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.
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 5th 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.)
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.
