Source of "tu fui, ego eris"

[Petrushka]

Does anyone know a citeable source for this phrase? For some reason I
thought it was Dido addressing the Trojans in the Aeneid (or perhaps
vice versa, mutatis mutandis), but obviously I was wrong. It doesn't
show up in the PHI archives or TLL.

The closest I've found online (courtesy of thelatinlibrary.com) is CIL
11.6243, "quod tu es, ego fui; quod nunc sum, et tu eris"

Presumably the abbreviated form originated somewhere. But where?

Cheers
P

[John Briggs]

It's just a memento mori - it doesn't have any specific origin.
--
John Briggs

[Petrushka]

On May 1, 8:45 pm, "John Briggs" <john.brig...@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> Petrushka wrote:
> > Presumably the abbreviated form originated somewhere. But where?
>
> It's just a memento mori - it doesn't have any specific origin.
> --
> John Briggs

But don't you see, that's precisely the thing that makes me curious!
Even a memento mori has to come from somewhere. It's obviously
*inspired* by one or more ancient epitaphs, but nowadays it's quoted
as though it actually *were* one. *Someone* must have been the first
person to use it, but I've got no idea how to find out who ...

P

[B. T. Raven]

Of course it had at least one origin, and possibly, many. It's radically
compressed from one of the CIL epitaphs. [tamquam]tu [es, olim] fui, [ut]
ego [sum, olim] eris. It's the dead person speaking to the passerby and I
would not be surprised if it turns out not to be possible to identify the
first abbreviator(s).

Eduardus

[Aug. de Man]

"Petrushka"
> tu fui ego eris

You should have given the translation of this - I could understand
it only with the help of Google:
"I were you, you will be me"
which is the same as "quod tu es, ego fui; quod nunc sum, et tu eris".
(I know this from the grave of one of my own ancestors.)
As the others, I don't think you will find the source.

August de Man

<de_...@yahoo.com> schreef in bericht
news:1177978925.2...@y80g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

[Petrushka]

On May 3, 8:28 pm, "Aug. de Man" <augdeman a. gmail dot com> wrote:
> "Petrushka"
>
> > tu fui ego eris
>
> You should have given the translation of this - I could understand
> it only with the help of Google:
> "I were you, you will be me"
> which is the same as "quod tu es, ego fui; quod nunc sum, et tu eris".
> (I know this from the grave of one of my own ancestors.)
> As the others, I don't think you will find the source.
>
> August de Man

Apologies for that. It aroused my curiosity after I saw it used as a
signature in an online forum, and then a Google search for the phrase
turned up about 9000 results. It startled me that such a compressed
phrasing (and it does sound truly bizarre, when it's that compressed)
should be so widely used, and yet that that particular phrasing should
be of obscure origin.

Well, maybe I'll find out one day. I suppose I could try writing to
the folks at the BBC programme "Quote Unquote" -- one of their
listeners is bound to know :-)

[John Crinnion]

"Stranger as you pass me by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you will be:
Prepare for Death and follow me."

[tompki...@gmail.com]

All I can tell you is it was originally a Greek saying translated to latin. That's just common story tho haven't any proof of this just remembered it from a long time ago. Again not sure just what I had heard.

[Evertjan.]

Who, what and when are you responding to?

This is Usenet,
so you have to quote [= specify person, time, content]
of what you are responding to.

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)