41 CIL 6.9659

In this remarkable inscription, found on the Via Salaria in Roma, Lucius Licinius Nepos seeks friends after his death to replace those who betrayed him while he yet lived. Although written in prose, many of the phrases are drawn from poetry. 

L(ūcius) Licinius M(ārcī) fīlius P(ollia) Nepōs, cūius dē vītā meritō pote<st> nēmō querī, quī negōtiandō locuplētem sē spērāvit esse futūrum, spē dēceptus erat et ā multīs, bene meritus, amīcīs. Hanc casulam in parvō fēcit suprēmī temporis sēdem māiōrī cūrā quam inpēnsā potuit. Dīīs parentibus suīs hunc lapidem posuit suprēmum sēmōtō locō suptus quem factum est ut remanērent ossa et cinerēs C(āiī) frātris et suā u(r)be requiēscerent, et per quem testārī posset, quam labōriōsē et nōn sēcūrē vīxserit. Quī vīvōs multīs in futūrum suprēma hospitia dōnāvit amīcīs; cūius in hospitītiō requiēsc[e]nt multīs grātīs [ut] amīcīs; quōs rogat ut, quod eīs superat, suīs dōnent grātīs, nē vēndant. Vītent hominēs avārōs, audācēs, monument(ōr)um sacrilōgōs, per quōs dēcessīs numquam requiēscere licet. — Dīīs manibus sacrum. Homō, violāre nōlī, sī tē moritūrum putās. P(edēs) Q(uadrātī) XII.

Commentariolum

3 locuplētem: predicate subject of sē esse futūrum.

4 casulam: a little casa, i.e., the tomb.

7 suptus: = subter + quem (whose antecedent is locō).

10 vixserit = vīxerit.

  vīvōs = vīvus.

12 quōs: the antecedent is amīcīs.

rogat ut…. (rogat) nē…

[id] quod: the object of dōnent and subject of superat.

15 sacrilōgōs = sacrilegōs + genitive of what is violated.

dēcessīs < dēcēdō, “the deceased”.