Horace et al.: Loser Girls — Miserarum III:12

Maybe I haven't read this ode right, but it sounds like a love song from the 50s and 60s, chiding the girls who aren't in love cause they don't know the joy and heartache of falling for a guy who's the equivalent of the captain of the football team, which in this case is a wrestler with oiled arms. Did I forget to mention the mean 'ole father figure? He's there in this poem, as daddy's brother, who in Roman times, put wayward girls back on the straight and narrow by giving them verbera linguae, lashes of the tongue. It's a fun poem. Play some "Johnny Angel" type song and enjoy this hit about the girl Neobule from the 30s . . . . BC.

The following is more an impression than a translation:

Oh, ohhh, loser girls,

not playing with love

not washing your heartaches away

with wine

Oh, oh, loser girls

not dying inside every time

the old man starts

yelling

Oh, ohhh, Neobule,

The angel boy of Venus

steals you away

from your wool basket and weaving

and your devotion

to the home ec

goddess

Minerva

Oh, ohhh, Neobule,

This hunk of Liparae

from Hebrus

washes his oiled arms

in the waves of the Tiber,

rides better than Bellerophon,

and never loses a fight

or a race.

He digs throwing

the javelin at fleeing deer in the open

with herds astir

and is fast at catching

the boar hiding

in the thick

underbrush.

Prose:

Est [res] miserarum neque ludum amori dare neque mala vino dulci lavere, aut [res est] verbera linguae patruae metuentes exanimari.

‹Puer ales Cythereae› tibi qualum aufert. Nitor Hebri Liparaei tibi telas studiumque Minervae operosae [aufert], [o] Neobule, simul umeros unctos in undis Tiberinis lavit.

[Hebrus est] eques melior Bellerophonte ipso, neque pugno neque pede segni victus; catus idem cervos, grege agitato, per apertum fugientes, iaculari et celer aprum [in] fruticeto arto latitantem excipere.

[revised March 28, 2015]

[In prose according to Acronis Commentarium: ales puer Cythereae et nitor Liparei Hebri, simul ut lauit unctos humeros in Tiberinis undis, eques melior ipso Bellorophonte, neque uictus pugno neque segni pede, idem catus iaculari ceruos fugientes per apertum agitato grege, et celer excipere aprum latitantem arto fruticeto, aufert tibi qualum et aufert tibi studium operosae Mineruae.]

En français: http://agoraclass.fltr.ucl.ac.be/concordances/horace_OdesIII/ligne05.cfm?numligne=106&mot=Miserarum#debut

Original Ode:

Miserārum est neque amōrī dare lūdum neque dulcī

mala vīnō lavere aut exanimārī metuentıs

patruae verbera linguae.

tibi quālum Cytherēae puer āles, tibi tēlās

operōsaeque Minervae studium aufert, Neobūlē,

Liparaeī nitor Hēbrī,

simul unctōs Tiberīnīs umerōs lāvit in undīs,

eques ipsō melior Bellerophontē, neque pugnō

neque segnī pede victus;

catus īdem per apertum fugientıs agitātō