Horace, epode 3: garlic.

Next to Horace’ four books of odes, there is a fifth book with epodes or Iambi, as he called it. Iambic poems were an invention of the Greek poet Archilochus (7^th century BC) and Horace not only used the iambic structure of Archilochus’ verses, but also their content:  personal attacks, mockery and persiflage, though Horace is by far not that angry as his example.

Maecenas once offered Horace a meal with lots of garlic. It was may be food eaten by reapers (l. 4), whose favourite dish consisted mainly of garlic. I like garlic, but not as dominant substance of a dish and I wonder whether it had some apotropaic function.  It was not to Horace’ taste, to say the least, and he wrote a joking poem on garlic. It is also a crash course in the use of venom in mythology.

Horace, Epode 3.

Parentis olim siquis inpia manu

      senile guttur fregerit,

edit cicutis alium nocentius.

      o dura messorum ilia.

quid hoc veneni saevit in praecordiis?

      num viperinus his cruor

incoctus herbis me fefellit? an malas

      Canidia tractavit dapes?

ut Argonautas praeter omnis candidum

      Medea mirata est ducem,

ignota tauris inligaturum iuga

      perunxit hoc Iasonem,

hoc delibutis ulta donis paelicem

      serpente fugit alite.

nec tantus umquam Siderum insedit vapor

      siticulosae Apuliae

nec munus umeris efficacis Herculis

      inarsit aestuosius.

at siquid umquam tale concupiveris,

      iocose Maecenas, precor,

manum puella savio opponat tuo,

      extrema et in sponda cubet.

senile guttur parentis

olim: one day (referring to the future)

guttur, uris (n.): neck, throat

frango fregi fractum: to break

edo edi esum edere/esse: to eat (edit is subjunctive `let him eat’. Edo and to eat are from the same PIE  root  pie. *h<sub>1</sub>ed- `to eat’. This word can easily be confused with edere `to give out’. The infinitive esse is not common.)

cicuta: hemlock (used in ancient Athens for the death penalty, as it was a poisonous plant)

alium: garlic

noceo nocui: to be harmful

messor oris (m).: reaper

durus: hard, harsh, stubborn

ilia: stomach

venemum: poison

saevio saevii saevitus: to rage

praecordia: midriff

viperinus: of a serpent

cruor oris (m.): blood

incoctus: uncooked

fallo fefelli falsum: to escape notice (note that cruor is the subject: in Latin the construction is `the blood has escaped me’’

Canidia: a sorceress often mentioned by Horace

tracto (-are): to handle, prepare

daps dapis (f.): banquet, meal

praeter (+ acc.): above

Medea: daughter of the king of Colchis and sorceress who fell in love with Jason, leader of the Argonauts. When after a couple of years Jason rejected her, she killed their two children and the new bride of Jason. Euripides’ Medea is a must read.

Candidus: bright, shining

miror miratus: to admire (in Vulgar Latin compounds were preferred over simplex forms, hence miror, but English admire from admire.)

ignota tauris inligaturum iuga      perunxit hoc Iasonem: she anointed Jason with this (hoc: instrumental ablative!), who was about to put (inligaturum) the yoke on the bulls, unused to it. (The bulls were blazing flames and had copper legs.)

delibuo –ui –utum: to besmear, anoint

ulciscor ultus: to avenge (she avenged herself on the concubine with gifts besmeared with this)

donis: Medea gave clothes to Jason’s concubine (paelex). These clothes would inflame as soon as they were worn.

serpente alite: with a winged serpent (collective singular: Medea was the granddaughter of the sun god Helios: he sent a carriage with fiery dragons to help her escape.)

Siderum vapor: the heat of the stars (sidus sideris , n. i.e. the dog stars. The star Siderius is visible in the early morning from ca July 20 – August 20, the hottest period of the year.)

siticulosus: dry, arid

Apulia: in Southern Italy

nec munus umeris efficacis Herculis  inarsit aestuosius: nor was (such) a hot gift burning on the shoulders of mighty Hercules. (The centaur Nyssus had raped Hercules’ wife Deianira and Hercules killed him with a poisoned arrow. Before Nyssus passed away, he gave Deianira a cloak, secretly drenched in his poisoned blood, telling that she would for ever be sure of Hercules’ love when he would wear this. Hercules does,  but immediately this mantle causes such a pain that he has no other option but to commit suicide.)

tale: such food

concupio  –ivi –itum: desire (concupiveris: perfect subjunctive)

precor: I pray, please!

oppono (-are): to ward off, to put against

puella: some love of Maecenas

savium: kiss

extrema et in sponda = et in extrema sponda (bed)

cubo –ui –itum: to lie down

Translation by A.S. Kline (2005, Kline has tried to keep the iambic structure.)

Epode III – Garlic!

If any man, with impious hand, should ever

Strangle an aged parent,

Make him eat garlic, it’s deadlier than hemlock,

O you strong stomachs that cull it!

What poison is this that’s burning my entrails?

Has viper’s blood mixed with these herbs

Betrayed me? Or has Canidia been tampering

With this unfortunate dish?

Medea, intoxicated with her Jason,

That most handsome of Argonauts,

Smeared him all over with this, while he tried to yoke

Those bulls unused to the harness:

She took revenge on her rival with gifts of this,

Before mounting her winged dragon.

Never did such a vapour from any dog-star

Settle on parched Apulia:

Nessus’ gift burnt Hercules’ shoulders with no less

Effective a fiery heat.

If ever, my dear Maecenas, you aspire

To repeat the jest, I just pray

That your girl with her hands obstructs your kisses,

And takes the far side of the bed!

Horace 3.18: an invitation to Faunus.

Thanks to his benefactor Maecenas, Horace was owner of a small estate. In this function he had to officiate in ceremonies and this poem is a prayer to the rural god Faunus. This god belongs to the oldest strata of Roman religion and mythology, but as usual, the Romans equated this god with the Greek god Pan. This is evident from the first line as chasing fleeing nymphs was clearly a characteristic of Pan. Nowadays Pan would have been chased and charged for harassing nymphs.

As for the belief in such rural deities and spirits: some weeks ago I was walking with some friends on the hills accompanying the river Rhine. It was very hot and there were no other hikers. In the distance there was a ruin of a mediaeval castle. I wouldn’t have been surprised had there suddenly been a wood spirit or a nymph – or even Lorelei herself combing her golden hair.

Horatius, Carmina, 3.18 (meter:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphic_stanza)

Faune, Nympharum fugientum amator,

per meos finis et aprica rura

lenis incedas abeasque parvis

     aequus alumnis,

si tener pleno cadit haedus anno               5

larga nec desunt Veneris sodali

vina craterae, vetus ara multo

     fumat odore.

Ludit herboso pecus omne campo,

cum tibi Nonae redeunt Decembres,               10

festus in pratis vacat otioso

     cum bove pagus;

inter audacis lupus errat agnos,

spargit agrestis tibi silva frondes,

gaudet invisam pepulisse fossor               15

     ter pede terram.

apricus: sunny

lenis: gentle

aequus: with good will (lenis.,.aequus: note the chiastic construction.)

incedas abeasque: may you enter and leave

rus ruris (n.): lands, field, estate

alumnus: litt. `that is nourished’, here a young animal

haedus: young goat, kid

pleno anno: at the full year = at the end of the year (from line 10 it is clear that Faunus was honoured at December 5.)

larga vina: large quantities of wine (both for libations and consumption.)

desum: to lack

craterae Veneris sodali: (lack) for  the mixing bowl, the companion of Venus. Veneris sodali is in apposition to craterae. Wine and love go of course closely together.

ara: altar

herbosus: grassy

nonae nonarum: the 5^th day of every month, except March

pratum: meadow

vaco: to be at leasure

otiosus: unemployed, idle (otiose bove, as in December no land is ploughed and no calves are borne.)

pagus: the country people

audacis agnos: the idea of a wolf wandering among lambs, who need to be audacious for this occasion, marks the transition from the description of a festive rural community to mythical entry of Faunus into the festivities. It also refers back to lines 3-4: thanks to the presence of Faunus the lambs will not be harmed

spargo sparsi sparsum: to strew

agrestis frondes: rural foliage (in autumn the leaves fall and thus form a carpet for Faunus

fossor fossoris (m.): ditch-digger (the humblest of agricultural workers.)

invisus: detested (invisam terram, because cultivating the earth requires so much labour.)

pello pepulli pulsum: to strike, beat (pepulisse ter pede: folk-dances and religious dances  had a triple beat. Note that Horace with some irony has put the ditch-digger into the front of the festive folk: he enjoys specially trampling the earth which costs him so much labour.)

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

                                                                                                                                    

Translation by A.S. Klyne.

Faunus, the lover of Nymphs who are fleeing,

may you pass gently over my boundaries,

my sunny fields, and, as you go by, be kind

to all my new-born,

if at the end of the year a tender kid

is sacrificed to you: if the full bowls of wine,

aren’t lacking, friend of Venus: the old altar

smoking with incense.

All the flock gambols over the grassy plain,

when the fifth of December returns for you:

the festive village empties into the fields,

and the idle herd:

the wolf wanders among the audacious lambs:

for you the woods, wildly, scatter their leaves:

the ditcher delights in striking the soil he

hates, in triple time.

 

Pieter Breughel the Elder, The Wedding Dance (ca. 1566). Though not exactly a Roman setting, it is clearly rural feast.

Horace, Odes 1 ix: carpe diem.

The expression carpe diem is well known, even amongst those without any further knowledge of Latin. It comes from a poem by Horace in which he is talking to his girlfriend Leuconoe (Greek: `empty head’, note that it is a fictitious name). The reader is put in medias res, as overhearing a conversation of which he has to guess the context. Apparently Leuconoe had asked about the future, maybe the future of their love, but Horace points out that we should not weary ourselves with such questions: pluck the day! Let’s hope for Horace that indeed his girlfriend stopped asking.

Horatius, Carmina 1, XI

Meter: greater asclepiad x x  - u u -  - u u -  - u u -  u -

Tu ne quaesieris (scire nefas) quem mihi, quem tibi

finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios

temptaris numeros. Ut melius quicquid erit pati!

Seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,

quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare               

Tyrrhenum, sapias, vina liques et spatio brevi

spem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugerit invida

aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.

ne quaesi(v)eris: stop asking (the subjunctive of the perfect is often used in prohibitions, as it had for the Romans a more polite ring than the subjunctive of the present.)

nefas: forbidden, impious

finem (vitae)

Babylonios numeros: Babylonian calculations (of the course of stars, thus astrology. Babylonian astrologers were seen as experts in their profession and though they were now and then banned, there was popular demand for their predictions. )

tempto/ tento:  to try, meddle (temptaris = temptaveris)

ut melius: how much better

pati: to endure

seu = sive

pluris = plures

hiemes: years could also be counted in summers or as here in winters (hiems). Counting in winters though has a sombre connotation and especially here, as the poem suggests that the conversation took place during a winter storm.)

ultimam (hiemem), quae:  here the meaning of hiems shifts to `winter storm’.

oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum; `makes the sea spend its strength on the confronting rocks’ (T.E. Page in his commentary). The image is thus: the storm makes the Thyrrenian sea beat against the rocks and so lessens (debilitat) its strength. The rocks are however of pumice, as the coastal rocks of Etruria where Horace lived actually are. Pumice is a soft stone, so the gulfs eat holes in it.  Probably storms and rocks are here metaphors for the conditio humana.  

sapias: be wise

vina liques: strain the wine (as wine had a lot of residue, it was poured out through a cloth or sieve.)

spatio brevi spem longam reseces: curtail your excessive hope into a short period (for living).

dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: i.e. as long as we keep talking, we can’t enjoy life.

fugerit: will be gone

invida aetas: grudging time

quam minimum credula postero: trusting (credulus) as little as possible on the following day

Translation by A.S. Klyne (2003)

Leuconoë , don’t ask, we never know, what fate the gods grant us,

whether your fate or mine, don’t waste your time on Babylonian,

futile, calculations. How much better to suffer what happens,

whether Jupiter gives us more winters or this is the last one,

one debilitating the Tyrrhenian Sea on opposing cliffs.

Be wise, and mix the wine, since time is short: limit that far-reaching hope.

The envious moment is flying now, now, while we’re speaking:

Seize the day, place in the hours that come as little faith as you can.

Horace 3.15: too old.

There are elderly women who think they can still compete with young women in the prime of their beauty. This is not a modern phenomenon – far from. Horace makes fun of such a woman in the following poem. The particular scene is fictitious: Chloris, the widow of Ibycus, behaves like her daughter Pholoe, who is in love with Nothos. The names are all Greek and the name Ibycus is undoubtedly a reference to the Greek poet Ibycus (6^th century BC), famous for his libidinous life and poems. This poem is funny and a bit wicked, but I wonder whether Horace would have dared to publish this poem had he lived now.

Horace, Odes 3, XV (meter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepiad_(poetry) )

     Uxor pauperis Ibyci,

tandem nequitiae fige modum tuae

     famosisque laboribus;

maturo propior desine funeri

     inter ludere virgines               5

et stellis nebulam spargere candidis.

     Non, si quid Pholoen satis,

et te, Chlori, decet. Filia rectius

     expugnat iuvenum domos,

pulso Thyias uti concita tympano.               10

     Illam cogit amor Nothi

lascivae similem ludere capreae:

     te lanae prope nobilem

tonsae Luceriam, non citharae decent

     nec flos purpureus rosae               15

nec poti, vetulam, faece tenus cadi.

nequitia: vileness, wickedness

tandem: finally

fige modum: put an end to

famosus: ill-famed (fama in Latin mean `report, rumor’, independent of the content is positive or negative)

laboribus: labor means `exertion, toil’ and often not `labour’ in the modern sense

maturo propior funeri: very close to your timely burial (i.e. she had reached an age at which no one would be surprised about her death)

desino desii: to cease, leave

spargere nebulam: to spread a cloud

stellis candidis: the virgins

si quid Pholoen satis (decet): if something is sufficiently fitting for Pholoe (Pholoen is a Greek Acc.)

et: also

Chlori: vocative

expugno: to attack (i.e. with her beauty and lust)

Thyas Thyadis: a Bacchante or Maenad (a female devotee of Bacchus; according to legend they roam in groups through the wilderness, dancing in ecstatic frenzy)

uti = ut

concito: to rouse, excite

tympanum: drum, tambour

lascivus: playful

caprea: wild she-goat, roe

lanae prope nobilem tonsae Luceriam = lanae tonsae prope nobilem Luceriam

lana: wool (spinning and weaving was seen as decent work for women)

tondeo totondi tonsum: to shear, shave

Luceria: a place famous for its wool

flos purpureus rosae: the rose as symbol of love and youth

nec poti faece tenus cadi = nec cadi poti tenus faece (nor jars (cadi) drained/drunk (poto potavi potum or potatum) as far as (tenus + abl.) to the dreg (faex –is f, )

vetula: old woman, old hag (vetulam agrees with te)

Translation by A.S. Klyne (2003)

Too old.

O, dear wife of poor Ibycus,

put an end to your wickedness, at last, and all

of your infamous goings-on:

now you are nearer the season for dying,

stop playing about with the girls,

and scattering a mist over shining stars.

What fits Pholoe is not quite

fitting for you, Chloris: while your daughterís more

suited to storming the houses of lovers,

like a Bacchante stirred by the beating drum.

Her love for Nothus forces her

to gambol like a lascivious she-goat:

the wool thatís shorn near to noble

Luceriaís fitting for you, sad old thing,

not the dark red flower of the rose,

nor the lyre, nor the wine-jars drained to their dregs

A quarrel between two exes.

This week I went to a new second-hand bookshop in my hometown: every book for 2 euros. I bought some books about gnostic religion and early Christianity and a commentary on Horace’s third book of odes by Gordon Williams. I already have a copy of this book, but my fear is that books which are left unsold – and who reads Greek and Latin anymore? – will simply be sold as old paper.  It is a remarkable commentary as it has a text, translation and a running commentary, unlike the old commentaries by Page and Kiessling-Heinze and the more recent by Nisbit-Hubbart (on book 1 and 2). Especially the Kiessling-Heinze and the Nisbit-Hubbart are so full of details that one loses track of a poem as whole. Of course such commentaries are extremely useful, but not for a quick understanding. Williams is like a teacher who explains in clear language not only a poem, but the book as a whole. This kind of commentary is more focussed on literary aspects than on philological details (`well dear reader, dabat in line 3 means circumdabat’. Duh! What else could it mean? Giving his arms to strangle her white neck in some kinky sex game?). To my knowledge such a commentary has found but little following: the only example I know is on Ovid Amores 1 by John Barsby.

It has been a long time since I read book 3 and some poems struck me as new. May be I was at that time too much focussed on grammar and too much concerned with the oral exam or is it that in due course one reads the same poem with different eyes?

The following poem is a dialogue: male - female, male - female, male – female. A man (Horace?) and a woman – Lydia - once had a relationship, but now each has a new lover.  Still, there is an underlying passion. The final strophe seems to point to a happy ending and they will find each other again; `you don’t deserve it, but ok.’ May be… I wonder about the age of the lovers: Lydia describes her new friend as a puer and unless we have to envisage her as a cougar with a toy boy, she is more likely to be a teenager or someone in her early twenties than a woman of a certain age.

This poem has been written more than 2000 years ago, but it could have been written tomorrow as well.

Horace, Odes 3.9

Meter:  - - - uu – x

                - - - uu – uu – u x

     'Donec gratus eram tibi

nec quisquam potior bracchia candidae

     ceruici iuuenis dabat,

Persarum uigui rege beatior.'

 

   'Donec non alia magis               5

arsisti neque erat Lydia post Chloen,

     multi Lydia nominis,

Romana uigui clarior Ilia.'

  

  'Me nunc Thressa Chloe regit,

dulcis docta modos et citharae sciens,               10

     pro qua non metuam mori,

si parcent animae fata superstiti.'

  

  'Me torret face mutua

Thurini Calais filius Ornyti,

     pro quo bis patiar mori,               15

si parcent puero fata superstiti.'

  

  'Quid si prisca redit Venus

diductosque iugo cogit aeneo,

     si flaua excutitur Chloe

reiectaeque patet ianua Lydiae?'               20

    'Quamquam sidere pulchrior

ille est, tu leuior cortice et inprobo

     iracundior Hadria,

tecum uiuere amem, tecum obeam lubens.'

donec: as long as

gratus: dear

bracchium: arm

cervix cervicis (f.): neck

quisquam potior iuvenis: some more favourite youth

vigesco vigui: to thrive

alia: abl. with arsisti `you didn’t burn through another (woman)’.  In English lovers normally burn for another.

post Chloem: second after Chloe

multi nominis: of much fame

clarior Ilia: more famous than Ilia (= Rhea Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus)

Thressa: Thracian

modus: string

si parcent animae fata superstiti : if the fates will save (parco + dat.) my darling as surviving.

torreo torrui tostum: to burn

face mutua: with a mutual flame

Thurini:  from Thurii (South Italy)

prisca Venus: old love

diduco diduxi diductum: to split up, separate

iugo aeneo: with iron yoke

flavus: blond (Gentlemen prefer blond is certainly true for Roman men!)

excutio excussi excussum: to drive away

reiectae Lydiae: dative

sidus sideris (n.): star

ille: Calais

cortex corticis (m. and f.): rind, cork

inprobo Hadria:  then the violent Adriatic Sea

iracundus: irascible

obeo: to pass away, die

lubens: willingly

Translation by A.S. Kline (2003)

While I was the man, dear to you,

while no young man, you loved more dearly, was clasping

his arms around your snow-white neck,

I lived in greater blessedness than Persia’s king.’

‘While you were on fire for no one

else, and Lydia was not placed after Chloë,

I, Lydia, of great renown,

lived more gloriously than Roman Ilia.’

‘Thracian Chloe commands me now,

she’s skilled in sweet verses, she’s the queen of the lyre,

for her I’m not afraid to die,

if the Fates spare her, and her spirit survives me.’

‘I’m burnt with a mutual flame

by Calais, Thurian Ornytus’s son,

for whom I would die twice over

if the Fates spare him, and his spirit survives me.’

‘What if that former love returned,

and forced two who are estranged under her bronze yoke:

if golden Chloë was banished,

and the door opened to rejected Lydia?’

‘Though he’s lovelier than the stars,

and you’re lighter than cork, and more irascible

than the cruel Adriatic,

I’d love to live with you, with you I’d gladly die!’