When president Obama announced the death of Bin Laden,
there was a great relief and triumphant feeling in the West, though the death
of Bin Laden was more symbolically relevant than from a military point of view.
An even greater feeling of relief must have engulfed Rome, when it became known
that the fleet of Marc Antony and Cleopatra was destroyed at Actium and that
Cleopatra had committed suicide. This battle took place in 30 BC and was a turning
point in Roman history: after years of civil strife, Octavian got the upper
hand and defeated Mark Antony. Assuming the
name of Augustus, he brought the Pax Augustana over the Roman Empire, one of
the most happy periods this empire has experienced during its long existence.
As soon as Horace (65-8 BC) – then the rising star
amongst the poets of Rome - heard of outcome of the battle of Actium, he wrote
a poem celebrating this event. Though he
describes Cleopatra as a fatale monstrum, he admires her courage for
wanting to die rather than be taken prisoner.
What Horace could not have known, is that this poem is
the first in a long line of artistic works about Cleopatra: fiction, drama, biographies , paintings movies.
Let’s say that this start could have been far worse!
The metre is Alcaic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcaic_stanza
Ode 1.37
Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero
pulsanda tellus, nunc Saliaribus
ornare
puluinar deorum
tempus erat
dapibus, sodales.
Antehac nefas depromere Caecubum 5
cellis auitis, dum Capitolio
regina
dementes ruinas
funus et
imperio parabat
contaminato cum grege turpium
morbo virorum, quidlibet impotens 10
sperare
fortunaque dulci
ebria. Sed
minuit furorem
uix una sospes nauis ab ignibus,
mentemque lymphatam Mareotico
redegit in ueros timores 15
Caesar, ab
Italia uolantem
remis adurgens, accipiter uelut
molles columbas aut leporem citus
uenator in
campis niualis
Haemoniae,
daret ut catenis 20
fatale monstrum. Quae generosius
perire quaerens nec muliebriter
expauit
ensem nec latentes
classe cita
reparauit oras,
ausa et iacentem uisere regiam 25
uoltu sereno, fortis et asperas
tractare
serpentes, ut atrum
corpore
conbiberet uenenum,
deliberata morte ferocior:
saeuis Liburnis scilicet inuidens 30
priuata
deduci superbo,
non humilis
mulier, triumpho.
nunc: emphatic! Now at this very moment the news has come
to us!
bibo: to drink
pulso: to beat
tellus,
telloris, f: earth,
ground
Saliaribus
dapibus: the Salii were
a class of 12 priest who held in the first of March excessive feasts with wild
dancing and lavish meals to honor to god Mars (the month March is of course
dedicated to the god Mars).
pulvinar,
-aris: couch. At the
feast of the Salii statues of the gods were place on couches to accentuate
their presence.
nunc…tempus
erat: the combination of nunc and erat is awkward.
The most easy solution is to take it as `now, it was already time that the
Salii etc.’. or simply translate is as tempus
est.
antehac: before
nefas: shameful, not done
depromo: to bring forward from
Caecubum
(vinum): the best wine
came from Caecubum , a plain of Lacium.
cella: store-room
Capitolium: the temple of
Juppiter at Rome
ruinas
funus et = ruinas et funus
regina
dementes ruinas: many
commentators take this as an enallage (an adjective belonging to one noun, but
in effect qualifying an other noun) so we should understand regina demens ruinas, but in my opinion
there is nothing wrong with `crazy downfall/ ruining’. Everyone understands that these ruinas are dementes because of the madness of Cleopatra.
ruina: downfall
funus, –us: death, destruction
parabat,
imperfectum de conatu, so not provided, but tried/planned to prepare.
contaminato
cum grege turpium morbo virorum = cum contaminato
grege virorum morbo turpium. The whole phrase expresses Horace’s disgust
for the eunuchs – viri turpes morbo - of the Egyptian court.
grex,
grecis: herd
turpis: shameful
morbus: disease
(often was sexual connotations, like here)
quidlibet: whatever
impotens: unable to control herself
ebrius: drunk
minuo: lessen, diminish
Sed…..Caesar: two things brought her back from her furor: the fact that hardly one ship of
her fleet escaped fire and Octavian chasing her.
vix: hardly
sospes ab: saved
from
lymphaticus: intoxicated
Mareotico (vino)
excellent wine from Alexandria
redigo: bring back
volo: to fly, flee
(Cleopatram volantem)
remus: oar
adurgeo: to pursue closely
accipiter: hawk
columba: dove
venator: hunter
lepor, -oris: hare
in
campis niualis Haemoniae
(= Thessaly): to describe the fields of Thessaly as covered with snow is a
literary convention.
catena: chain
generosius
perire quaerens: seeking
to end more heroic (than being chained)
nec
muliebriter expauit ensem:
i.e. she was not afraid to die
muliebriter: womanly
expavesco
– pavi: be afraid of
ensis: sword
latentes oras:
coasts hidden (for the fleet of Octavian)
classis: fleet
reparo: here `to seek’. Instead of trying to hide herself at
some distant coast, Cleopatra returned to Egypt.
audeo
- ausus sum: to dare, ausa (est)
iacentem regiam: her
palace (= power) in ruins
vultus – us: face
asper, asperi:
rough, wild, dangerous
tracto: to handle
ater, atri:
black
conbibo: to drink. There are various versions about Cleopatra’s
death. The most well-known is that she let herself be bitten by two snakes.
deliberata
ferocior morte: as the metre shows, deliberata goes with morte (the
final a is long, so ablative): she
was very much spirited for
deliberatus: not deliberated, but decided
saeuis
Liburnis inuidens priuata deduci superbo triumpho: the subject is invidens.
This takes the dative saevis Liburnis. privata
is predicate to invidens. The remainder is
what Cleopatra is invidens.
Liburnis (navibus):
Liburnian ships are a kind of small and fast vessels, extremely useful for
operating in coastal waters. They played an important role in setting the ships
of Mark Antony and Cleopatra to fire.
scilicet: of course
invideo: literally `to look upon’ in the sense of `to cast an
evil eye upon’, then `to envy, refuse’
privo: to deprive, bereave, privata
(regno) `deprived of her kingdom’
deduco: to lead back
superbo triumph:
dative of direction = ad superbum
triumphum
triumpho: a Roman commander was allowed to have a triumph, a
procession through Rome at which the enemies taken captive where shown and
especially their leader was shown in humiliating circumstances.
Here is a link to a translation:
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