Woman's Virtue in a Man's World :: Impios Parae :: III:27

My apologies for a long absence. Today’s ode was difficult.

Not only did the language cause me problems, but the meaning was complicated.

Horace’s friend Galatea is leaving and he wants to bid her a safe journey. He looks for the best of omens and before the reader knows it, Horace has led us to the story of Eurōpē (Europa), who was abducted by Zeus in the form of a bull and raped. Poor thing! She begs for death. She beseeches Venus to show some kindness. Venus tells her to put a lid on it. “Besides you loved it,” she seems to be saying. “So be happy. A part of the world will be named after you.”

I guess, from this, I might think that women should just shut up about being raped. Don’t they realize all the good that can come of it? Sure, their reputation is ruined. They might even dash themselves to death on sharp rocks. But, heck! The virtue of womankind is at stake!

I’m kidding, but is Horace? Horace lived in a man’s world. Most of the scholars that have dealt with him are men. Even the word ‘virtue’ has its roots in the Latin word for ‘man’: vir. So what’s with this poem?

I suppose I’ve already answered my question. In a man’s world, women must be virtuous. Women have to understand that rape happens. Even so, they have to do everything in their power to uphold their honor and bring no shame on their family. And they have to realize that the man is not to blame.

Zeus, the symbol of maleness, is the king of the gods and can never be blamed for his actions. He can take what he wants, whom he desires, and everyone must understand.

I don’t think that Horace ever considered the existence of a double standard. Men have one code of behavior. And they have made a different one for women. After all, women being different in body as well as mind, shouldn’t be held to the same standard as men. Such is the lie of a male-dominated society: difference does not mean inequality.    

But is there in this poem a bit of truth, something we can use in the twenty-first century (forget for a moment the present assault on woman’s rights)? If there is, perhaps it is this: Rape is a fact of life no matter the society. Deal with it. It is how one ‘deals with it’ that defines a people.

The Romans and the Greeks did their best to infuse their poetry, their plays, their myths with what I am going to call 'consciousness.' By this, I mean, a reality check, a reminder of what the world is like—for better or for worse. Today’s ode is no exception.

There does, however, remain one further point to consider. Was Horace being sarcastic, ironic, mocking, outrageously funny, or dead serious in this poem? I can only leave that up to you to consider. If there is any answer to this, it might be found in the lines

utinam inter errem nuda leones 

would that I might wander naked among lions

and

speciosa quaero tigris pascere 

I [so] beautiful seek to be food for tigers.

I can’t imagine Horace not smiling to himself when he came up with these over-the-top lines.

Horace is only one of many who have told the story of Europe’s rape. Below are several artists and their interpretations. Notice how a woman, Jennifer Linton, views the rape.

Simon Vouet [1590-1649]

Gillis Coignet [1542-1599]

Guido Cagnacci [1601-1663]

Felix Vallotton [1865-1925]

Jennifer Linton [1968 - ]

Translation ::

The wicked? Let the omen of a hooting owl 

direct—the pregnant dog or, from Lanuvino 

field, the grey she-wolf running off—

    the pregnant fox.

Let the snake halt a trip planned

when, arrow-like from the side, it frightens

the ponies. [But] for the one I worry over? I, 

    cautious diviner, 

shall, before the return of the prophetic bird 

of impending rain to the stilled marshlands, rouse 

with prayer the augery raven 

    at the sun’s rising. 

Let yourself be happy wherever you may,

and remember us, Galatea, long life!

Let the woodpecker to the left not stop your going

    nor the errant crow.

But you do see how much tumult Orion

setting causes. What a black gulf, I know,

the Adriatic is! What evil the dry Iapyx

    wind brings!

Let the enemy wives and sons feel the 

blind tumult of the south wind rising,

the roar of the dark sea, and from the shock—

    the trembling shores.

Yes, and Europa trusted her snowy side to

the trickster bull, though spirited, she turned 

white in the midst of being deceived at the 

    monster-seething sea.

Just a bit ago, in the fields, busy with the flowers 

and making a crown for the Nymphs,

in the dark of the night, she saw nothing

    but stars and waves.

As soon as she touched Crete, powerful

with its hundred cities, “Father, O maiden’s

name! O duty!” she said,

    “overcome by anger!

How did I come to this? One death is

[too] light for a girl’s wrong. Am I awake crying

over this evil deed, or is a vision toying with 

    sinless me, an illusory one,

which, fleeing through the Ivory Door,

leads to dreams? Was it better to go

through the long surge of the sea or—

    to pick fresh flowers?

If anyone gives me now that hated bullock,

angry I’d do whatever I could to slash it with 

a sword, to break somehow the horns of the

    monster once much loved.

Shamelessly, I left my country’s household gods.

Shamelessly, I put off death. Ye Gods, if any

of you hear this, make it so I wander naked

    among lions!

Before ugly hunger overtakes these lovely cheeks,

before the moistness flows from this 

tender prey, I, the beautiful one, ask to be

    food for tigers.

‘Vile Europa!’ My absent father goads,

‘Why put off dying? Why not from this 

mountain ash hang yourself good with the belt

    you brought along?

Or do the cliffs and sharp rocks lure you away

to death? Come on, give yourself to the swift

wind storm—unless you prefer for a slavemaster

    to get a ration of wool—

you of royal blood! to be given over to some 

barbarian woman as a concubine.’” 

Nearby the supplicant was Venus, with an evil laugh,

    and her son, bow unstrung.

By and by, when she had toyed enough, 

“Curb,” she said, “the anger and the heated strife,

when the 'hated' bull again gives you

    horns that gore.

Don’t you know you’re the wife of 

unconquered Jove? Stop bawling. Do learn 

to endure great fortune; a part of the globe will

    carry your name."

[translation copyright 2012 by James Rumford]

In Prose ::

Omen parrae recinentis impios

ducat et canis praegnans aut ab agro

Lanuvino lupa rava decurrens

    vulpesque feta:

et serpens iter institutum rumpat

si per obliquum sagittae similis

mannos terruit: ego providus auspex

    cui timebo,

antequam avis divina imbrium

imminentum paludes stantis repetat,

corvum oscinem prece ab ortu solis

    suscitabo.

sis licet felix ubicumque mavis,

et memor nostri, Galatea, vivas,

picusque laevus nec te vetet ire

    nec cornix vaga.

sed vides quanto tumultu pronus 

Orion trepidet. ego novi quid sinus

ater Hadriae sit, quid Iapyx

    albus peccet.

Uxorēs hostium puerīque motūs

caecōs orientis Austri sentiant et

fremitum aequoris nigri et ripas

    trementis verbere.

sic et Eurōpē latus niveum taurō

dolosō credidit et audax pontum 

belvīs scatentem faudesque 

    medias palluit.

nuper in pratīs opifex coronae 

florum et Nymphis debitae studiosa, 

nocte sublustri nihil praeter astra 

    et undas vidit.

Quae simul Creten centum oppidis 

potentem tetigit, “Pater, o nomen 

filiae relictum pietasque,” dixit,

    “furore victa!

unde quo veni? una mors culpae

virginum levis est. vigilansne turpe

commissum ploro. an imago vana

    quae portā eburnā

fugiens somnium ducit [me]vitiis 

carentem ludit? meliusne fuit per 

fluctūs longōs ire, and flores

    recentis carpere?

si quis nunc mihi-iratae iuvencum

infamem dedat, enitar ferro lacerare

et multum modo cornua monstri

    amati frangere.

impudens Penatis patrios liqui,

impudens Orcum moror. o deorum

si quis haec audis, utinam nuda inter

    leones errem!

antequam macies turpis mālās 

decentis occupet sucusque praedae 

tenerae defluat, speciosa quaero

    tigris pascere.

‘vilis Europe,’ pater absens urget:

‘quid cessas mori? potes ab hac orno

pendulum zonā bene te secutā

    collum laedere.

sive te rupes et saxa acuta 

leto delectant, age te procellae 

veloci crede, nisi mavis erile

    pensum carpere

sanguisque regius paelex dominae

barbarae tradī.’” Venus perfidum ridens

quaerenti aderat et filius

    arcu remisso.

mox, ubi satis lusit: “abstineto”

dixit “irarum rixaeque calidae,

cum taurus invisus tibi cornua

    laceranda reddet.

nescis uxor Iovis invicti esse:

singultus mitte, disce fortunam

magnum bene ferre; sectus orbis

    nomina tua ducet.”

Delphin Ordo ::

Sceleratos deducat augurium parræ cantum iterantis, et canis gravida, vel lupa rufa veniens ab agro Lanuvino, et vulpes catulos enixa. Anguis quoque viam incœptam remoretur, cùm velut sagitta è transverso equis pavorem injecit. Ego, cui metuam augur prævidens futura, priusquam avicula pluviæ proximæ prænuncia redeat ad paludes minimè fluentes, votis vocabo corvum ab oriente canentem. Esto fortunata ubicunque volucris, ô Galatea, et vive nostri memoriam servans: et te nec pergere impediat sinister picus, nec cornix vagabunda. At cernis quanto fragore properet Orion declivis? Ego scio quàm periculosum sit Hadriaticum mare, utque fallat Iapyx serenus. Conjuges et filii hositum experiantur occultos motus austri surgentis, et tumultus atri maris, ac littora ictibus fluctuum concussa. Ita etiam Europa fallaci tauro commisit latus candidum; atque mare bestiis refertum et apertos dolos expavit antò imperterrita. Paulò antè flores in pratis colligens, texensque corollas Nymphis meritas, nocte parùm lucidâ, nihil aspexit nisi sidera et aquas. Cùm verò pervenit ad Cretam contenis urbibus validam, irâ percita ait: O parens, nomen, à filiâ neglectum, et pictas etiam relicta! Unde et quò deveni? Unica mors pœna est minor flagitio virginum. An experrecta fleo crimen fœdum? An scelere immunem me decipit species inanis, quæ dilapsa per januam eburneam insomnium emittit? An satius fuit longa tranare maria, an flores novos colligere? si aliqui modò tradat iratæ mihi taurum flagitiosum, conabor ferro discerpere ac rumpere cornua juvenci priùs dilecti nimiùm. Sine verecundiâ descrui paternam domum: sine pudore cunctor Inferos. O si qui Deorum audis ista, faxis nuda ambulem inter leones. Priusquam fœda tabes invadat pulchras genas, ac delicatæ prædæ succus dilabatur, cupio formosa tigres satare. Infamis Europa, absens pater instat, quorsum mori differs? Frangere cervicem potes ab istâ orno suspensam obsequente tibi cingulo. Seu magis placent cautes et scopuli ad mortem expediti; age, committe te celeri tempestati; nisi pensum dominæ trahere vis, tu Regis filia, atque dari pellex heræ barbaræ. Lugenti astabat Venus improbè ridens, natusque laxato arcu: postquam verò satis ludificata est, ait: Modum pone furori et ardenti jurgio, quando tibi juvencus odiosus cornua dabit fragenda. Ignoras te esse conjugem supremi Jovis? Omitte querimonias. Disce altam sortem sustinere, ut decet: divisus mundus tuam feret appelationem.

Original Ode ::

Impios parrae recinentis omen

ducat et praegnans canis aut ab agro

rava decurrens lupa Lanuvino

    fetaque volpes:

rumpa/it et serpens iter institutum

si per obliquum similis sagittae

terruit mannos: ego cui/cur/quid timebo

    providus auspex,

antequam stanti/es repetat paludes

imbrium divina avis imminentu/ium,

oscinem corvum prece suscitabo

    solis ab ortu.

sis licet felix ubicumque mavis,

et memor nostri, Galatea, vivas,

teque nec laevus vete/at ire picus

    nec vaga cornix.

sed vides quanto/um trepide/at tumultu

pronus Orion. ego quid sit ater

Hadriae novi sinus, quid albus,

    peccet Iapyx.

hostium uxores puerique caecos

sentia/ent motus orientis Austri et

aequoris nigri fremitum et tre/gementi/es

    verbere ripas.

sic et Europe nive/mium doloso

credidit tauro latus et scatentem

belvis pontum mediasque fraudes

    palluit audax.

nuper in pratis studiosa florum et

debitae Nymphis opifex coronae,

nocte sublustri nihil astra praeter

    vidit et undas.

quae simul centum tetigit potentem

oppidis Creten, “pater, o relictum

filiae nomen, pietasque” dixit

    “victa furore!

unde quo veni? levis una mors est

virginum culpae. vigilansne ploro

turpe commissum. an vitiis carentem

    ludit imago

vana, quae porta fugiens eburna

somnium ducit? meliusne fluctus

ire per longos fuit, an recentis

    carpere flores?

si quis infamem mihi nunc iuvencum

dedat iratae, lacerare ferro et

frangere enitar modo multum amati

    cornua monstri.

impudens liqui patrios Penatis,

impudens Orcum moror. o deorum

si quis haec audis, utinam inter errem

    nuda leones!

antequam turpis macies decentis

occupet malas teneraeque sucus

defluat praedae, speciosa quaero

    pascere tigris.

‘vilis Europe,’ pater urget absens:

‘quid mori cessas? potes hac ab orno

pendulum zona bene te secuta 

    laedere collum.

sive te rupes et acuta leto

saxa delectant, age te procellae

crede veloci, nisi erile mavis

    carpere pensum

regius sanguis dominaeque tradi

barbarae paelex.’” aderrat quærenti

perfidum ridens Venus et remisso

    filius arcu.

mox, ubi lu/risit satis: “abstineto”

dixit “irarum calidaeque rixae,

cum tibi invisus laceranda redde/it

    cornua taurus.

uxor invicti Iovis esse nescis:

mitte singultus, bene ferre magnam

disce fortunam; tua sectus orbis

    nomina duce/it.”