The Roman Ear :: Quando Repostum Caecubum :: Epode 9

Get out your history books on Rome. Dust them off and read of Rome’s victories: the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, the triumph over Pompey, the capture of the Libyan Jugurtha, and the destruction of Carthage. Of course, if this were two thousand years ago, I’d be asking you to dust off an amphora of delicious Caecuban wine—famous in the first century BC but made no more—to celebrate! 

In this short poem (actually a sequel to Epode I), Horace hails Caesar Augustus’ victory at Actium over Mark Antony and Cleopatra, describing Antony as emancipatus feminae, a man who sold himself to a woman. Horace symbolizes their unsavory liaison in two words: turpe conopium: ‘a vile mosquito net’ as if to suggest the two make love amidst their troops behind a see-through, gauze-like curtain. 

[ The Battle of Actium, Neroccio de'Landi & his workshop, 1475–1480 ]

Horace does such a good job describing certain events at Actium that many believe that Horace witnessed the battle. Horace tells how Antony’s ships were situated in the harbor and how the Galatians (the same people St. Paul wrote to) deserted Antony for Augustus. He even talks of seasickness and asks Maecenas, his patron, “When will we drink to this victory?” Did that mean, when we get back? While it is interesting to imagine a thin (my take) poet of a man ‘embedded’ in the forces of Caesar Augustus, there is no hard evidence to prove that he was there.

There is so much to say about this short poem: the battles, the personages, the Egyptiany word conopium, etc., etc. Nevertheless, I am going to limit myself to perhaps the most trivial of observations: vertērunt is read verterunt in this passage:

at huc frementes verterunt bis mille equos

But here they turned two thousand whinnying horses

Why verterunt instead of vertērunt? The simple answer is that the meter demands it:

at hūc fremēntēs vērterūnt bīs mīll’equōs

The complicated answer is, well, complicated. Most scholars say that Horace can turn vertērunt into verterunt because that is the way the word was pronounced in the olden days. How lame is that?  What did they mean ‘olden days’? What did archaic Latin sound like? Why did the vowels change? Were there other changes I should be aware of? Why would Horace know these older forms? Were these forms still used in reciting ancient songs? Did using such an older form make his poem sound as pretentious as the use of ’twas or ‘twere? would in modern English poetry? To answer this, I had to delve into some rather old dusty books.

So, how did the early Romans say verterunt? According to Wallace Martin Lindsay (The Latin Language, 1894, pg. 531), they said both -ērunt and -erunt. Not very helpful. Equally unhelpful to me were further examples which he drew from the netherworld of Old Indian. Old Indian and Sanskrit were the favorite hunting grounds of 19th-century scholars, for Sanskrit was, until the decipherment and classification of Hittite was achieved in the first quarter of the 20th century, the oldest written Indo-European language. Old Indian and Sanskrit afforded scholars a glimpse of the language spoken by a small tribe of individuals who would later spread out over Europe, Central Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent. 

So, not wanting to go that route, I turned to Wikipedia, which told me that in Old Latin, -eront or -erom became the classical -ērunt. The old forms are proven by Latin inscriptions, and recreated by scholars based on other early Indo-European languages such as Greek and Italic dialects such as Oscan and Umbrian. 

Oscan and Umbrian sound a heck of a lot closer to Latin than Old Indian. What do these two Italic dialects say about the third person plural perfect form? Not very much, as far as I could tell looking through the few grammar books at the University of Hawai‘i library. 

I did find a bit more about -ērunt/-erunt in a marvelous little book on poetry written in 1922 by the same Dr. Lindsay mentioned above. This book was entitled Early Latin Verse. On page 181, Lindsay writes that the relation between the two forms is obscure. He adds that -erunt (from an earlier -isont) blended with another third person plural verb ending, -ēre, to produce -ērunt: 

Mīlitēs equōs vertēre /Mīlitēs equōs vertērunt. 

As to what effect the old-fashioned -erunt had on Horace’s listeners is anyone’s guess…and my guess is that it sounded Plautine—reminiscent of that great playwright’s style. I suppose -erunt would have had the same effect as a Shakespearian “spake” would have bristling in the midst of a modern poem.

Gosh! To think that the length of a vowel meant that much to the Roman ear!

I do have to say, however, that I sure hope that Horace didn’t goof up. I mean, did he ignore the meter? I didn’t see enough examples of the Old Latin form being used by other Augustine authors. In fact, I didn’t find any examples. Oh well. All is not lost. I did learn something about antique Latinity.

Translation ::

[I decided after much thought to turn lines 27–32 into questions, ignoring the punctuation suggested by 500 years of editors!]

When will I, happy with 

Caesar the victor, drink 

Caecuban stored for feasts 

with you, blessed Maecenas,

so welcoming to Jove,

at your lofty palace, 

the lyre playing a song 

mixed with the flutes, the lyre 

Doric, the flutes foreign,

as when, not long ago,

Neptune’s lord, driven from 

the sea, fled his burned ships,

having threatened Rome with 

the chains which he, 

friend to lying slaves, 

had pulled off of them.

Hell!  Antony,

having sold out to Cleopatra

a woman,

(you coming after 

will deny it!), 

is a Roman soldier.

He carries 

wall-stakes and weapons 

yet is capable of serving 

Cleo’s shriveled eunuchs, 

while the sun god 

looks down upon, 

in amongst the military insignia,  

their dirty little mosquito net.

But then, two thousand Gauls,

singing of Caesar,

turned their horses away,

snorting their anger,

and the sterns of their enemy ships,

having been chased to the left,

are hiding in port.

Hurrah! 

Are you delaying

[the triumphal parade],

the golden chariots

and the unyoked bulls?

Hurrah! 

No such leader 

did you bring back

from the Jugurthine War,

no Africanus 

for whom Valor built 

a sepulchre 

over Carthage!

Defeated on land and sea,

has our foe exchanged

a purple for a mourning cloak?

Or is he about to go 

to Crete, famous 

for a hundred cities,

on winds not his own?

Or does he head 

for the Syrtes,

vexed by south winds?

Or is he being carried away 

on an uncertain sea?

Bring bigger cups, boy,

and wines from Chia and Lesbos.

Or measure us out 

some Caecuban

to hold in the seasickness.

Worry and fear over

Caesar’s affairs—

it’s a joy to let go

with sweet Bacchus. 

translation © 2014 by James Rumford

Original Epode

    Rewritten in Prose

        DDelphin Ordo

            Notes

Quando repostum Caecubum ad festās dapēs

     victōre laetus Caesare

     Quando [ego,] Caesare victōre laetus, 

     ‹Caecubum ad dapēs festās repos[i]tum› 

        DEcquando vinum Cæcubum ad solemnes epulas 

        reservatum, lætus ego ob victoriam Augusti, 

             Caecubum: Nomen vini aestimati quod, dicitur, album erat. 

                 Vinum in Agris Pomptinis apud Amyclas (hodie apud 

                 Terracina) producebatur.

             victore: hic victor est Caesar Augustus, qui habuit victoriam 

                 de Antonio et Cleopatra.

tecum sub altā—sīc Iovi grātum—domō,

     beate Maecēnas, bibam

     sub domō altā tecum, [o] beate Maecenas—

     sīc grātum Iovi—

        Dpotabo tecum, O felix Mæcenas, in æaedibus 

        magnificis, canente cum fistulis citharâ,  

              sic Iovi gratum: Helenius Acro dicit Iovem auctorem 

                  esse victoriae.

sonante mixtum tībiīs carmen lyrā,

     hāc Dōrium, illīs barbarum,

     lyrā carmen tibiīs mixtum sonante—

    hāc [lyrā] Dōrium [est], illīs [tībiīs] barbarum—

    bibam, 

        Dhâc Dorium modum, illis Phrygium? Sanè 

        ita placet Jovi. 

               Dorium: Secundum Acronem, unum ex septem 

                   nominibus sonorum.

              barbarum: Phrygum Asiae Minoris. Secundum 

                   Acronem unum ex septem nominibus sonorum 

                   et unum ex tribus musicae generibus.

ut nūper, actus cum fretō Neptūnius

     dux fūgit ustīs navibus,

     ut nūper, cum dux Neptūnius, navibus 

     ustīs, [ex] fretō actis, fūgit—

        DHaud jam pridem sic fecimus, quando 

        Neptunius Imperator freto Siculo pulsus 

        fugam arripuit, 

               Neptunius dux: Sextus Pompeius, qui ab Agrippa in

                    anno 36 a.C.n. apud Naulochum (urbem in 

                    litore septentrionali Siciliae) superatus est et ex 

                    mari (freto) actus. Horatius irridet Pompeio, qui 

                    se ducem Neptunium appellabat. 

minātus Urbi vincla, quae dētraxerat

     ‹servīs amīcus› pérfidis?

     [quī] urbi vincla, quae [ille] amīcus 

     servīs perfidīs dētraxerat, minātus erat.

        Dpost incensas naves; minatus vicivus injicere 

        catenas, quas detraxerat servis infidelibus. 

                servis amicus perfidis: in tempore belli Siciliani (37-36 

                    a.C.n.), Pompeius servos (erga dominos priores 

                    perfidos) ad arma vocavit.

Rōmānus, ēheu,—posterī nēgabitis—

     ēmancipātus feminae

     Mīles Rōmānus, ēheu,—[vos] posterī 

     nēgabitis—feminae ēmancipātus, 

        Romanus (eheu nepotes haud credetis) mulieris 

        factus manciaium, miles portat 

              Romanus: id est, Antonius et milites sui

              emancipatus feminae: feminae datus, id est, sub 

                  dominatione Cleopatrae.

fert vallum et arma mīles et spadōnibus

     servire rūgosīs potest, eunuchs, wrinkly

     vallum et arma fert et spadōnibus 

     rūgosīs servire potest,

        Dpalum atque arma, nec erubescit servire 

        eunuchis rugosis. 

               spadonibus: eunuchis, castratis; circum Cleopatram 

                   erant multi castrati. Horatius de spadonibus 

                   Cleopatrae scribit in carmine I:37:7ff: regina . . . 

                   contaminato cum grege turpium morbo virorum 

                   (id est: regina cum grege contaminato [ab]

                   morbo virorum turpium).

interque signa turpe mīlitaria

     sol aspicit cōnōpium. mosq. net, canopy

     solque signa mīlitaria inter 

     cōnōpium turpe aspicit.

        DInterque vexilla bellica (proh fœdam rem!). 

        Sol videt conopium. 

              sol: credo solem esse deum solis Aegyptiorum: Ra

              conopium: conopeum, genus retis (net) contra culices 

                  (mosquitos, gnats). Atque κουνούπι significat culex. 

                  Dicitur ‘canopy’ verbi originem esse. Ex nomine 

                  civis Canopi quae in litore Aegyptae apud 

                  Alexandrinam erat. Hodie ruinae Canopi sunt apud 

                  Abu Qir (ابو قیر). Canopus erat nomen navis magistri 

                  Regis Menelai qui mortuus est ibique sepultus. 

                  Canopus, in tempore Horatii, civis turpis erat. 

at huc frementēs / verterunt bis mille equōs

     Galli, canentēs Caesarem, groaning

     At huc Gallī, Caesarem canentēs, 

     bis mille equōs frementēs verterunt, 

        DAd hoc Spectaculum Galli indignantes, 

        Augustum inclamando, converterunt 

        duo millia equorum; 

               at huc: vel ad hoc vel at hunc

              frementes: stridentes, irati hinnentes

              verterunt: non vertērunt. In vetere linguā Latinā, 

                  duae formae huius temporis preteriti erant: 

                  -erunt cum e brevi et -ērunt cum ē longo. 

                  Propter metrum (quod est iambicum), formā 

                  antiquā utitur Horatius. Syllabas longas in hoc 

                  colore scripsi: a; breves a. (mille equos legitur 

                  mill’equos.)

             Galli: Gallograeci, Galatae. Ante proelium Actii 

                 (anno 31 a.C.n.), Amyntas, rex Gallograecorum 

                 (Galatarum) in Phrygia colentium, factionem 

                 Antonii reliquit et ad Caesarem iit.

  

hostilliumque navium portū latent

     puppēs sinistrorsum citae.

     puppēsque navium hostilium, 

     sinistrorsum citae, [in] portū latent.

        Det puppes navium hostium ad sinistram 

        fugientes in portu delitescunt. 

               citae: (ex cieo) motae, actae. In proelio Actii, naves 

                 Antonii portum relinquere non potuerunt quod 

                 naves Octavii (Augusti) portum intercludebant. 

                 ‘Puppes sinistrorsum citae’ significat aut posteriores 

                 partes navium vel naves sinistram versus actae. 

                Antonius sciebat se victorem prolii non futurum; 

                igitur in portu latebat, occasionem aucupans cum 

                Cleopatra fugendi. 

iō Triumphe, tū moraris aureōs

     currūs et intactās bovēs?

     Iō Triumphe, tū currūs aureōs 

     et bovēs intactās morāris?

        DIo triumphe, tu retardas auratos 

        currus et juvencas integras. 

               intactas boves: [secundum Ludovicum Dezprez] “vel 

                  tauri vel jugo nondum subditas immolabat.”

iō Triumphe, nec Iugurthīnō parem

     bellō reportāstī ducem,

     Iō Triumphe, [tū] nec ducem parem 

     ex bellō Iugurthīnō reportā[va]stī,

        DIo triumphe, non revexisti Imperatorem 

        talem seu in bello Jugurthino, 

               Iugurthino: Iugurtha erat successor Micipsae, regis 

                   Numidiae. Bellum Iugurthinum (113-106 a.

                   C.n.)erat bellum longum in quo Romani 

                   Iugurtham et copias eius vicerunt.

               parem ducem: Africanum, vide infra.

neque Africānum, cui super Carthāginem

     virtūs sepulcrum condidit.

     neque Africānum, cui [erat] virtūs 

     [quae] sepulcrum super Carthāginem condidit.

        Dseu in Africano eum cui sua virtus 

        tumulum erexit super Carthaginem. 

              Africanum: est Publius Cornelius Scipio iunior, qui 

                  ob magnam victoriam de Hannibale “Africanus” 

                  appellatus est.

terrā marique victus hostis pūnicō scarlet

     lūgubre mūtāvit sagum. cloak

     Hostis, terrā marique victus, 

     sagum lūgubre pūnicō mūtāvit.

        DHostis superatus in terrâ et mari 

        sagulum purpureum mutavit lugubre. 

               victus: id est Antonius

               punico: purpureo, rubri

               mutavit: sagum lugubre [sago] punico mutavit = 

                    in sagum lugubre ex sago punico mutavit. 

                    Verbum muto plures sensus habet: change, 

                    alter, improve, vary, shift, etc.Vide Horatii 

                    carmen II:16: quid terras alio calentis sole 

                    mutamus? (cur in terras alio sole calentes 

                    mutamus?) 

aut ille centum nōbilem Crētam urbibus

     ventīs ītūrus nōn suīs

     Ille—aut Crētam, centum urbibus 

     nōbilem, ventīs nōn suīs, ītūrus—

        DNunc ille vel in Cretam centum 

        urbibus claram fugit adversis ventis; 

               centum nobilem Cretam urbibus: Homerus Cretam 

                   “centum urbibus nobilem” (τη ἐκατόμπολισ 

                  Κρήτη) appellavit.

exercitātās aut perit Syrtīs Notō,

     aut fertur incertō mari.

     aut Syrtīs Notō exercitātās petit—

     aut [in] mari incertō fertur.

        Dvel ad Syrtes Austro vexatas; vel 

        errat anceps per maria. 

               Syrtis: pars periculousa in Lybico mari

              Noto: vento meridionali

capāciorēs adfer huc, puer, scyphōs

     et Chia vina aut Lesbia:

     [O] Puer, scyphōs capāciorēs et 

     vina Chia aut Lesbia huc adfer 

        DFamule, huc affer cyathos majores, 

        et vina Chia, vel Lesbia; 

               et Chia vina aut Lesbia: id est vina ex in mari 

                    Aegaeo insulis Chia et Lesbia.

vel quod fluentem nauseam coerceat check

     mētire nobis Caecubum” measure out

     nobis metire—vel Caecubum, quod 

     nauseam fluentem coerceat. 

        Dquin potius infunde nobis Cæcubum, 

        quod reprimat nauseam fluitantem.

                nauseam: ex ναυσία (ναυς, id est: navis), in 

                    nave aeger, morbidus.

    

cūram metumque Caesaris rerum iuvat

     dulci Lyaeō solvere. care & fear

     Iuvat rerum metumque Caesaris 

     Lyaeō dulci solvere!

        DCertè decet abstergere solicitudinem 

        ac formidinem pro rebus Augusti 

       bibendo suave vinum.

                Lyaeo: Baccho; Lyaeus (ex λυω: solvo) est is qui 

                    curas solvit, qui animos relaxat. 

:: 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.

Bristling Waves :: Mala Soluta Navis :: Epode 10

Horace uses a lot of colorful words in this epode of, well, curses and pure hate for a guy—perhaps a fellow poet—named Mevius. Not much is known about Mevius, if he even existed at all. He is mentioned briefly in Virgil’s Ecologues. Perhaps Mevius was an invention of either Virgil or Horace, a kind of symbolic bad poet the two paragons of literature could shower with hate and abuse. Virgil speaks directly to Mevius in his Ecologues, chapter III:90, when his character Menalcas says: 

Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Mevi,

atque idem iugat vulpes et mulgeat hircos.

Let him who doesn’t hate Bavius love your poems, Mevius,

and let him likewise yoke foxes and milk billy goats.

Oddly Mevius doesn’t answer. Oddly we know nothing about Mavius. Was he a poet, too? Was the whole set of Eclogues addressed to Mevius? I doubt it.  

But back to the colorful words used in today’s epode: 

mari inverso: in an upturned sea 

latus verbere: lashing the side

horridis fluctibus: with horrid waves, bristling? ones like in this famous Japanese woodcut by Hokusai done in the early nineteenth century:

impiam ratem: godless raft because Ajax had raped Cassandra in Pallas Athena's sanctuary as shown here:

pallor luteus: a weed-yellow pallor

non virilis eiulatio: a not manly warbling

opima praeda: fat or rich booty or the prey of an animal caught or killed. Interestingly, I have just come across the same two words in Apuleius’ Golden Ass (Book VIII, chap. V): . . . tam opimam praedam mediis manibus amittimus? I have found two translations, one says this means ‘rich prize,’ the other ‘rich prey.’ As for Nial Rudd’s translation of the epode in the Loeb series, he offers us ‘fat carcase.’ I suppose that we have to make a decision here: either Horace wants Mevius dead and ‘opima praeda’ means his ‘rich corpse,’ or Horace just wants a guy named Mevius, who could just as well be, for all we know, a merchant, to be financially ruined as his rich cargo is scattered by the raging sea upon the shore. If praeda means ‘booty,’ then perhaps I should let ‘booty’ suffice, since it now has two meanings in American English: ‘rich spoils’ and ‘fat ass!”  

libidinosus caper: a lustful he goat

immolabitur: will be dusted with sacred meal just before being sacrificed. 

Tempestatibus: to the goddesses who control the weather (who haven’t paid a bit of attention to me this hot day in Honolulu)

But I’m still worried about Mevius. Was he real or not? If he was a poet, are Virgil and Horace trying to say that Latin poetry has high standards and that not anyone can aspire to their heights? My question is: why didn’t Virgil and Horace just brush him aside as one would a pesky fly? Why this epode? Something is missing in this story, something lost to us now two thousand years years down the line.

Perhaps. But it is possible that Horace used the name Mevius because it fit the meter and, beginning with a nasal (m), seemed to reinforce the image of an oily, smelly guy who merited no good wishes as his ship left port:

mala soluta navis exit alite, 

ferens olentem Mevium

Translation ::

Rope-freed, the ship went out 

under an evil bird,

bearing foul Mevius.

Remember to lash at 

both sides with bristling waves, 

south wind.

May the luckless east wind 

scatter, on an up-turned sea, 

the ship’s ropes and smashed oars. 

May the north wind rise up—

as it does in the high 

mountains and shatters 

the tremendous oaks.

May no-friend star appear, 

night dark, when Orion,

sad, sets. May the poet

be borne upon a sea 

quieter than the one that

carried the Greek band of

victors, when Pallas turned

her ire from Illium 

burned toward Ajax’s godless

vessel.

Oh, how much sweat will stand

upon your sailors and how

weed yellow your pallor!

And that unmanly warble,

the prayers to Jove adverse,

when the Ionian 

Gulf growling from wet wind

from the south breaks your ship

apart.

But if your fat booty

spread out on the curved shore

gladdens the birds,

a lustful goat and a

lamb will be slain to the

Tempests. 

translation © 2014 by James Rumford

Original words ::

    Prose rendition ::

      DDelphin Ordo :: 

          Notes ::

1 Malā solūta nāvis exit ālite

      ferens olentem Maevium:

       Nāvis solūta, Maevium olentem

       ferens, alite malā exit.

         DNavis abit soluta portu infelici auspicio, 

         vehens fætentem Mævium.

         Maevium: Mevius erat homo quidam aut poeta ineptus 

               Virgilii contemporaneus.

ut horridīs utrumque verberēs latus,

     Auster, mementō fluctibus;

      Auster, mementō ut latus utrumque

      fluctibus horridīs verberēs.

         DAuster fac ut tetris fluctibus vexes 

         utrumque latus navis.

           Auster: ventus est qui ab meridie flat

               verberes: in subjunctivo ex verbero/verberavi

5niger rudentıs Eurus inversō mari

     refractōsque rēmōs differat;

       Eurus niger, inversō mari, rudentēs

       rēmōsque refractōs differat.

         DEurus ater mari perturbato despergat 

         funes et remos disruptos.

           Eurus: ventus est qui ab oriente flat

insurgat Aquilo, quantus altīs montibus

     frangit trementıs īlices;

       Aquilo insurgat—quantus montibus altīs

       ilicēs trementēs frangit

         DExsurgat Aquilo tam vehemens, quàm cum 

         frangit ilices in excelsis montibus concussas.

           Aquilo: ventus est qui ab septentrione flat

         

nec sīdus atrā nocte amīcum appāreat,

     quā tristis Ōrīon cadit;

       nec sīdus amīcum nocte atrā appāreat,

       quā Ōrīon tristis cadit.

         DNec propitium ullum affulgeat astrum nocte 

         obscurâ quâ Orion occidit.

           Orion: sidus est qui tempus malum in mense Novembris

               indicat.

11quiētiōre nec ferātur aequore

     quam Grāia victōrum manus,

       nec [in] aequore quiētiōre quam manus

       Grāia victōrum ferātur,

         DNec tranquilliore mari naviget quàm 

         exercitus Græcorum victor,

           Graia: Graeca. Ludovicus Desprez scribit: 

              “Ad Caphareum Eubœæ promontorium dijecta 

              classis Græcorum tempestatibus tantàm non tota 

              periit, cùm reverterentur post expugnatam Trojam.” 

cum Pallas ustō vertit īram ab Īliō

     in impiam Āiācis ratem.

       cum Pallas īram ab Īliō ustō

       in ratem impiam Āiācis vertit.

         Dquando Minerva ab incensâ Trojâ 

         iram convertit in sceleratam Ajacis navim. 

            Pallas: dea Minerva (Athena). Aiax Cassandram in ara 
            Palladis (Athenae) violavit et rapuit. Ira commota, 
            Pallas e Neptuno auxilium petivit, et Neptunus Aiacem 
            e navi in scopulum iniecit, et Aiax nectus est. 

15o quantus instat nāvītīs sudor tuīs

     tibique pallor lūteus

       o quantus sudor nāvītīs tuīs instat—

       tibique pallor lūteus,

         DO quantus sudor imminet tuis nautis; 

         tibi verò pallor flavus,

  

et illa nōn virīlis ēiulātio

     precēs et adversum ad Iovem,

       et illa ēiulātio nōn virīlis et

       precēs ad Iovem adversum.

         Datque ejulatio viro indigna, et 

         vota ad Jovem surdum; 

19Īōnius ūdō cum remūgiens sinus

     Notō carīnam rūperit.

       cum Sinus Īōnius Notō ūdō remūgiens

       carīnam rūperit.

         Dcùm murmurans Ionium mare fregerit 

         navim Austro humido!

           Ionius: Ludovicus Desprez scribit: “Ionium mare inter Epirum ac Peloponnesum

                 ab ortu, et magnam Græciam Siciliamque ab ocasu

                 porrigitur.”

              Noto: Notus est ventus australis.

                 ruperit: ex rumpo

               

opīma quodsi praeda curvō lītore

     porrecta mergōs iuverit,

      Quodsi praeda opīma [in] lītore curvō

      porrecta mergōs iuverit

         DQuod si tu in curvo littore jacens 

         pascas mergos, opimum spolium,

libīdinōsus immolābitur caper

     et agna Tempestātibus.

       caper libīdinōsus immolābitur

       (et agna) Tempestātibus.

         Dà me procellis sacrificabitur lascivus 

         hircus, et nigra ovicula.

           Tempestatibus: Tempestates erant deae tempestatis et

                   erat Romae templum eis dedicatum

:: 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.

Guy Talk :: Mollis Inertia :: Epode 14

[Heri erat dies quintus natalis huius blog (horum commentariorum interretialium)! 50,000 visitatores forsitan lectores! Ago vobis gratias omnibus.]

Maecenas was Horace’s benefactor, protector, the rich, well-connected guy who made it possible for Horace to rise to the top. In this poem, Horace, tells Maecenas that he’s having a bit of a problem getting some writing done. Why?

Well, to put it as a guy-friend once told me about why a married friend of mine wasn’t doing his work: “He’s having women problems….if I saw him, I’d know it in a heartbeat.” 

I never found out whether my friend was having ‘women problems’ or not, but I do remember the conversation. I was way younger then and naive. Don’t know if I’ve learned much in the intervening years. Probably not, since I had to do a considerable amount of thinking to understand this poem.

For one thing, Horace calls out: deus, deus. He doesn’t mention the god’s name, but every scholar assumes that this is the god of love. When you think about it, who else could it be? And here is Eros or Cupid as painted by Caravaggio:

In this epode, Horace isn’t talking about love in general terms. He is talking about a specific kind of love, the kind of love he wants from a freedwoman named Phryne, who is never satisfied with just one lover. And Horace is talking about the kind of love that comes from cheating on one’s wife—to put it in American terms—when he hints that Maecenas is having an affair…at least, I suppose Maecenas is having an affair. It couldn’t be that he is burning with passion for his wife. No, marital love was yet another kind of love.

Now, Horace, in exemplifying passionate love, mentions the Greek lyric poet Anacreon (582-485 BC) and his love for the boy Bathyllus. To Horace, I suppose, homosexual love and heterosexual love are, well, just love, blinding love. Some of my contemporaries are having trouble with this equation. The ancients, it seems, did not.

But what if Horace wasn’t suffering from love? What if this poem is a humorous poke at those who do—a jab at the very notion of what constitutes a bona fide excuse? We do not accept ‘the dog ate my homework’ but we do accept ‘my computer crashed’ or ‘we’re having trouble with the internet.’ And we men certainly understand the stuff Horace is talking about. This epode, I figured after much thought, is no more than just ‘guy talk.’ 

Translation ::

Soft inertia—why would it

pour so much forgetfulness

onto my deepest feelings

as if I—throat parched—had downed

sleep-bringing cups from death’s stream.

True-friend Maecenas, you are

killing me always asking.

God Eros, Eros, he is 

stopping me from winding up 

the song-poem promised some time 

ago, the iambs begun.

No different from the talk

about Bathyllus Samus

having burned Anacreon 

of Teius, who with his lyre 

kept crying over his love 

in unregulated verse.

You poor thing are burning up—

but if a fire no nicer

burned down beseiged Illium,

be happy with your fortune.

Me the freedwoman Phryne,

not happy with just one man,

is turning into mush.

translation © 2014 by James Rumford

Original Epode with Aids to Understanding ::

     Original epode

    Reordered in prose

    DDelphin Ordo

    Notes

Mollis inertia cūr tantam diffūderit imīs

        oblīviōnem sensibus

           Inertia mollis cūr tantam oblīviōnem 

           sensibus imīs diffūderit

              DOptime Mæcenas, interficis me, 

              quærendo sæpius quare otiosa 

              ignavia 

                diffuderit: ex diffundo

                   cf. Perché una noia snervante m’abbia 

                   diffuso dentro, in fondo al cuore, 

                   tanto oblio,  

pocula Lēthaeōs ut sī dūcentia somnōs

        arente fauce traxerim,

           ut sī pocula somnōs Lēthaeōs dūcentia, 

           fauce arente, traxerim,

              Dintimis præcordiis induxerit talem 

              oblivionem, velut si gutture sitibundo

                Lethaeos: Lethe flumen erat, dare alicui

                    oblivium habens. 

candide Maecēnas, occidis saepe rogandō;

        deus, deus, nam mē vetat

           candide Maecēnas, occidis saepe rogandō; 

           nam deus, deus mē vetat

              Dhauserim aquas Letæas soporem 

              conciliantes. Enimverò Deus, Deus, 

              inquam, me prohibet 

                 Maecenas: patronus artium, Horatii amicus

                 deus: amoris deus, id est vel Cupido vel Eros

inceptōs, ōlim prōmissum carmen, iambōs

        ad umblīcum addūcere.

           iambōs inceptōs, carmen ōlim prōmissum, 

           ad umbilīcum addūcere.

              Dinchoatum carmen Iambicum jam 

              pridem tibi promissum ad finem 

              perducere.

                  umbilicum: finem libri. Umbilicus erat nodus 

                    extremus bacilli circum quod liber volvebatur.

nōn aliter Samiō dīcunt arsisse Bathyllō

        Anacreonta Tēium

           nōn aliter dīcunt Anacreonta Tēium 

           Samiō Bathyllō arsisse,

              DSimili modo narrant Bathylli Samii 

              amore incensum fuisse Anacreontem 

              Teïum 

                 Samio Bathyllo: Samus est insula in Aegaeo orientali sita.

                 Bathyllo: Bathyllus est puer Samius

                 Anacreonta Teium: Anacreōn poeta Tēius, id est, ex 

                    oppidō Īōniō Teiō

quī persaepe cavā testūdine flēvit amorem

        nōn ēlabōrātum ad pedem.

           quī amorem persaepe testūdine cavā amorem 

           nōn ad pedem ēlabōrātum flēvit.

              Dqui sæpe lyrâ amores cecinit ad 

              metrum facile.

ūreris ipse miser: quodsī nōn pulcrior ignis

        accendit obsessam Īlion,

           Miser ipse ūreris: quodsī ignis nōn pulcrior 

           Īlion obsessam accendit,

              Ipse verò tu amore cruciaris. Quòd si 

              non formosior ignis cremavit Trojam 

              oppugnatam, 

gaude sorte tuā; mē lībertīna, nec unō

        contenta, Phrȳnē mācerat.

           sorte tuā gaude; Phrȳnē lībertīna, 

           nec unō contenta, mē mācerat.

              Dlætare de tuâ conditione. Nam 

              urit me Phryne libertina, uno 

              amatore minimè contenta.

:: 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.