Transcription
« Haut procul porta quæ vocatur am (sic) Veze, visitur tumulus antiquissimus, operis non vulgaris, quanquam hodie vetustate crrupti : vulgo vocatus tombeau des deux amants. Herodem & Herodiadem, in exilio palantes hic forte fortuna obvios mutuo factos præ gaudio mortuos vulgus insipidum commentum fuit. Alii, omisso quod fortuito sibimet obviati fuerint, hic saltem post obitum sepultos contendunt eosdem. Utrique falso. [...] [300] estne verisimile læsæ majestatis damnatos, & quorum etiam memoria damnata erat, in hac Romanorum Colonia, ubi aut ipsi Imperatores aut præfecti ipsorum residebant, talem sepulturæ honorem nancisci potuisse ? Quin accedamus potius conjecturæ Claudii de Rubys, qui putat per duos amantes significari conjuges duos Christianos, qui castitatem voverint, simul tamen habitantes : quorum sepulchris moris erat inscribere hæc verba, DVO AMANTES : teste Gregorio Turonensi lib. I, hist. cap. 47... »
= “Not far from the gate known as the 'Vaize Gate', you can see a very ancient tome of uncommon workmanship, even though today it is rather dilapidated. The locals call it the “tombeau des deux amants” [tomb of the two lovers] and one commonly told tale has it that that Herod and Herodiad, after having long wandered in exile, met here by chance and died of joy on catching sight of one another. Others omit this fortunate meeting and content themselves with telling that the two lovers were united in this tomb after their death. All these tales are equally false […]: is it likely after all these lovers, convicted as they were of lese majesty, whose very memory was condemned, would, in this Roman colony inhabited by the prefects of the emperors and sometimes by the emperors themselves, have been granted the honour of such a sepulchre? I rather agree with Claude de Rubys, according to whom the expression 'two lovers' referred to two people united by Christian marriage, but vowed to chastity, even while living together; the tombs of such couples were often inscribed with the words 'duo amantes', as is attested by a passage from Gregory of Tours' Histoire des Francs (Book 1, chapter 47)...”
|
