Fire fascinates me: every Easter I go away with friends
for attending big Easter bonfires. I also love a fire in the garden in summertime
or a fire in a fireplace in house, alas! my garden is too small and I don’t
have a hearth in my house. So far my possibilities to satisfy my pyromaniac
desires.
Fire plays an important role in various religions, think
for instances of Agni, the Vedic God of fire who carries the oblations and
offerings to the gods. The word agni
is related to Latin ignis and originally
it denoted the sacrificial fire of the Indo-European speakers, from
Proto-Indo-European *h₁n̥gʷnis. Normal
fire was péh₂ur, hence English fire.
The latter form has been lost in Latin, but has been preserved in Greek, which
has lost the first form.
In Rome the cult of Vesta – goddess of the domestic
hearth – played an important role and Ovid devotes quite some lines to this
goddess in his Fasti. The temple of
Vesta was a no-go area for men (non
adeundo viro), and the eternal fire in her sanctuary had to be attended by
virgins. However when in 241 BC the temple of Vesta took fire, the pontifex
maximus Metellus saw no other option than enter the temple and save the statue
of Vesta, as the Vestal Virgins were terror stricken Fortunately the goddess
had no objections!
Ovid, Fasti, vi
,337-354
heu quantum timuere patres, quo tempore Vesta
arsit et est tectis obruta paene suis!
flagrabant
sancti sceleratis ignibus ignes,
mixtaque erat flammae flamma
profana piae; 440
attonitae flebant demisso crine ministrae:
abstulerat
vires corporis ipse timor.
provolat in
medium, et magna 'succurrite' voce,
'non est auxilium flere' Metellus ait.
'pignora
virgineis fatalia tollite palmis:
445
non ea sunt voto, sed rapienda manu.
me miserum!
dubitatis?' ait. dubitare videbat
et pavidas posito procubuisse genu.
haurit aquas,
tollensque manus 'ignoscite', dixit
'sacra: vir intrabo non adeunda viro. 450
si scelus est,
in me commissi poena redundet:
sit capitis damno Roma soluta mei.'
dixit, et
inrupit: factum dea rapta probavit,
patres: the Senate
obruo obrui obrutum:
to overwhelm, cover
scelero: to
pollute, desecrate
mixta: here
with dative instead of ablative
attonitus:
terrified
dimisso crino:
with loose hair (i.e. the Vestal Virgins had no time to order their hair)
aufero abstuli
ablatum: to take away
in medium: i.e.
of the Vestal Virgins
succurro succurri
succursum: to run away
'non est auxilium
flere': what a practical remark!
pignora fatalia:
pledges given by fate. What is meant are the sacred items, including the statue
of Vesta, by which the Vestal Virgins had pledged to give their life in service
of the goddess.
palma: hand
non ea sunt voto:
they are not (rescued) by prayer
rapio rapui raptum:
to seize, carry and take away
genu pono: to
bow the knee
procumbo procubui
procubitum: to sink down
haurio hausi
haustum: to draw up
ignosco ignovi
ignorum: to forgive
sacra: the
sacred items
commissi poena:
penalty for (the deed - factum) committed
redundo (-are):
to overflow
capitis damno mei:
by the loss of my head
solutus: saved
inrumpo inrupu
inruptum: to break in
Translation by A.S. Klyne (2004)
How worried the Senate was, when Vesta’s temple
Caught fire: and she was nearly buried by her own roof!
Holy fires blazed, fed by sinful fires,
Sacred and profane flames were merged.
The priestesses with streaming hair, wept in amazement:
Fear had robbed them of their bodily powers.
Metellus rushed into their midst, crying in a loud voice:
‘Run and help, there’s no use in weeping.
Seize fate’s pledges in your virgin hands:
They won’t survive by prayers, but by action.
Ah me! Do you hesitate?’ he said. He saw them,
Hesitating, sinking in terror to their knees.
He took up water, and holding his hands aloft, cried:
‘Forgive me, holy relics! A man enters where no man
should.
If it’s wrong, let the punishment fall on me:
Let my life be the penalty, so Rome is free of harm.’
He spoke and entered. The goddess he carried away
Was saved by her priest’s devotion, and she approved
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