And One More Thing :: Delicta Maiorum Immeritus :: III:6

For some time I’ve had to contend with Horace using singular verbs for plural subjects. Sometimes, a scholar will note this oddity, but say nothing more. In today’s ode, there are two instances of subject-verb discord; so I ask myself: is Horace being poetic? Is he playing around with a rather tightly screwed together grammatical system. Or, is something else happening—something which goes to the heart of Horace’s style?

In lines 9–16, clearly there are multiple subjects but only singular verbs are used.

Iam bis Monaeses et Pacori manus

non auspicats contudit impetus

nostros et adiecisse praedam

torquibus exiguis renidet.

Paene occupatam seditionibus

delevit urbem Dacus et Aethiops,

hic classe formidatus, ille

missilibus melior sagittis.

Now twice Monaeses and Pacorus’ troops

crushed our inauspicious thrusts and

beams at having added booty to  

thin arm bands.

Dacus and the Egyptian nearly destroyed

the City occupied with civil war, the one

formidable with a navy, the other better

at shooting arrows.

Most translators say that the Persian general Monaeses (?منیوش) and the troops of King Pacorus (d. 38 BC—پاکور) are the subjects of contudit, ‘crushed’ and renidet, ‘beams.’ They believe that Dacus (the Dacian, or someone from the area of modern Hungary and Romania) and Aethiops (the Ethiopian, or here, scholars say, the Egyptian) are the subjects of delevit ‘destroyed.’ I get the feeling, however, that the conjunction et means more than ‘and’ here. Perhaps it means ‘and Pacorus’ troops by the way’ or perhaps it indicates a parenthetical remark: Monaeses (and Pacorus’ troops). If so, then Horace is not playing around with subject-verb agreement. Rather, he is doing what he always does in his poetry: tacking on afterthoughts, adding a bit of parenthetical precision. Just as Horace is fond of appositives, so I think he is enamored with this almost conversational style, a style that gives his work such immediacy.  It is as though he had not thought things out fully, as one speaking would do, gathering one’s thoughts, adding to what has already been said to make sure the meaning comes across.  Of course, Horace did think things out fully. His elaborate verbal crisscrossing of nouns and adjectives, the leap-frogging of verbs with subjects and objects couldn’t have been done otherwise. But I think, this jerky, bumpy feeling Horace gives to his words is part of his style. Scholars and school teachers may try to explain away his lack of subject-verb agreement, but I say, let him be.

Let him be when he decides to omit verbs. Take lines 33 to 44. Here Horace casts further shame on the parents of his day for not producing offspring as brave as their forebears. See how he constructs this idea in one long sentence.

(The following between brackets was revised August 9, 2013)

[The subject is iuventus, ‘youth,’ which I have colored red. The youth not of these parents did brave things but the offspring of he-man farmers and no-nonsense mothers. Horace, of course, is not as straightforward as this; there is a lot of information in these lines that makes the reader yearn a bit more of the connecting tissue of language: relative pronouns, copulas—that kind of thing. 

Non his iuventus orta parentibus

infecit aequor sanguine punico

Pyrrhumque et ingentem cecidit

Antiochum Hannibalemque dirum;

sed rusticorum mascula militum

proles, Sabelli docta ligonibus

versare glebas et severae

matris ad abitrium recisos

portare fuscis, sol ubi montium

mutaret umbras et iuga demeret

bobus fatigatis, amicum

tempus agens abeunte curru. 

It has taken me two years to realize fully Horace’s use of parenthetical remarks, which I will call these lines with seemingly double subjects, these lines containing no verbs. Horace keeps saying: “Oh, wait, I’ve got one more thing to say.”] 

translation :: 

Undeserving citizen, you’ll be paying 

for your fathers’ sins until you have redone 

the temples of the gods and shrines in

ruins and idols filthy with black smoke.

Since you take yourself less than the gods, you rule.

From here: all beginnings. Back here: bring results.

The gods neglected have given much

evil to sorrowing Italia.

Monaeses has already twice beaten back—

the forces of Pacorus as well—our ill-

omened thrusts and has beamed at having 

added plunder to his puny neck torques.

The Dacian, with his better arrow shooting, 

just about destroyed—the Egyptian as well, 

terrifying with his fleet of ships—

the City occupied with civil war.

Days fecund with sin have defiled first marriage 

then our children and family; from this fountain 

the destruction drawn off has flowed on, 

over the fatherland and the people.

The maturing girl delights in learning the 

Ionian moves and is taught its ways and 

before you know it, contemplates 

impure love with her tender fingertips.

Soon she is looking for younger adult men while 

her husband is drunk, and she isn’t choosey 

who she offers her unpermitted  

delights to, with the lights in the distance,

but, when openly ordered, not without her 

husband knowing, gets up, be he door-to-door 

salesman or a ship’s captain from Spain,

some big-spending buyer of disgust.

The youth arisen not from such parents 

stained the sea with Punic blood and brought down 

Phyrrhus and the powerful 

Antiochus, the hated Hannibal. [revised Aug 2013]

This youth! The manly offspring of rustic soldiers, 

taught to turn over the clods of earth with 

the Sabelian hoe and at the 

bidding of a strict mother to bring cut 

firewood, where Sol might transform the mountain 

shadows and remove the yoke from the tired 

cattle, driving on the beloved 

hours in his departing chariot.

Destructive day! What doesn’t it hang over?  

A worse-omened bird, our parents’ age, brought us, 

even more worthless, soon to produce  

children even more defective.

translation © 2011 by James Rumford

in prose ::

[O] Romane, immeritus delicta maiorum lues, donec templa aedesque labentes deorum et simulacra fumo nigro foeda refeceris. Imperas, quod te minorem dis geris. Hinc omne principium, huc exitum refer. 

Di neglecti multa mala Hesperiae luctuosae dederunt. Iam bis Monaeses et manus Pacori impetus non auspicatos nostros contud[erun]t et renide[n]t praedam torquibus exiguis adiecisse. Dacus et Aethiops urbem seditionibus occupatam paene delev[erun]t, hic classe formidatus, ille missilibus sagittis melior. 

Saecula culpae fecunda primum nuptias et genus et domos inquinaver[unt]. ‹Clades [ex] hoc fonte derivata› in patriam populumque fluxit. Virgo matura gaudet motus Ionicos doceri et artibus fingitur et iam nunc amores incestos de ungui tenero mediatur. Iuniores mox adulteros inter vina mariti quaerit neque eligit cui gaudia impermissa raptim donet, luminibus remotis, sed coram iussa, non sine conscio marito, surgit, seu institor vocat, seu magister navis Hispanae, emptor pretiosus dedecorum. 

Iuventus, his parentibus non orta, aequor sanguine Punico infecit, ‹Pyrrhumque› et ‹Antiochum ingentem› ‹Hannibalemque dirum› cecidit, sed [illa iuventus erat] proles mascula militum rusticorum, ligonibus Sabellis glaebas versare docta et ad arbitrium matris severae fustes recisos portare, ubi sol umbras montium mutaret et iuga bobus fatigatis demeret, agens tempus amicum, curru abeunte. 

Dies damnosa quid non imminuit? Aetas parentum, avis peior, nos nequiores tulit, mox progeniem vitiosiorem daturos.   [revised March 27, 2015]

Delphin ordo ::

O Romane, solves pœnas quas non es meritus, ob peccata patrum, donec resarcieris fana et delubra Numinum decidentia, atque imagines atro squalore deformatas. Regnas, quia te præstas inferiorem Numinibus. Inde omne primordium; illuc finem reduc. Spreta Numina plures calamitates intulerunt afflictæ Italiæ. Jam semel atque iterum Monæses et Pacori exercitus repulit nostros conatus inauspicatos: gaudetque nostra polia addidisse torquibus suis minoribus.  Civitatem dessensionibus detentam propemodum extinxit Dacus et Æthiops, hic navibus potens, ille telis jaciendis peritus. Ævum delictis fertile primò fœdavit conjugia, et stirpem, et familias. Ex istâ origine manans calamitas in patriam et populum grassata est. Nubilis puella studet ediscere saltationes Ionum, et jam formatur artibus: atque flagitiosos amores cogitat ab ætate molliori. Deinde mœchos adolescentiores sectatur inter viri sui convivia: nullumque delectum adhibet, cuí voluptates haud licitas furtim indulgeat, extinctis lucernis. Sed præsente et consentiente viro pergit vocata, sive petit negotiator, sive dominus navis Hispanicæ, flagitia remunerans ingenti mercede. Non ejusmodi parentibus nati juvenes mare tinxerunt cruore Carthaginiensium; et profligavere Pyrrhum, magnumque Antiochum, et sævum Hannibalem: sed strenui filii militum agrestium, assueti terram colere bipalo Sabino, et ad austeræ matris voluntatem amputata referre ligna, cùm montium vertit umbras et juga fessis bobus detrahit Sol, horam adducens jucundam recedente curru. Quid tempus edax non corrumpit? Ævum patrum nostrorum avis deterius produxit nos pejores, deinde prolem edituros etiam improbiorem.

original ode :: 

Dēlicta māiōrum immeritus luēs,

Rōmāne, dōnec templa refēceris

   aedēsque labentıs deōrum et

        foeda nigrō simulacra fūmō.

dīs tē minōrem quod geris, imperās:

hinc omne princīpium, hūc refer exitum.

   dī multa neglectī dedērunt

        Hesperiae mala luctuōsae.

iam bis Monaesēs et Pacorī manūs

nōn auspicātōs contudit impetūs

   nostrōs et adiēcisse praedam

        torquibus exiguīs renīdet.

paene occupātam sēditiōnibus

dēlēvit urbem Dācus et Aethiops,

   hīc clāsse formīdātus, ille

        missilibus melior sagittīs.

fēcunda culpae saecula nuptiās

prīmum inquināvēre et genus et domōs:

   hōc fonte dērīvāta clādēs

        in patriam populumque fluxit

mōtūs docērī gaudet Iōnicōs

mātūra virgō et fingitur artibus,

   iam nunc et incestōs amōrēs

        dē tenerō meditātur unguī.

mox iuniorēs quaerit adulterōs  

inter marītī vīna, neque ēligit

   cui dōnet impermissa raptim

        gaudia luminibus remōtīs,

sed iussa cōram nōn sine consciō

surgit marītō, seu vocat institor

   seu nāvis Hispānae magister,

        dēdecōrum pretiōsus emptor.

nōn hīs iuventus orta parentibus

infēcit aequor sanguine Pūnicō

   Pyrrhumque et ingentem cecīdit

        Antiochum Hannibalemque dīrum;

sed rusticōrum mascula mīlitum

prōles, Sabellīs docta ligōnibus

   versāre glaebās et sevērae

        mātris ad arbitrium recīsōs

portāre fustıs, sōl ubi montium

mūtāret umbrās et iuga dēmeret

   bōbus fatīgātīs, amīcum

        tempus agēns abeunte currū.

damnōsa quid nōn imminuit diēs?

aetās parentum, pēior āvīs, tulit

   nōs nēquiōrēs, mox datūrōs

        prōgeniem vitiōsiōrem.

:: 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.