EPITAPH, strictly an inscription upon a tomb, though by a natural extension of usage, the name is applied to anything written ostensibly for that purpose, whether actually on a tomb or not.
Probably the earliest epitaphial inscriptions that have come down to us are those of the ancient Egyptians, written, as their mode of sepulture necessitated, upon the sarcophagi and coffins. Those that have been deciphered are all very much in the same form, com mencing with a prayer to a deity, generally Osiris or Anubis, on behalf of the deceased, whose name, descent and office are usually specified. Ancient Greek epitaphs, unlike the Egyptian, are of great literary interest, deep and often tender in feeling, rich and varied in expression, and generally epigrammatic in form. They are written usually in elegiac verse, though many of the later epitaphs are in prose. Among the gems of the Greek anthology familiar to English readers through translations are the epitaphs upon those who had fallen in battle. There are several ascribed to Simonides on the heroes of Thermopylae, of which the most cele brated is the epigram : Go tell the Spartans, thou that passest by, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.
In Sparta epitaphs were inscribed only upon the graves of those who had been especially distinguished in war ; in Athens they were applied more indiscriminately.
Roman epitaphs, in contrast to those of the Greeks, contained as a rule, nothing beyond a record of facts. The inscriptions on the urns, of which numerous specimens are to be found in the British Museum, present but little variation. The letters D.M. or D.M.S (Diis Manibus or Diis Manibus Sacrum) are followed by the name of the person whose ashes are enclosed, his age at death, and some times one or two other particulars. It is a curious illustration of the survival of traces of an old faith after it has been formally discarded to find that the letters D.M. are not uncommon on the Christian inscriptions in the catacombs.
Inscriptions usually began with the appropriate words Siste Viator or Aspice Viator, the origin doubtless of the "Stop Pas senger" which still meets the eye in many parish churchyards of Britain. Another phrase of very common occurrence on Ancient Roman tombstones, Sit tibi terra levis ("Light lie the earth upon thee"), has continued in frequent use down to modern times. A remarkable feature of many of the Roman epitaphs was the de nunciation they often pronounced upon those who violated the sepulchre. Such denunciations were not uncommon in later times.
A well-known instance is the lines on Shakespeare's tomb at Stratford-on-Avon, said to have been written by the poet himself : Good frend, for Jesus' sake forbeare To digg the dust enclosed heare ; Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones, And curst be he yt moves my bones.
The earliest existing British epitaphs belonged to the Roman period, and are written in Latin after the Roman form. Specimens are to be seen in various museums throughout the country ; some of the inscriptions are given in Bruce's Roman Wall, and the seventh volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum edited by Hubner, containing the British inscriptions, is a valuable repertory for the earlier Roman epitaphs in Britain. The earliest, of course, are commemorative of soldiers belonging to the legions of occu pation, but the Roman form was afterwards adopted for native Britons. It is only in fact within recent years that Latin has be come unusual and the more natural practice has been adopted of writing the epitaphs of distinguished men in the language of the country in which they lived. The comparatively few English epi taphs that remain of the IIth and 12th centuries are all in Latin. In the 13th century French began to be used in writing epitaphs and most of the inscriptions to celebrated historical personages be tween and 140o are in that language. Mention may be made of those to Robert the 3rd earl of Oxford (d. 1221) as given in Weever, to Henry III. (d. 1272) at Westminster Abbey, and to Edward the Black Prince (d. 1376) at Canterbury.
The epitaph almost invariably closes with a request, sometimes very urgently worded, for the prayers of the reader that the soul of the deceased may pass to glory, and an invocation of blessing, general or specific, upon all who comply. Epitaphs preserved much of the same character after English began to used towards the close of the 14th century. The following, to a member of the Savile family at Thornhill, is probably even earlier: Bonys emongg stonys lys ful steyl gwylste the sawle wan derfis were that God wylethe that is, Bones among stones lie full still, whilst the soul wanders whither God willeth. It may be noted that most inscriptions, Latin and English, from 1300 to the Reformation, that have been preserved, are upon brasses (see BRONZE) .
It was in the reign of Elizabeth that epitaphs in English began to assume a distinct literary character and value, entitling them to rank with those that had hitherto been composed in Latin. We learn from Nash that at the close of the 16th century it had be come a trade to supply epitaphs in English verse. One of the finest epitaphs in English is that by Milton upon Shakespeare.
The epitaphs of Pope are still considered to possess very great literary merit, though they were rated higher by Johnson and critics of his period than they are now.
Dr. Johnson, who thought so highly of Pope's epitaphs, was himself a great authority on both the theory and practice of this species of composition. His essay on epitaphs is one of the few existing monographs on the subject, and his opinion as to the use of Latin had great influence. The manner in which he met the delicately insinuated request of a number of eminent men that English should be employed in the case of Oliver Goldsmith was characteristic and showed the strength of his conviction.
In classifying epitaphs various principles of division may be adopted. Arranged according to nationality they indicate distinc tions of race less clearly perhaps than any other form of literature does. At the same time the influence of nationality may to some extent be traced in epitaphs. The characteristics of the French style, its grace, clearness, wit and epigrammatic point, are all recognizable in French epitaphs. In the 16th century those of Etienne Pasquier were universally admired. Instances such as Piron's epitaph written for himself after his rejection by the French Academy: Ci-git Piron, qui ne fut rien, Pas meme acadsmicien and one by a relieved husband, to be seen at Pere Lachaise Ci-git ma femme, Ah ! qu'elle est bien Pour son repos et pour le mien might be multiplied indefinitely. One can hardly look through a collection of English epitaphs without being struck with the fact that these represent a greater variety of intellectual and emotional states than those of any other nation.
Epitaphs are sometimes classified according to their authorship and sometimes according to their subject, but neither division is so interesting as that which arranges them according to their characteristic features. What has just been said of English epi taphs is, of course, more true of epitaphs generally. They exem plify every variety of sentiment and taste, from lofty pathos and dignified eulogy to coarse buffoonery and the vilest scurrility.
See Weever, Ancient Funeral! Monuments (163 i, 1661, Tooke's ed., 1767) ; Philippe Labbe, Thesaurus epitaphiorum (1666) ; The atrum funebre extructum a Dodone Richea seu Ottone Aicher (1675) ; Hackett, Select and Remarkable Epitaphs ; de La place, Epitaphes serieuses, badines, satiriques et burlesques (1782) ; Pulleyn, Churchyard Gleanings (c. 183o) ; L. Lewysohn, Sechzig Epitaphien von Grabsteinen d. israelit. Fried holes zu Worms (1855) ; Pettigrew, Chronicles of the Tombs (1857) ; S. Tissington, Epitaphs (1857) ; Robinson, Epitaphs from Cemeteries in London, Edinburgh, arc., (18Sg) ; le Blant, Inscriptions chretiennes de la Gaule anter ieures au VIIle siecle (1856, 1865) ; H. J. Loaring, Quaint, Curious, and Elegant Epi taphs (1872) ; J. R. Kippax, Churchyard Lit erature, a Choice Collection of American Epi taphs (Chicago, 1876) ; also William Wordsworth's Essay on Epitaphs; W. H. Beable, Epitaphs; Graveyard Humor and Eulogy (1925) .