Monday 13 August 2012

Vita Columbae c.23. St. Columba takes leave of his horse before his death.



The nice thing about mediaeval Latin is that it is often not that difficult. This piece of Latin is far less difficult than my previous post. It is a charming story about St Columba, founder of the monastry on the isle of Iona. He was born on 7 december 521 in Ireland and passed away onn 8 june 597 in front of the altar at his monastry. On the morning 0f 7 december 597 he returns to his moneastry with his servant Diarmuid, after having blessed a barn. At that blessing God revealed to him that he would die that night. On his way home he meets his old horse, who wants to take leave of his master for the last time.
The text is taken from the Vita Columba c.23, by Adomnan of Iona (627/8-704).


Post haec Sanctus horreum egreditur, et ad monasterium revertens, media residet via, in quo loco postea crux, molari infixa lapidi hodieque stans, in margine cernitur viae. Dumque ibidem Sanctus, ut praefatus sum, senio fessus, paululum sedens, requiesceret, ecce albus occurit caballus, obediens servitor, qui scilicet lactaria bocetum inter et monasterium vascula gestare consueverat. Hic ad Sanctum accedens, mirum dictu, caput in sinu ejus ponens, ut credo inspirante Deo, cui omne animal rerum sapit sensu quo jusserit ipse Creator, dominum a se suum mox emigraturum, et ipsum ultra non visurum sciens, coepit plangere, ubertimque, quasi homo, lacrymas in gremium Sancti fundere, et valde spumans flere. Quod videns minister, coepit illum flebilem repellere lamentatorem: sed Sanctus prohibuit eum, dicens, ‘Sine hunc, sine nostri amatorem, ut in hunc meum sinum fletus effundant amarissimi plangoris. Ecce tu, homo cum sis, et rationalem animam habeas, nullo modo scire de meo exitu potuisti, nisi quod tibi ego ipse nuper manifestavi: huic vero bruto et irrationali animanti, quoque modo ipse Conditor voluit, egressurum a se dominum manifeste revelavit.’ Et haec dicens maestum a se revertentem equum benedixit ministratorem.

horreum                                 storehouse, barn
egredior                                 to leave
reverto                                   to return
media via urbs condita construction: on the middle of the way
resideo                                   to sit down
crux, crucis                            cross
lapis molaris                          mill-stone
infixus                                    fastened in (infigo)
hodie                                      today  
margo, marginis                    side
cerno                                      to see
dum                                        while
ibidem                                    at that place
ut praefatus sum as I told earlier
senium                                   the feebleness of age
paululum                                a little, a short time
requiesco                               to rest
albus                                      white
caballus                                  horse (maybe a loan-word from Celtic. in classical Latin it                                           denotes an inferior horse, but not so in later Latin.)
oboedio                                  to obey
servitor                                   servant
scilicet                                               as you may know, namely (but often this particle gives only a                                       slight emphasis)
lactaria bocetum inter et monasterium vascula gestare consueverat:  lactaria vascula inter bocetum et monasterium gestare consueverat
lactaria vascula                     milk-jugs
bocetum                                 stall for cows (non-classical Latin)
gesto                                      to bring
consuevo                                to be used to
cui omne animal rerum sapit sensu quo jusserit ipse Creator:  to (= of) whom every animal intuitively (sensu rerum) knows, what (quo litt.  `to what’)  the Creator self has deceided (iusserit coni. perf.)
accedo                                               to come closer
mirum dictu dictu is a supine form, actually a u-class noun used as infinitive:
sinus, -us                                bosom
dominum a se suum mox emigraturum, et ipsum ultra non visurum sciens : sciens (+ aci) dominum etc.
mox                                        soon
emigraturum prtc. fut., like visurum below.
ultra                                       further
plango                                    to lament, wail
ubertim                        abundantly
lacrymas = lacrimas
gremium                                 lap
spumo                                    to foam
minister the servant Diarmuid
coepo                                     to begin, start
flebilis                                    weeping, crying
lamentator, oris                     weeper
sino                                         to let, allow
amator, -oris                          friend
fletus, -us                               tears (acc. pl.!)
effundo                                   to pour out
amarus                                   bitter
plangor, -oris  nomen agentis from plango    
exitus, -us                              departure
manifesto                               to make manifest
nollo modo                             in no way
huic vero bruto et irrationali animanti, quoque modo ipse Conditor voluit, egressurum a se dominum manifeste revelavit:  And in the way the Founder (of the world) himself wanted, he revealed clearly (manifeste) to this truelydull (brutus) and irrational animal, that his master was to depart from him.
equum ministratorem ministratorem stands in apposition to equum: the servant horse
maestus                                 sad


The abbey at Iona, founded by Saint Columba.

Sunday 12 August 2012

Suetonius, Nero c.26, The hooligan emperor!


The gossip and saucy details are especially evident in the biographies of those emperors he disliked, like Nero (37-68). Nero came to power at the age of 17 and as a young emperor he liked to roam incognito the streets of Rome after dark and beat up people, as Suetonius tells us.
The Latin is not exactly simple, but here is a link to a translation:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Suet.+Nero+26&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0132

I have given a lot of words, but when you need to know more, load the Latin text on the site obove (upper right), click on the Latin word and you will be connected to some dictionaries.

XXVI. Petulantiam, libidinem, luxuriam, avaritiam, crudelitatem sensim quidem primo et occulte et velut iuvenili errore exercuit, sed ut tunc quoque dubium nemini foret naturae illa vitia, non aetatis esse. Post crepusculum statim adrepto pilleo vel galero popinas inibat circumque vicos vagabatur ludibundus nec sine pernicie tamen, siquidem redeuntes a cena verberare ac repugnantes vulnerare cloacisque demergere assuerat, tabernas etiam effingere et expilare. Quintana domi constituta ubi partae et ad licitationem dividendae praedae pretium absumeretur. Ac saepe in eius modi rixis oculorum et vitae periculum adiit, a quodam latriclavio, cuius uxorem adtrectaverat, necem prope ad caesus. Quare numquam postea publico se illud horae sine tribunis commisit et occulte subsequentibus. Interdiu quoque clam gestoraria sella delatus in theatrum seditionibus pantomimorum e parte proscaeni superiore signifer simul ac spectator aderat. Et cum ad manus ventum esset lapidibusque et subselliorum fragminibus decerneretur, multa et ipse iecit in populum atque etiam praetoris caput consauciavit.

petulantia                   petulance, capricious ill humor
crudelitas, -atis          cruelty
sensim quidem primo et occulte …..exercuit In the beginning (primo) he (Nero) practised indeed (quidem) gradually (sensim) and secretly (occulte)
sed ut tunc but (in such way) that even then
foret = esset
crepusculum               evening twilight
adrepto pilleo vel galero abl.abs. a hat or a wig being grasped (arripio)
popina                        eating-house, low tavern
vicus                           quarter
vagor                          to roam
ludibundus                  playful, frolicsome
pernicies                    mischief
siquidem                     since indeed
redeuntes from red-ire
cena                            dinner (either from the popina or from friends. Inviting each other for                          dinner was a wide-spread custom.)
verbero                      to beat
repugno                      to fight back
vulnero                       to wound
cloaca                         sewer, drain (Rome had a sysrem of artificial canals by which the filth                          was carried from the streets into the Tiber.)
demergo                     plunge
assuesco                    to be used to (assuerat = assueverat  plq.pf. )
taberna                       shop
affringo                      to break open
expilo                         plunder
quintana                     market (quintana via: the fifth street in a Roman army camp, where the                                  market place was.)
domi at home. The i denotes the locative case, which in Latin has only survived in a couple of words as `humi `on the ground’. In place-names ending on a it was written ae so Romae `at Rome’.
ubi partae et ad licitationem dividendae praedae pretium absumeretur difficult Latin: where the booty (praeda, pl)  divided (partae!) and being sold (dividendae! from mecantile language `to sell piecemeal’. The gerundive has here hardly the force of `have to, must’) by auction, the money (pretium) was squandered. The difficulty lies in the unusual meaning of some words
in eius modi rixis litt. ìn scuffles of this sort
perculum adiit `he ran into danger
laticlavius                   senator (actually an adiective` having a broad purple stripe’ , the mark                                    on the toga of a senator.)
attracto                       to touch in an indecent manner
necem prope ad caesus almost beaten to death (what would have happened to Roman history if that senator had succeeded in beating Nero to death?)
illud horae…..commisit =  he committed (himself) to that (kind) of hour.  horae is a genitivus qualitatis.
tribunus                      guard
subsequentibus goes with tribunis, from subsequor to follow
interdiu                       during day time
clam                            secretly
gestoraria sella          sedan-chair, litter (abl.!)
delatus                       carried
seditionibus pantomimorum e parte proscaeni superiore signifer simul ac spectator aderat. he was present at the uproars (seditionibus) of the pantomime plays, from the upper part of the proscenium (kind of balcony) giving signs (for the uproars) and  being spectator at the same time..
The pantomime was a form of theatre in which actors danced and enacted a story without speaking. The theme could be anything, but especially love and adultry was popular. Nero himself often acted himself in pantomimes.
cum ad manus ventum esset and when it came to handfights. An impersonal construction
subsellium                  low bench
decerno                      to fight (decernetur: impersonal construction) The first meaning of                               decerno is `to decide’, hence to decide by military means `to fight,                            combat’.
iecit from iacio            to throw
consaucio                   to wound severely
           

Thursday 9 August 2012

Carmina Burana 211: My belly is my god!



Whenever the Carmina Burana is mentioned, the music by Carl Orff will come to mind. It is less known that Orff only orchestrated 24 of the 228 songs and that many of these songs have their own musical notation in the manuscript of the Carmina Burana. This song was not selected by Orff.
Song nr 211 is a parody on excessive eating and drinking, but I think that for many people in the Middle Ages this would have been a dream come true, as there were often food shortages. It is therefore not surprising that the idea of  the land of Cockaigne, in which one only had te open the mouth and fried chickens were flying in, was much cherised at that time. Try to imagine that all of a sudden a person  from the Middle Ages would be here: where would he run to? Indeed: the Mcdonnalds!

Here is a live performance of this song by a Serbian early music group:


Unfortunately, I was unable to find an english translation on the internet. Is anyone able or willing to make a poetic translation in english?

1.
Alte clamat Epicurus:
«venter satur est securus.
venter deus meus erit.
talem deum gula querit,
cuius templum est coquina,
in qua redolent divina.»

2.
Ecce deus opportunus,
nullo tempore ieiunus,
ante cibum matutinum
ebrius eructat vinum,
cuius mensa et cratera
sunt beatitudo vera.

3.
Cutis eius semper plena
velut uter et lagena;
iungit prandium cum cena,
unde pinguis rubet gena,
et, si quando surgit vena,
fortior est quam catena.

4.
Sic religionis cultus
in ventre movet tumultus,
rugit venter in agone,
vinum pugnat cum medone;
vita felix otiosa,
circa ventrem operosa.

5.
Venter inquit: «nichil curo
preter me. sic me procuro,
ut in pace in id ipsum
molliter gerens me ipsum
super potum, super escam
dormiam et requiescam.»

alte                 from afar
Epicurus: Greek philosopher (341 – 270), unfairly accused of hedonism by his opponents, - under whom Cicero -  but as his writings are largely lost, it was believed to be true.
venter, ventris                       stomach, belly
satur ura urum                       full
securus           untroubled, cheerful (se = sine, curus from cura)
talis                 such
gula                 throat
quero = quaero          to ask, strive (supply esse)
deum, cuius
coquina           kitchen
redoleo           to smell (from red-oleo, not re-doleo!)
opportunus     convenient, usefull, agreeable (somehow there must be a more fitting                           translation for this word within this context, tell me if you have a brilliant               idea!)
ieiunus            fasting
cibum matutinum       an early meal
ebrius             drunk
eructo (1)        to vomit          
mensa             table
cratera            wine-bowl
beatitudo vera            the true beatitude was of course the devotion to a religious life and the reward in heaven.
cutis, cutis      skin
uter, utris       a bag or bottle made of an animal's hide, a skin for wine, oil, water, etc
lagena             a large earthen vessel with a neck and handles, a flask, flagon, bottle:
iungit prandium cum cena the American way of life?
iungo iunxi iuctum         to connect ( from the same root as english `yoke’)
prandium        breakfast
cena                dinner
unde                in classical Latin `from which (place)’, but here `till’
pinguis            fat
rubeo              to become red
gena                cheek(s) (in classical Latin the plural is more common)
si quando        when
surgo              to arise, swell
vena                here: penis (vena originally means `tube, `pipe’)
fortior             stronger
catena             chain
rugio               to roar
agon –onis      battle
medo, -onis     non classical Latin, but a loan word from Germanic `mead       ‘, an alcoholic              honey   beverage (there is a Latin root MAD as  in madeo and madesco `to                  become  wet’, `to become drunk’, but this is not connected with the Proto Indo                         – European root . *medh-u- `honey’. This root has survived in Germanic, Greek              Sanskrit and some other languages, but not in Latin. From personal experience                       I can tell that the Indo-European ancestors of the Romans were right in                                prefering wine and forgetting all about mead.
vita felix otiosa, circa ventrem operosa `What a happy life, doing nothing (otiosa), is                                  busy (operosa) around belly’ operosa goes grammatically with vita, but of                         course the belly is busy.
inquit              is saying
nichil curo preter me = nihil curo praeter me `I care for nothing, except for my self’

sic me procuro,
ut in pace in id ipsum
molliter gerens me ipsum
super potum, super escam
dormiam et requiescam
The Latin is not difficult, but unclassical. Literally: so I take care (procuro), that in peace handling myself gently after drink and food, I will sleep and rest.
Line 3 and 6 are taken from Psalm 4:9:
The in id  ipsum is a bit problematic. It is a literal translation of a hebrew word meaning `together’, `at once’, a particle implying that  both actions take place at the same time, but in Latin it gives little sence.



Monday 6 August 2012

Ovid Amores 1.5 Two lovers meeting on a hot summer afternoon



Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC – 17/18 AD) -  Ovid for the English speaking world – is well-known to every student of Latin because of his Metamorphoses. With Caesar and Livy he belongs to the authors who are read at an early stage of learning Latin, but whereas the other two have often been cursed by students for their long sentences and boring descriptions of battles, Ovid has been popular through the ages because of his vivid descriptions of myths in the Metamorphoses.
Between his 17th and late twenties he wrote his first collection of poems, the Amores, a series of love-poems in 3 books. They are dedicated to Corinna, a young married woman with whom Ovid had an affair and in which he describes their encounters. There has been much speculation about  the identity of Corinna, which was certainly not her real name  It is however quite possible that Corinna was purely a literary construction.
In Amores 5.1 Ovid describes an encounter with Corinna in his room on a warm summer afternoon. I think there is hardly a poem which describes with more passion and eroticism the meeting of two lovers.

This is how Christopher Marlowe (1564-94) has translated this poem:

In summers heate, and midtime of the day,
To rest my limbes, uppon a bedde I lay,
One window shut, the other open stood,
Which gave such light, as twincles in a wood,
Like twilight glimps at setting of the sunne,
Or night being past, and yet not day begunne.
Such light to shamefaste maidens must be showne,
Where they may sport, and seeme to be unknowne.
Then came Corinna in a long loose gowne,
Her white necke hid with tresses hanging downe,
Resembling faire Semiramis going to bed,
Or Layis of a thousand lovers sped.
I snatcht her gowne: being thin, the harme was small,
Yet strivde she to be covered therewithall,
And striving thus as one that would be cast,
Betrayde her selfe, and yeelded at the last.
Starke naked as she stood before mine eie,
Not one wen in her bodie could I spie,
What armes and shoulders did I touch and see,
How apt her breasts were to be prest by me,
How smoothe a bellie, under her waste sawe I,
How large a legge, and what a lustie thigh?
To leave the rest, all likt me passing well,
I clinged her naked bodie, downe she fell,
Judge you the rest, being tyrde she bad me kisse.
Jove send me more such afternoones as this.

But now the Latin!



aestus             summer
exigo               to pass.
The day has passed the middle hour, not the middle of the hour, but in the next line medio toro is an urbs condita construction
membra levanda        limbs to be lightened i.e. limbs to rest
torus               bed, sofa
Roman houses had no windows of glass, but shutters with horizontal louvers to let light through. This gives the pattern of  light and shade making the room half dark Ovid is describing in lines 4-6
adapertus       open
quale fere       almost like
silva                wood
subluceo         shine a little, gleam
qualia sublucent fugiente crepuscula Phoebo: qualifying lumen in line 4
crepusculum   (evening) twilight
Phoebus          the sun
ortus               risen
verecundus     shy, modest
praebeo          to offer
qua abl.
latebra            hidding-place
pudor              shame
tunica recincta abl. covered (only) in an ungirded tunic
candida dividua colla tegente coma abl. abs: her hair which is divided in two parts is covering her white neck. colla is a poetic plural. Roman women normally wore their tunic girded and their hair tied in a knot. Both the loose tunic and the loose hair of Corinna imply sexual readiness. This is of course in sharp contrast with the timidus pudor in line 8!
thalamus         bedroom (thalamos poetic plural)
Semiramis was a legendary Assyrian queen - though derived from the real queen Shammuramat (824-811 BC). In legend she was a warrior queen, leading her army into battlefields and also a lustful queen, therefore Ovid describes her as formosa `beautiful’.
isse dicitur      is said to have come
Lais was a famous courtisan of Corinth said to be the most beautiful woman of her time, around 430-400 BC.
deripio            to tear off
nec multum rara nocebat Corinna’s tunic was thin (rara), so it didn’t do much harm in hiding her body.
pugnabat tunica sed tamen illa tegi in english wordorder: sed tamen illa pugnabat tunica tegi
pugnaba the imperfect denotes that she is trying to fight
tunica abl.
tegi passive infinirive of tego to cover
quae cum (but) since she
tamquam quae vincere nollet like one who doesnt want to conquer – unlike Semiramis!
non aegre       without difficulty
proditio, -onis betrayal
posito velamine abl. abs, `with her clothing put aside’
menda             fault, blemish
umeros           shoulder
tango tetigi tactum    to touch
lacertus          upper arm
papilla             nipple, breast
quam               how
premi passive infinitive of premo to press
planus venter flat stomach
castigatus here `slender, well-formed’
latus, lateris   flank
iuvenale as Roman girls married at the age between 14 and 16, this needs not to be mere flatering
femur, - oris   thigh
corpus ad usque meum = ad usque (close to) corpus meum
lassus             fatiguated, tired
requiesco requievi to rest
provenio         appear
medii dies: urbs condita construction
saepe              often