The funerary inscription on the monument found at Pompeii, outside the Stabian Gate, after the list of generous benefactions by the deceased in favor of his community, records (l. 7) his refusal to accept the title of patronus: while the IIvir was talking to the assembly, he intervened, and declared that he was unable to be the patronus of his own fellow citizens. The information provided by this line helps us to reconstruct the ‘biography’ of the deceased, and it also gives us clues to analyze some aspects relating to the procedures of cooptatio patroni.