On January 22, 1944, the Allies landed at Anzio Beach. On that fateful day, I wonder who among those fighting recalled this ode dedicated to the goddess of fortune and her temple overlooking the Mediterranean at Anzio Beach. If anyone did, they probably shuddered. This ode is no uplifting psalm, no comfort but a sobering prayer to an uncontrollable, unpredictable, unmerciful power. The goddess was not kind to the bungling Allies that day, favoring instead the Germans. No matter, after she had had enough of the Allies, she would eventually turn on the Germans and scatter their plans for world domination to the winds.
Fittingly, no ruins of the Fortune's temple have ever been found at Anzio, called Antium in Horace's day. There is only this ode to remind us of the human condition: we hope, we pray, but, in the end, all will come to naught—her temple and even this poem.
a few notes:
Bithynia is now in modern Turkey. The Carpathian Sea is a rough stretch of water in the Aegean between Crete and Rhodes. The Dacians inhabited what is now Romania. The Scythians were an Iranian people and a particular group of them the Massagetae are mentioned in the last line of this ode. (It is interesting to note, in passing, how ancient the hatred and mistrust is between the West on the one side and the Iranians and the Arabs on the other—and Horace was writing six hundred years before the advent of Islam!)
The 'purple tyrants' refers to the purple robes rulers wore, and 'veiled in white' has something to do with how the priests covered the statue's hand. Apparently, the priest of Fides (Faith, Loyalty) covered their right hand with white cloth as well to protect it from pollution. See Livy, I.21.4.). Fortune was often depicted carrying symbols of power: large spikes, wedges, anchoring hooks (for joining large blocks of stone) and lead (for cementing the hooks in place.) On some ancient coins, she carries both a cornucopia and a rudder. These two things Horace refers to when talking of the farmer and the sailor in the Carpathian Sea.
The 'standing column' is a metaphor for the state. Finally, Horace's mention of Caesar about to leave for Britain and the army ready to do battle in the Middle East helps scholars date this poem to around 27 BC.
my translation:
O goddess, who rules welcoming Antium,
in an flash, you either raise mortals from
the depths or twist a triumphal march
into a funeral procession.
You the poor country farmer circles with
begging prayers, you, dominatrix-of-seas,
one calls, who, in a Bithynian
ship has provoked the Carpathian Sea;
you the rough Dacians, you the Scythians
in flight, the cities and people, even
fierce Rome and mothers of uncivil
kings and purple tyrants, they fear,
lest you topple the standing column with
a deadly kick, lest the people in mobs
rouse the reluctant ones to arms! to
arms! and then shatter their empires.
You wild Necessity always precedes,
carrying timber spikes and wedges in
her bronze-hard hand, not to mention the
serious anchor hooks and molten lead.
You Hope and rare Trust, her hand veiled in white,
worship; they do not withdraw their favor,
whenever you, having changed clothes,
forsake the houses of the powerful.
But the faithless crowd, like a lying whore,
turns away, just as crafty friends do
who feign to share the yoke, but run off
once they have drained the wine jars to the dregs.
Keep Caesar bound for the far reaches of
Britain safe as well as the swarm of new
recruits bringing fear to the East and
the Red Sea. Alas, shame on the scars, the
wickedness, on brother against brother.
What do we, a hard generation, flee?
What do we hostile to divine law
leave intact? When does the youth stay his hand
for fear of the gods? What altars have they
spared? Oh, if only you would reshape on
a new anvil the blunted iron
against the Arabs and the Massagetae.
translation © 2010 by James Rumford
in prose:
O diva, [tu] quae Antium gratum regis, praesens vel corpus mortale de gradu imo tollere vel triumphos superbos funeribus vertere.
Colonus pauper ruris te prece sollicita ambit. Quicumque pelagus Carpathium [in] carina Bithyna lacessit, te dominam aequoris [prece ambit].
Te Dacus asper, te Scythae profugi, urbesque, gentesque et Latium ferox, matresque regum barbarorum et tyranni purpurei metuunt, ne columnam stantem [tuo] pede iniurioso proruas, neu populus frequens cessantes “ad arma! ad arma!” concitet, imperiumque frangat.
Necessitas saeva te semper anteit, clavos trabales et cuneos manu aena gestans nec uncus severus abest liquidumque plumbum.
Spes et Fides rara, panno albo velata, te colit, nec comitem abnegat, utcumque, mutata veste, [tu] inimica domos potentis linquis. At vulgus infidum ut meretrix periura, retro cedit. Amici, dolosi iugum pariter ferre, cadis cum faece siccatis, diffugiunt.
[Tu] serves Caesarem in orbes Britannos ultimos iturum et examen recens iuvenum partibus Eois Oceanoque rubro timendum.
Heu, heu! Cicatricum et sceleris fratrumque pudet!
Quid nos, aetas dura, refugimus?
Quid [nos] nefasti intactum liquimus?
Unde iuventus manum metu deorum continuet?
Quibus aris [iuventus] pepercit?
O utinam ferrum incude nova retusum in Massagetas Arabasque diffingas!
[revised March 27, 2015]
original ode:
Ō dīva, grātum quae regis Antium,
praesēns vel īmō tollere dē gradū
mortāle corpus vel superbōs
vertere fūneribus triumphōs,
tē pauper ambit sollicitā prece
rūris colōnus, tē dominam aequoris
quīcumque Bīthȳnā lacessit
Carpathium pelagus carīnā.
tē Dācus asper, tē profugī Scythae,
urbēsque gentēsque et Latium ferox
rēgumque mātrēs barbarōrum et
purpureī metuunt tyrannī,
iniūriōsō nē pede prōruās
stantem columnam, nēu populus frequēns
ad arma cessantıs, ad arma
concitet imperiumque frangat.
tē semper anteit saeva Necessitās,
clāvōs trabālıs et cuneōs manū
gestāns ǎēnā nec sevērus
uncus abest liquidumque plumbum;
tē Spēs et albō rāra Fidēs colit
vēlāta pannō nec comitem abnegat,
utcumque mūtātā potentis
veste domōs inimīca linquis.
at vulgus infīdum ut[et] meretrix retrō
periūra cēdit, diffūgiunt cadīs
cum faece sīccātīs amīcī,
ferre iugum pariter dolōsī.
servēs itūrum Caesarem in ultimōs
orbıs Britannōs et iuvenum recēns
exāmen ēōīs timendum
partibus ōceanōque rubrō.
hēu hēu, cicātrīcum et sceleris pudet
frātrumque. Quid nōs dūra refūgimus
aetās, quid intactum nefastī
līquimus? unde manum iuventus
metū deōrum continuit? quibus
pepercit ārīs? ō utinam novā
incūde dīffingās retūsum in
Massagetās Arabāsque ferrum!
:: 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.
A local farmer has had the following inscribed in sandstone and placed by the farmyard gate.
ReplyDelete"te pauper ambit sollicita prece ruris colonus"
I wonder what he was getting at? This is in rural Devon in SW England