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

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, [sciverunt] enim, deo in pretium converso, iter tutum et patens fore. 

Aurum amat per medios satellites ire et saxa ictu fulmineo potentius perrumpere. Domus auguris Argivi, exitio demersa, ob lucrum concidit. Vir Macedo portas urbium diffidit et reges aemulos muneribus subruit. Munera duces saevos navium illaqueant. 

Cura famesque maiorum pecuniam crescentem sequitur. 

Iure perhorrui, ‹[o] Maecenas, decus equitum›, verticem conspicuum late tollere. Quisque sibi quanto plura negaverit, ab dis plura feret. [Ego] nudus, castra-nil-cupientium peto, et, [ego] transfuga, gestio partes divitum linquere. 

[Ego poeta sum] dominus rei contemptae, splendidior quam si [ego] dicerer [me in] meis horreis ‹quidquid Apulus impiger arat› occultare—inops inter opes magnas. 

Rivus aquae purae silvaque iugerum paucorum et fides certa segetis meae fulgentem imperio Africae fertilis fall[un]t. Sorte beatior [sum], quamquam nec apes mella Calabrae ferunt, nec Bacchus in amphora Laestrygonia mihi languescit, nec vellera pinguia pascuis Gallicis crescunt. 

Pauperies tamen importuna abest; nec tu [Maecenas] deneges dare, si plura velim. 

Melius vectigalia parva cupidine contracto porrigam quam si regnum Alyattei campis Mygdoniis continuem. 

Multa ‹multa petentibus› desunt. Bene est cui deus manu parca obtulit quod satis est.

[revised March 28, 2015]

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 ::

Inclūsam Danaen turris aēnea

rōbustaeque forēs et vigilum canum

tristēs excubiae mūnierant satis

   nocturnīs ab adulterīs,

sī nōn Acrisium, virginis abditae

custōdem pavidum, Iuppiter et Venus

rīsissent: fore enim tūtum iter et patēns

   conversō in pretium deō.

aurum per mediōs īre satellitēs

et perrumpere amat saxa potentius

ictū fulmineō; concidit auguris

   Argīvī domus ob lucrum

dēmersa exitiō; diffidit urbium

portās vir Macedo et subruit aemulōs

rēgēs mūneribus; mūnera navium

   saevōs illaqueant ducēs.

crescentem sequitur cūra pecūniam

maiōrumque famēs. iūre perhorruī

lātē conspicuum tollere verticem,

   Maecēnās, equitum decus.

quantō quisque sibī plūra negāverit,

ab dīs plūra feret; nīl cupientium

nūdus castra petō et transfuga dīvitum

   partıs linquere gestio,

contemptae dominus splendidior reī,

quam sī quidquid arat impiger āpulus

occultāre meīs dīcerer horreīs,

   magnās inter opēs inops.

pūrae rīvus aquae silvaque iūgerum

paucōrum et segetis certa fidēs meae

fulgentem imperiō fertilis Āfricae

   fallit sorte beātior.

quamquam nec Calabrae mella ferunt apēs

nec Laestrȳgoniā Bacchus in amphorā

languescit mihi nec pinguia Gallicīs

   crescunt vellera pascǔīs,

importūna tamen pauperiēs abest,

nec, sī plūra velim, tū dare dēnegēs.

contractō melius parva cupīdine

   vectīgālia porrigam

quam sī Mygdoniīs regnum Alyatteī

campīs continuem. multa petentibus

dēsunt multa; bene est cui deus obtulit

   parcā quod satis est manū.

:: 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.

Black Holes :: Quae Cura Patrum :: IV:14

Today’s ode has 52 lines. Scholars over the past two thousand years have divided it into 7 sentences. Some of them are quite long. One sentence begins at line 9 and doesn’t end until line 24! Why ancient scholars didn’t break the ode up into more sentences, I don’t know. Perhaps they wanted to emphasize its structure, which runs like this:

1   O Augustus, how can we praise you enough? [1-6]

2   You “learned” the Vindilici people. [7-9]

3   Because of you, your two stepsons have done well in battle. [9-24]

4   More about your stepson Tiberius Claudius. [25-34]

5   Fortune smiles on you, Augustus. [34-40]

6   Tribes have submitted to you. [41-44]

7   Rivers and lands and the Sygambri have submitted to you. [45-52]

  

I am afraid that even this outline isn’t going to make much sense unless you have this imperial genealogy fixed in your head, which shows that Augustus Caesar had three wives, the last of whom was Livia, the widow of Tiberius C. Nero, whose sons Augustus adopted:

You will also need to know something about the campaigns to subdue Rome’s enemies.

Then to top it off, you have to realize the level of scholarship that awaits you. This level is very high. For example, in line 14 there is the phrase:

maior Neronum

Scholars merely mention that the name Tiberius wouldn’t have fit in the line metrically; so Horace used Neronum. This is little help. I needed to be told, which I finally figured out for myself, that the base of Neronum is Nero and that the -num is the genitive plural. Once I did this I had:

the greater of the Neros

Referring to the genealogy chart above, I discovered why the scholars mentioned Tiberius.

But there is something else even more bothersome. Why didn’t Niall Rudd, for example, say in his translation “the elder of the two Neros” or something like that? Why did he go beyond translation and slip into explanation? Was this because the phrase, even to scholars, was a bit difficult to understand? I don’t know the answer, but to me, more that two thousand years after Horace’s ink dried—after Rome’s wars were fought—after the genealogies of emperors were no longer of interest, once one started to explain/translate, where would one stop? I’ve mentioned this problem in other blog posts. I guess, I expected a little more integrity from the Loeb series. I suppose, I thought that its editors, of all people, would have known where to draw the line between translation and explanation.

I suppose, this misunderstanding is my fault. I should have looked at Porphyrio, who says that the order of maior Neronvm is: Drusus maior Neronum. Hic enim maior natu fuit. I should also have looked at the French translation, which has l’aîné des Nérons. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble.

Translation and explanation. There is no real solution to this dilemma. Rudd decided to “transexplain” the first line of the ode as well.

Quae cura patrum quaeve Quiritium

becomes

Senate and people are anxious

This is very clever, but it does take a bit of background knowledge to understand how he arrived at the English he did. It turns out that Quiritium refers to the Roman people. This designation comes from the time of Romulus, who united the Sabines and their town of Cures with the Romans. Over time the civilians came to be called Quirites [people of Cures]. The military and the people of the government were called Romani. Patrum refers to the fathers of the State, i.e., the senators.

Finally another stumbling block to my understanding of the poem are lines 7-9:

quem legis expertes Latinae

Vindelici   didicere  nuper,

quid  Marte  posses———

Once we understand didicere as a quasi-poetic past tense agreeing with Vindelici meaning “they learned,” we are ready to tackle the meaning, which is that the outlaw Vindelici people recently learned about someone through your [i.e., Augustus’] military power. [Tu] posses “you can” clearly refers to Augustus, to whom the poem is addressed, but to whom does quem [meaning here ‘and him’] refer? The Lewis and Short dictionary quotes this line under disco and says:

Quem (Augustum) didicere Vindelici

Daniel Garrison in his Horace [1991, pg. 365] writes “quem: Augustus, obj. of didicere.” But this doesn’t make sense. Horace can’t refer to Augustus in the third person in one part of the sentence and then in the second person in another! Or can he? Maybe Horace means ‘him with a capital h.’ In other words: the Emperor. 

And about the Emperor 

the lawless Vindelici recently learned 

and about what power you have through Mars.

The question is: why would Horace do this? Out of deference? I don’t think so. Something else is going on. Garrison provides some of the answer when he writes [ibid.]: 

[the Vindelici] have come to know, through the military operations of his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus in 15 B.C. 

But Garrison’s explanation isn’t clear enough for me. Fortunately, ancient Porphirio comes to my rescue. He writes that Horace speaks as though the Vindelici were conquered by [Augustus] Caesar, but in truth it was his stepson Drusus who had conquered them—with his backing. This gives me an idea—maybe quem refers to Drusus, about whom Horace is going to speak in the next several lines. Maybe lines 7-9 mean:

And about Drusus

the lawless Vindelici have recently learned

and about the power you have through Mars.

If this is so, I have just gone against 2000 years of scholarship. I must be wrong somehow, but I ask you, after 2000 years who’s to know for sure?    

Maior Neronum, patrum quaeve Quiritium and quem, are black holes for the modern reader. Without a prodigious understanding of Rome and its history, there is no way one can understand what Horace is saying. Rudd’s approach may be the best after all. I fear that my translation below will, once the explanations are forgotten, be as impenetrable as Horace’s words.

translation :: 11:11:9:10

What thoughtfulness from the Fathers or from the 

Quirites with gifts honor-filled, Augustus,

would keep your virtues with titles and 

memorials forever in the annals,

greatest of the princes wherever the sun 

shines on habitable shores? And about him 

the Vindelici, having no part 

in Latin Law, have just learned and about 

what you through Mars can do. Now with your army,

brave Drusus, in a more than simple payback, 

dislodged the savage Genauni and the 

quick Breuni and the strongholds set within 

the terrifying Alps, and then the older 

of the two Neros fought a heavy battle 

and under your auspices repulsed 

the savage Raeti, he being something 

to behold in the martial contest of war: 

how he tormented those hearts sworn to die free 

with destruction—uncontrollable

like the waves the austral winds might stir up, 

when the chorus of the Pleiades splits the 

clouds asunder, and tireless, harassing 

the towers of the enemy and 

sending his horse screaming through the fire.

Thus, the bull-like Aufidus is made to roll,

flowing past the Apulian kingdom of

Daunus in fury and devises 

a fearful flood over the tilled fields,

like the savage iron mailed troops Claudius

destroyed by a vast assault, cutting down the

front and the rear, the victor heaping

them up on the ground without any loss,

as you provided the troops, the counsel and

your gods. For, for you, from the day the harbor

of Alexandria, on its knees,

threw wide open the deserted palace,

prosperous fortune over fifteen years has

granted a favorable outcome to the 

war and to your commands accomplished

the acclaim and the glory long wished for.

You the Cantabri, before this unmastered,

the Medes, the Indians, the Scythes retreating

admire, Guardian of Italy,

of the city of Rome, the dominant.

You the Nile, which hides the source of its waters

and the River Danube, you the hurrying 

Tigris, you the monster-filled ocean 

thundering at the far-away Britons,

you the lands of Gaul, unafraid of death, and 

the obstinate earth of Iberia heeds, 

you the slaughter-happy Sygambri, 

their weapons now laid aside, venerate.

copyright © 2011 by James Rumford

commentarii :: http://www.horatius.ru/index.xps?2.1.414

in prose ::

[O] Auguste, o maxime principum ‹qua sol oras habitabiles illustrat›, quae cura patrum quaeve Quiritium tuas virtutes muneribus honorum plenis, per titulos memoresque fastus, in aevum aeternet? 

Quem Vindelici, legis Latinae expertes, nuper didicere quid Marte posses. Nam milite tuo, Drusus acer Genaunos, genus implacidum, Breunosque veloces et ‹arces tremendes Alpibus impositas› vice plus simplici deiecit. 

[Tiberius] maior Neronum mox proelium grave commisit, Raetosque immanes auspiciis secundis pepulit—[ille] spectandus quantis ruinis in certamine Martio pectora morti liberae devota fatigaret. Prope qualis Auster, [ille] undas indomitas exercet, choro Pleiadum nubes scindente. [Ille est] impiger turmas hostium vexare et equum frementem per medios ignes mittere. Sic [ille] Aufidus tauriformis volvitur, qui regna Dauni Apuli praefluit, cum saevit diluviemque horrendam [in] agris cultis mediatur, ut Claudius ‹agmina ferrata barbarorum› impetu vasto diruit, primosque et extremos metendo, victor humum sine clade stravit, te copias, te consilium et divos tuos praebente. 

Nam quo die portus Alexandrea supplex et aulam vacuam tibi patefecit, Fortuna prospera lustro tertio exitus secundos belli reddidit laudemque et decus optatum imperiis peractis arrogavit. 

Te Cantaber ‹ante non domabilis› Medusque et Indus, te Scythes profugus miratur, o tutela praesens Ītaliae dominaeque Romae. 

Teque, qui Nilus ‹origines fontium [suorum] celat› et Hister, te Tigris rapidus, te Oceanus beluosus ‹qui Britannis remotis obstrepit›, te tellus Galliae ‹funera non paventis› Hiberiaeque durae audi[un]t. 

Te Sygambri caede gaudentes [et] armis compositis venerantur.
[revised March 28, 2015]

original ode ::

Quae cūra patrum quaeve Quirītium

plēnīs honōrum mūneribus tuās,

   Auguste, virtūtēs in aevum

       per titulōs memorēsque fastūs

aeternet, ō quā sōl habitābilıs

illustrat ōrās maxime principum?

   quem lēgis expertēs Latīnae

       Vindelicī didicēre nūper

quid Marte possēs. Mīlite nam tuō

Drūsus Genaunōs, implacidum genus,

   Breunōsque vēlōcıs et arcēs

       Alpibus impositās tremendıs

dēiēcit ācer plūs vice simplicī.

māior Nerōnum mox grave proelium

   commīsit immānısque Raetōs

       auspiciīs pepulit secundīs,

spectandus in certāmine Martiō,

dēvōta mortī pectora līberae

   quantīs fatīgāret ruīnīs,

       indomitās prope quālis undās

exercet Auster Plēiadum chorō

scindente nūbēs, impiger hostium

   vexāre turmās et frementem

       mittere equum mediōs per ignıs.

Sīc tauriformis volvitur Aufidus,

quī regna Daunī praefluit āpulī,

   cum saevit horrendamque cultīs

       dīluviem meditātur agrīs,

ut barbarōrum Claudius agmina

ferrāta vastō dīruit impetū

   prīmōsque et extrēmōs metendō

       strāvit humum sine clāde victor,

tē copiās, tē consilium et tuōs

praebente dīvōs. Nam tibi quō diē

   portūs Alexandrēa supplex

       et vacuam patefēcit aulam,

Fortūna lustrō prospera tertiō

bellī secundōs reddidit exitūs

   laudemque et optātum peractīs

       imperiīs decus arrogāvit.

tē Cantaber nōn ante domābilis

Mēdusque et Indus, tē profugus Scythēs

   mīrātur, ō tūtēla praesēns

        ītaliae dominaeque Rōmae;

tē fontium quī cēlat orīginēs

Nīlusque et Hister, tē rapidus Tigrīs,

   tē bēluōsus quī remōtīs

        obstrepit ōceanus Britannīs,

tē nōn paventis fūnera Galliae

dūraeque tellūs audit Hibēriae,

   tē caede gaudentēs Sygambrī

       compositīs venerantur armīs.

:: 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.