152 CHAPTER FOURUnlike the previous examples, this inscription has ambitions. Its second half
is written in an approximation of the Homeric dialect of Greek, which was
commonlyusedin funeraryepigrams.However,evena quickglancethrough
W. Peek,Griechische Vers-Inschriften,^80 demonstrates the clumsiness of this
example. Nevertheless, the epigram does feature some of the conventional
themesofthegenre—theloveofthenativecityforthedeceased,forexample.
Astriking featureistherepeated emphasisonluxury,trypheˆ. Inpaganliterary
works this word has the unambiguously negative connotations of softness,
effeminacy, feebleness, and so on (see LSJ sub v.).^81 Addiction totrypheˆwas
thought servile. Yet in this text, written up, at any rate, by someone who had
read a bit, participation intrypheˆis presented as a praiseworthy accomplish-
ment.It wouldbea mistaketoattributethis sentimenttothe eccentricityand
ignorance of an ex-soldier in a remote provincial town, or to the ineptitude
of the “epigrammatist” hired to compose the text. For notwithstanding the
invariably pejorative sensetrypheˆpossesses in classical texts, in funerary epi-
grams, including some of considerable elegance clearly composed by and for
the highly literate,trypheˆis commonly a neutral value and occasionally an
admirable one. Common in epigrams is the “eat, drink, and be merry, for
tomorrow you die” theme,^82 for example, in this Greek epigram from the city
ofRome:“Lifeisgoodbutshort;lightissweetbutitfails.Enjoyyourluxuries
[trypheˆson] while you can, for here eternal night awaits you.” In such texts,
trypheˆis morally neutral, even, implicitly, somewhat inferior to moderation;
after all, the poems imply, if not for the insouciance produced by the inevita-
bility of death, you might have been inclined to avoid luxury! But in other
texts,trypheˆis,asinourTiberiantext,avirtue,possessionofwhichisasource
of pride.^83 This epitaph, fro mPhrygian Apa mea, in the third centuryC.E., is
especially illuminating:
He who lives life, lives for his friends even after his death; he who has acquired
much but does not enjoy his luxuries [tryphoˆn] with his friends, such a one has
diedwhilestillwalkingtheearthandlivesinthemannerofcorpses.ButI,Meno-
genes, have lived luxuriously [etrypheˆsa]....(Peek1113a)This epigra mcan be read as a coherent and articulate rendition of what is
inchoate in the Tiberian text. If we read the Tiberian text in light of the
Phrygian,ittoocanbeseentodescribeanexusofsurplus,conceivedasexcess,
socialreciprocity,andimmortality.Amandus’saretesurviveshisdeath(proba-
(^80) Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1955.
(^81) In Christian texts, though, the word frequently has a positive connotation, for example, it is
regularlyusedofman’sstatebeforetheFall(seeLampe,PatristicGreekLexicon,s.v.).TheChris-
tian usage is conceivably revelatory of the word’s meaning in a nonliterary semantic register.
(^82) E.g., J. Robert and L. Robert,BullEp, 1960, no. 445; L. Robert,Hellenica13 (1965): 184–
92; B. Lifshitz, “Notes d’e ́pigraphie palestinienne,”RB73 (1966): 248–57.
(^83) Peek 263 (fro mDorylaeu m, Phrygia, second centuryC.E.); Peek 1113a.