Warmington.
[Montaigne, in his _Essays_, book i. chap. lvii., quotes this
proverb, and gives a clue to its meaning. He says: "For my part I
believe our souls are adult at twenty, as much as they are ever
like to be, and as capable then as ever. A soul that has not by
that time given evident earnest of its force and virtue will never
after come to proof. Natural parts and excellences produce what
they have of vigorous and fine within that term, or never:
'Si l'espine non picque quand nai,
A peue que picque jamai,'
as they say in Dauphiny."]
_Inscription at Lyons._--In Bishop Burnet's _Travels_ (1685), he
mentions a monumental inscription which he saw at Lyons, of a certain
lady, "Quae nimia pia"--"Facta est Impia," whom he conjectures, and with
some probability, to have been a Christian lady, declared impious
because she refused to confess the "Gods many and Lords many" of the
heathen. The conclusion of the epitaph is perplexing: it states that her
husband dedicated it to her and her son's memory--under "the axe"--"Sub
ascia dedicavit." I have looked in vain for any explanation of this
expression, in any account within my reach of Roman funerals: possibly
some of your correspondents may help me to an explanation. Burnet, while
he is acute in noting the contradictory expression above, wholly
overlooks this. It may mean that her husband performed this act of piety
in the face of danger and persecution,--as we should say, "with the axe
hanging over his head;" but then the epitaph commences with the letters
D. M., signifying "Diis Manibus," leading to the conclusion that the
husband was not himself a Christian, though respecting Christianity in
the person of his wife. I had not originally intended to copy the
epitaph; but as it is not long, and may help the speculations of your
readers who have not access to Burnet's _Travels_, p. 5., now a rare
book, I subjoin it:--
"D. M.
Et memoriae eternae
Sutiae Anthidis
Quae vixit Annis XXV. M. XI. DV.
Quae dum nimia pia fuit
Facta est Impia
et
Attio Probatiolo
Cecalius Callistio Conjux et Pater
et sibi vivo
Ponendum Curavit
et
Sub ascia dedicavit."