Real Latinists will already know about this, but for all us dilettantes hanging around the fringes, Arachne has some good news:
The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions from all corners of the Roman Empire. Public and personal inscriptions throw light on all aspects of Roman life and history. The Corpus continues to be updated with new editions and supplements by the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.[…] This digitized version of the CIL will initially comprise of the more than 50 parts (of vols. I-XVI + auctaria and of v. I (edition altera)) published before 1940. Available funding covers the digitization of the volumes with an imperfect OCR searching capability. The goal is to eventually create a keyword searchable database to contain also future volumes of the CIL as they fall outside of copyright restrictions and to eventually do the same for the Inscriptiones Graecae.
The online site is here. Explore and enjoy!
Incidentally, I’ve finished Karamzin’s «Бедная Лиза» (see this post); I don’t have much to say about it except that it’s an enjoyable Russian adaptation of a literary trope that goes back to the ancients (poor but honest peasant girl falls for slumming aristo, suffers; Karamzin set it in the vicinity of the Simonov Monastery, then on the outskirts of Moscow and disused, and the action reminisced about by the narrator takes place towards the end of the Seven Years’ War—in fact, at almost exactly the time Sterne set off for France), and the “sentimental” fripperies with which the narration is adorned make clear how badly Pushkin’s stringent prose style was needed. I’m looking forward to rereading the Tales of Belkin.
The pond near Simonov Monastery where poor Lisa drowned herself became very popular and touched readers left numerous graffiti commiserating with her.
“Here Lisa, fiance of Erast, drowned herself. Jump in girls, there is plenty of space here”