BEN JONSON'S EPITAPH

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 20, 25 January 1938, Page 18

BEN JONSON'S EPITAPH

I note that Mr. Wortham quotes Ben Jonson's epitaph as "O Rare Ben Jonson," says a writer in the "Daily Telegraph." This reminds me that some years ago an American Rhodes Scholar, in a pamphlet styled (I think) "My One Contribution to English Literature," suggested that the inscription was Latin. He explained that there was no instance known of an exclamatory inscription, and none in England, even of this date, in the Abbey. The suggestion advanced was that "Orare" meant "Pray for Ben- Jonson." This theory met with wide acceptance till it was scouted on account of its desperate Latinity, "ora(te) pro Ben Jonson" being necessary. May not the solution be simple? I advance the suggestion that "Orare" is in accordance with all precedent, in Latin, that it is not an unparalleled exclamation, but simply the second singular imperative passive of the Latin verb, and that the inscription means, "Be j thou prayed for, Ben Jonson." No preposition is, of course, required. Considering his pitiful end, the inscription is as apt as it is terse.