Saving Us From Endless Boredom …

The incipit of a review of (Classicist) Peter Toohey, Boredom: A Lively History:

In the late third century, the Roman city of Beneventum inscribed the following message of thanks:

For Tanonius Marcellinus, a most distinguished man of the consular rank and a most worthy patron as well, because of the good deeds by which he rescued the population [of Beneventum] from endless boredom, the entire people [of this city] judges that this inscription should be recorded.

The identity of Tanonius Marcellinus has been lost, Peter Toohey writes in “Boredom: A Lively History,” but the sort of restlessness experienced by the inhabitants of Beneventum is still with us today. Boredom is universally viewed as an affliction, he argues, but the dreary feeling can also be useful—as long as it is in short supply. […]

• via The Book Bench: Ask an Academic: Boredom : The New Yorker.

Of course, I had to look this one up, here it is:

TANONIO MARCELLINO

V C CONS CAMP PATRO

NO DIGNISSIMO OB IN

SIGNIA BENEFICIA QUI

BUS LONG POPULI TAE

DIA SEDAVIT UNIVER

SA PLEBS BENEVENTA

NA CENSUIT  PO

NENDAM

… it’s number 1854 in volume 2 of Gustav Wilmanns,  Exempla inscriptionum latinarum in usum praecipue academicum. Can’t help but wonder if Tanonio is a mistake for either ‘Antonio’ or T. Antonio …