Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Armor of Amour :: Integer Vitae :: I:22

When you're in love, nothing can hurt you. No need of weapons for defense. To prove this, Horace, pining over his sweet Lalagé (from the Greek Λαλαγη, babbler) tells how he sent a monstrous wolf packing and how, armored with love, he could live in the deserts to the south or in the foggy, smazy regions of the north. This is the 'wisdom' Horace gives Aristius Fuscus, a writer of comedies and a friend.

The scholars tell me this is a satire on love poems, and so it seems, but satires take a lot of understanding to see the humor, especially humor that must cross cultural boundaries as well as thousands of years. Be that as it may, Integer Vitae was much cherished by love-sick students . . . .and this fact leads me to why I chose this ode in the first place.  

The other day, in getting rid of some old books, I came across College Song Book, by C. Wistar Stevens, published in 1860 in Boston. In it was today's ode set to music, which I give you below.  






Apparently this song came from German schools, although I do not know who originally wrote it. Mr. Stevens merely mentions that R. Starr Willis held the copyright.

The College Song Book, has a number of "charming" songs in it, including a cacophonous song to the Class of '59. All in all, a wistful book, when you realize that some of these men would be at each other's throats in a little more than a year.

Ah! But I suppose all would have returned from the Civil War unscathed, had they been in love.

Now just a few notes on place names—Libya is only a part of North Africa called Syrtes by Horace.  It may be the large bay that stretches from Tunisa to Tripoli or it may be the desert behind. The Jhelum River in the Punjab was known as the Hydaspes to the Greeks and the Romans. Its name came from the Sanskrit वितसता Vitastá. Horace was born in oak-forested Apulia, which he calls Daunias in the poem, after a mythical king who ruled there. Finally Juba's Land is modern Morocco (then Mauritania), which the Romans had subdued. Apparently they had captured the king's infant son named Juba and raised him as a Roman.  When Juba was old enough, the Romans put him back on the Mauritanian throne. Once this happened, Mauritania was no longer the dry nursemaid of lions.    

my translation:

Innocent in life, pure of misdeeds, he needs 
no Moorish spear, no bow, Fuscus, no quiver 
heavy with poison arrows, whether he is 
about to travel 
across summer-hot Libya or across 
the hostile Caucasus or the places where 
laps the storied Jhelum, for from me, unarmed, 
skedaddled a wolf 
in the Sabine woods, me crooning over my own 
Lalagé, and roaming carefree past the fence, 
no such beast does warlike Apulia rear 
in the wide oak woods 
nor does Juba's land, dry nurse of lions, spawn.
Put me in the wastelands where no tree quickens
in the summer winds, that smazy part of the 
world where Jupiter,
storming, rules, in a land devoid of dwellings, 
beneath the chariot of the sun hardby. 
Sweet-laughing, sweet talking Lalagé's the one
I'll forever love.

translation © 2010 by James Rumford

the ode in prose:

[Vir] vitae integer, scelerisque purus, non eget iaculis Mauris neque arcu nec pharetra sagittis venenatis gravida, [o] Fusce, sive iter facturus per Syrtes aestuosas sive per Caucasum inhospitalem, vel loca quae Hydaspes fabulosus lambit.
Namque lupus in silva Sabina me inermem fugit, dum meam Lalagen canto, et ultra terminum, curis expeditis, vagor. 
Neque Daunias militaris quale portentum [in suis] aesculetis latis alit nec tellus Iubae, nutrix arida leonum, [quale portentum] generat. 
Me [in]campis pigris pone ubi nulla arbor aura aestiva recreatur, latus mundi quod Iuppiter nebulae malusque urget. Pone sub curru solis nimium propinqui, in terra domibus negata—amabo [tamen] Lalagen dulce ridentem, dulce loquentem.

 [Revised March 27, 2015]

the ode:

Integer vītae scelerisque pūrus
nōn eget Maurīs iaculīs neque arcū
nec venēnātīs gravidā sagittīs,
   Fusce, pharētrā,
sīve per Syrtıs iter aestuōsās
sīve factūrus per inhospitālem
Caucasum vel quae loca fābulōsus
   lambit Hydaspēs.
namque mē silvā lupus in Sabīnā,
dum meam cantō Lalagēn et ultrā
terminum cūrīs vagor expedītīs,
   fūgit inermem,
quāle portentum neque mīlitāris
Dauniās lātīs alit aesculētīs
nec Iubae tellūs generat, leōnum
   ārida nūtrix.
pōne mē pigrīs ubi nūlla campīs
arbor aestīvā recreātur aurā,
quod latus mundī nebulae malusque
   Iuppiter urget;
pōne sub currū nimium propinquī
sōlis in terrā domibus negātā:
dulce rīdentem Lalagēn amābō,
   dulce loquentem.

::


:: Latin books by James Rumford ::



















For all 102 odes purchase Carpe Diem, Horace De-Poetizedfor $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.


Index of Poems

LIBER I 
5 Quis Multa Gracilis Sep 14 09
8 Dic Lydia Sep 18 09
11 Tu Ne Quaesieris  Aug 18 09
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
22 Integer Vitae Jan 31 10
23 Vitas Inuleo Me Sep 2 09
24 Quis Desiderio Sep 27 09
26 Musis Amicus Sep 3 09
31 Quid Dedicatum Sep 29 09
36 Et Ture et Fidibus Jan 27 10
38 Persicos Odi Sep 9 09

LIBER II
9 Non Semper Imbres Oct 27 09
10 Rectius Vives Sep 15 09
19 Bacchum in Remotis Nov 2 09
20 Non Usitata Oct 23 09

LIBER III
2 Puer Robustus Dec 3 09
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
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
26 Vixi Puellis Nuper Sep 10 09
30 Exegi Monumentum Aug 27 09

LIBER IV
1 Intermissa Diu Jan 17 10
3 Quem Tu Melpomene Dec 6 09
7 Diffugere Nives Nov 6 09
8 Donarem Pateras Jan 11 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

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Incense and Lute :: Et Ture et Fidibus :: I:36

Wasn't life grand in old Rome! Always a party! The honored guest is Pomponius or Plotius Numida, newly returned from the campaign of 27 to 25 BC in Hisperia Ultima (Spain). 

Numida is happy to see his boyhood friend Lamia, who may be the same Lamia we met in Musis Amicis Tristitiam, Sep 3 09, and in Aeli Vetusto, Oct 5 09. It is with Lamia that he went from boyhood to manhood, exchanging the youth's toga for the man's (mutatus togae). Even so, I suspect from the final verses of this ode, that Numida is even happier to be in the ivy-clinging arms of Demalis, a woman who's a looker and likes her 'likker.'

Horace is having a lot of fun in this poem. He wants this to be a white-chalk day, or as we would say, 'a red letter' day. No Thracian chug-a-lug drinking bouts called amystis (αμυστις).  Just lots of wine and roses, celery and lilies.

(Celery? Well, yes, or maybe parsley. The Romans loved the fresh, green smell. Still do.Think of all the parsley in Italian dishes and the celery, as in Bolognese sauce.) 

In this ode, the words tumble out, one right after the other in quick succession. Horace crams them together to fit the meter and increase the speed: 

et ture et fidibus iuvat  =   et tur'  et  fidibus yuvat
placare et vituli  =  placar'  et   vituli
neu promptae modus = ne' promptae modus

In my translation, I kept Horace's thoughts tumbling out in the same order. The result is, as in the original ode, verbal jugglery—that is, keeping as many ideas in the air as possible.

translation:

And with incense and lute, a joy
to please, and with the owed blood of a young bull,
the patron gods for Numida,
who, now unharmed from Hesperia Ultima,
to his many cherished comrades,
yet to none does he hand out more kisses than to 
fair Lamia; a  memory
of boyhood ended under the same teacher
when they did mutatus togae. 
Don't let this nice day be without a white chalk mark, 
no limits to the wine opened,
no resting the feet like the Salii dancers,
no Demalis chugging down wine
and defeating Bassus in a drinking contest,
no roses absent from the feast
nor hardy celery nor short-lived lilies.
Everyone will cast stinking-drunk eyes 
on Demalis, but she will not be torn away
from her newly arrived lover,
she more entwining than lascivious ivy. 

translation © 2010 by James Rumford
the ode in prose:


Iuvat [me] et ture et fidibus et sanguine vituli debito deos-custodes Numidae placare, qui nunc sospes ab Hisperia ultima multa oscula sodalibus caris dividit—nulli dulci plura quam Lamiae—puertiae actae ‹non rege alio› simulque togae mutatae memor. 
Ne careat pulchra dies Cressa nota, neu modus amphorae promptae, neu sit requies pedum in morem Salium, neu vincat Damalis-multi-meri Bassum amystide Threicia, neu desint rosae epulis, neu [desit] apium vivax, neu [desit] lilium breve. Omnes oculos putres in Damalin deponent, nec Damalis ‹hederis lascivis ambitiosior› adultero novo [suo] divelletur.

[revised March 27, 2015]

original ode:


   Et tūre et fīdibus iuvat
placāre et vitulī sanguine dēbitō
   custōdēs Numidae deōs,
quī nunc Hesperiā sospes ab ultimā
   carīs multa sodālibus,
nūllī plūra tamen dīvidit oscula 
   quam dulcī Lamiae, memor
actae nōn aliō rēge puertiae
   mūtātaeque simul togae.
Cressā nē careat pulchra diēs nōta
   nēu promptae modus amphorae
nēu mōrem in Salium sit requiēs pedum
   nēu multī Damalis merī
Bassum Thrēiciā vincat amystide
   nēu dēsint epulīs rosae
nēu vīvax apium nēu breve līlium.
   omnēs in Damalin putrıs
dēpōnent oculōs nec Damalis novō
   dīvellētur adulterō
lascīvīs hederīs ambitiōsior.

:: Latin books by James Rumford ::



















For all 102 odes purchase Carpe Diem, Horace De-Poetizedfor $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.



Index of Poems

LIBER I 
5 Quis Multa Gracilis Sep 14 09
8 Dic Lydia Sep 18 09
11 Tu Ne Quaesieris  Aug 18 09
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
23 Vitas Inuleo Me Sep 2 09
24 Quis Desiderio Sep 27 09
26 Musis Amicus Sep 3 09
31 Quid Dedicatum Sep 29 09
36 Et Ture et Fidibus Jan 27 10
38 Persicos Odi Sep 9 09

LIBER II
9 Non Semper Imbres Oct 27 09
10 Rectius Vives Sep 15 09
19 Bacchum in Remotis Nov 2 09
20 Non Usitata Oct 23 09

LIBER III
2 Puer Robustus Dec 3 09
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
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
26 Vixi Puellis Nuper Sep 10 09
30 Exegi Monumentum Aug 27 09

LIBER IV
1 Intermissa Diu Jan 17 10
3 Quem Tu Melpomene Dec 6 09
7 Diffugere Nives Nov 6 09
8 Donarem Pateras Jan 11 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

Friday, January 22, 2010

The Power of Poetry :: Est Mihi Nonum :: IV:11

In this poem Horace is back with women, his last woman, as he avows in the last stanza. This lass is Phyllis, which is Φυλλας 'greenery' in Greek. Horace is telling her about all of the festivities in honor of his friend's birthday, Maecenas, who was an important patron of the arts. Phyllis is apparently on the rebound.  Her love, Telephus, whom we have met in previous odes, has been gobbled up by some rich lady who has no intention of giving him up. Horace consoles Phyllis by telling her he is not her sort of people. I suppose she goes on pouting and pining, but Horace gets her to learn a few of his? poems so that in her sweet, young voice, she can chase away the sadness.

Poetry had a far different use then. Today, poetry is silent—just letters on a page. There is no music to accompany it. It is dumb. Irrelevant. Have I gone too far? Maybe, but who would think to use poetry in today's society to calm the heart and mind? Too few, I suspect.

The Latin in this poem was fairly difficult. There are syncopated forms of the verb (meaning that the middle was skipped over) as in noris for noveris. There were ancient forms like spargier for spargi, and there were intranstive past participles which became transitive such as gravatus. Add to this references to mythology like Pegasus throwing off his rider Bellerophon, Phaëthon getting burned to death when he rides his father's sun chariot, and April being Venus of the Sea's month and you have a poem almost impossible to crack without reading the two thousands years of scholarship that accompany everyone of Horace's poems.

And my translation is not much help, I suppose. I don't explain about a celery-like plant apium that was woven into wreathes along with ivy, this last being sacred to the god Bacchus. And I have used a rather odd phrase 'floured lamb' to translate immolato agno, which was the sacrificial lamb dusted with sacred meal before it was slaughtered. Would 'mealed lamb' have worked better? No, but I wanted to make the reader stop and think about what was going on in a household over two thousand years ago.

My translation:

I have a full jar of nine year Alban wine 
well aged; and in the garden, Phyllis, there are
celery leaves for you to make a wreath and
there is ivy, tons

of it—with which you'll shine with your hair bound up. 
The house grins with the silver. The shrine, with clean
leaves adorned, cries out to be sprinkled with blood 
from a floured lamb.

Every hand is rushing around, here and there, 
the servant girls and boys are bustling about, 
the flames are flicker-dancing, whirling the soot-
blackened smoke aloft.

Just so you know what kind of party you've been 
invited to, you have the ides coming up, 
the day that splits April in two, the month of 
Venus of the Sea,

as fun a day, I'd swear, as my own birthday, 
almost more sacred, since by the light of this 
dawn my friend Maecenas counts up the flow of
years enriching him.

Telephus, the youth you're after—not your rank.
A girl, rich and naughty, has her hooks in him
and she has clamped him tight and conquered in 
welcoming leg irons. 

Phaëthon burned scares away greedy hopes and 
Pegasus, having thrown off the earth-heavy 
rider, Bellerophon, sets a serious 
example for you

always to follow what is right, and avoid 
someone so different, knowing it is wrong 
to hope for more than is allowed.  So come now, 
the last of my loves,

(for I am not going to be aroused by 
other women) learn some lines by heart, lines which you'll 
repeat with your loving voice, letting poetry 
fade away black care.

Translation © 2010 by James Rumford

 the ode in prose:

Est mihi cadus plenus ‹Albani nonum annum superantis›. 
[O] Phylli, in horto est ‹apium coronis nectendis›. Est multa vis hederae, qua [tu]-crines-religata fulges. 
Domus argento ridet. Ara ‹verbenis castis vincta› avet agno immolato spargier. Manus cuncta huc et illuc festinat. Puellae mixtae pueris cursitant. Flammae vertice rotantes fumum sordidum trepidant. 
Ut tamen noris quibus gaudiis advoceris—Idus tibi sunt agendae, qui dies mensem Aprilem Veneris marinae findet, iure [dies est] mihi sollemnis sanctiorque paene proprio natali, quod, ex hac luce, meus Maecenas annos affluentes ordinat. 
Puella dives et lasciva Telephum occupavit, quem tu [Phylli] petis, iuvenem non sortis tuae, vinctumque compede grata [illa] tenet. 
‹Phaéthon ambustus› spes avaras terret, et Pegasus ales, ‹equitem terrenum Bellerophontem› gravatus, exemplum grave praebet: ut [est]: semper ‹te digna› sequare, et ultra quam licet vites, putando nefas disparem sperare. 
Age iam, [o] finis amorum meorum, posthac enim femina alia non calebo. Modos condisce, quos voce amanda [tua] reddas. curae atrae carmine minuentur. [revised March 28, 2015]

the original ode:

Est mihi nōnum superantis annum
plēnus Albānī cadus, est in hortō,
Phyllī, nectendīs apium corōnīs,
   est hederae vīs
multa quā crīnıs religāta fulgēs,
rīdet argentō domus, āra castīs
vincta verbēnīs avet immolātō
   spargier agnō;
cuncta festīnat manus, hūc et illuc
cursitant mixtae puerīs puellae,
sordidum flammae trepidant rotantēs
   vertice fūmum.
ut tamen nōrīs quibus advocēris
gaudiīs, īdus tibi sunt agendae,
quī diēs mensem Veneris marīnae
   findit Aprīlem,
iūre sollemnis mihi sanctiorque
paene nātālī propriō, quod ex hāc
lūce Maecēnās meus affluentıs
   ordinat annōs.
Tēlephum, quem tū petis, occupāvit
nōn tuae sortis iuvenem puella
dīves et lascīva tenetque grātā
   compede vinctum.
Terret ambustus Phaéthōn avārās
spēs et exemplum grave praebet āles
Pēgasus terrēnum equitem gravātus
   Bellerophontem,
semper ut tē digna sequāre et ultrā
quam licet spērāre nefas putandō
disparem vītēs. Age iam, meōrum
   fīnis amōrum
(nōn enim posthāc aliā calēbō
fēminā), condisce modōs, amandā
vōce quōs reddās; minuentur ātrae
   carmine cūrae.


:: Latin books by James Rumford ::



















For all 102 odes purchase Carpe Diem, Horace De-Poetizedfor $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.


Index of Poems

LIBER I 
5 Quis Multa Gracilis Sep 14 09
8 Dic Lydia Sep 18 09
11 Tu Ne Quaesieris  Aug 18 09
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
23 Vitas Inuleo Me Sep 2 09
24 Quis Desiderio Sep 27 09
26 Musis Amicus Sep 3 09
31 Quid Dedicatum Sep 29 09
38 Persicos Odi Sep 9 09

LIBER II
9 Non Semper Imbres Oct 27 09
10 Rectius Vives Sep 15 09
19 Bacchum in Remotis Nov 2 09
20 Non Usitata Oct 23 09

LIBER III
2 Puer Robustus Dec 3 09
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
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
26 Vixi Puellis Nuper Sep 10 09
30 Exegi Monumentum Aug 27 09

LIBER IV
1 Intermissa Diu Jan 17 10
3 Quem Tu Melpomene Dec 6 09
7 Diffugere Nives Nov 6 09
8 Donarem Pateras Jan 11 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