In the last post, we saw that VF is the abbreviation for Vivus Fecit, which means the tombstone was commissioned while the 'user' was still alive. This meant you could have total control over how your family and friends would remember you but it could also cause some problems.On this tombstone from the Museo Archeologico in Bergamo we see one of the problems of composing your epitaph before you're dead. When he was alive, he had been a sexvir (one of 6 men, like a double triumvirate) and a priest of the cult of the emperor Augustus. BUT THEN, after he had finished his tombstone, he became a flamen, another type of priest. That last piece of information had to be crammed into his already completed tombstone.
Note that sexvir is written with the Roman numeral 6 (IIIIII) and the noun VIR.
VF
L(ucius) BLANDIVS C(aius) F(ilius)
VOT(uria tribu)
IIIIII VIR ET
AVGVSTALIS
ET FLAMINALIS
SIBI ET
VALERIAE L(ucius) F(ilia)
RUSTICAE
UXORI
Lucius Blandius, son of Gaius, from the Voturia tribe, a sevir, priest of Augustus and flamen, made this while alive for himself and for this wife, Valeria Rustica, daughter of Lucius.
