D[is] M[anibus]
M[arco] GAVIO
AMPHIONI MVRI
M[arci] GAVI MAXIMI
PR[aefecti] PR[aetorio] LIB[erto]
M[arcus] GAVIUS IVVENIS
FILIVS PATRI
OPTIMO FECIT
To the spirits of the dead: For Marcus Gavius Amphion Mus, freedman of Marcus Gavius Maximus, Praetorian Prefect, his son Marcus Gavius Juvenis set up this [monument] for his most excellent father (CIL 6.38411; second century CE).
The Greek name Amphion may have been the slave name given to this freedman, but he evidently acquired the nickname Mus (“mouse”), and his son chose to honor that name by the playful carving of a mouse chasing a loaf of bread on the top of this stone. Mus's patron, Marcus Gavius Maximus, was a very important man in Rome during the reign of Antoninus Pius, for he served as Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, the elite imperial troops stationed in Rome, for about twenty years and was a member of the emperor's inner council of advisors.
