Way outside of Rome with his wife, Aurelia Saturnia. His epitaph is one of the few Roman funeral inscriptions that expresses patron-freedman relations in poetic terms. Below is a copy of the Latin inscription and an English translation: M. Aurelius Cottae Maximi Zosimus, accensus patroni. Libertinus eram, fateor: sed facta legetur patrono Cotta nobilis umbra mea. Qui mihi saepe libens census donavit equestris qui iussit natos tollere quos aleret quique suas commisit opes mihi semper, et idem dotavit natas ut pater ipse meas, Cottanumque meum produxit honore tribuni quem fortis castris Caesaris emeruit. Quid non Cotta dedit? qui nune et carmina tristis haec dedit in tumulo conspicienda meo. Aurelia Saturnia, Zosimi. I admit that I was a freedman; but now my shadow has been ennobled by my patron Cotta. Several times he was willing to grant me an equestrian fortune, he ordered me to let my children live so that he could provide for their upkeep. He was always ready to grant me his own wealth. He also gave my daughters the dowries a father provides. He promoted my son Cottanus to the rank of tribune in which he bravely served in Caesar’s army. What did Cotta not give us? Now, sadly, he provided these verses which can be read on my tomb. Aurelia Saturnia, Zosimus’s [wife]. See also Marcus Scribonius Libo Drusus References Sources Tacitus - The Annals of Imperial Rome C. Skidmore, Practical Ethics for Roman Gentlemen: The Works of Valerius Maximus, University of Exeter Press, 1996 Velleius Paterculus – Translated with Introduction and Notes by J.C. Yardley & A.A. Barrett, The Roman History, Hackett Publishing, 2011 A. Pettinger, The Republic in Danger: Drusus Libo and the Succession of Tiberius, Oxford University Press, 2012 J.F. Gardner & T. Wiedemann, The Roman Household: A Sourcebook (Google eBook), Routledge, 2013 Genealogy of M. Lollius by D.C. O’Driscoll Ovid: Poems from Exile Greek Inscription of Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus External links Ovid: Poems from Exile Category:Imperial Roman consuls Category:Senators of the Roman Empire Category:Roman governors of Asia Category:1st-century BC Romans Category:1st-century Romans Category:Ovid Cotta Maximus Messalinus, Marcus Maximus Messalinus, Marcus Aurelius Cotta