Tag: Cemetery

Non Curo

~ cwirka
“Oh, I didn’t see you there!”

The Romans could have some fun with an epitaph.

This memorial was made for Marcus Caecilius.

Thank you, my dear guest, for stopping at my abode.

Good luck and good health to you. Sleep without a care.

Gravestone pictured above, c. 140 BCE

Isn’t that sweet?

A lot of Roman graves want to pull aside the living and give them a bit of insight. That insight being – “thanks for swinging by my grave – now go enjoy living!”

It’s an Epicurean approach – which isn’t the hedonistic free-for-all we’ve been lead to believe. It did prioritize pleasure, but in a much more mindful way – finding joy in the simple life. Not forever struggling and competing, but appreciating the only thing you really have – this life at this moment.

Hence the NFFNSNC vibe.

No? Not terribly catchy, but it stands for “Non Fui, Fui, Non Sum, Non Curo”

“I was not, I was, I am not, I care not.”

Supposedly the words of Epicurus, though probably not quite exact, as he was a Greek fella who spoke in, well, Greek.

NON FUI, FUI

Imagine, next time you’re strolling through a graveyard or cemetery, that every tombstone there is saying, “Hey – thanks for visiting, but don’t forget to go live!” Not a bad way to honor both the departed and the living. Because you will “non cura” once you’re gone.

And if you can’t afford a nice tomb to affix your epitaph, a bit of graffiti can do the trick:

“To every man, his own gravestone” (Cuique suom cippom)

What’s in a name?

~ cwirka
Somewhere in Texas

As Benjamin Franklin once said:

“Show me your cemeteries and I will tell you what kind of people you have.”

Or actually:

“Show me your burial grounds and I’ll show you a measure of the civility of a community.“

The internet (and cemetery sites, plaques, flyers, etc) give Mr. Franklin credit for one or the other. I have yet to find anywhere claiming he said both. Nor have I found anything that actually cites a source of the quote. It does sound like something he could say, I guess. Especially if you etch it in metal next to a picture of him with his frilly tie or tiny glasses or kite or whatever.

But I don’t think he said it. He DID say that thing about reliablity re: death / taxes. But that’s not relevant now.

William Gladstone, however, seems to have definitely said:

“Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender mercies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals.“

I only bring it up because we live in a country that has made an effort to preserve “Baby Head Cemetery.”