JULIE STEINER is the pseudonym of a recovering classicist in San Diego, California. Her recent work appears in The Classical Outlook, The Ekphrastic Review, Snakeskin, Light, Lighten Up Online, and The Asses of Parnassus. See more on her Substack ‘Off-Piste on Mount Parnassus’ (offpisteonmountp.substack.com).

SINE ULLA QUERELLA — “without any complaint whatsoever”

Phrase on a 1590 memorial plaque mounted next to the door into the Hall of Confessions, adjoining the Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua.

While waiting for an English-speaking priest

to come and comprehend what Mom confessed,

I passed the hours by trying to digest

a stone. The man it honored was deceased,

but buried elsewhere — praised, not rest-in-peaced.

The Latin called this personage the best

of lords (as most such cenotaphs attest),

but also hailed his lady as the least

of battle-axes (as I paraphrased):

with no complaint at all in twenty-five

years of marriage, testified the stone.

“A miracle,” my mom agreed, amazed

that both had somehow managed to survive

so long, if his decisions ruled alone.

---

Online, I checked my on-the-fly translation,

having learned the hard way to be wary

of Englishing without a dictionary.

As I had feared, my quick interpretation

was flawed, and needed hasty emendation:

“I goofed. It’s true that this obituary

was placed here by his wife, but not to carry

a boast about her silent subjugation:

her non-complaint was evidence of his

attentiveness. Incomparable spouse,

she also wrote of him. That’s very sweet.

And still miraculous.” Mom laughed, “It is,

but I prefer the autocrat-and-mouse

scenario, so that’s what I’ll repeat.”

---

I bite my rodent tongue. I know the drill:

when inconvenient data is revealed,

my mom’s reality-distortion field

allows her to believe, by force of will,

whatever she would like to. It’s a skill —

a superpower — I’ve often heard her wield.

The version of events that’s most appealed

to her has always been her gospel. Still,

I’m five years old again, and flabbergasted,

whenever Mom deliberately lies.

And now she’ll use my own mistake to shatter

this touching limestone tribute, which has lasted

since 1590. I apologize

to Truth, in case my penitence might matter.

NOTE

“The expression sine (ulla) querella is well attested in sepulchral inscriptions so that one might suspect that it had become a hackneyed formula devoid of real meaning.”

—R.E.A. Palmer in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review (http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1994/94.03.06.html)

Below is the translator’s transcription of the limestone cenotaph that is mounted on the west wall of the Magnolia Cloister, to the right of the door into the Hall of Confessions, adjoining the Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua.

·D· ·O· ·M·

[Deo optimo maximo, “to the god [that is] most good and most great”,is the standard Classical dedication to Jove/Jupiter. This abbreviation begins many Christian inscriptions in Italy.]

RENATO · VALLIO · STORSII · DOMINO ·

ILLVSTRI · APVD · GALLOS · LOCO · NATO ·

HENRICI · III · GALLIARVM · ET · POLONIAE ·

REGIS · A · CONSILIIS · OECONOMO · ATQ[VE] · APVD ·

KAROLVM · EMANVELEM · SABAVDIAE · DVCEM ·

QVADRIENNIVM · INTERNVNCIO · VIRO · PROBO ·

ET · PRVDENTI · QVI · POST · REGIS · NECEM · VT ·

BELLORVM · CIVILIVM · PATRIAM · DEVASTANTIVM ·

MISERRIMVM · SPECTACVLVM  EVITARET ·

AVGVSTA · TAVRINORVM · PATAVIVM · CVM ·

SECESSISSET · ARDENTI · FEBRE · CORREPTVS ·

LIIII · AETATIS · SVAE · ANNO · VITAM · CVM · MORTE ·

COMMVTAVIT · MAGDALENA  ALBASPINEA

CONIVGI · INCOMPARABILI · CVM · QVO · VIXIT ·

ANNOS · XXV · SINE  VLLA · QVERELLA ·

PRO · TEMPORE · P · C · [poni curavit = “caused (this memorial) to be placed”—

another standard formula in dedicatory inscriptions; sometimes refers to the building,

not just the plaque]

OBIIT · DIE · XIII · MARTII · ANN[O] · M · D · XC ·

To God, the most good, the most great: on behalf of René Duval, of Stors [in the Oise Valley, close to Paris], an illustrious lord among the French in his birthplace; chief advisor of Henry III, King of the French and of Poland [1551-1589], and for four years his diplomatic agent at the house of Charles Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy [1562-1630, first cousin of Henry III, based in Turin]; [Duval was] a virtuous man, and a prudent one, who, when he had retired from Turin to Padua after the assassination of the king [August 2, 1589], in order to avoid the civil wars—an extremely lamentable scene, devastating his homeland—was seized by a burning fever. In the 54th year of his life, he exchanged life for death. Madeleine de L’Albépine erected this monument for her incomparable spouse, with whom she had lived for 25 years without any complaint whatsoever during that time.

He died the 13th day of March in the year 1590.