Connecting the Dots: Some Thoughts on the Spread and Diffusion of Recurring Carmina Latina Epigraphica

One of the most widespread tropes within funerary Latin verse epigraphy is the idea that parents being forced to bury their children is an alteration of the natural order. This notion was expressed in numerous ways, but perhaps the par parenti topos is the oldest one. The small group of inscriptions that carries it has a very specific geographical spread across central Italy, which was interpreted in the past as an argument in favour of the existence of manuals of verse inscriptions. This paper explores the diffusion of this poetic idea and explains it through other mobility factors.