Inscription of Abercius c. 193 AD

J. Quasten writes (Patrology, vol. 1, pp. 171-172):

The queen of all ancient Christian inscriptions is the epitaph of Abercius. In 1883 the archeologist W. Ramsay of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland discovered, near Hieropolis in Phrygia Salutaris, two fragments of this inscription, which are now in the Lateran Museum. A year before he had found a Christian epitaph of Alexander, dated 216, which was merely an imitation of the inscription of Abercius. With the help of this epitaph of Alexander and a Greek biography of Abercius from the fourth century published by Boissonade in 1838, it was possible to restore the entire text of the inscription. It consists of 22 verses, a distichon, and 20 hexameters. In content it is a summary of the life and deeds of Abercius. The text was composed at the end of the second century, certainly before the year 216, the date of the epitaph of Alexander. The author of the inscription is Abercius, Bishop of Hieropolis, who composed it at the age of 72 years. The great event of his life was his journey to Rome, of which he gives an account. The inscription is written in a mystical and symbolical style, according to the discipline of the secret, to conceal its Christian character from the uninitiated.

1. The citizens of an eminent city, I made this (tomb)
2. In my lifetime, that I might have here a resting-place for my body.
3. Abercius by name, I am a disciple of the chaste shepherd,
4. Who feedeth His flocks of sheep on mountains and plains,
5. Who hath great eyes that look on all sides.
6. He taught me . . . faithful writings.
7. He sent me to Rome, to behold a kingdom
8. And to see a queen with golden robe and golden shoes.
9. There I saw a people bearing the splended seal.
10. And I saw the plain of Syria and all the cities, even Nisibis,
11. Having crossed the Euphrates. And everywhere I had associates
12. Having Paul as a companion, everywhere faith led the way
13. And set before me food the fish from the spring
14. Mighty and pure, whom a spotless Virgin caught,
15. And gave this to friends to eat, always
16. Having sweet wine and giving the mixed cup with bread.
17. These words, I, Abercius, standing by, ordered to be inscribed.
18. In truth, I was in the course of my seventy-second year.
19. Let him who understands and believes this pray for Abercius.
20. But no man shall place another tomb upon mine.
21. If one do so, he shall pay to the treasury of the Romans two thousand pieces of gold,
22. And to my beloved fatherland Hieropolis, one thousand pieces of gold.

Lightfoot gives this edition of the Greek text in the life of Abercius by Symeon Metaphrastes in The Apostolic Fathers, pt. II, vol. I, pp. 493-494.

ἐκλεκτῆς πόλεως πολίτης τοῦτ' ἐποίησα ζῶν ἵν' ἔχω καιρῷ σώματος ἐνθάδε θέσιν. οὔνομα Ἀβέρκιος ὁ ὧν μαθητὴς ποιμένος ἁγνοῦ, ὃς βόσκει προβάτων ἀγέλας ὄρεσι πεδίοις τέ, ὀφθαλμοὺς ὃς ἔχει μεγάλους πάντῃ καθορῶντας. οὗτος γάρ με ἐδίδαξε γράμματα πιστά· εἰς ῥώμην ὃς ἔπεμψεν ἐμὲ βασιλείαν ἀθρῆσαι, καὶ βασίλισσαν ἰδεῖν χρυσόστολον χρυσοπέδιλον· λαὸν δ' εἶδον ἐκεῖ λαμπρὰν σφραγῖδα ἔχοντα. καὶ συρίης πεδον εἶδον καὶ ἄστεα πάντα Νίσιβιν, Εὐφράτην διαβάς, πάντα δ' ἔσχον συνομηγύρους, παῦλον ἔσωθεν· πίστις πάντη δὲ προῆγε, καὶ παρέθηκε τροφὴν ἰχθὺν ἀπὸ πηγῆς παμμεγέθη καθαρὸν, ὃν ἐδράξατο παρθένος ἁγνή, καὶ τοῦτον ἐπέδωκε φίλοις ἐσθίειν διὰ παντός, οἶνον χρηστὸν ἔχουσα, κέρασμα δίδοῦσα μετ' ἄρτου. ταῦτα παρεστὼς εἶπον Ἀβέρκιος ὧδε γραφῆναι, ἑβδομήκοστον ἔτος καὶ δεύτερον ἦγον ἀληθῶς. ταῦθ' ὁ νοῶν εὔξαιτο ὑπὲρ ἀβερκίου πᾶς ὁ συνῳδός. οὐ μέντοι τύμβῳ τις ἐμῷ ἕτερον ἐπάνω θήσει. εἰ δ' οὖν, Ρ ωμαίων ταμείῳ θήσει δισχίλια χρυσᾶ καὶ χρηστῇ πατρίδι Ἰεροπόλει χίλια χρυσᾶ.