37 CIL 6.7582

This inscription was erected in the late 2nd-century CE between the via Appia and via Ardeatina. Commemorating the freedmen and freedwomen of Gaius Bruttius Praesens (consul in  153 and 180 ce), this inscription ends on a touchingly apologetic note. The inscription was commissioned by Praesens’ freed slave Gaius Telesphorio Bruttius to commemorate the gift of the plot by Praesens’ son, Lucius Bruttius Quintius Crispinus (consul in 187). 

Text

D(is) M(anibus) / C(ai) Brutti Telesphorionis C(ai) Brutti Praesen/tis c(larrisimae) m(emoriae) v(iri) II co(n)s(ulis) lib(erti) Numidae ipsius. loco si/bi donato a L(ucio) Bruttio Quintio Crispino fili/o eius, co(n)s(ule) patrono. vivus sibi fecit et Cari/co lib(erto) suo et ceteris libertis libertabus/que suis posterisque eorum omnium / futurorum. hoc monumentum ex mea / frugalitate feci et e[i]s qui supra scri/pti sunt. ceteri amici, ignoscetis: hoc monu/mentum hospitem non recip<i>t. <b>ene valetis

Commentariolum

2 II cos: Praesens was twice consul, in 153 and 180 ce.

lib(ertī) Numidae ipsius: resumes the description of Telesphorio after the extended naming of Praesens.

Numidae: Telesphorio was from Numidia; Praesens had been proconsul of the African province in 106–107 ce.

3 vivus sibi fecit: Telesphorio is the subject.

2–3 The ablative absolute reveals that the plot was given by Praesens’ son.

5 feci: The verbs shift to the first person but Telesphorio remains the subject, now speaking in his own voice.