Wednesday 30 October 2019

Jacques de Vitry, exemplum 248: a clever adulteress.


A class of literature already in existence in Antiquity, but very popular in de Middle Ages, were the Exempla, anecdotes to illustrate a moral point. These exempla were often used by preachers to ornate their sermons. Especially for such purposes collections of exempla were gathered and one of those collectors was Jacques de Vitry (Jacobus de Vitriaco, c. 1160/70 – 1 May 1240), a French theologian. These stories have often a comic and even absurd twist and are full with stereotypes.  Still – or because of that - they do have their  charm, and as the language is often quite simple, they can serve as easy reading, be it not in flawless Classical Latin. In the following story a wife has to bring the best tooth of her husband to her lover, as proof that she loves him more than her husband. Shrewd wives and credulous men are recurring topics in exempla and I guess much to the joy of the public.
There is no translation, but that isn’t necessary with these simple texts.

Jacques de Vitry, Exempla, number 248 (text after Jakob Ulrich, Proben der Lateinischen Novellistik des Mittelalters, Leipzig 1906)

Audivi de quadam mala muliere, cui maritus ejus per omnia credebat, quae cum ire vellet adulterum suum, dicebat viro suo, "Infirmus es, intra lectum meum, et sudabis, et vide ne surgas donec dixero tibi." Tunc illa firmans ostium camerae, et secum clavem portans, ibat, et non revertebatur usque ad vesperum. Illе vero credens se esse infirmum, non audebat de lecto surgere donec rediret uxor ejus, et diceret, "Amice, potes surgere: video quod curatus es ab infirmitate." Quadam autem die, cum illa diceret adultero quod diligeret eum plusquam maritum suum, ille respondit, "In hoc probabo quod verum est quod dicis,  si meliorem dentem quem habet maritus tuus dederis mihi." At illa ad maritum reversa, cepit plorare et tristitiam simulare. Cui maritus ait, " Quid habes ? Quare luges?" At illa, "Non audeo dicere." "Volo," inquit, "ut dicas mihi." Cumque ille multum instaret, tandem illa dixit, "Tantus fetor ex ore tuo procedit, quod jam non possum sustinere." Ille vero admirans et dolens ait, "Quare non dixeras mihi prius: possemne aliquod remedium adhibere?" Cui illa, "Non est aliquod remedium, nisi ut facias extrahi dentem illum ex quo tantus fœtor procedit." Et ita ad exhortationem uxoris fecit extrahi bonum et sanum dentem quem illa ostendit illi, et statim dentem illum asportavit et dedit leccatori. Non est facile credendi uxori nec consiliis adulterae acquiescendi.

maritus: husband
credo credidi creditum (+ dat.): to trust
per omnia: completely
infirmus: ill
intro (-are): to enter
lectus: bed
sudo (-are): to sweat
vide: take care
donec: until
firmo (-are): to lock
ostium: door
camera: chamber, room
audeo ausus sum: to dare
deligo delegi delectum: to love
in hoc probabo: I will believe with this (proof)
cepit = incepit: began
ploro (-are): to cry
lugeo luxti luctum: to mourn, lament
insto institi (-are): to urge, press
tandem: finally
fetor fetoris (m.): bad smell
admiror admiratus: to wonder
doleo dolui: to suffer, to feel sorry
adhibeo adhibui adhibitum: to furnish, apply, give
ut facias extrahi dentem: that you make the tooth to be extracted = you let extract the tooth
quem illa ostendit illi: whom she pointed to him
asporto = abs-porto (-are): to carry away, transport,
leccator leccatoris: drunken person, lecher,  adulter
non..acquiescendi: It is not easy to trust a wife nor (is it easy) to believe the counsels of an adulteress. (Note facile plus genitive: in ML the genitive is often substituted for the dative. Apart from that in CL facile is also constructed with the infinitive and ad plus gerund, never with the gerund in the dative. ML happily mixes all constructions.)




No comments:

Post a Comment