Paulus Diaconus: a treacherous widow (part 1).

In 611 the Avars attacked the Langobards living at Venetia. The Langobards proved to be no match and their duke Gisulfus of Friuli (Foroiulanus dux ) was killed with almost all of his men. The remainder of the Langobards withdrew in their fortified settlements, believed to be immune for attacks. However Romilda, the widow of the duke, sees the young leader of the Avars in full armour on his horse and is overwhelmed by lust and passion (meretrix `whore, harlot’ is how Paulus calls her). She comes to a secret understanding with him that she will open the gates and he will marry her. After the gates are opened, the leader of the Avars doesn’t keep his promise: the sity is looted, but the Langobards are promised to be settled in Pannonia, where the Avars came from, but on their way to that place the Avars decided that all adult males (in maiori aetate constituti) should be killed by the sword. Women and small children were divided amongst their captors

How this story evolves will be told in the next post.

Paulus Diaconus  (720-799) writes with great indignation about the betrayal by the widow, but it is impossible to say how much his picture of the events corresponds to what really happened. It is though sure that the Avars made attempts to conquer the north of Italy, but were repelled. The Avars are a very enigmatic nomadic people, whose exact ethnic and linguistic backgrounds are unclear. It is possible that they were a confederation of various tribes rather than single ethnic group, but some Turkish component seems likely. They are not Huns, as Paulus thinks, but in their way of operating they look similar.

Paulus’ Latin is not that difficult. This edition of the Bibliotheca Augustana has sometimes e for ae.

Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum 4.37 (first part)

Circa haec tempora rex Avarum, quem sua lingua Cacanum appellant, cum innumerabili multitudine veniens, Venetiarum fines ingressus est. Huic Gisulfus Foroiulanus dux cum Langobardis, quos habere poterat, audacter occurrit; sed quamvis forti animositate contra inmensam multitudinem bellum cum paucis gereret, undique tamen circumseptus, cum omnibus pene suis extinctus est. Uxor vero eiusdem Gisulfi nomine Romilda cum Langobardis qui evaserant sive eorum uxoribus et filiis qui in bello perierant, intra murorum Foroiulani castri [se] muniit septa. Huic erant filii Taso et Cacco iam adulescentes, Raduald vero et Grimuald adhuc in puerili aetate constituti. Habebat vero et filias quattuor, quarum una Appa, alia Gaila vocabatur, duarum vero nomina non retinemus. Communierant se quoque Langobardi et in reliquis castris quae his vicina erant, hoc est in Cormones, Nemas, Osopo, Artenia, Reunia, Glemona, vel etiam in Ibligine, cuius positio omnino inexpugnabilis existit. Pari etiam modo et in reliquis castellis, ne Hunnis, hoc est Avaribus, praeda fierent, se communivere. Avares vero per omnes Foroiulanorum fines discurrentes, omnia incendiis et rapinis vastantes, Foroiulanum oppidum obsidione claudunt et totis viribus expugnare moliuntur. Horum rex, id est Cacanus, dum circa muros armatus cum magno equitatu perambularet, ut, qua ex parte urbem facilius expugnare posset, inquireret, hunc Romilda de muris prospiciens, cum eum cerneret iuvenili aetate florentem, meretrix nefaria concupivit, eique mox per nuntium mandavit, ut, si eam in matrimonium sumeret, ipsa eidem civitatem cum omnibus qui aderant traderet. Quod rex barbarus audiens, eidem malignitatis dolo quod mandaverat se facturum promisit eamque se in matrimonium accipere spopondit. Illa vero nihil morata, portas Foroiulensis castri aperuit et ad suam cunctorumque qui aderant perniciem hostem introduxit. Ingressi vero Avares cum rege suo Forumiulii, universa quae invenire poterant rapinis diripiunt; ipsamque urbem flammis concremantes, universos quos reppererant captivos adducunt, fallaciter tamen, eis promittentes, quod eos, unde digressi fuerant, Pannoniae in finibus conlocarent. Qui cum patriam revertentes ad campum quem Sacrum nominant pervenissent, omnes qui iam in maiori aetate constituti erant Langobardos gladio perimere statuunt, mulieres vero et parvulos captivitatis sorte dividunt.

cacanus: khan

animositas –atis (f.): boldness, courage

bellum gero: to wage war

circumseptus : surrounded

filiis qui in bello perierant: with the sons (of those  eorum) who had fallen in the war

munio: to protect

septum: fence

communierant = munierant

Cormones, Nemas, Osopo, Artenia, Reunia, Glemona, Ibligis: modern Cormons, Nimis, Ossopo, Artegna, Racogna, Germona, Iplis

inexpugnabilis: unconquerable

pari modo: in the same way

ne…praeda fierent: in order not to become booty for

rapina: plunder

vasto: to devastate

obsidio, -onis (f.): siege

molior: to strive

cerno crevi certum: to perceive, see

nefarius: impious, nefarious

in matrimonium sumo: to marry

eidem malignitatis dolo quod mandaverat se facturum promisit: he promissed her with a conceit of malignity that he would do what she has demanded

spondeo spopondi sponsum: to assure

moror: to delay

ad suam…perniciem: to her destruction

diripio diripui direptum: to plunder

reperio repperi repertum: to find

fallaciter: falsely

unde digressi fuerant: the Avars

campus Sacrus: location unknown

omnes Langobardos, qui

perimo peremi peremptum: to kill

sors sortis (f.): lot (captivitatis sorte by a lot for captivity)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pannonian_Avars

A translation can be found here:

http://www.thule-italia.org/Nordica/Paul%20the%20Deacon%20-%20History%20of%20the%20Lombards%20%281907%29%20%5BEN%5D.pdf?lbisphpreq=1

Cato: a ritual for a successful harvest.

Religious language has a preference for archaisms and obsolete phrases, as if such a language gives a greater sanctity and is more effective. I, for instance, prefer the King James Version or the Dutch Statenvertaling (1637) of the Bible above later translations, let alone translations with a limited and easy vocabulary for people with hardly any reading experience. Vade retro Satanas! Let’s state this for once and for all: in order to be taken seriously, religious language - and especially spells and incantations - must have some difficult or incomprehensible elements.  

The only work having come down to us by Cato the Elder (234 BC – 149 BC) is his De Agri Cultura. Cato was a conservative Roman politician, who devoted himself to agriculture whenever he could. This was in compliance with his conservative political views, as he wanted to return to the old mentality of Rome as a community of farmers. He detested the use of Greek by his fellow Romans and started writing Latin prose and so became the first Latin writer doing so.

Agriculture is not just a matter of ploughing, seeding and harvesting, but also of religious ceremonies as a successful harvest is in the hands of the gods. For this reason Cato has inserted a couple of rituals and incantations in his work on agriculture. One of these is the suovitaurilia (or suovetaurilia), the sacrifice of a pig, a sheep and a bull – all still young, for lustrating the farm and the land. It must have been a very old ritual as kindred rituals are known from Indo-European speaking peoples.

It may come as a surprise that the god Mars is the object of this agricultural ritual, but this god has a longstanding connection with fertility.

Cato, De Agri Cultura, 141.

Agrum lustrare sic oportet. Impera suovitaurilia circumagi: "Cum divis volentibus quodque bene eveniat, mando tibi, Mani, uti illace suovitaurilia fundum agrum terramque meam quota ex parte sive circumagi sive circumferenda censeas, uti cures lustrare." Ianum Iovemque vino praefamino, sic dicito:

" Mars pater te precor quaesoque

uti sies volens propitius

mihi domo familiaeque nostrae;

quoius rei ergo

agrum terram fundumque meum

suovitaurilia circum agi iussi:

uti tu morbos visos invisosque

viduertatem vastitudinemque,

calamitates intemperiasque

prohibessis defendas averruncesque;

uti tu fruges frumenta vineta virgultaque

grandire dueneque evenire siris,

pastores pecuaque salva servassis;

duisque duonam salutem valetudinemque

mihi domo familiaeque nostrae:

harunce rerum ergo

fundi terrae agrique mei

lustrandi lustrique faciundi ergo,

sic ut dixi,

macte hisce suovitaurilibus

lactentibus immolandis esto:

Mars pater,

eiusdem rei ergo

macte hisce suovitaurilibus

lactentibus immolandis esto."

Item cultro facito struem et fertum uti adsiet, inde obmoveto. Ubi porcum inmolabis, agnum vitulumque, sic oportet:

"eiusdem rei ergo

macte hisce suovitaurilibus

immolandis esto."

Nominare vetat Martem neque agnum vitulumque. Si minus in omnis litabit, sic verba concipito:

"Mars pater, quod tibi illoc porco neque satisfactum est, te hoc porco piaculo".

circumago: to lead around

uti = ut

illace: illa with a strengthening  suffix (also harunce and hisce.)

quota ex parte: from whatever part (i.e. wherever the suovitaurilia go, from that part the whole farm is lustrated)

circumferenda: not every animal was apparently willing to walk

vino: with a libation of wine

praefor: to pray to (praefamino is an archaic 2 sg imp)

sies = sis

quoius = cuius

viduertas, atis (f.): lack of fruits of the earth

vastitudo –inis (f.): destruction

intemperiae: bad weather

averrunco: to avert evil

vinetum: vineyard

virgultum: a bush

grandio: to make great, increase

duene =  bene (cf. bellum and duellum: the forms with du are archaic.  Also duonum = bonum.)

siris = siveris (sino)

duis = des (duis is an archaic form)

ergo = causā

lustrandi lustrique faciundi: synonyms

macte hisce suovitaurilibus lactentibus immolandis est : be honoured witith this suavitauria, sucking and to be slaughtered (a combination of  an imperative and a vocative.)

Item cultro facito struem et fertum uti adsiet, inde obmoveto: also make a heap of sacrificial cake (fertum) with a knife (cultrum), so that it is present and move it away  (to the place where the animals are sacrificed.

vitulus: male-calf

Nominare vetat Martem neque agnum vitulumque: a part of this sentence is missing and the meaning can only be guessed.

lito: to obtain favourable omens

piaculo: to appease

This site also contains a translation in archaic English:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suovetaurilia

Vita Sancti Columbae :an apt miracle.

Mediaeval literature abounds in miracle stories and when reading such stories I wonder whether such texts were believed by their readers or listeners. Of course, as long as creationists are still walking on the earth and have not become an extinct species, the capacity of the human mind to believe contra facts must not be underestimated. Still, I think it is unfair to set mediaeval people aside as credulous believers. Belief in miracles must have had a soothing effect in an environment largely erratic and uncontrollable.

The power of performing miracles is also a sign of holiness and of being a man or woman of God. The following extract from the Vita Sancti Columbae tells how Columba (521-597)  while still a young man (adhuc juvenis) visited a monastery in Ireland (Scotia). At some occasion it appeared that there was not enough wine for celebrating mass. While the priests were quarrelling amongst each other (inter se conquerentes), the young saint decided to take a drastic action and turned water into wine. This was the first proof of his virtue (protum virtutis documentum) and many would follow. This miracle was also the first Jesus performed and so Adomnán (624-704), author of the Vita, is drawing a parallel between Jesus and Columba.

Adomnán, Vita Sancti Columbae, Book 2, chapter 1.

Caput 1: De Vino Quod De Aqua Factum Est

ALIO in tempore, cum vir venerandus in Scotia apud sanctum Findbarrum episcopum, adhuc juvenis, sapientiam sacrae Scripturae addiscens, commaneret, quadam solenni die vinum ad sacrificale mysterium casu aliquo minime inveniebatur: de cujus defectu cum ministros altaris inter se conquerentes audiret, ad fontem sumpto pergit urceo, ut ad sacrae Eucharistiae ministeria aquam, quasi diaconus, fontanam hauriret: ipse quippe illis in diebus erat in diaconatus gradu administrans. Vir itaque beatus aquaticum, quod de latice hausit, elementum, invocato nomine Domini Jesu Christi, fideliter benedixit, qui in Cana Galileae aquam in vinum convertit: quo etiam in hoc operante miraculo, inferior, hoc est aquatica natura, in gratiorem, videlicet vinalem, per manus praedicabilis viri conversa est speciem. Vir itaque sanctus, a fonte reversus, et ecclesiam intrans, talem juxta altare urceum intra se habentem deponit liquorem; et ad ministros, Habetis, ait, vinum, quod Dominus Jesus ad sua misit peragenda mysteria. quo cognito, sanctus cum ministris episcopus eximias Deo referunt grates. Sanctus vero juvenis hoc non sibimet, sed sancto Vinniano adscribebat episcopo. Hoc itaque protum virtutis documentum Christus Dominus per suum declaravit discipulum, quod in eadem re, initium ponens signorum in Cana Galileae, operatus est per semetipsum.

vir venerandus: Columba

addisco addidici: to learn (Mediaeval Latin often uses prefixed verbs without any distions with the simplex.)

commaneo = maneo (again an example of this tendency as commoneo is not found in CL.)

solemnis dies: a day in memory of a saint or some other ecclesiastical celebration

sacrificale mysterium: the holy mass

casu aliquo: for some reason

ministros altaris: the priests responsible for the mass

sumpto urceo: a jar (urceus) being taken

quasi diaconus: as deacon (an official of minor rank.

haurio hausi haustum: to draw out

quippe: namely

diaconatus, -us (m.): the office of deacon

aquaticum elementum: that part of water

latex laticis (m.):  water, spring, well

Jesu, qui

quo etiam in hoc operante miraculo: by which thus in this miracle being performed

inferior, hoc est aquatica natura, in gratiorem, videlicet vinalem, per manus praedicabilis viri conversa est speciem = inferior, hoc est aquatica natura, in gratiorem speciem, videlicet vinalem, conversa est per manus praedicabilis viri

inferior: something inferior

vinalem: belonging to wine, of wine

praedicaliis viri: of the famous man (= Jesus)

talem juxta altare urceum intra se habentem deponit liquorem = juxta altare urceum habentem intra se talem liquorem deponit (Note how the emphasis is put on talem liquorem by putting the sub clause between these words.)

eximius, special, abundant

Vinnianus: Saint Finnian of Clonard (470-549), an Irish saint. He was a teacher of Columba.

In eadem re: in the same way, at a likewise occasion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columba