07-13-2008, 10:30 PM
Quote:Sit tibi terra levis (commonly abbreviated as S.T.T.L.) was an inscription (in Latin) used on funerary items from Ancient Roman times onward. The English language translation is approximately, "May the earth rest lightly on you".Martial has a shockingly beautiful epigram on a little slave girl named Erotion (5.34), in which he plays with STTL.
To your shades, Fronto and Flacilla, this child
I commend: she was my sweet and my delight.
Little Erotion shall not fear the darkened shades
nor the vast mouths of the Tartarean hound.
She’d have completed her sixth chill winter,
if she’d not lived a mere six days too few.
Now let her frisk and play among old friends
now let her chatter, and so lisp my name.
And let the soft turf cover her brittle bones:
earth, lie lightly on her: she lay lightly on you.
