Sunday, May 30, 2010

Decent Help :: Ne Sit Ancillae :: II:4

In today's ode, it is hard to tell whether Horace is being sarcastic, playful, fatherly, serious, or sly.  Is he talking to himself?  Is he the one who is smitten by someone of the lower classes? Or is there a real person named Xantias of Phocis, who is badly in need of advice? Scholars can't agree.

One thing is for certain.  This poem was written when Horace was forty years old. Now middle-aged, he takes up his stylus (I suppose he composed this poem on a wax tablet) and scratches out a few witty words to say that he is now beyond looking at a girl's pretty legs. Mirabile dictu! We have already seen what he can write when the sap returns to his aged, withered frame. 

I exaggerate. I only wish, in my translation, I could have taken the time to find the right amount of exaggeration (as if exaggeration were on a continuum from less exaggerated to most exaggerated) for this poem and to capture what I think he is saying about love between the classes, between the older and the young.

I also did not find the right words to capture the humor, which goes like this: 

Don't worry, Xan. Lots of guys've had trouble with their maids. Let me give you a few examples, like from Homer. You know, the girl you're interested in is so nice she must be a closet royal. And by the way, I think she's gorgeous—arms, face, and those legs! But don't think I'm . . . . no, listen. I'm way too old.

Notes:

Pergama [Πέργαμα], a plural neuter noun meaning the citadel of Troy.
Tecmessa: the daughter of King Teuthras, and mistress of Ajax, son of the argonaut Telamo[n] [Τελαμών].
Hector [κτωρ]: the bravest of the Trojans, slain and dragged three times around Troy by Achiles.
Thessaly [Θεσσαλία]: the country of Thessaly in the northeastern part of Greece, but here refers to Achilles.
Atrides: Agamemnon and the 'virgo rapta' is Cassandra, Agamemnon's prize at the fall of Troy.
lustrum:  a period of five years. 

Translation:

Do not let love for a maidservant be your shame, 
Xanthias of Phocis. Before, the servant girl, 
snow white Briseis, excited haughty Achilles.
The beauty of the captive Tecmessa excited 
the master Ajax, who was born of Telamon.
Atrides, in triumph, was consumed by that girl, 
seized after the barbarous squadrons, by Achilles' 
victory, fell, after Hector, though dragged off, made 
of Troy easy prey for the battle-weary Greeks. 
You don't know if blond Phyllis' well-off parents
will honor you as son-in-law, for surely 
she mourns her royal lineage and the unfair gods.
Believe it: one you picked is not of the unwashed, 
one so true, so anti money, couldn't've come 
from a mother disgraced. Her arms,  face, smooth thighs
all I laud. But don't get me, whose age has just rushed 
to the conclusion of its eighth lustrum, all wrong!

translation copyright © 2010 by James Rumford


In prose:

Ne sit amor ancillae ‹tibi pudori›, [o] Xanthia Phoceu. 
Prius serva Briseis ‹niveo colore› Achillem insolentem movit. Forma captivae Tecmessae dominum, Aiacem ‹Telamone natum›, movit. Atrides in medio triumpho virgine rapta arsit, postquam turmae barbarae victore Thessalo cecider[unt] et Hector ademptus Pergama leviora Grais fessis tolli tradidit. 
Nescias an parentes beati Phyllidis flavae te, generum, decorent. Certe genus regium et penates iniquos maeret. Crede illam tibi dilectam non de plebe scelesta [esse], nec sic fidelem, sic aversam lucro matre pudenda nasci potuisse. 

Bracchia et vultum surasque teretes integer laudo. Fuge [me] suspicari, cuius aetas trepidavit octavum lustrum claudere. 
[revised March 27, 2015]

Original Ode:

Nē sit ancillae tibi amor pudōrī,
Xanthia Phōcēu: prius insōlentem
serva Brīsēīs niveō colōre
   mōvit Achillem;
mōvit āiācem Telamōne nātum
forma captīvae dominum Těcmessae;
arsit ātrīdēs mediō in triūmphō
   virgine raptā,
barbarae postquam cecidēre turmae
Thessalō victōre et ademptus Hector
trādidit fessīs leviōra tollī
   Pergama Grāīs.
nesciās an tē generum beātī
Phyllidis flāvae decorent parentēs;
rēgium certe genus et penātıs
   maeret inīquōs.
crēde nōn illam tibi dē scelestā
plēbe dīlectam, neque sīc fidēlem,
sīc lucrō aversam potǔisse nascī
   mātre pudendā.
bracchia et vultum teretēsque sūrās
integer laudō: fuge suspicārī
cuius octāvum trepidāvit aetās

   claudere lustrum.



:: 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.


3 comments:

  1. Hello,

    1. I thoroughly enjoy your blog and hope it will be available in print some day. It is certainly more entertaining and instructive than other books on Horace's odes.

    2. I think I would translate the word "turmae" differently.

    barbarae postquam cecidere turmae (9)

    turmae: "squadrons" and not "towers"

    although "towers" sounds better.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aloha, e Hermann, Again an apology for this year-late reply. You are, of course, correct about 'turmae.' I always confuse 'turma' with 'turris.' I got to thinking why and realized that 'Turm' is the German word for 'tower.' I guess I have too many languages talking in my head at once. Glad that you enjoy the blogs. Aloha, Jim

    ReplyDelete
  3. I greatly enjoy the blog, having been brought here by Google as I tried to translate 'ne sit ancillae' - found in Kipling's ''My Son's Wife''.
    Kind regards.

    ReplyDelete