Inscribing moral communities in late-antique Burgundy: old values, multivalent meanings, and new avenues of research

The textual content of late-antique Gallic inscriptions has often been overlooked in favour of their ‘factual’ content. This chapter argues for the benefits of studying these epitaphs as texts, with visual and literary strategies. To do so, it focuses on one aspect: moral language. First, it addresses the use of formula books in late-antique Gallic epigraphy. It argues that, while evidence for their existence is limited, patterns in the distribution of moral epithets suggest an actively maintained set of standards. This indicates the importance of the correct moral language, rather than apathy and illiteracy. Second, it considers how the same moral value, caritas, was positioned differently on different epitaphs to emphasise different valences. By altering the material and syntactic placement of the word, and by using different cognates, inscribers used communal values to tell different stories.