2007-09-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

Epitaph
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For other uses of the term Epitaph, please see Epitaph (disambiguation).

An epitaph (ἐπιτάφιος literally: "on the gravestone" in ancient Greek) is text honoring the deceased, most commonly inscribed on a tombstone or plaque. Traditionally an epitaph is in verse, but there are exceptions. Many poets have been known to compose their own epitaphs prior to their death.

Many are quotes from holy texts, or aphorisms. A good epitaph is considered to be one that is memorable, or at least makes one think. A wry trick of many successful epitaphs is to 'speak' to the reader and warn them about their own mortality; another is a request of the reader to get off their resting place, as often it would require the reader to stand on the ground above the coffin to read the inscription. Some record achievements, (e.g. past politicians note the years of their terms of office) but nearly all (excepting the tomb of the unknown soldier, where this is impossible) note name, date of birth and date of death.

Ὦ ξεῖν’, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.

O xein', angellein Lakedaimoniois hoti têde
keimetha tois keinôn rhêmasi peithomenoi

Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by
that here, obedient to their law, we lie.

— Simonides's epigram at Thermopylae

I lie somewhere over here

— Werner Heisenberg, as in Uncertainty Principle.

When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today

The Kohima Epitaph which is on the World War II War Memorial for the Allied fallen at the battle of Kohima. Written by John Maxwell Edmonds (1875-1958), an English classicist, suggested for the memorial by Major John Etty-Leal, the GSO II of the 2nd Division, another classical scholar. In fact this is a misquotation. The correct version runs:

When you go home, tell them of us, and say,
For your tomorrows these gave their today.
Edmonds was a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge and one of his contemporaries, and his friend and executor, Dr Freddy Brittain, another eminent Jesuan wrote of him, ‘always courteous, (he) used to say that he would not have minded the misattribution of authorship or the breaches of copyright, if only the text had not been commonly misquoted, as it is on the Kohima memorial and even in the Ashenden Press editions of his epitaphs.'

Hodie mihi, cras tibi

Today for me, tomorrow for thee

— Famous Latin epitaph

No greater friend, no worse enemy

— Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Roman Dictator

Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo

I was not, I was, I am not, I do not care

— Famous Latin epitaph

Don't Try

— Poet Charles Bukowski

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.

— From the grave of William Shakespeare

Here lie the ashes of Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) Humorist, writer, critic, defender of human and civil rights. For her epitaph she suggested "Excuse My Dust". This memorial garden is dedicated to her noble spirit which celebrated the oneness of humankind, and to the bonds of everlasting friendship between black and Jewish people.

— From the grave of Dorothy Parker

Nature, and nature's laws, lay hid in night,
God said, let Newton be! And all was light.

— from the grave of Newton, a poem from Alexander Pope

SWIFT has sailed into his rest;
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his breast.
Imitate him if you dare,
World-besotted traveller; he
Served human liberty.

— by and for Jonathan Swift, translated from Latin by William Butler Yeats

Cast a cold eye
On life, on death
Horseman, pass by!

— W.B. Yeats

Stranger by the roadside, do not smile
When you see this grave, though it is only a dog's,
My master wept when I died, and his own hand
Laid me in earth and wrote these lines on my tomb.

— (unknown origin)

This Grave
contains all that was mortal
of a
YOUNG ENGLISH POET
who
on his Death-Bed
in the Bitterness of his heart
at the Malicious Power of his enemies
desired these words to be engraven on his Tomb Stone
"HERE LIES ONE
WHOSE NAME WAS WRIT IN WATER"
FEB 24 1821

— John Keats

She did it the hard way.

— Bette Davis

Here lies one of the most intelligent animals who ever appeared on the face of the earth.

— Benito Mussolini

Never Born, Never Died—Only visited this planet Earth between December 11, 1931 and January 19, 1990.

— Rajneesh

That's all folks!

— Mel Blanc

Love Will Tear Us Apart

— Ian Curtis

Δεν ελπίζω τίποτε. Δεν φοβούμαι τίποτε. Είμαι λεύτερος

I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.

— Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek author.

Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite

(Gaelic for I told you I was ill)

— Spike Milligan, Irish comic, writer, musician

J. R. R. Tolkien is buried next to his wife, and on their tombstone the names "Beren" and "Lúthien" are engraved, a fact that sheds light on the love story of Beren and Lúthien which is recorded in several versions in his works.

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288...

— Ludolph van Ceulen, he was so proud of his achievement, computing π (pi) to 35 digits, that he ordered it to be inscribed on his tombstone.

Finally I am becoming stupider no more

— Paul Erdos, Hungarian mathematician.

Här det jordiska af Kraus, det himmelska lefver i hans toner

Here the earthly of Kraus, the heavenly live in his music

— Joseph Martin Kraus, German-Swedish composer.

Here lies Jiri Wolker, poet, who loved world,
and for its justice wanted to fight.
Before he could jerk his heart into battle out,
he died, only when he twentyfour was.

— Jiri Wolker, Czech poet.

Here was buried Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom
And Father of the University of Virginia

— While a fairly bland epitaph in itself, it is notable for what it does not do: it does not mention the fact that Thomas Jefferson had been President of the United States for a full two terms.

Life's a jest, and all things show it.
I thought so once, and now I know it.

— John Gay, English poet.

The Best is yet to come.

— Frank Sinatra, American singer.

I seen a rainbow yesterday but too many storms have come and gone leavin' a trace of not one God-given ray is it because my life is ten shades of gray I pray all ten fade away seldom praise Him for the sunny days And like His promise is true only my faith can undo the many chances I blew to bring my life to anew clear blue and unconditional skies have dried the tears from my eyes no more lonely cries my only bleedin' hope is for the folk who can't cope wit such an endurin' pain that it keeps 'em in the pourin' rain who's to blame for tootin' caine in your own vein what a shame you shoot and aim for someone else's brain you claim the insane and name this day and time for fallin' prey to crime I say the system got you victim to your own mind dreams are hopeless aspirations in hopes of comin' true believe in yourself the rest is up to me and you.

— Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes, American rapper from trio TLC.

[edit] Other Epitaphs

Beware ye people passing by,
As you are now, so once was I,
And as I am now, so must you be,
Prepare for death and follow me.

— Birdville Cemetery, Haltom City, Texas

Here Lies Lester Moore,
Four Slugs From A 44,
No Les, No More

— Boot Hill Cemetery, Tombstone, Arizona

He called Pete Smith a liar.

— On a nameless tombstone in Wichita, Kansas

He went too far in the search of flowers. (translated)

— China, from a father on his son's tombstone

'Here lies Diophantus,' the wonder behold. Through art algebraic, the stone tells how old: 'God gave him his boyhood one-sixth of his life, One twelfth more as youth while whiskers grew rife; And then yet one-seventh ere marriage begun; In five years there came a bouncing new son. Alas, the dear child of master and sage After attaining half the measure of his father's life chill fate took him. After consoling his fate by the science of numbers for four years, he ended his life.'

— Diophantus of Alexandria (upon solving the riddle, his age at death is found to be 84)

Poor John Gray, here he lies,
No one laughs, and no one cries,
Where he's gone, and how he fares,
No one knows, and no one cares.

— John Gray, unsubstantial English Citizen

Posterity will ne'er survey
A nobler grave than this
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh
Stop, traveller, and piss.

— Viscount Castlereagh, written by Lord Byron

2007-09-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

ABIGAIL S.
wife of
William E. Percival
died Feb. 20, 1831
AE. 22

Her Infant rests by her side.

As into air, the purer spirits flew
And separates from their kindred drops below
So flew the soul to its congenial place.

Photos and inscription supplied by Caryn VanBuskirk Bowles. The left photo was taken May 1997. The gravestone later was destroyed by a truck. The replacement gravestone is shown in the right photo taken in 2006.
Sandwich Boardley Road Cemetery

In Memory of
Mrs TEMPERANCE SMITH
Wife of
Doct'r THOMAS SMITH
who departed this Life
Sept the 3d 1773
in the 29th Year
of her Age

Favour is deceitful and beauty is
vain but a woman that feareth the
LORD she shall be praised

LIZZIE P
Wife of
Heman C. Crocker
& dau. of
Calvin & Susan Meiggs
died Aug. 22, 1866
Aged 31 years

(back side)
LIZZIE
She's gone
Yes, gone from our sight
The wife and mother dear
The one we loved so
fondly well
No more will greet us here.

Temperance Nye 1794

Memento mortis
In Memory of
Miss Temperance Nye dau
of Cap Ebenezer Nye, &
Mrs Fear his wife who
died May 31st 1794 In
her 21st Year

The virgin graces bloom'd upon her cheek
Her mind was virtuous and her temper meek
Confin'd in dust, her tender body lies
Till called to meet her pious soul

Zacheus Popmunnet 1770

The Righteous is more excellent than his Neighbor

The inscription details are unknown. Deacon Zacheus Popmunnet is buried in the Mashpee Old Burying Ground located at the Old Indian Meetinghouse. Richard Bourne established the first Indian church there in 1658.

2007-09-10T07:19:00.001-07:00

In Memory of
Mr JOHN GOODSPEED
Who departed this
Life Aug ye 28 1786
in ye 66th year
of his Age

Mark traveller this humble stone
'Tis death's kind warning to prepare
Thou too must hasten to the tomb
And mingle with corruption there

2007-09-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

Here lies buried ye Body of
Mrs Martha Holbrook ye wife
of Mr Ezekiel Holbrook & Da
ughter to Mr Daniel Mayo who
Died June ye 7th A D 1775 Aged
48 Years & 5 Months

Pray look at me as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
Here I lie buried in the Dust
Hoping to rise among the Just

This gravestone has a life like winged head. The realistic face is carved in the style of William Coye of Plymouth. Coye was married to a sister of carver Lemuel Savery.
Wellfleet Cemetery Cemetery List Home

2007-09-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

d mortem festinamus of the Catalan Llibre Vermell de Montserrat from 1399:

Vita brevis breviter in brevi finietur,
Mors venit velociter quae neminem veretur,
Omnia mors perimit et nulli miseretur.
Ad mortem festinamus peccare desistamus.

Brief life comes briefly to an end
No one escapes quickly-coming death
It snatches everything away, and pities no one
To death we are hastening, let us refrain from sinning

Ni conversus fueris et sicut puer factus
Et vitam mutaveris in meliores actus,
Intrare non poteris regnum Dei beatus.
Ad mortem festinamus peccare desistamus.

If you don’t repent and make yourself as a child
And if you don’t transform your life through worthier actions,
You will not enter the fertile Kingdom of God.
To death we are hastening, let us refrain from sinning

Marblehead Graveyard

2007-08-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

Memento Mori

Marblehead Graveyard