When Caesar Rules :: Iam Satis Terris :: I:2

Horace is describing dire times in this ode. Julius Caesar’s assassination [line 22] is still in the public’s mind, as well as the civil war [line 21]. The poet sees the long winter as a sign of the displeasure of the gods. There is only one man who can solve Rome’s problems: Caesar Augustus. Clearly, for Horace, less government is not the answer. What he seems to want is a strong, dictatorial government to bring peace and prosperity to the empire.

In my last blog, I talked a bit about Naylor’s book, Horace: Odes and Epodes; a Study in Poetic Word-order. I just want to say again how helpful his approach has been. By defining the sentence patterns that Horace uses, Naylor’s book makes it easier to navigate through a particular ode. My mind is better able than it was before to retain a few lines of twisted syntax. This is because I can see the pattern. Lines like 11 and 12 of this ode now seem simple to me:

et superiecto et pavidae natarunt

aequore dammae.

and [in] the surging and the frightened swam

[in] the sea the deer.

and the frightened deer swim in the surging sea 

Although armed with Naylor’s sentence structures, I was still unable to correctly interpret lines 17–20:

Iliæ, dum se nimium querenti

iactat se ultorem, vagus et sinistra

labitur ripa Iove non probante u-

xorius amnis.

The Delphin Ordo tells me that the river (amnis) is the subject of the dum-clause, that he (the river) is the one doing the expostulating (iactat) that he is the avenger (ultorem) of his complaining (querenti) wife Ilia and he, without Jove’s approval, has overflowed the left bank (sinistra ripa). This is a pretty twisted up sentence, which I have tried to untangle in the section below titled ‘in prose.’ (You might also take a look at lines 21–24, which are similar in structure because the verb comes first and the subject last.)

There is, as you might have also noticed, something else unusual about lines 17-20: the hyphen.  

Hyphenation, seems to me like cheating: the poet uses the word he wants even if he has to chop it up to make it fit. But there are reasons, I am told, for hyphenating a word. The word uxorius in line 19 is divided up so that 1) it fits the meter (Sapphic strophe: dum-da-dum-dum-dum/da-da-dum-da-dum-da or -dum) and 2) it helps the lines flow. This flow is called ‘synapheia,’ which means ‘flowing together’ and was used by the Greeks as well as the Romans. I even found it in Arabic the other day, as I was reading The Thousand and One Nights. How odd synapheia looks in a non Greco-Roman alphabet:

یُشرِقُ المَرجُ بِما فِیـ    ه مِنَ البِیضِ العَوالِی

Shines the meadow with what is in-   

side it from the blameless ones of the household 

[poem quoted in the Forty-Sixth Night]

So, following in the tradition of Horace and the Greeks, and the unknown authors of the 1001 Nights, I have put some hyphens in my translation.

translation:   

The Father has sent enough awful snow and hail

to earth and, from his rubescent right hand, has

thrown javelins at the sacred Capitol,

frightened the city,

frightened the people that Pyrrha’s dire age,

of bewailing strange omens, might return with

Proteus driving all of his seals up in- 

to the high mountains,

with the fish tribe stuck to the tops of elm trees 

which had been, as everyone knows, the seat of doves, 

and with deer wildly terrified swimming around

in the surging sea.

We saw the yellow Tiber, its waves rebounding off

the Etruscan shoreline, go violently 

knocking down the monuments of a king, the 

temples of Vesta;

while the husband-like river throws it out there

that he’s the avenger of Ilia, who 

complains a lot, and, without Jove’s say-so, slips 

over the left bank.

Because of their parents’ crimes, what’s left of the 

youth will hear that citizens sharpened iron—

by which the awful Persians should have perished—

will hear of the fights.

Which god might the people invoke, with the em-

pire crumbling? What prayers will the sacred

virgins plague Vesta with, she who gives little 

heed to their song-chants.

To whom will Jove give the work of expiating 

the crime? Our last resort—we pray that you come, 

Prophet Apollo, who envelops his white 

shoulders in a cloud.

Or, if you want to, Smiling Erycina,

around whom flies Iocus and Cupid too,

Or, Founder, if you’d look on your descendants 

and neglected race . . .

Alas! sated from too long a game, you whom 

the clamor pleases, the gleaming helmet, the 

Marsian foot soldier glowering at the  

bloodied enemy;

or, with a face changed into a youth, you might 

imitate here on earth the winged son of 

sweet Maia, allowing yourself to be called

‘Caesar’s avenger,’

Be long in going back to heaven, and be 

long happy with the people of Quirinus; 

let not the breeze swiftly take you off, angered,

because of our crimes;

rather be here for great victory marches; here 

you might like being called ‘father’ and ‘chief’; and

you will not let the Medes ride, unavenged, O

Caesar, as leader.

translation © 2011 by James Rumford

notes:

Phyrrha: the wife of Deucalion, both of whom were the only ones saved when all of mankind was destroyed by a flood. 

Proteus: the herdsman of Poseidon’s seals, whom Homer called ‘the old man of the sea.’

Vesta: goddess of the home, the hearth, and the family.

Ila: the mother of Romulus and Remus. She is complaining because of Caesar’s murder at the hands of Brutus et al.

Erycina: from a Sicilian mountain called Eryx. Venus is, by the way, the progenetrix of Julius Caesar.

Iocus: the god of jests.

Auctor: Mars, the father of Romulus and thus the founder of Roman; the god of war whose game lūdus is war—in this case, civil war.

Marsi: a people living in the mountains fifty miles east of Rome, whose men made excellent foot soldiers.

Quirini: of Quirinus, Romulus deified.

Medes: mostly likely the Persians, in general, although they are only one of the many Iranian peoples that once inhabited areas of present-day Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. 

commentarii: http://www.horatius.ru/index.xps?2.1.102

in prose:

Pater iam terris satis nivis atque grandinis dirae misit et, dextera rubente arces sacras iaculatus, urbem terruit, gentes terruit ne rediret saeculum grave Pyrrhae, monstra nova questae, cum Proteus pecus omne egit montes altos visere, et genus piscium summa ulmo haesit, quae ‹sedes nota› columbis fuerat, et dammae pavidae [in] aequore superiecto nata[va]runt.
Tiberim flavum vidimus litore Etrusco violenter undis retortis ire monumenta regis templaque Vestae deiectum, dum [Tiberis] se nimium Iliae querenti iactat [se] ultorem [futurum], amnis uxorius [super] ripa sinistra vagus, Iove non probante, labitur.
Iuventus vitio parentum rara audiet cives ferrum acuisse, quo Persae graves melius perirent, [et] audiet pugnas.
Quem divum populus rebus imperi ruentis vocet? Qua prece virgines sanctae Vestam carmina minus audientem fatigent?
Cui Iuppiter partes scelus expiandi dabit?
Tandem precamur—[tu] venias, [o] augur Apollo, nube umeros candentes amictus;
sive tu mavis [venire], Erycina ridens, circum quam Iocus et Cupido vola[n]t;
sive, [o Mars] auctor, genus neglectum et nepotes respicis, heu! ludo nimis longo satiate, [te] quem clamor acer iuvat galeaeque leves et vultus peditis Marsi in hostem cruentum;
sive [tu venias] filius ales Maiae almae, figura mutata, iuvenem in terris imitaris, patiens ultor Caesaris vocari.
[O Auguste], serus in caelum redeas diuque laetus populo Quirini intersis neve aura te, vitiis nostris iniquum, ocior tollat. Hic triumphos potius magnos ames, hic [ames] pater atque princeps dici, neu, [o] Caesar, te duce, sinas Medos inultos equitare.  

delpho ordo:

Jupiter jam in terras immisit sat nivis et horrendæ grandinis; vibransque fulmina in sacras arces manu flammatâ Romæ terrorem incussit. Alias etiam nationes fecit timere, ne rediret triste tempus Pyrrhæ conquerentis ob prodigia inaudita; quando Proteus totum armentum duxit in excelsos montes; atque piscium genus adhæsit ulmi fastigio, qui locus fuerat columbis cognitus, necnon damæ timidi nataverunt in  mari superfuso. Aspeximus flavum Tiberim ire prostratum monumenta Regis Numæ et ædem Vestæ, aquis magno impetu reflexis à ripâ Tusciam spectante; dum hic  fluvius, Jove indignante, nimiùm indulgens uxiori Iliæ dolenti præter modum, se vindicem ostentat, atque in lævum littus errat exundans. Juvenes pauci culpâ parentum audient aliquando Romanos strinxisse gladios, quibus justè magis confoderentur Persæ graves: discentque bella civilia. Quem Deorum populus invocet labente Repubicâ? quibus votis instabunt Virgines sacratæ apud Vestam obsecrationes minimè suscipientem? Cui Jupiter dabit munus eluendi crimen? ô Phoebe fatidice, obsecramus ut sucurras, albos humeros nube velatos habens. Seu vis potiùs adesse, ô blanda Venus, circa quam Joci et Amores volitant: seu abjectam prolem atque posteros respicis, O Mars Romane gentis parens, eheu bello nimis diuturno satiate: qui gaudes vociferationibus, et galeis politis, atque aspectu Marsi peditis erga sævum adversarium feroci. Sive immutatâ specie adolescentem exhibes in terrâ, tu alatus filius benignæ Maiæ, sinens, te dici vindicem Julii Cæsaris: tardè remigres in cœlum; diuque maneas cum populo Romano, neque celerior ventus rapiat te nostris criminibus infensum. Ama potiùs hic ingentes triumphos, et appelationem parentis auctorisque: neque patiareis, O Cæsar, te imperante, Medos impunè in equis vagari. 

original ode:

Iam satis terrīs nivis atque dīrae

grandinis mīsit Pater et rubente
dexterā sācrās iaculātus arcēs
   terruit Vrbem,
terruit gentıs, grave nē redīret
saeculum Pyrrhae nova monstra questae,
omne cum Prōteus pecus ēgit altōs
   vīsere montıs,
piscium et sūmmā genus haesit ulmō,
nōta quae sēdēs fuerat columbīs,
et supēriectō pavidae natārunt
   aequore dammae.
vīdimus flāvum Tiberim retortīs
lītore Ētruscō violenter undīs
īre dēiectum monumenta rēgis
   templaque Vestae,
Īliae dum sē nimium querentī
iactat ultōrem, vagus et sinistrā
lābitur rīpā Iove nōn probante u-
   xōrius amnis.
audiet cīvıs acuisse ferrum,
quō gravēs Persae melius perīrent,
audiet pugnās vitiō parentum
   rāra iuventus.
quem vocet dīvum populus ruentis
imperī rēbus? prece quā fatīgent
virginēs sanctae minus audientem
   carmina Vestam?
cui dabit partıs scelus expiandī
Iuppiter? tandem veniās precāmur,        
nūbe candentıs umerōs amictus,
   augur Apollō,
sīve tū māvīs, Erycīna rīdēns,
quam Iocus circumvolat et Cupīdo,
sīve neglectum genus et nepōtēs
   respicis, auctor,
hēu nimis longō satiāte lūdō,
quem iuvat clāmor galeaeque lēvēs,
ācer et Marsī peditis cruentum
   vultus in hostem,
sīve mūtātā iuvenem figūrā
āles in terrīs imitāris, almae
fīlius Māiae, patiēns vocārī
   Caesaris ultor.
sērus in caelum redeās diūque
laetus intersīs populō Quirīnī,
nēve tē nostrīs vitiīs inīquum
   ōcior aura
tollat; hīc magnōs potius triumphōs,
hīc amēs dīcī pater atque princeps,
nēu sinās Mēdōs equitāre inultōs
   tē duce, Caesar.

(revised March 26, 2015)

:: Latin books by James Rumford ::

For all 102 odes purchase Carpe Diem, Horace De-Poetized, for $11.50 at 

https://www.amazon.com/Carpe-Diem-Poetized-James-Rumford/dp/1891839179/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479932219&sr=8-1&keywords=Carpe+Diem+Rumford. 

For a Latin translation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at $12, click here: 

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Pericla+Thomae+Sawyer

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.