online here. Carellia's Epitaph By Marcus Antonius Encolpus Translated by A.Z. Foreman For my departed and dearest wife Carellia Fortunata with whom I lived for 11 tranquil years. Marcus Antonius Encolpus made this tomb for himself as well as for Antonius Athenaeus, his dear freed slave, and his freedmen and freedwomen and all of their issue, except for Marcus Antonius Athenio. Him I forbid to be interred in this grave, to ever visit or enter it, or to have his own or any of his descendants' remains brought here for funeral. If any should violate these provisions, he that has done so must pay the pontifices or the antescholarii of the Vestal Virgins a sum of 50,000 sestertii. This I declare because, after many other insults against my person, he denied that I was his father. This tomb I also open to Aulus Laelius Apelles my dearest client, who may choose for himself whichever sarcophagus he wishes, as he stood by me in such a great catastrophe, and whose good favor I enjoy.  Do not pass by my epitaph, dear passer-by.　 Stop. Read and learn, and when you understand, go on:　 There is no Charon waiting on a boat in Hades.　 No judge named Aeacus, no dog called Cerberus.　 All of us who go dead down here become no more　 Than buried bone and ash. I've told it as it is　 And have no more to say. Now, passer-by, go on　 And know I keep the rule of dead men: tell no tales. ã€€     ã€€ã€€This tomb's just stone. So bring no myrrh or garlands, 　　　        And don't waste money on a fire, 　　    If you want to give me something, you really should have  　　　        Done it when I was still alive. 　　    If you mix fine wine with ash you just get mud. 　　　       Besides, the dead do not drink wine. 　　    Just sprinkle some soil, and say: what I was before     ã€€ã€€ã€€    I was, I have become once more. The Original: Cerelliae Fortunatae coniugi carissimae cum qua v. ann. XL s.u.q. M. Antonius Encolpus fecit sibi et Antonio Athenaeo liberto suo carissimo et libertis libertabusque eorum et posteris, excepto Marco Antonio Athenione quem veto in eo monimento aditum habere, neque iter ambitum introitum ullum in eo habere, neque sepulturae causa reliquias eius posterorumque eius inferri, quod si quis adversus hoc quis fecerit, tunc is qui fecerit poenae nomine pontificibus aut antischolariis virginum HS L m.n. inferre debebit, ideo quia me post multas iniurias parentem sibi amnegaverit. Et A. Lelio Apeliti, clienti carissimo quem boluerit donationis causa sarcofagum eligat sibi, opter quod in tam mana clade non me reliquerit, cuius beneficia abeo μή μου παρέλθῃς τὸ ἐπίγραμμα, ὁδοιπόρε,　　 ἀλλὰ σταθεὶς ἄκουε καὶ μαθὼν ἄπι.　　 οὐκ ἔστι ἐν Ἅδου πλοῖον, οὐ πορθμεὺς Χάρων,　　 οὐκ Αἰακὸς κλειδοῦχος, οὐχὶ Κέρβελος κύων　　 ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντες οἱ κάτω τεθνηκότες　　 ὀστέα τέφρα γεγόναμεν, ἄλλο δὲ οὐδὲ ἕν.　　 εἴρηκά σοι ὀρθῶς ὕπαγε, ὀδοιπόρε,　　 μὴ καὶ τεθνακὼς ἀδόλεσχός σοι φανῶ　　 　  Μὴ μύρα, μὴ στεφάνους λιθίναις στήλαισι χαρίζου· 　　     Î¼Î·Î´á½² τὸ πῦρ φλέξῃς ἐς κενὸν ἡ δαπάνη. 　  ζῶντί μοι, εἴ τι θέλεις, χάρισαι  Ï„έφρην δὲ μεθύσκων 　　     Ï€Î·Î»á½¸Î½ ποιήσεις, κοὐχ ὁ θανὼν πίεται. 　  τοῦτο ἔσομαι γὰρ ἐγώ, σὺ δὲ τούτοις γῆν ἐπιχώσας 　　     Îµá¼°Ï€á½³ ὅτι οὐκ ἦν τοῦτο πάλιν γέγονα