What people wrote on the walls of Pompeii
When Vesuvius buried Pompeii in AD 79, it also preserved the writing on its walls. These lines are the Latin nobody put in a textbook: jokes, insults and complaints by ordinary people. They are spelled as written, which makes them evidence of how people actually spoke.
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The text and translation
Admiror, pariens, te non cecidisse ruinis, qui tot scriptorum taedia sustineas.
"I'm amazed, wall, that you haven't collapsed in ruins, holding up so many writers' boring scribbles." (written more than once in Pompeii)
Word by word
- Admiror
- I'm amazed
- pariens
- wall
- te
- that you
- non
- haven't
- cecidisse
- fallen
- ruinis
- in ruins
- qui
- you who
- tot
- so many
- scriptorum
- writers'
- taedia
- boring scribbles
- sustineas
- hold up
C. Pumidius Dipilus heic fuit.
"Gaius Pumidius Diphilus was here." (dated 3 October 78 BC)
Word by word
- C
- Gaius
- Pumidius
- Pumidius
- Dipilus
- Diphilus
- heic
- here
- fuit
- was
Talia te fallant utinam medacia, copo: tu vedes acuam et bibes ipse merum.
"Innkeeper, I hope lies like these trip you up: you sell water, and drink the good wine yourself."
Word by word
- Talia
- such
- te
- you
- fallant
- trip up
- utinam
- I hope
- medacia
- lies
- copo
- innkeeper
- tu
- you
- vedes
- sell
- acuam
- water
- et
- and
- bibes
- drink
- ipse
- yourself
- merum
- the unwatered wine
Miximus in lecto. Fateor, peccavimus, hospes. Si dices: quare? nulla matella fuit.
"We wet the bed. I admit it, host, we did wrong. If you ask why: there was no chamber pot." (on the wall of an inn)
Word by word
- Miximus
- we wet
- in
- in
- lecto
- the bed
- Fateor
- I admit it
- peccavimus
- we did wrong
- hospes
- host
- Si
- if
- dices
- you ask
- quare
- why
- nulla
- no
- matella
- chamber pot
- fuit
- there was
Oppi emboliari fur furuncule!
"Oppius, you clown, thief, petty thief!"
Word by word
- Oppi
- Oppius
- emboliari
- you clown
- fur
- thief
- furuncule
- petty thief
Epaphra glaber es!
"Epaphra, you're bald!"
Word by word
- Epaphra
- Epaphra
- glaber
- bald
- es
- you are
Suavis vinaria sitit, rogo vos, et valde sitit.
"Suavis is thirsty for wine jars, I beg you, very thirsty."
Word by word
- Suavis
- Suavis
- vinaria
- for wine jars
- sitit
- is thirsty
- rogo
- I beg
- vos
- you
- et
- and
- valde
- very
- sitit
- thirsty
Quisquis amat valeat, pereat qui nescit amare, bis tanto pereat, quisquis amare vetat.
"Whoever loves, good health to them; death to whoever can't love; and double death to whoever forbids love."
Word by word
- Quisquis
- whoever
- amat
- loves
- valeat
- good health to them
- pereat
- death to
- qui
- whoever
- nescit
- can't
- amare
- love
- bis
- twice
- tanto
- as much
- pereat
- death to
- quisquis
- whoever
- amare
- love
- vetat
- forbids
What to notice
- vedes acuam is “you sell water”. Classical spelling would be vendes aquam, and the writer has dropped the n as many speakers did.
- medacia (“lies”) is missing the same n: compare the English word mendacious. copo (“innkeeper”) is the everyday spelling of the formal caupo.
- Epaphra glaber es! “Epaphra, you're bald!” Three words, and it has lasted nearly two thousand years.
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Sources
Pompeian wall inscriptions, ed. E. Diehl, Pompeianische Wandinschriften und Verwandtes (1910), nos. 668, 102, 636, 702, 316, 652, 634, 593. Public domain. Spelling as written on the wall; line breaks and Diehl's brackets dropped, sentence capitals added. English: Claude (AI)
Text licence: Public domain.
Language pack licence: Texts public domain; annotation and translations CC BY-SA 4.0.
Texts: Latin Wikisource (public domain; Catullus ed. Merrill, with long-vowel marks; the Vulgate passages in the Clementine text). English: Douay-Rheims (public domain) for the Vulgate passages; other sentence translations and all tagging by Claude (AI), checked against Wiktionary; not yet reviewed by a person.
The introduction and notes on this page were written by Claude (AI). Word glosses are AI-assisted, and so is the English unless the source above names another translator.