Money :: Inclusam Danaen Turris :: III:16

The ancient commentator Porphyrio says this about today’s ode:

ut ostendatur nihil non posse pecunia atque auro expugnari

to show that nothing cannot be expunged with money or gold

Later in the poem, Horace warns his audience not to be too greedy. It isn’t so much that money can’t buy happiness. It is that greed leads to unhappiness. One must realize when one has had enough. One must learn to count one’s blessings. As you might imagine, this poem has oft been quoted. Certain lines have made their way into the usual compendia of quotations.  I ran across some website which stated that this poem is found in 170 books from 1793–2006. In fact, one line 

crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam maiorumque fames

care—and hunger for more—follows growing money

can be found in websites from all over the world. The most interesting is one from Japan with this transliteration

クレスケンテム・セクゥィトゥル・クーラ・ペクーニアム

which, because of the nature of the Japanese syllabary, sounds like:

kurusutentemu · sekuuitouru ·kuura · pakuuniamu

and is translated as:

増える金銭には心配事が付き従う。

In ode III:16, we meet Acrisius, the king of Argos, who so feared his daughter would bear a child that, according to an oracle, would one day murder him, that he locked her in a tower, only to have Zeus/Jupiter turn himself into a shower of gold and, I suppose, bribe his way into the tower to accomplish the deed. Such is the power of money.

Next we hear of Amphiraraus, the soothsayer form Argos, who died in the siege of Thebes. Why had he gone to Thebes? Because Polyneices had bribed his wife so that she would coax Amphiraraus into going. We also hear of the Man from Macedonia, Philip, father of Alexander the Great, who used money in dealing with his enemies. Finally, we hear of the rich king of Lydia in Asia Minor named Alyattes and the plains of King Mygon, I suppose another rich monarch. 

Grammatically, this ode has, like all of the others, its pitfalls. Fore, line 7, is an old future infinite used for futurum esse. Fore causes problems because it implies that someone said something or thought something so that what seems to to be missing from lines 7 and 8 is:

risissent, [quia Jupiter Venusque intellegebant] iter tutum fore [futurum esse] . . . .

laughed because Jupiter and Venus thought there’d be a safe way . . . .

As for me, I almost think that fore was a way for Horace to interject himself into the poem, a sarcastic aside, something like: of course, there would be a way in, once a god turns himself into money.

Another pitfall for me were lines 22–24:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nil cupientium

nudus castra peto et transfuga divitum

partis linquere gestio.

The keys are the words: nudus for ‘stripped [of money]’,  peto ‘ask [for]’, transfuga ‘a deserter’ and gestio ‘I am eager to.’ In wordy Latin, this gives us:

ego sum nudus (sine pecunia) et 

castra virorum [qui nil cupiunt] peto;

ego etiam sum transfuga et ego gestio 

illas partis virorum divitum linquere.

Horace, as always, is compact. Deconstructing him is, as always, difficult. 

Finally, there is fallit in line 32. What is missing here is the idea that fallit means mihi fallit  or ‘I don’t know whether.’ Also missing is a verb like esse. 

Horace, as usual, is almost telegraphic. But what do you want? He’s a poet. His messages come via unusual channels from unusual places in his mind.

translation ::

A coppered tower, gates of oak, and a mournful 

patrol of vigilant dogs would have been quite enough 

to wall off the imprisoned girl Danaë from

the adulterers of the night, 

if Jupiter and Venus hadn’t laughed at 

Acrisium, the fearful guardian of that 

sequestered virgin with “there’ll be a sure way in,

with a god turned into money.”

Gold likes going among the attendant guards and, 

more powerful than a stroke of lightning, breaking 

apart rocks—the house of the Argive soothsayer 

did collapse because of money 

sinking into ruin. He split apart the gates 

of cities—the man from Macedonia—and 

dragged under rivaling kings with gifts; gifts ensnared 

the barbarous captains of ships.

Care attends money that increases and so does 

hunger for more. I have rightly abhorred to raise, 

my own head proudly for everyone to admire,   

Maecenas, glory of the knights.

And the more one denies himself, the more one will 

get from the gods; I, stripped, ask for the camps of those 

who covet nothing and I, deserter, long to 

leave behind the ranks of the rich,

I, a holder of hated things more splendid than 

were I said to hide within my barns whatever 

hardworking Apulus tilled—great treasures amongst 

those without.

A river of pure water and a woods of few 

acres and a sure faith in my crop—it’s not known 

if the one agleam with the command of fertile 

Africa is more blessed by fate.

Although the bees don’t bring Calabrian honey 

nor does a Laestrygonian Bacchus languish 

in an amphora for me, nor do wooly sheep  

grow in the pasture lands of Gaul,

but grievous poverty is far away, and, were 

I to want more, you would not deny giving it. 

Better, my desires pulled back, and that 

I have laid out my little spread

than if I joined the kingdom of the Mygdoni 

to the fields of Alyattes. Much is lacking 

those who ask much. Well, God gives what is sufficient 

to the one with a frugal hand.  

translation copyright 2011 by James Rumford

commentarii :: http://www.horatius.ru/index.xps?2.1.316

in prose ::

Turris aenea foresque robustae et excubiae tristes canum vigilum Danaen inclusam ab adulteris nocturnis satis munierant,

si Jupiter et Venus Acrisium, custodem pavidum virginis abditae, non risissent: iter enim tutum et patens deo converso in pretium fore.

Aurum amat per medios satellites ire 

et saxa potentius ictu fulmineo perrumpere: 

domus demersa Argivi auguris exitio ob lucrum 

concidit;

vir Macedo portas urbium diffidit

et reges aemulos muneribus subruit;

munera duces saevos navium inlaqueant.

cura famesque maiorum pecuniam crescentem sequitur.

Iure perhorrui, Maecenas (decus equitum), conspicuum late verticem tollere. 

quisque sibi quanto plura negaverit, ab dis plura feret: nudus, castra nil cupientium peto et, transfuga, gestio partis divitum linquere,

dominus rei contemptae splendidior, quam si dicerer quicquid Apulus impiger arat meis horreis occultare, inops inter opes magnas.

rivus aquae purae silvaque iugerum paucorum et certa fides segetis meae; fallit fulgentem imperio Africae fertilis sorte beatior.

quamquam nec apes Calabrae mella ferunt nec Bacchus in amphora Laestrgonia mihi languescit nec vellera pinguia Gallicis pascuis crescunt,

pauperies tamen importuna abest, nec si plura velim, tu deneges dare. Melius vectigalia parva cupidine contracto porrigam

quam si regnum Alyattei campis Mygdoniis continuem. Multa multa petentibus desunt; bene est cui deus manu parcā obtulit quod satis est. 

Delphin ordo ::

Turris ex ære, et validæ januæ, necnon vigilantium canum mæsta custodia clausam Danaën abundè tuebantur noctu à mœchis, nisi Jupiter et Venus irrissent Acrisium inclusæ puellæ meticulosum observatorem: quippe viam fore securam opertamque numini in aurum mutato.Aurum solet pervadere medios custodes, ac rupes frangere, vi fulminis validius. Vatis Argolici familia teriit propter quæstum.Vir Macedonius portas civitatum perrupit, ac Reges invidos profligavit donis.Dona irretiunt feroces navarchos. Augescentes opes comitatur solicitudo, et cupiditas ampliorum.O Mæcenas, equitum gloria, non sine causâ timui caput erigere valdè splendidum.Quò majora sibi quisque ademerit, eò ampliora consequetur à Numinibus. Pauper transeo ad partes nihil appetentium, atque opulentiorum castra fugitivus deserere aveo; bonorum spretorum possessor magis illustris, quàm si meis granariis conderem id omne quod colit Appulus laboriosus, ego interim egens summis in divitiis.Rivus aquæ liquidæ et silva paucorum jugerum, messis[f. harvest]que  meæ spes secura, est ignota illi qui fœcundæ Libyæ dominatur.Ejusque fortunta melior est meâ, licèt mihi neque apes Calabricæ mel producant, neque vinum apud me senescat in cado Formiano, neque lanæ pretiosæ crescant in Galliæ pascuis; at gravis egestas non adest : sique majora cuperem, tu donare minimè recusares. Exigua trivuta solvam faciliùs refrænatâ cupiditate, quàm si Lydiæ ditionem agris Phrygiis adjungam.Plurima cupientes egent plurimis.Felix est is cui manu contractâ Diì dederunt quantum sufficit.

original ode ::

Inclusam Danaen turris aenea
robustaeque fores et uigilum canum
tristes excubiae munierant satis
     nocturnis ab adulteris,

si non Acrisium, uirginis abditae               5
custodem pauidum, Iuppiter et Venus
risissent: fore enim tutum iter et patens
     conuerso in pretium deo.

Aurum per medios ire satellites
et perrumpere amat saxa potentius               10
ictu fulmineo; concidit auguris
     Argiui domus ob lucrum

demersa exitio; diffidit urbium
portas uir Macedo et subruit aemulos
reges muneribus; munera nauium               15
     saeuos inlaqueant duces.

Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam
maiorumque fames. Iure perhorrui
late conspicuum tollere uerticem,
     Maecenas, equitum decus.               20

Quanto quisque sibi plura negauerit,
ab dis plura feret; nil cupientium
nudus castra peto et transfuga diuitum
     partis linquere gestio,

contemptae dominus splendidior rei,               25
quam si quicquid arat inpiger Apulus
occultare meis dicerer horreis,
     magnas inter opes inops.

Purae riuus aquae siluaque iugerum
paucorum et segetis certa fides meae               30
fulgentem imperio fertilis Africae
     fallit sorte beatior.

Quamquam nec Calabrae mella ferunt apes
nec Laestrygonia Bacchus in amphora
languescit mihi nec pinguia Gallicis               35
     crescunt uellera pascuis,

inportuna tamen pauperies abest,
nec, si plura uelim, tu dare deneges.
Contracto melius parua cupidine
     uectigalia porrigam               40

quam si Mygdoniis regnum Alyattei
campis continuem. Multa petentibus
desunt multa; bene est cui deus obtulit
     parca quod satis est manu.