Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes
Page 7
Quid est vrits? (John 18.38.)
Generss anims labor ntrit. (Seneca Ep. 4.31.5: genersus, -a, -um, high-born, noble; “generous,” “generosity.”—ntri, ntrre, ntrv, ntrtum, to feed at the breast, nurse; nourish, foster; “nutriment,” “nutrition.”)
Senects ipsa est morbus. (Terence Phorm. 575.)
Vvere est cgitre. (Cicero Tusc. 5.111.)
Some final imperatives from Dionysius Cato to his son (for Cato’s “Monostichs,” see Capvt II):
12. Meretrcem fuge. (meretrx, meretrcis, f., courtesan, prostitute; “meretricious.”)
13. Aleam fuge. (alea, -ae, f., game of chance, gambling.)
14. Quod satis est dorm. (quod, rel. pron., what.—dormi, dormre, dormv, dormtum, to sleep; “dormitory,” “dormant.”)
15. Lbers rud. (lber as adj. means free, but in the m. pl. it can also = children.—rudi, rudre, rudv, rudtum, to instruct, train, educate; a wonderful etymology, meaning lit. to get someone ex/ out of being rudis/ rough, crude, unpolished—so, gentle reader, learn Latin, cease to be “rude,” become “erudite,” and rejoice in your “erudition”!)
GRAMMATICA
Verba: List all the imperatives of 3rd-i and 4th-conjugation verbs, identify them as either 3rd or 4th conjugation, and then transform the singulars to plural and vice versa. Next find all the other 3rd-and 4th-conjugation verbs, identify their conjugation (3rd or 4th), person, number, tense, mood, and voice, and then transform each present tense form to future and imperfect (in the same number and person), each future to present and imperfect, and each imperfect to present and future. Consult the Summrium Frmrum appendix, if you need review, and to check your work.
CAPVT XI
Looking for Love, Seizing the Day, and Wearing Your Hat in the Sun
In this chapter you’ll read short graffiti on learning, and loving, and the emptiness of death—and an epitaph exhorting us to live in the moment. The several dicta include St. John’s pronouncement that, when you know the truth, it will “set you free.” The chapter concludes with two Martial epigrams, one a gift note to accompany a hat for wearing to the theater on a sunny but windy day. Remember to read each of these texts aloud first, and to read for comprehension, before attempting to translate into English.
Grammatica nova: The personal pronouns ego, t, and is, and the demonstratives is and dem.
NSCRPTINS
But What Was the Subject?
TV • ENIM • ME • DOCES T enim m docs!
CIL 4.1927: Hopefully it was something the graffito’s writer wanted to learn!
Easy Does It!
AMO TE FACILIS FAC MI COPIA Am t, Facilis: fac m cpia
CIL 4.10234: Graffito from the necropolis at Porta di Nocera, on the Via di Nocera, Pompeii.
Facilis: voc. of the 3rd-decl. adj. meaning easy, here either someone’s actual cognomen or, more likely, a pet name; certainly the amorous man (or woman) who scribbled the message intended the fac/ facilis wordplay, a bit of etymologizing typical of Roman humor (both words, of course, are from the same root, like “do” and “doable”).—fac: remember the irregular 3rd-conj. sg. imperatives, dc, dc, fac, and fer.—m: a common alternate form of mihi.—cpiam: generally supply or abundance, but the word often means, esp. with faci as here, admission or access to a person; the love poet Propertius poses this question to a character in one of his poems (El. 1.9.15), quid s nn esset facilis tibi cpia, what if there weren’t (such) easy access (to women) for you?
Carpe Diem!
PRIMAE
POMPEIAE
OSSVA • HEIC
FORTVNA • SPONDET • MVLTA
MVLTIS • PRAESTAT • NEMINI • VIVE IN DIES
ET • HORAS • NAM • PROPRIVM • EST • NIHIL
SALVIVS • ET • HEROS • DANT
Prmae Pompeiae ossua heic.
Fortna spondet multa mults, praestat nmin.
Vve in dis et hrs, nam proprium est nihil.
Salvius et Hrs dant.
CIL 12.1219: Epitaph of Prima Pompeia, dedicated by Salvius and Heros, probably freedmen; inscription from a 2nd-cent. B.C. marble tablet found outside the Porta Pinciana, Rome. The lines from Fortna to nihil are in iambic trimeter verse, but there is a metrical irregularity in the first line, possibly a mistake made by the sculptor (some scholars suppose the engraver accidentally substituted fortna for its synonym fors).
Prmae: The cognomen Prma was commonly given to a first-born daughter.—ossua, ossuum, n. pl., bones (of a deceased person); “ossuary.”—heic: common variant for hc, adv., in this place, here.—sponde, spondre, spopond, spnsum, to give a pledge; promise; “sponsor,” “respond,” “despondent.”—praest, praestre, praestit, praestitum, to exhibit, show; present, give.—dis: acc. pl., with in here = for your days, for the day.—nam, conj., for.—proprius, -a, -um, one’s own (to keep forever); “property,” “appropriate.”
QUAESTI: Comment on the philosophy underlying this epitaph; compare the following graffito and contrast its tone.
A Waste
TV • MORTVS • ES TV • NVGAS • ES T mortus es: t ngs es!
CIL 4.5279: Graffito from a wall in a Pompeian garden.
mortuus, -a, -um, dead; “mortuary,” “mortician.”—ngae, -rum, f. pl., worthlessness, absurdity; nonsense; worthless stuff, trash; ngs here is probably the scribbler’s error for nom. ngae.
QUAESTI: Comment on the diction and tone of this graffito; what effect may the writer have intended in his use of the personal pronoun?
PRVERBIA ET DICTA
Bonus es t, et in bonitte tu doc m. (Psalms 118.68: bonits, bonittis, f., moral excellence, goodness; kindness, benevolence; what common 1st/ 2nd-decl. adj. is this abstract noun derived from?)
S tibi amcum nn mihi inimcum. (Erasmus Ad. 2.1.33: amcum, sc. est, [something is] agreeable.—inimcus, -a, -um, unfriendly, hostile; disagreeable; “inimical.” The proverb goes back to Plato.)
Belva multrum es capitum. (Horace Epist. 1.1.76: belva, -ae, f., beast, wild animal; monster, brute; so Horace characterizes the Roman mob. What effect is achieved by separating capitum from its adj. and delaying it to the end of the sentence?)
Est deus in nbs. (Ovid Ars Am. 3.549 and Fas. 6.5.)
Etiam sine lge poena est cnscientia. (Publilius Sent.: lx, lgis, f., statute, law; “legality,” “legislature.”—cnscientia, -ae, f., consciousness, knowledge; conscience.)
Historia vr testis temporum, lx vrittis, vta memoriae, magistra vtae, nntia vetusttis. (Cicero Or. 2.36: historia, -ae, f., inquiry, investigation; history, the writing of history.—vr, adv., in truth, indeed, to be sure; however; “very,” “verify.”—testis, testis, m., witness; “testify,” “testimony.”—lx, lcis, f., light; “lucid,” “translucent.”—memoria, -ae, f., memory, recollection; “memorialize.”—nntia, -ae, f., more commonly nntius, -, m., messenger; “announce,” “denunciation.”—vetusts, vetusttis, f., condition of being old, age; people, institutions of the distant past, antiquity; “veteran,” “inveterate.” Comment on Cicero’s use of PERSONIFICATION.)
Nec vta nec fortna hominibus perpes est. (Publilius Sent.: perpes = perpetua.)
Aliter d ills ac d nbs idicmus. (Cicero Off. 1.9.30: aliter, adv. from alius, -a, -ud, in another way, otherwise, differently.—ac, conj., and, and also; here, than.—idic [1], to judge; “adjudicator,” “judicial.”)
Cognsctis vrittem et vrits lberbit vs. (John 8.32: cognsc, cognscere, cognv, cognitum, to become acquainted with, learn, recognize; “cognition,” “cognizant.”—lber [1], to free, liberate. Do you see the CHIASMUS?)
nsn nm in amre videt. (Propertius El. 2.14.18: nsnus, -a, -um, demented, frenzied, mad; “insane,” “insanity.”)
Homins id quod volunt crdunt. (Caesar B. Gall. 3.18: quod, rel. pron., which.—vol, velle, volu, irreg. 3rd-conj. verb, to wish, want, be willing, will; “volition,” “volunteer.”—crd, crdere, crdid, crditum, to believe, trust; “credibility,” “credulous.”)
Patria est ubicumque bene es. (Seneca Rem. Fort. 8.2: ubi
cumque, adv., wherever; “ubiquitous.”)
Nn veniunt in idem pudor atque amor. (Ovid Her. 15.121: pudor, pudris, m., (sense of) shame; decency, modesty; scrupulousness; “impudent.”—atque, conj., and, and also, and even.)
LITTERTRA
Man Overboard!
D tibi naumachiam, t ds epigrammata nbs:
vs, puto, cum libr, Mrce, natre tu.
Martial Epig. 1.5: One type of gladiatorial spectacle wildly popular with the Romans was the naumachia (-ae, f.), a mock naval battle staged by ships in a flooded amphitheater engineered for the purpose, like the Colosseum in Rome; like other such games, the naumachia could be staged by government officials, ordinarily the aediles, or by wealthy individuals. Meter: elegiac couplet.
epigramma, epigrammatis, n., inscription, epitaph; short poem, epigram.—vs, you wish (from the irreg. verb vol).—put (1), to reckon, suppose, judge, think, imagine; “putative,” “dispute.” Final - was often shortened in poetry, as we have seen before, for metrical convenience and as a reflection of ordinary speech.—nat (1), to swim; “natatorium.”
QUAESTI: You are safe to assume that this squib is meant to insult its addressee, as is typically the case with Martial’s epigrams; what do you suppose the point of the joke is here?
Mock naval battle (naumachia), from the Temple of Isis, Pompeii. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Italy
Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY
Apophorta: Causea
In Pompein tcum spectb thetr,
nam fltus popul vla negre solet.
Martial Epig. 14.29: Another party gift note, this one to accompany a hat, which here “speaks” to the gift’s recipient (for Martial’s Apophoreta poems, see Capvt VII). Awnings were often provided at gladiatorial games, but when they were not available, in this case due to the windy conditions, spectators often wore hats to protect them from the hot Mediterranean sun. The causea was one type of wide-brimmed hat; another was the petasus. Meter: elegiac couplet.
Pompeinus, -a, -um, at/ of Pompeii, Pompeian.—spect (1), to watch, be a spectator; “spectacle,” “spectacular.”—thetrum, -, n., theater; “theatrical.”—nam, conj., for, since.—fltus, -s, (4th decl.), m., wind; “inflate,” “flatulence.”—vlum, -, n., awning; “velum,” “veil.”—neg (1), to deny, say that…not; “negate,” “negative.”—sole, solre, solitus sum, to be accustomed; “insolent,” “obsolete.”
The Large Theater, Pompeii, Italy
Robert I. Curtis
GRAMMATICA
Prnmina: List all the personal pronouns and demonstratives in the chapter’s readings, identify the number, case, and case usage of each, and then transform all singulars to plural and vice versa. Consult the Summrium Frmrum for review and to check your answers.
CAPVT XII
Men Who Deceive, the Heedless Dead, and Doctors in Novel Positions
This chapter’s inscriptions range widely from a few graffiti, including a bit of bathroom humor at an imperial physician’s expense, to the famous inscriptions on the archaic Duenos bowl and Rome’s splendid Pantheon, to several epitaphs asserting the absolute oblivion of death. Among the Prverbia et Dicta is Seneca’s familiar pronouncement on the kinship of genius and madness, and the closing text is an epigram of Martial’s reporting an eye-doctor’s curious change of profession.
Grammatica nova: The perfect active indicative verb system.
NSCRPTINS
Deception
RESTITVTVS MVLTAS DECEPIT SEPE PVELLAS Restitutus mults dcpit spe puells.
CIL 4.5251: Pompeian graffito from the Vico del Centenario, in (roughly) dactylic hexameter rhythm; all educated Romans studied poetry, and there was no lack of would-be poets either in Rome or among those who scribbled their sentiments on the walls of Pompeii’s buildings.
Restitutus: the u in the base of this cognomen was ordinarily long (Restittus ), but was treated as short by the author of this graffito, either a reflection of how the name was sometimes pronounced in daily speech (what the Romans called serm ctdinus) or just a bit of “poetic license” on the part of whoever wrote this.—dcipi, dcipere, dcp, dceptum, to deceive; “deceptive.”—spe: = saepe, reflecting a common variant of spelling (and pronunciation); spe in fact became the standard spelling in medieval Latin: be aware that language is constantly changing!
QUAESTINS: Who might have written this graffito?—i.e., what might his (or her) relationship to Restitutus have been? Word order in poetry was often different from that of prose or normal speech, often for metrical reasons; what variations from standard word order do you notice here?
Kilroy?
PARIS • HIC FVIT Paris hc fuit.
CIL 4.1305: Graffito from Pompeii’s Via di Mercurio.
Paris, Paridis, m., Paris, a cognomen. There were actors of this name during the reigns of both Nero and Domitian, but the cognomen was not uncommon, and so this Paris could have been anyone—like the “Kilroy” of the ubiquitous World War II graffito, “Kilroy was here,” which was typically accompanied by a cartoon of a man peering over a fence, with just his eyes, nose, and hands showing.—hc, adv., here; the phrase hc fuit, along with the scribbler’s name, turns up in countless Lat. graffiti, e.g., Aufidius hc fuit (CIL 4.6702).
The Imperial Physician’s “Throne”
APOLLINARIS • MEDICVS • TITI • IMP HIC CACAVIT BENE Apollinris, medicus TitImp(ertris), hc cacvit bene.
CIL 4.10619: Graffito on the wall of (not surprisingly) a latrine in the House of the Gem, at Herculaneum; written possibly by Apollinaris himself, but more likely by some irreverent loiterer—imagine a similar “exposé” on the U.S. President’s Surgeon General, scrawled on the walls of a toilet in Miami!
Apollinris, Apollinris, m., Apollinaris, a cognomen, here that of the emperor Titus’ physician, possibly to be identified with a medical writer of the same name. As Titus became emperor in June, A.D.. 79, Apollinaris’ visit to Herculaneum must have been shortly before the destruction wrought by the eruption of Vesuvius in late August of that year (unless the title impertor here refers instead to Titus’ generalship, to which he was appointed several years earlier).—Titus, -, m., Titus, a Roman praenomen; Titus Flavius Vespasianus, the emperor Titus, governed the Empire from the death of his father Vespasian in June 79 until his own death in September, 81.—impertor, impertris, m., general, commander-in-chief; emperor; “imperial.”—cac (1), to defecate; as noted in an earlier chapter, the verb had relatively little shock value in imperial Rome, though doubtless the doctor himself would have been less than pleased.
Latrine from the Forum Baths, Ostia, Italy, second century A.D..
James C. Anderson, jr.
The Duenos Bowl
DECEFDEMSONEVD (= DVENOS MED FECED) Duenos md fced.
CIL 12.4: Some of the oldest Latin inscriptions, like this one, are simply “signatures,” on household and art objects, of the producer/ artist or the person dedicating the object as a religious offering. The signature transcribed here was part of a much longer (and imperfectly understood) inscription on a piece of terracotta ware consisting of three tiny vases (possibly for a woman’s cosmetics) fused together in a triangular configuration, which was excavated in the late 19th cent. as part of a votive deposit on the Quirinal Hill in Rome. Dating to ca. 580–570 B.C., the inscription is one of the very oldest examples of written Latin, and is interesting for its antiquity, the archaic spellings, and the fact that, like other early inscriptions, it was inscribed from right to left and without spacing between words.
Duenos: either the name of the potter or dedicator, Duenos, or, as some scholars believe, an archaic form for bonus, here used as a SUBSTANTIVE and referring to the maker or dedicator.—md: = m, referring to the vase itself, which, as is common in such inscriptions (cf. “Hands Off,” Capvt IV), “speaks” to the person viewing or handling the object; the -d is an archaic acc. ending.—fced: archaic equivalent of fcit.
QUAESTINS: Another object supposedly found in a burial, a small, intricate gold clasp commonly known
as the “Praeneste fibula,” was once dated by archaeologists to the late seventh century B.C. and long thought to bear the oldest surviving Latin text (a distinction now held by the “Tita” inscription in Capvt II above), but subsequently determined to be a nineteenth-century forgery; its text (CIL 12.3), written from right to left, reads, in left to right order, MANIOS MED FHEFHAKED NVMASIOI = Manius m fcit Numeri: how would this be translated? (Numerius was both a praenomen and a nomen, and could be either here.) What would motivate a forger to produce such an artifact?
The Pantheon
M • AGRIPPA • L • F • COS • TERTIVM • FECIT
M(rcus) Agrippa, L(ci) f(lius), c(n)s(ul) tertium, fcit.
CIL 6.896: The M. Agrippa credited here with building the Pantheon, Rome’s monumental temple to “All the Gods” located in the Campus Martius, was the Roman statesman and military commander Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (ca. 64–12 B.C.), son of Lucius Vipsanius Agrippa. The younger Agrippa was an intimate friend, lieutenant, and ultimately son-in-law to Octavian, the future emperor Augustus, and commanded Octavian’s successful naval battle against Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 B.C. Agrippa designed and oversaw construction of the first Pantheon in 27–25 B.C.; Hadrian (emperor A.D.. 117–38) rebuilt the temple early during his reign but retained the dedicatory inscription.