Lost Poetry Scroll Found in a Cave (1984) Finally Attributed to Ovid

Nostradamus had nothing on these guys. Most of the prophetic poems of the ancient Romans were destroyed. A few were copied or hidden. Some of the scrolls purported to have been found in an unidentified cave, and then supposedly traded by antique dealers of unknown reliability, are now being hotly debated. This poem, from a reconstructed scrap attributed to Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid) has been recently released :

Pestilentia decurrit per dona pecuniarum

Faucibus percurrit mendacium, pestilentia per dona pecuniarum,
Fauci culpa, Fauci mendacium.
Caesar Fauci iuvare morbum quaestum functionum quaerit.
A plena fauci lauda: O fauci Imperatoris salve!

Some Scholars Believe It Is “Id quod ex antiqua cartis lacerato” From the Infamous “Vaga Poeta” who it was thought drew maps and spread plagues throughout the Empire.

Some thought that he was a son of a goddess reigning on Mount Sirenum Scopuli who carried bad news and omens of catastrophe in song. Others thought he was a former Roman soldier recruited as a free-lance spy mercenary with mystical powers of prophecy. However, most believe it simply refers to a full-throated protest or a cure for a sore throat. Or it refers to the head of a criminal gang known as “The Throat.”