outstrips citations from prose in ancient wall writing. Because so much
ancient literature has been lost, it is of course possible that there are
citations or parodies in the graffiti that we cannot recognize, but it is
remarkable how few references to known Latin prose works there are in
all Pompeian wall texts.^25 In contrast, Pompeian walls preserve direct
quotations from a number of different canonical Latin poets, from Ennius
(CIL4.3135 and 7353) to Propertius (CIL4.1520, 1894, 4491, 9847) and
Ovid (CIL4.1324, 1893, 1895, 1520, 3149, 9847). Vergil’sEcloguesare
also in evidence (see appendix), although I am not convinced that what
della Corte (1940, 175) describes as the single ‘‘quotation’’ from the
Georgicsactually is one.
26
As I mentioned above, we have yet to formulate
a viable explanation of what function such quotations had in Roman
popular culture generally or Pompeian graffiti particularly, although it
seems likely that poetry was more popular than prose because of the
former’s prominence in elementary education: Quintilian notes that pas-
sages from poetry are useful because ‘‘learning them is more pleasing to
children’’ (namque eorum cognitio parvis gratior est:Inst. 1. 1. 36), and we
have numerous instances in the papyri of phrases from canonical poets
being used as copy models.^27 But, again, the fact that someone may have
memorized the first line of Vergil’sAeneidin school does not on its
own explain why he or she would write that line on a particular wall
in Pompeii, or what a reader might have been imagined to take away
after stopping to peruse the text.
We are fortunate, therefore, to have one instance in the Pompeian
graffiti in which an author is more explicit about the relationship of his/
her text to Vergil’s original. Outside of the so-called house of Fabius
Ululitremulus appears a painted version of Aeneas, Ascanius, and
Anchises that flanks the main door on one side; across from it in a parallel
painting is the figure of Romulus bearing thespolia opima.^28 Nearby was
found scratched a witty hexameter (see figure 12.2):fullones ululamque
cano, non arma virumque(‘‘I sing the fullers and the screech owl, not arms
- There are, in fact, no direct quotations, and only a few vague allusions. One such is
CIL4.1261, a poorly spelled inscription from the outside wall of the ‘‘House of the Tragic
Poet’’:futebatur inquam futuebatur civium Romanorum atractis pedibus cunus, in qua nule
aliae veces erant nisissei dulcisime et pissimae(‘‘Fucked, I say, fucked with legs drawn back was
the cunt of the citizens of Rome, during which there was no sound except moans sweet and
respectful’’). It has been hypothesized that this is a parody of a passage from one of Cicero’s
Verrines, in which a man under torture refuses to make any sound except to say ‘‘I am a
Roman citizen’’ (civis Romanus sum:Verr. 2. 5. 162). See Cugusi 1985. For a fairly ex
haustive catalogue of all quotations from, and references to, Greek and Latin literature in
Pompeian graffiti, see Gigante 1979.
26.Matris Eleusinae,inCIL4.8560 and 8610, but this is simply a name for Demeter,
which could have been common. When the two words appear inGeorgics1. 163, moreover,
they are in reverse order (Eleusinae matris). - Cribiore 2001, 134 5.
- On the space, see Spinazzola 1953, 147 55.
Literary Literacy in Roman Pompeii 299