Morbid mood

Today i visited the Musei Capitolini, which contain an amazing collection of art and remains from ancient roman times. The pieces they have are described in their website, so i won't go into that here. In their basement, however, there is a tabularium, meaning a display of inscribed stone tablets, mostly funerary stele. This one, from the 2nd century a.C., caught my eye, so i transcribed it:

Dis•Manibus
ALEXANDER•VIXIT•ANNIS•III
MENSIBUS•IV•DIEBUS•XIIX
Quintus•CANVILEVS•ALEXANDER•PATER
ET•CLARINA•MATER•FILO•CARISSIMO
PIENTISSIMO•BENE•Merenti•FECERunt
Hic•Conditus•Est•Te•Rogo•Praeteriens•Dicas:•Sit•Tibi•Terra•Levis.

My knowledge of latin is nil, but i wanted to set it here in the original language to try to transmit some of the impact of seeing such an old pain, set in stone. This is the translation provided by the museum:

Sacred to the Mani gods.
Alexander. Lived 3 years,
4 months and 18 days.
His father Quintus Canuileus Alexander
and his mother Clarina [had this tomb] made
for their very dear, devoted and deserving son.
Here is he buried! I beg you, while you pass [this place] say:
"May the earth weigh not over your remains."

The stone was small, the lettering irregular. A son lost, but a fragment of the suffering of his parents has been dredged from oblivion. For what purpose?