Sulpicia: no way uncle!

How old was Sulpicia when she wrote her poems?  It is one of the many questions concerning this enigmatic Roman poetess.  Almost nothing is known about her, except that she lived at the end of the first century BC.  And are these poems autobiographical or images eluding the reader? These questions are important for the historian of literature, but not for the reader, at least not for a reader who reads these texts first of all as poetry.  It is like watching a movie, e.g. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. Of course we know that the plot is impossible, but no one would be troubled by that or say in disgust `But that is not really Clementine Kruczynski! It is Kate Winslet!’  And so I am fully prepared to step into image of the poems and believe that Sulpicia was around 20.

In the next two poems Sulpicia complains about her uncle Messalla poem II: he was to take her to the countryside for spending her birthday – away from her lover Cerinthus. He had a villa near Arretium (modern Arezzo, north of Rome). With abhorrence Sulpicia thinks about what to do there: villas are not suited at all for a girl and swimming in the cold river there? No way! Actually the river Arno is not cold, but the simple thought of being without her lover makes her shiver.

Fortunately the trip was cancelled, as she gladly writes to her lover in poem III.

Sulpicia II and III

Invisus natalis adest, qui rure molesto

    et sine Cerintho tristis agendus erit.

Dulcius urbe quid est? an villa sit apta puellae

    atque Arrentino frigidus amnis agro?

Iam nimium Messalla mei studiose, quiescas,

    non tempestivae, saeve propinque, viae!

Hic animum sensusque meos abducta relinquo,

    arbitrio quamvis non sinis esse meo.

Scis iter ex animo sublatum triste puellae?

    natali Romae iam licet esse suo.

Omnibus ille dies nobis natalis agatur,

    qui nec opinanti nunc tibi forte venit.

invisus : hateful

(dies) natalis

molestus:  annoying, boring

Arrentino frigidus amnis agro (aptus puellae)

Iam nimium Messalla mei studiose: vocative

nimium : too much

studiosus (+ gen.): zealous for

quiescas : let it rest

non tempestivae, saeve propinque, viae! So the reading adopted by Anne Mahoney. The manuscripts read: heu tempestivae saepe propinque viae. This reading can’t be right and various emendations have been proposed, depending on whether propinque is taken as a verb – from propinquo `to approach (+ dat.) – or as the noun propinquus `relative . The reading of Mahoney means `not fitting/suitable are the ways, you cruel relative!’

Hic …abducta relinquo = abducta, relinquo hic… taken away, I will leave here etc.

arbitrio quamvis non sinis esse meo : in my opinion you do not allow it be in whatever way (I want it)

iter sublatum triste:  the sad journey has been taken away

suo: she refers to herself in the third person  (or a corrupt reading for `meo’?)

dies, qui

nec opinanti tibi = tibi nec opinanti

opinator opinatus sum: to think, believe, imagine

forte: by chance

Translations by Anne Mahoney  (2000)

My stupid birthday's here, and I'm supposed

to go away and leave Cerinthus here.

What's better than the city? On the farm,

it's cold and rustic — no place for a girl.

Messalla, uncle, you're thinking of me,

but stop it: this is no time for a trip.

Take me away, I'll leave my heart and mind

In Rome: what good's free will? You make the rules.

You know, that trip's been taken off my mind:

your girlfriend gets to spend her day in Rome.

Let's spend the day together, as we hoped:

we've had the good luck you were waiting for.

Sulpicia 1: I am in love!

Voices of women are but rarely heard in classical literature. Yes, there is Sappho, of whom just a few poems have survived intact, many fragmented and dozens must have been lost. In her poems she has achieved an unsurpassed quality, but who else do we have? Well, there is Sulpicia of whom 6 elegies have survived in the Corpus Tibullianum, the manuscripts containing the elegies of Tibullus, but also poems from other poets. Little is known about her (see the link below.)

She is quite frank in expressing her erotic feelings, that is to say for a woman of that period.  For this reason it has been claimed that behind Sulpicia is a male poet, using the persona of a woman. But why should he use the name of a woman who could easily be identified with an existing person?

From her poems it seems that she had an affair with a certain Cerinthus – almost certainly a pseudonym. I say seems, because it is not certain that these poems reflect a real situation: it could well have been an exercise in writing love elegies within a circle of friends. However, romantic as I am, I am ready to believe it is real.

This poem has some problems: the syntax in 1-2 is constrained, but more problematic are lines 7-8 for which see the notes.

Sulpicia 1 (= Tibullus 4.7 or 3.13 in another arrangement of the books).

Tandem venit amor, qualem texisse pudori

    quam nudasse alicui sit mihi fama magis.

Exorata meis illum Cytherea Camenis

    adtulit in nostrum deposuitque sinum.                     

Exsolvit promissa Venus: mea gaudia narret,

    dicetur siquis non habuisse sua.                                                       

Non ego signatis quicquam mandare tabellis,

    ne legat ut nemo quam meus ante, velim,

sed peccasse iuvat, vultus conponere famae

    taedet: cum digno digna fuisse ferar.

qualem texisse pudori /  quam nudasse alicui sit mihi fama magis. Construct: mihi fama magis pudori sit: for me my reputation would be more till shame = it would be more shameful for my reputation    to etc.

tego texi tectum: to cover, hide

nudo: to expose, uncover

exorata meis Camenis: persuaded by my Muses (i.e. (probably) previous poems.)

illum: her lover Cerinthus    

Cytherea: Venus          

sinus –us (m.): bosom                

exsolvo exsolvi exsolitum: to unbind, fulfil        

sua (gaudia)

Non ego signatis quicquam mandare tabellis  /  me legat ut nemo quam meus ante, velim. Another reading is:

Non ego signatis quicquam mandare tabellis, / ne legat id nemo quam meus ante, velim.

This reading is adopted by many editors and translators and will be found on the Perseus and Latin Library sites.  However it has problems: non with velim or mandare? Ne nemo as a strong negation (absolutely no one) or are the negations cancelling each other out (everybody). Many go for non with mandare and ne nemo as a strong negation. The meaning is then: `I would wish that I had not to entrust anything to sealed letters (signatis tabellis), so that absolutely no one could read them before my love.’ But isn’t the point that she wants to cry out her love to the whole world – secret of not? The reading I have adopted (from the Ambrosianus Ms and found in the OCT edition by Postgate) states the opposite: `I won’t want to entrust anything to sealed letters, so that no one can read them before my love.’ This also would go better with the next lines.

(Could it be that the reading ne legat id nemo was adopted to make Sulpicia more harmless?)

sed peccasse(= peccavisse) iuvat: So Sulpicia is proud of her `sin’.

vultus conponere famae: to put a face on, keep the appearance for the sake of reputation (famae: dative.)

cum digno digna fuisse ferar: I might be said to have been an equal with an equal (In sinning and in love.)

Two renditions of this poem in English:

C.W.Conrad (with me legat ut.)

http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/docs/Sulpicia_corpus.pdf

At last has come a love I'd blush to hide

more than I'd fear the fame of secret bared.

The one I prayed to Venus for in verse

she brought me, laid him down upon my breast.

Venus has done her part; my joys proclaim,

if girl there be that's never had her own!

I'm not for sealing any secret in a note

to let my lover be the first to read!

My sin's my joy! To care what others think

annoys me; let them bruit my grand amour.

.

Anne Mahoney (with the reading ne legat id nemo.)

 At last the love I've waited for has come.

(No shame to say so: more to cover up).

My Camenae called on her in prayer,

and Cytherea brought him to my heart.

5Venus kept her promise: now she can tell

my tale of joy to those who don't believe.

I hardly want to give this letter up

so no one else sees it before he does.

I'm glad I did it — why wear a prudish mask,

as if he wasn't good enough for me!       

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