It is unknown who the Ibis in Ovid’s poem Ibis is, but we all know people to whom
we would gladly apply the curses and invectives with which this work is
abounding. One reason for wrestling with an unhappy life is an ominous
constellation of sun, moon and stars at one’s birth and according to Ovid, Ibis
was born under such an unfortunate condition and he rubs it in with jealous making
verbal virtuosity. We less gifted mortals can only learn these lines by heart
and whenever we find someone we dislike in unhappy circumstances, recite it to
our satisfaction.
Ovidius, Ibis,
207-222
Natus es infelix, - ita di voluere - nec ulla
commoda
nascenti stella levisve fuit.
210
Non Venus
affulsit, non illa Iuppiter hora,
lunaque non apto solque fuere loco,
nec satis
utiliter positos tibi praebuit ignes
quem peperit magno lucida Maia Iovi.
Te fera nec
quicquam placidum spondentia Martis 215
sidera presserunt falciferique senis.
Lux quoque
natalis, ne quid nisi triste videres,
turpis et inductis nubibus atra fuit.
Haec est, in
fastis cui dat gravis Allia nomen,
quaeque dies Ibin, publica damna,
tulit. 220
Qui simul
impura matris prolapsus ab alvo
Cinyphiam foedo corpore pressit
humum,
sedit in adverso nocturnus culmine bubo,
funereoque graves edidit ore sonos.
voluere = voluerunt
commodus:
easy, freindly
(tibi ) nascenti
affulgeo affulsi:
to shine on
fuere = fuerunt
praebeo praebui
praebitum: to give, offer, supply
(is), quem: i.e. Mercury, son of Maia and
Jupiter
pario peperi
partum: to give birth
lucida Maia: Maia is one of the seven Pleiades
ferus: fierce
nec quicquam
placidum spondentia: promising nothing peaceful
Martis sidera: honorific plural = Martis sidus = Mars
falciferi senis:
and (the stars) of the sickle bearing old man. The old man is Saturn, who is
often depicted with a sickle, with which he cuts away time.
lux natalis = dies
natalis
ne quid nisi triste
videres: in order that you would see nothing but sorrowful
turpis: sombre, sad
induco induxi
inductum: to bring, gather
ater atra atrum:
black
haec est (dies), cui…et quae
fasti fastorum:
list of official days, calendar
Allia: on June 18 or 18 in 387 or 390 BC the Romans were
defeated by the Gauls near the banks of the river Allia. Subsequently the Gauls
took in Rome. Hence dies alliensis
`unlucke day’.
publica damna:
a public disaster
tulit: brought
to light, brought forth
simul: as soon
as
impura: some editiors prefer the reading inpurae.
impura: some editiors prefer the reading inpurae.
prolabor prolapsus
sum: to slip
alvus (f!):
womb
Cyniphius: African
foedus:
repulsive, ugly
pressit humum: after the birth, the child was put on the
ground. Once lifted up by the father it was recognized as legitimate. This implication is of course that Ibis was
not a legitimate child.
culmen culminis
(n.): top (of a tree or a house)
bubo bubonis (m.): owl
funereo ore:
with a funeral voice
edo edidi editum:
to bring forth, utter
Saturn by Polidoro da Caravaggio (c. 1499 – 1543)
Translation by A.S. Klyne (2003)
You were born unfortunate (the gods willed it so),
and no star was kind or beneficent at your birth.
Venus did not shine, nor Jupiter, in that hour,
neither Moon nor Sun were favourably placed,
nor did Mercury, whom that bright Maia bore
to great Jove, offer his fires in any useful aspect.
Cruel Mars that promises no peace, lowered down,
and that planet of aged Saturn, with his scythe.
And the day of your birth was dark and impure,
overcast with cloud, so you would only see sadness.
This is the day to which, in our history, the fatal
Allia gives it name: Ibis’s day brought ruin to our
people.
As soon as he’d fallen from his mother’s foul
womb, his vile body lay on Cinyphian soil,
a night-owl sat over against him on the heights,
and uttered dire sounds in a funereal voice,.
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