Don’t Worry :: Cur Me Querellis :: II:17

This is a poem written to a friend worried about dying. Horace reminds him of their solid friendship, their lucky stars that led to his friend’s triumph at the theater and Horace’s own escape from being crushed by a tree, and ultimately of the thanks owed the many gods.

The friend is Maecenas, who has appeared in many of Horace’s poems. Gaius Cilnius Maecenas was Horace’s rich patron and friend of the emperor. He even wrote poetry himself, of which a few odes still exist today. Such a patron of the arts was he [he also took Virgil under his wing] that a word fashioned from his name once existed to describe just such a benefactor: a maecenate.

Ode II:17 is pretty straightforward, except for the last few lines, where Horace is reminding Maecenas of his promises to the gods:

  .        .        .       .       reddere    victimas

aedemque         votivam         memento

nos     humilem      feriemeus     agnam

.           .          .          .          remember    to 

offer   victims   and    a   votive   shrine 

we shall slaughter a humble ewe-lamb

Commentators take the ‘we’ in the last line to be non-inclusive, i.e, it doesn’t include Maecenas, and translators usually translate nos  as I. But I am not so sure. What if Horace wants to include Maecenas? What if the ‘we’ refers to just the two of them, sacrificing a lamb together? To me, this seems more in tune with the rest of the poem, but then, perhaps Horace wants to end with an acknowledgement of their vast differences in station and wealth.

We’ll never know for sure. Latin is not like Polynesian languages which distinguish not only between a dual and plural ‘we’ but between a ‘we’ that includes you and me and a ‘we’ that excludes ‘you’ from ‘our’ group. Had Horace spoken Hawaiian, for example, he would have been forced to make the last line crystal clear by choosing one of the following:

na mākou e pepehi [i] ka hipa ha‘a.

we, not you, will slaughter a humble lamb

na kāua e pepehi

the two of us together will slaughter

na kākou e pepehi

we and you will slaughter

Differences among languages like these always amaze me. They show what  speakers of a particular language consider to be important. Hawaiians always want to know who is and isn’t part of the group. The language demands it, much to the consternation of the missionaries who first wondered how to translate ‘our Father.’ Is God one of us or not. They settled on ‘not.’ God is in heaven. We are not.

As for the Romans, they didn’t care about such fine distinctions. Sure, they qualified nos as in nos Romani, but for the most part, they liked the ambiguity of their nos. Think how many times they could leave the person they’re speaking to wondering: Am I part of the group or not? Think how Horace has left me wondering.

notes:

Chimera [χίμαιρα], a monstrous fire-breathing monster composed of several animals.

Gyas/Gyes [Γύης]: a monstrous giant of enormous strength, one of the children of the earth Gaia and the sky Uranus, and known along with his brothers Briareus [Βριάρεως] and Cottus [Κόττος] as the hundred-handed ones, the hecatonchires [ὲκατόγχειρες]. The hecatonchires tried to overthrow Olympus but failed and are buried under Mt. Aetna, a suitably fearful spot.

Capricorn’s western wave: During the time when Capricorn rules the skies, the winter storms push great waves from the west

rapid wings: I translate volucris as rapid, but the word also means ‘flying’ and should grammically modify Fate. I just couldn’t write ‘flying Fate.’

mercurial men: those born under the sign of Mercury, thus able to write poetry, to be eloquent. The god Mercury was eloquent, but he was also shrewd, swift, and thievish. Maybe Horace is having a bit of fun here.

translation:

Why are you driving me out of my mind

with your grumbling? Neither would it please me 

nor the gods that you die first, Maecenas,

great in honor and pillar of my life.

Ah, if the Force rips away a part of 

my soul by taking you first, how do I 

stay on incomplete with the other part 

not worth as much to me. That day will lead 

one of us to ruin. I have sworn no 

false oath “we shall go, we shall go.” Should you 

precede me somehow, ready we will be

as comrades to continue the last journey.

The fire spirit Chimera won’t ever

tear me apart, nor will the hundred-armed 

Gyas, should he rise again— if it so please 

the Fates and the mighty goddess Justice. 

Either Libra or fearful Scorpio, 

the more violent one, looked down on me

at the hour of my birth, or Capricorn,

ruler absolute of the western waves;  

for both of us, by some incredible 

means, the stars aligned. You Jove’s resplendent

protection snatched from the underhanded

Saturn and slowed the rapid wings of Fate,

when the people going to the theater clapped

with joy three times. And me that tree about to

fall on my head would have carried me off 

if Faunus, keeper of mercurial 

men, had not lightened the blow with his right 

hand. Remember to make offerings of

victims and to build the shrines you promised. 

we shall slaughter an ordinary lamb. 

in prose:

Cur me querellis tuis exanimas?

Nec dis nec mihi amicum est te obire, 

Maecenas, grande decus columenque rerum mearum.

A, si vis partem animae meae te maturior rapit,

quid altera moror,

nec carus aeque nec integer superstes?

Ille dies utramque ruinam ducet.

Non ego sacramentum perfidum dixi. 

Ibimus. Ibimus.

Utcumque praecedes, 

[nos sumus] comites parati iter supremum carpere.

Nec spiritus Chimaerae igneae, 

nec si Gyas centimanus resurgat,

me umquam divellet.

Sic placitum Iustitiae potentique Parcis.

Seu Libra seu Scorpios formidolosus [pars violentior horae natalis] me

seu Capricornus tyrannus undae Hesperiae adspicit.

Utrumque nostrum modo incredibili astrum consentit.

Tutela Iovis Saturno impio refulgens te eripuit,

[tutela Iovis] alas Fati volucrisque tardavit,

cum populus theatris frequens sonum laetum ter crepuit

[et] truncus me cerebro inlapsus sustulerat,

nisi Faunus [custos Mercurialium virorum] ictum dextra levasset.

Memento victimas aedemque votivam reddere.

Nos agnam humilem feriemus.

commentarii: http://www.horatius.ru/index.xps?2.1.217

original ode:

Cur me querellis exanimas tuis?
Nec dis amicum est nec mihi te prius
     obire, Maecenas, mearum
     grande decus columenque rerum.

A! te meae si partem animae rapit               5
maturior uis, quid moror altera,
     nec carus aeque nec superstes
     integer? Ille dies utramque

ducet ruinam. Non ego perfidum
dixit sacramentum: ibimus, ibimus,               10
     utcumque praecedes, supremum
     carpere iter comites parati.

Me nec Chimaerae spiritus igneae
nec, si resurgat centimanus gigas,
     diuellet umquam: sic potenti               15
     Iustitiae placitumque Parcis.

Seu Libra seu me Scorpios aspicit
formidolosus, pars uiolentior
     natalis horae, seu tyrannus
     Hesperiae Capricornus undae,               20

utrumque nostrum incredibili modo
consentit astrum; te Iouis impio
     tutela Saturno refulgens
     eripuit uolucrisque Fati

tardauit alas, cum populus frequens               25
laetum theatris ter crepuit sonum;
     me truncus inlapsus cerebro
     sustulerat, nisi Faunus ictum

dextra leuasset, Mercurialium
custos uirorum. Reddere uictimas               30
     aedemque uotiuam memento;
     non humilem feriemus agnam.