a cute lil piece of pompeian graffiti (CIL 4.8162). it reads “hic fuimus cari duo nos sine fine sodales nomina si [quaeris, Caius et Aulus erant];” in english, “we two men, dear companions without end, were here. if you [ask for] our names, [they are Caius and Aulus]”
sorry im reblogging this again but i just love how cute this is. two men 2000 years ago wrote this on a wall, probably never expecting that we would find it and know about them today. because of the preservation of pompeii, we know this tiny, tiny facet of caius and aulus’s life, this little scrawling on a wall from when they were having a good time together so long ago. and the best part about it is that it says they are “companions without end;” when you think about it, because this graffiti was preserved and we still know about them, that statement is, in its own way, true
