991. ?Christian funerary inscription

Description:
Limestone block (w: 1.05 x h: 0.68 x d: 0.28; a bevel on the upper edge reduces the height to 0.40 at the back) damaged at the top; originally part of a simple cornice. 
Text:
Originally part of a simple cornice, re-used and inscribed on one face; the inscribed face is badly worn and pitted with deep holes 
Letters:
Irregular incised capitals: l. 1, 0.065; ll. 2, 3, 0.065-0.08; ll. 4, 5, 0.05-0.07; l. 6, 0.05. 
Date:
No indication  
Findspot:
The Eastern Djebel: ruins of a ditched gasr on a hill-top just west of the Wadi Gsea; Found by Mr. David Oates about 6 km. north of Marconi Village (El Kseia, map ref. M 153, 284) 
Original Location:
Unknown 
Last recorded location:
Tripoli Castle. 
Bibliography:
Not previously published. This edition taken from J. M. Reynolds, 'Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: A Supplement', Proceedings of the British School at Rome 23 (1955), 124-147, no. S.19. 
Text constituted from:
Transcription (Reynolds) 
[ - - - ]ịu militaḅo in[·· c. 7··]
laboro obsequius per
quae ista omnia per-
f̣ẹcta sunt a me sịc̣ F̣V
5ẠṚẸ felix Vrbanus Dona-
tina[q(ue)(?)] ẹius q[ui] paṭrem exup̣eraṇ[t]
[ - - - ]·VMILITA·OIN[·· c. 7··]
LABOROOBSEQVIVSPER
QVAEISTAOMNIAPER
··CTASVNTAMES···V
5···FELIXVRBANVSDONA
TINA[··(?)]·IVSQ[···]PA·REMEXV·ERA·[··]
<ab>
<lb n="1" />
<gap reason="lost" extent="3" unit="character" extentmax="4" precision="circa" />
<unclear reason="damage" >
i
</unclear>
u
milita
<unclear reason="" >
b
</unclear>
o
in
<gap reason="lost" extent="7" unit="character" precision="circa" />
<lb n="2" />
laboro
obsequius
per
<lb n="3" />
qu
ae
ista
omnia
per
<lb n="4" type="worddiv" />
<unclear reason="" >
fe
</unclear>
cta
sunt
a
me
s
<unclear reason="" >
ic
</unclear>
<orig >
<unclear reason="" >
f
</unclear>
v
</orig>
<lb n="5" />
<orig >
<unclear reason="" >
are
</unclear>
</orig>
felix
Vrbanus
Dona
<lb n="6" type="worddiv" />
tina
<supplied reason="lost" cert="low" >
<expan>
<abbr>
q
</abbr>
<ex>
ue
</ex>
</expan>
</supplied>
<unclear reason="damage" >
e
</unclear>
ius
q
<supplied reason="lost" >
ui
</supplied>
pa
<unclear reason="" >
t
</unclear>
rem
exu
<unclear reason="" >
p
</unclear>
era
<unclear reason="" >
n
</unclear>
<supplied reason="lost" >
t
</supplied>
</ab>

3, AE ligatured.

4-5, The reading at the end of l. 4 and the beginning of l. 5 is obscure, since the stone is both worn and pitted here. It would be just possible to read E for A and IT for E, making fuerit, but this is very uncertain.

6, In patrem, TR are apparently in ligature, but the T cannot be regarded as certain.

6, At the end of the line there is barely room for exuperan[t] and the traces of the N are very uncertain: exupera[t] is quite possible.

Translation:

[·· ? ··] I will fight [·· ? ··] I toil obediently, as a result of which all those things have been ?completed by me; thus Urbanus ?was fortunate and his wife Donatina who surpass (?survive) the father.

Commentary:

The gasr is likely to be, at earliest, of the late fourth century. Since a stone inscribed with a chi-rho monogram was found on the site, the inhabitants may well have been Christian.

At the beginning of the line Oates read humilitas, which is epigraphically possible, but the traces of the letters also seem compatible with [...]diu; at the end, the letter after in could be C - which suggests perhaps militabo in Christo. For the conjunction of militia and labor in a Christian context cf. Diehl 892, with note on l. 4 and quotation from Vulg. II Tim. 2. 3: labora sicut bonus miles Christi.

. l. 6. For EIVS it would be easier to read CIVS, presumably the end of a name, Donatina[.]cius, for which, however, I have not found a parallel.

Photographs:
none.

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