A Reef of Uncharted Genitives :: Caelo Tonantem :: III:5

I suspect that this was once a famous poem, one learned by every school boy and girl. In the ancient days of a hundred years ago, when militarism was on the rise and a world war was just ahead, such a poem was a beacon directing young minds to unselfish service to King and country.

This bushido-like poem is about Regulus, a Roman general who was defeated by the Carthaginians and taken prisoner. The Carthaginians sent him to Rome to negotiate a prisoner exchange, but when he got there, he called on the Senate to make no terms with the enemy. Then, honoring his parole, like some samurai, he returned to enemy Carthage, where he was executed.

The stuff of monuments, no? Of lengthy odes . . . of scripts for Russel Crowe!

Rudyard Kipling even used Horace’s poem in a short story he titled “Regulus,” written in 1908[http://www.telelib.com/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/prose/DiversityOfCreatures/regulus.html]. Kipling describes a classroom of young men and their Latin teacher, Mr. King, as he prepares them for their army examinations in Latin.  What?! Could this be possible? Only a hundred years ago, soldiers studied Latin, as if their life depended on it? 

Kipling’s story is amusing and tinged with that bit of reality for which I think makes him one of the greatest of English writers. As I read “Regulus,” I felt that I, too, were in that classroom being interrogated by the teacher, tripping up on Latin conjugations, heading for, as Kipling writes: “a reef of uncharted genitives.” I recalled how I had suffered at the hands of merciless language teachers, who by the very nature of the subject, could outsmart and outmanoeuvre at every turn. And, if they were native speakers, they could do so with such ease. It is easy to make a fool of a language learner. That is why, I suspect, there are so few successful language learners. Anyone can learn a language—we have all done it once—but few can stand being made a fool of time and time again.

A few notes: Marcus Licinius Crassus [ca115 BC—53 BC] was killed in the Roman defeat at Carrhae against the Persians. The shield was the ancile, which fell from heaven one day and became a symbol of Rome. A Roman citizen had caput, head. Losing citizenship was minor capitis a lessening of the head, probably because, losing the rights of citizenship might mean losing one’s head.

translation:

When Jove thundered, we thought he ruled the skies,

but now Augustus will be thought a god,

by adding the British to the Empire

     and the burdensome Persians.

Didn’t the soldier under Crassus live 

dishonored, married to a savage

and—oh Senate! oh morals upside down!—

grow old under the Mede king

with the enemy weapons of in-laws? 

This Marsus-Apulus forgot the shield,

the name, the toga, eternal Vesta,

even with Jove and Rome intact.

This the far-seeing mind of Regulus 

dreaded when he rejected the loathsome

stipulations and a precedent that 

would bring disaster in time,

if our young men did not perish unpitied, 

captive. “Our standards in Punic temples

nailed up, our weapons too, without a fight,” 

he said, “I’ve seen this plunder. 

I’ve seen the arms of Citizens twisted 

behind their free-born backs, the city gates 

unlocked and fields once ruined by our warring 

now waiting to be tilled.

The soldier ransomed by gold will, I’m sure, 

come back braver. Why not add injury 

to disgrace! And wool steeped in dye will not 

bring back the color lost, and

true manliness, once it is gone, will not 

be restored to the degraded. The doe 

will fight her way out of the net; if so, 

will that one be courageous

who’s trusted untrusted enemies? Will 

he crush the Carthaginians again 

in war; the idle one who’s felt the straps bound 

round his arms and dreaded death?

That one, clueless about how to live life

has mixed up war with peace. The shame of it! 

The great city of Carthage, higher than 

Italy’s shameful ruins!

It’s said he pushed away his chaste wife’s kiss 

and his little ones as one would bereft 

of citizenship and sternly laid his

manly face upon the ground,

until he had convinced the wavering 

elders with counsel never before heard 

and, surrounded by grieving friends, he rushed 

away, glorious, exiled.

He knew all along what the barbarous 

executioner had in store for him; 

even so, he brushed aside those close to him, 

turned away the bystanders,

as if, having concluded some drawn-out 

business dispute with a client, he was 

leaving for the fields of Vanafro 

or Spartan-built Taranto.

translation © 2010 by James Rumford

in prose:

Credidimus Iovem tonantem caelo regnare; 

praesens Augustus [est] divus,

Britannis Persisque gravibus imperio adiectis.

Milesne Crassi maritus turpis coniuge barbarâ vixit

et—pro curia moresque inversi!—

in armis hostium socerorum sub rege Medo consenuit

et Marsus Apulus anciliorum et nominis et togae Vestaeque aeternae oblitus,

incolumi Iove et urbe Roma?

Hoc mens provida Reguli condicionibus foedis dissentientis

et exemplo trahentis

in aevum perniciem veniens,

si captiva pubes inmiserabilis periret.

“Ego delubris Punicis signa adfixa

et arma derepta sine caede militibus vidi,” dixit.

“Ego vidi: bracchia retorta, tergo libero civium, portasque non clausas

et arva (Marte nostro populata) coli.

Miles auro repensus scilicet acrior redibit.

Damnum flagitio additis!

Neque colores amissos lana fucô medicata refert.

Nec virtus vera,

cum semel excidit, 

reponi deterioribus curat.

Si cerva extricata plagis densis pugnat,

ille erit fortis qui hostibus perfidis se credidit

et Poenos Marte altero proteret; 

qui iners lora lacertis restrictis sensit

mortemque timuit,

hic, unde inscius vitam sumeret 

pacem duello miscuit.

O pudor! O Carthago magna,

altior ruinis probrosi ruinis!’ 

Fertur osculum coniugis pudicae natosque parvos ut minor capitis ab se removisse

et voltum virilem humi torvus posuisse,

donec auctor patres labantis consilio numquam alias dato firmaret

interque amicos maerentis egregius exul properaret,

atqui sciebat,

quae tortor barbrus sibi pararet;

non aliter tamen propinquos obstantis dimovit

et populum morantem reditus [est]

quam si clientum longâ negotiâ lite diiudicatâ relinqueret

in agros Venafranos aut Tarentum Lacedaemonium tendens.

commentarii: http://www.horatius.ru/index.xps?2.1.305

for an excellent translation done by Andrew Lang [1844–1912], see:  http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_ode.htm

original ode:

Caelo tonantem credidimus Iouem
regnare: praesens diuus habebitur
     Augustus adiectis Britannis
     imperio grauibusque Persis.

Milesne Crassi coniuge barbara               5
turpis maritus uixit et hostium,
     pro curia inuersique mores!
     consenuit socerorum in armis

sub rege Medo Marsus et Apulus
anciliorum et nominis et togae               10
     oblitus aeternaeque Vestae,
     incolumi Ioue et urbe Roma?

Hoc cauerat mens prouida Reguli
dissentientis condicionibus
     foedis et exemplo trahenti               15
     perniciem ueniens in aeuum,

si non periret inmiserabilis
captiua pubes: 'Signa ego Punicis
     adfixa delubris et arma
     militibus sine caede' dixit               20

'derepta uidi; uidi ego ciuium
retorta tergo bracchia libero
     portasque non clausas et arua
     Marte coli populata nostro.

Auro repensus scilicet acrior               25
miles redibit. Flagitio additis
     damnum. Neque amissos colores
     lana refert medicata fuco,

nec uera uirtus, cum semel excidit,
curat reponi deterioribus.               30
     Si pugnat extricata densis
     cerua plagis, erit ille fortis,

qui perfidis se credidit hostibus,
et Marte Poenos proteret altero,
     qui lora restrictis lacertis               35
     sensit iners timuitque mortem.

Hic, unde uitam sumeret inscius,
pacem duello miscuit. O pudor!
     o magna Carthago, probrosis
     altior Italiae ruinis!'               40

Fertur pudicae coniugis osculum
paruosque natos ut capitis minor
     ab se remouisse et uirilem
     toruus humi posuisse uoltum,

donec labantis consilio patres               45
firmaret auctor nunquam alias dato
     interque maerentis amicos
     egregius properaret exul.

Atqui sciebat quae sibi barbarus
tortor pararet; non aliter tamen               50
     dimouit obstantis propinquos
     et populum reditus morantem

quam si clientum longa negotia
diiudicata lite relinqueret,
     tendens Venafranos in agros               55
     aut Lacedaemonium Tarentum.