Boethius 3.M12: don't look back!

This month is the month of philosophy in the Netherlands. Don’t expect my fellow Dutch citizens to run at their bookshelves and read Plato, Kant and Nietzsche or that they try for the 4^th time to struggle a way through Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit. No, because so little is done with philosophy here this month has been instituted to promote it. Well, for me a reason to turn again to Boethius. Boethius, waiting for his execution, is spoken to by his guardian Philosophia. She tells him not to worry about earthly things. He is happy who can see bright fountain of goodness and free himself from the chains of the heavy earth! As an example she tells the well-known story of Orpheus, who tried to bring Eurydice back from the Underworld, but alas, he cannot resist looking back and loses her again. So, once having seen this fountain, don’t look back!

De Consolatione Philosophiae  3.M12

Glyconic meter: x x - u u - u -

1             Felix, qui potuit boni

               fontem uisere lucidum,

               felix, qui potuit grauis

terrae soluere uincula.

5             Quondam funera coniugis

               uates Threicius gemens

               postquam flebilibus modis

               siluas currere mobiles,

               amnes stare coegerat

10          iunxitque intrepidum latus

               saeuis cerua leonibus

               nec uisum timuit lepus

               iam cantu placidum canem,

               cum flagrantior intima

15          feruor pectoris ureret

               nec qui cuncta subegerant

               mulcerent dominum modi,

               immites superos querens

               infernas adiit domos.

20          Illic blanda sonantibus

               chordis carmina temperans

               quicquid praecipuis deae

               matris fontibus hauserat,

               quod luctus dabat impotens,

25          quod luctum geminans amor

               deflet Taenara commouens

               et dulci ueniam prece

               umbrarum dominos rogat.

               Stupet tergeminus nouo

30          captus carmine ianitor;

               quae sontes agitant metu

               ultrices scelerum deae

               iam maestae lacrimis madent;

               non Ixionium caput

35          uelox praecipitat rota

               et longa site perditus

               spernit flumina Tantalus;

               uultur dum satur est modis

               non traxit Tityi iecur.

40          Tandem 'uincimur' arbiter

               umbrarum miserans ait.

               'donamus comitem uiro

               emptam carmine coniugem;

 sed lex dona coerceat,

45          ne dum Tartara liquerit

               fas sit lumina flectere.'

               quis legem det amantibus?

               Maior lex amor est sibi.

               Heu, noctis prope terminos

50          Orpheus Eurydicen suam

               uidit, perdidit, occidit.

               Uos haec fabula respicit

               quicumque in superum diem

               mentem ducere quaeritis;

55          nam qui Tartareum in specus

               uictus lumina flexerit,

               quicquid praecipuum trahit

               perdit dum uidet inferos.

viso visi: to look at attentively

uates Threicius: Orpheus, who could play the lure in such a way that trees moved to each other and rivers halted their flow.

flebilis: lamentable

modus: melody

mobiles: resultative predicate `He forced the woods to run so that they were mobile’

intrepidus: fearless

iungo latus: to stand side by side (latus is acc. neuter)

cerva: hind, deer

visum: supine

lepus  leporis (m): hare

placidus: gentle, placid

intima pectoris: the innermost of his heart

flagro: burn, blaze

uro ussi ustum: to burn

subigo –egi –actum: subdue

mulceo: to sooth

immitis: harsh

superi: the gods above

queror questus sum: to complain, lament

infernus: lower, under

blandus: pleasant

tempero: to modulate, play

praecipuus: excellent

deae matris: his mother was the goddess Calliope, chief of the Muses

haurio hausi haustum: drink eagerly

impotens: unbridled

luctus -us: grieve

gemino: to double (his love for Eurydice doubled his grieve)

defleo: to lament (the objects are quicquid…quod…quod)

Taenara: entrance of the underworld

venia: forgiveness

prex precis: prayer

stupeo: to be struck senseless, stunned

tergeninus ianitor: the threefold doorkeeper I.e. Cerberus the hell hound who had three heads (sometimes 100).

sons sontis: criminal

ultrices deae: the revenger goddesses. i.e the three Furies, who haunted (agitant) criminals by inflicting fear

maestus: sorrowful

madeo: to be wet

scelus sceleris (n): crime

Ixionium caput: Ixonian head i.e. pars pro toto for Ixion, a mortal who tried to seduce Hera. Zeus put him into the Tartarus, bound to a winged fiery wheel that was always spinning.

velox: fast

praecipito: to rush headlong, turn fast

sitis sitis (f): thirst

perdido –didi- ditus: to destroy, ruin

sperno sprevi spretum: to despice

vultur vulturis (m): eagle

satur modis: full with the melodies

Tityus: a giant who tried to rape Leto. He was bound into the Tartarus and vultures constantly picked his liver

iecur iecoris (n): the liver

tandem: finally

comitem cuniugem: his comrade wife

emo emi emptum: to buy

coerceo: to restrain

linque liqui: to leave

fas esse: to be allowed

lumina: the eyes

occido –cidi –cisum: to kill

Uos haec fabula respicit:  i.e. this story has do with you

superum diem: the daylight above . The poem ends with a reference to the cave of Plato. Boethius is in that cave, but tries to lead his mind to the light of the metaphysical world. It is also a description of his real situation, as he is imprisoned.

specus – us (m. but in poetry n.): cave

victus: i.e. who has escaped that cave and then overpowered looks back. (The translation in the link below takes it differently: `for the one who in the chasm of the underworld / having been conquered has turned the eyes’ but this – my view - misses the point, as in the previous verses Boethius is trying to get away and this is a warning not to look back.)

lumina flexerit: the object is Tartareum in specus

praecipuum: excellence

perdit: object praecipuum

translation (go to XII):

http://www.san.beck.org/Boethius3.html