A Learned Dog: Roman Elegy and the Epitaph for Margarita

Abstract: The epitaph for Margarita ( CIL 6.29896) consists of six elegiac couplets in Latin engraved on a small marble plaque in commemoration of a domestic dog. It was discovered in Rome and likely made in the second century CE. In this paper I examine its allusions to Augustan elegy and verse epitaphs for humans, arguing that it humorously applies eroticizing and literary language to a dog. I then consider Margarita’s status as an import from Gaul, arguing that the epitaph fits into a broader tendency of Augustan elegy to use foreign luxuries to eroticize and naturalize Roman imperialism.