This poem is a call to Venus to leave her home in Greece and come to the little shrine of a Roman geisha named Glycera, bringing along the fervid boy Cupid, the Graces, the Nymphs, and, of course, the god of youth Iuventas and the god of eloquence Mercury.
translation:
O Venus, queen of Cnidos and Paphos,
Turn away from lovely Cypress and with
Glycera calling you with much incense,
come over to her decorated shrine.
Let the fervid boy hurry with you and
with loosened belts the Graces and the Nymphs
and—not much fun without you—
Iuventas and Mercury.
translation © 2010 by James Rumford
One of the most famous statues of the sculptor Praxiteles of Athens, who lived in the fourth century before Christ, was of Aphrodite of Cnidus. The statue did not survive, but copies of it did, such as the Ludovisi, done in Roman times.
Cnidus is on Cyprus, as is another city mentioned in this ode: Paphos, where Venus/Aphrodite is reported to have come ashore after she rose from the sea. Apparently she had a palace there, as depicted in this set design done for Jean-Joseph de Mondonville’s opéra-ballet, Les Fêtes de Paphos [1758].
With such a palace, you can see why Glycera had to burn a lot of incense to get Venus to budge.
Today’s ode is so short that it might seem insignificant. This is probably why I have not read it until now. But, perhaps because I did wait, I can appreciate these few words of Horace’s even more.
Everything that says ‘Horace’ is in this poem. There are the references to Greece and, by extension, to Horace’s campaign to raise Latin poetry to the level of Greek poetry. There is the usual haetera or Greco-Roman equivalent of the Japanese geisha. There is youth and sex: Venus and the puer fervidus Cupid—not to mention the Graces and the Nymphs. And there is poetry and eloquence, symbolized by the god Mercury.
Now, what more could you want from Horace?
Oh . . . . could it be hyperbaton—that tossed-salad look to Latin word order? If so, this ode is a good example. Take the last strophe, which I’ve colored to show you what is connected to what grammar-wise:
fervidus tecum puer et solutis
Gratiae zonis properentque Nymphae
et parum comis sine te Iuventas
Mercuriusque.
The verb properent (‘they hurry’) gets the most colors since the nouns puer, Gratiae and Nymphae as well as Iuventas and Mercurius all govern it.
I might have made the word comis [kind, friendly, loving, obliging] in the next to the last line multi-colored as well. Comis is either singular or plural and might refer, like properent, to all of the nouns in the nominative or it might refer only to Iuventas and Mercurius. My sense is that comis modifies these last two: youth and eloquence are nothing without love.
commentarii: http://www.horatius.ru/index.xps?2.1.130
in prose:
O Venus, regina Cnidi Paphique, Cypron dilectam sperne et in aedem decoram Glycerae, ture multo te vocantis, transfer.
Puer fervidus tecum et Gratiaeque Nymphae, zonis solutis, properent et Iuventas Mercuriusque sine te parum comis. [revised March 27. 2015]
original ode:
Ō Venus rēgīna Cnidī Paphīque,
sperne dīlectam Cypron et vocantis
tūre tē multō Glycerae decōram
transfer in aedem.
fervidus tēcum puer et solūtīs
Grātiae zōnīs properentque Nymphae
et parum cōmis sine tē Iuventās
Mercuriusque.
:: Latin books by James Rumford ::
For all 102 odes purchase Carpe Diem, Horace De-Poetized, for $11.50 at
For a Latin translation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at $12, click here:
To find out more about Carpe Diem go to the blog of March 26, 2015;
for more about Pericla Thomae Sawyer, go to the blog of November 22, 2016.
As this is the end of the year, here is an index to all the poems I have read and commented upon since August 2009:
LIBER I
4 Solvitur Acris Hiems Dec 21 10
5 Quis Multa Gracilis Sep 14 09
6 Scriberis Vario Aug 27 10
7 Laudabunt Alii Dec 4 10
8 Dic Lydia Sep 18 09
9 Vides ut Alta Dec 26 10
10 Mercuri, Facunde Nepos Jul 7 10
11 Tu Ne Quaesieris Aug 28 09
13 Cum Tu, Lydia Jul 18 10
14 O Navis Nov 8 09
18 Nullam Vare Sacra Aug 31 09
19 Mater Saeva Cupidinum Sep 20 09
20 Vile Potabis Modicis Sep 1 09
21 Dianam Tenerae Dicite Jul 23 10
22 Integer Vitae Jan 31 10
23 Vitas Inuleo Me Sep 2 09
24 Quis Desiderio Sep 27 09
25 Parcius Iunctas Aug 14 10
26 Musis Amicus Sep 3 09
27 Natis in Usum Aug 3 10
29 Icci, Beatis Nunc Mar 15 10
30 O Venus Regina Dec 30 10
31 Quid Dedicatum Sep 29 09
32 Poscimus Feb 19 10
33 Albi, Ne Doleas Mar 20 10
34 Parcus Deorum Cultor Mar 1 10
35 O Diva Gratum Mar 11 10
36 Et Ture et Fidibus Jan 27 10
37 Nunc Est Bibendum Feb 24 10
38 Persicos Odi Sep 9 09
LIBER II
1 Motum ex Metulle Jul 3 10
2 Nullus Argento Feb 5 10
3 Æquam Memento May 24 10
4 Ne Sit Ancillæ May 30 10
5 Nondum Subacta May 20 10
6 Septimi Gadis Aditure Apr 30 10
7 O Saepe Mecum May 7 10
8 Ulla Si Iuris Jun 9 10
9 Non Semper Imbres Oct 27 09
10 Rectius Vives Sep 15 09
11 Quid Bellicosus Apr 26 10
12 Nolis Longa Apr 15 10
13 Ille et Nefasto Apr 11 10
14 Eheu Fugaces Mar 21 10
15 Iam Pauca Aratro Mar 25 10
16 Otium Divos Rogat Jun 15 10
17 Cur Me Querellis Jun 23 10
18 Non Ebur Feb 12 10
19 Bacchum in Remotis Nov 2 09
20 Non Usitata Oct 23 09
LIBER III
1 Odi Profanum Vulgus Sep 15 10
2 Puer Robustus Dec 3 09
5 Caelo Tonantem Sep 28 10
7 Quid Fles Nov 27 10
8 Martiis Caelebs Oct 11 09
9 Donec Gratus Tibi Oct 8 09
10 Extremum Tanaïn Dec 18 09
12 Miserarum Est Dec 15 09
13 O Fons Bandusiae Sep 12 09
14 Herculis Ritu Modo Aug 12 10
15 Uxor Pauperis Ibyci Sep 24 09
17 Aeli Vetusto Oct 5 09
19 Quantum Distet Dec 12 09
20 Non Vides Quanto Sep 23 09
21 O Nata Mecum Oct 3 09
22 Montium Custos Oct 1 09
23 Caelo Supinas Oct 21 09
25 Quo Me Bacche Sep 5 10
26 Vixi Puellis Nuper Sep 10 09
28 Festo Quid Potius Aug 19 10
30 Exegi Monumentum Aug 27 09
LIBER IV
1 Intermissa Diu Jan 17 10
2 Pindarum Quisquis Studet Nov 19 10
3 Quem Tu Melpomene Dec 6 09
5 Divis Orte Bonis Oct 7 10
7 Diffugere Nives Nov 6 09
8 Donarem Pateras Jan 11 10
9 Ne Forte Credas Oct 25 10
10 O Crudelis Adhuc Aug 29 09
11 Est Mihi Nonum Jan 22 10
12 Iam Veris Comites Jan 3 10
13 Audivere Lyce Dec 23 09
15 Phoebus Volentem Nov 3 10
