Cimetière parisien de Thiais, Val-de-Marne (94), Île-de-France #5: Han Ryner | Henri Ner

'HAN RYNER

HENRI NER

3 DÉCEMBRE 1861

5 JANVIER 1838'

The dates of Henri Ner (who preferred to be call himself Han Ryner) are in conflict here with Wikipédia, which claims he was born on 7 December and died on the 6 December, but these are minor matters of little importance.

Of much greater importance to me (as Ryner is a fascinating character) is the inscription lower down on the upright stone, which is difficult to read because of the weathering and the slight blurring of the image, but even more difficult to understand (for me at least) is the meaning of the inscription itself. What are the 'trois jours' he's referring to, and how does the inscription relate to the Greek (which I don't understand anything of anyway) below the French? I suspect that the French is a quotation from one of his many books, although I can find nothing online, and I've searched a number of his books. This is my reading of the French:

'HONORÉ[,] COMBIEN DURERONT

MES "TROIS JOURS" [?]

MAIS JE SUIS DE CEUX

QUI LIRONT CETTE INSCRIPTION [:]'

And then the Greek begins.

Ryner was a pacifist anarchist and a very prolific writer of novels, stories, essays, plays, and poetry. For Ryner, freedom is interior and he was much influenced by the ancient Greeks, particularly the Stoics. Two books give an idea of the range of his interests: Prostitués, études critiques sur les gens de lettres d'aujourd'hui (1904) (a critique of writers of the day) and L'Homme-fourmi (1901), about a man who turns into an ant. Some of his works were kinds of parables.