FABRE (Jean-Henri). [Record of a Latin inscription].... - Lot 19 - Métayer-Mermoz Maison de Ventes aux Enchères Paris

FABRE (Jean-Henri). [Record of a Latin inscription]. Drawing in pen and brown ink, with an autograph annotation. S.l.n.d. Sérignan, ca. 1880], 1 p. in-32 oblong (8 x 19.3 cm), traces of folds, some small spots. PRECIOUS DRAWING OF FABRE REPRODUCING A LATIN INSCRIPTION FOUND IN THE VICINITY OF SERIGNAN. In 1879, Fabre settled in Sérignan-du-Comtat, a village 7 kilometres north-east of Orange. On the edge of the Suze-la-Rousse road, he noticed a limestone plate embedded in a wall of the Saint-Marcel chapel. This plate bore an incomplete Latin inscription which he took note of: "M VIR. LUDOS. FE / ET. OLEUM. PRI / FLAMEN ROM. ET / HUIC. D. D. STA ". A translation was proposed by a scholar who restored the missing parts: "Which being duumvir, gave games and made the first of the distributions of and oil; flamen of Rome and of the god Augustus. By decree of the decurions, a statue was raised to him from the city's deniers". If the name of the personage, who held the functions of duumvir (municipal magistrate), then of flamine (priest), has remained unknown, this inscription is a testimony of the ancient Roman colony of Orange. To the right of the drawing, Fabre added the following note: "this last letter is only partially legible". This document seems to be Jean-Henri Fabre's only manuscript devoted to epigraphy. References: ROCHETIN (Louis), Une inscription intéressante de la colonie d'Orange, in Bulletin historique et archéologique de Vaucluse, 1882, pp. 283-291. - DELANGE (Yves), Fabre, l'homme qui aimait les insectes, Paris, J.C. Lattès, 1981, pp. 300-301 (reproduction of the drawing).