by Richard A LaFleur
CAPVT XXII
On Conquest, and Candles, and Keeping the Faith
This chapter’s selections include, besides the usual collection of ancient adages and proverbs, a dedicatory inscription to a Romano-Celtic war god, a letter to a friend from a soldier stationed at a provincial fort in Britain, an inscription from an “engagement” ring, some compelling and sombre epitaphs, two more of Martial’s “gift cards” to accompany some thoughtful presents, and the first of a series of fables presented in our text written by the popular Augustan writer Phaedrus, much of whose work was inspired by Aesop. Remember to read aloud and for comprehension, before attempting an English translation.
Grammatica nova: 5th-declension nouns; ablative case uses, including ablative of place where.
NSCRPTINS
Dedication to Mars Medocius and the Emperor Severus Alexander
DEO • MARTI • MEDOCIO • CAMP ESIVM • ET VICTORIE ALEXAN DRI • PII FELICIS • AVGVSTI • NOSI DONVM • LOSSIO • VEDA • DE • SVO POSVIT • NEPOS • VEPOGENI • CALEDO De Mrt Medoci Campesium et Victorie Alexandr Pi Flcis August nos dnum Lossi Vda d su posuit, neps Vepogen, Caled.
RIB 1.191: Dedicatory inscription set up by one Lossio Veda to the god Mars Medocius and to the victory of “Alexander Pius Felix Augustus,” i.e., the emperor commonly known as Severus Alexander, whose reign (A.D.. 222–235) provides the range of dates for the dedication; the deity apparently represents a synthesis of the Roman war god and an otherwise unknown local British or Celtic god. The lettering was punched onto a 3? x 8? bronze plate, found in a cemetery south of Colchester (ancient Camulodonum), England, site of a major Roman fortress and settlement.
Mrs, Mrtis, m., Mars, Roman god of war.—Medocius, -, m., Medocius; the name is otherwise unattested for a god, though some scholars have suggested a connection with a hero from Irish legend, “Miodhach” (a Celtic borrowing from Lat. medicus).—Campesium: the meaning of the word is disputed, though it may be a variant spelling, or misspelling, of the gen. pl. of campestris, campestre, of the plains, of the countryside, an epithet sometimes applied by the Romans—as here perhaps—to rustic deities, including Mars (originally a god of agriculture).—Victriae: here, in parallel to Mrt, the PERSONIFIED goddess of military triumph, object of a cult popular among soldiers and, in the provinces, often associated directly with the ruling emperor.—dnum: here referring to the bronze dedicatory inscription itself.—d su: a common formula in such inscriptions, indicating that the monument was set up at the dedicator’s expense.—pn, pnere, posu, positum, to put, place, set (up); “posit,” “position,” “deposit.”—neps, neptis, m., grandson, descendant, or even nephew (which is cognate); “nepotism.”—Vepogenus, -, m., Vepogenus; the name, though otherwise unattested, appears, like Lossio and Veda, to be Celtic.—Caled, Calednis, m., Caledonian, a person from Caledonia, i.e., Scotland, in northern Britain.
Dedicatory inscription to Mars Medocius, Colchester, England, third century A.D.. British Museum, London, Great Britain
© British Museum / Art Resource, NY
The Vindolanda Tablets: A New Year’s Letter to Cerialis
…] S CERIALI SVO SALVTEM EGO FRATER SACRIFICIO DIEM KALENDARVM SIC VT VOLVERAS DEDI[… […]s Ceril su saltem. Ego, frter, sacrifici diem Kalendrum, scut voluers, dedi[cv].
Vindolanda tablet 265: Fragment of a letter to Cerialis from a friend, who reports his performance of a religious ritual. This is the first of several of the so-called “Vindolanda tablets” included in our text; the several hundred documents, including both personal and official letters written in ink on thin sheets of wood, were first unearthed in the 1970s at Vindolanda (near modern Chesterholm in northern England), site of a Roman auxiliary fort established in the late 1st cent. A.D.. and occupied almost continuously into the 5th century. Excavations are continuing, but the documents unearthed thus far all date to a period shortly before construction commenced on Hadrian’s Wall in A.D.. 122, and provide us intimate and invaluable glimpses into daily life in the area of this Roman outpost; like the graffiti from Pompeii, the tablets are also precious specimens of ancient Roman handwriting. This particular letter is one of several from Vindolanda that show the writer’s effort to indicate some long vowels or accented syllables with an “apex,” as in fráter in the 3rd line.
Cerilis, Cerilis, m., Cerialis, a common Roman cognomen; the word broken off at the beginning of the letter, ending in -s, and preceding Ceril was doubtless the sender’s name.—With saltem sc. dat, a standard “salutation” beginning Roman letters.—frter: commonly used in addressing a close friend.—sacrificium, -, n., offering to a deity, sacrifice.—Kalendae, -rum, f. pl., Kalends, the Romans’ name for the first day of the month; “calendar.”—scut, adv. and conj., as, just as, as it were.—vol, velle, volu, to wish, want; be willing, will; “volition,” “volunteer.”—ddic (1), to proclaim; dedicate, consecrate (to); devote (to, for).
Vindolanda tablet 265, Vindolanda (near modern Chesterholm), Great Britain, second century A.D..
© The Vindolanda Trust
From a Lover’s Ring
BONAM AMO TE Bonam vtam! Am t am m serv fidem.
VITAM AMA ME
SERVA FIDEM
CIL 12.5693.8: Inscribed, along with an image of a half-moon, on a carnelian gemstone set in a ring from Aix-en-Provence, France; carnelian was commonly used by the Romans in signet rings and other jewelry.
bonam vtam, perhaps best interpreted as ACC. OF EXCLAMATION, though possibly in APPOSITION to t and thus to be punctuated with a comma rather than an exclamation mark.
TWO EPITAPHS:
Lucius Annius Octavius Valerianus
D • M • S • L • ANNIVS • OCTAVIVS • VALERIANVS • EVASI • EFFVGI • SPES • ET FORTVNA • VALETE • NIL • MIHI • VOVISCVM • EST • LVDIFICATE • ALIOS •
D(s) m(nibus) s(acrum). L(cius) Annius Octavius Valerianus.
vs, effg. Sps et Fortna, valte:
nl mihi vvscum est, ldificte alis.
CIL 6.11743: Epitaph from a sarcophagus found on the Via Appia; the second and third lines are an elegiac couplet on a theme common in funerary inscriptions.
mns, mnium, m. pl., shade, ghost, spirit; d mns, spirits of the dead, supernatural powers that protected the souls of the dead.—sacer, -cra,-crum, consecrated to a deity, sacred (to); “sacral,” “sacrifice.”—vd, vdere, vs, vsum, to go out and away; to pass (through/ beyond); “evade,” “evasive.”—effugi, effugere, effg, effugitrum, to flee from, flee away, escape; “fugitive,” “centrifuge.”—Sps…Fortna: here PERSONIFIED, actually viewed as deities; there were Roman temples to both.—nl: = nihil; nl mihi…est, freely = “I have nothing to do,” but what is the lit. translation?—vvs: = vbs; the spelling represents a common variant pronunciation.—ldific (1), to make sport of, trifle with.
QUAESTI: How would you characterize the tone of the epigram?
Umbricia Iusta
D • M VMBRICIAE • A FILIAE IVSTAE • VIXIT • AN • XV MENS • VII • DIES • DECE A • VMBRICIVS • MAGNVS ET • CLODIA • FELICITAS • PA RENTES • FILIAE • INCOMPARAB QVOD • FIA • PARENTIBVS • FACERE DEBVIT MORS • INTERCESSIT. FILIAE FECERVNT • PARENTES D(s) m(nibus) Umbriciae A(ul) fliae Istae; vxit an(ns) XV, mns(s) VII, dis dece(m). A(ulus) Umbricius Magnus et Cldia Flcits, parents, fliae incomparb(il). Quod fa parentibus facere dbuit, mors intercessit: fliae fcrunt parents.
CIL 10.3142: An epitaph from Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli, on the Bay of Naples), dedicated to the deceased by her father Aulus Umbricius Magnus and her mother Clodia Felicitas; the marble tombstone bearing the inscription also had depictions of bowls that were commonly used by the Romans for libations off ered to the dead. These are perhaps members of the same family as the Umbricius Scaurus from Pompeii who was well known for his garum (fish sauce) factory; see Capvt XXXIX below.
For ds mnibus, see the preceding epitaphs.—anns: the Romans used both abl. and acc. for time constructions; as dis here is certainly acc., AN must be an abbreviat
ion for anns and not anns.—mnsis, mnsis, m., month; “menses,” “menstrual.”—parns, parentis, m./ f., parent.—incomparbilis, -e, beyond comparison, unequaled, matchless; sc. with the clause some dir. obj. such as monumentum, monument, and a verb, e.g., ddicvrunt, from ddic (see notes on the Vindolanda tablet above), or posurunt, from pn, pnere, posu, positum, to put, place, set (up); “depose,” “repose.”—intercd, intercdere, intercess, intercessum, to intervene; obstruct, hinder, oppose; “intercede.”
QUAESTI: Explain the point, and the pathos, of the closing sentence; comment too on how the sentence’s parallel structure reinforces the point.
PRVERBIA ET DICTA
Quid est enim fids nisi crdere quod nn vids? (Augustine Evang. Iohan. 40.9: crdo, crdere, crdid, crditum, to believe, trust; “credo,” “credit,” “creed.”)
Pecnia na regimen est rrum omnium. (Publilius Sent.: regimen, regiminis, n., control, steering [of a ship]; controller, director; “regiment” cf. reg, rgna, rx.)
Patins et fortis s ipsum flcem facit. (Publilius Sent.: patins, gen. patientis, patient, capable of enduring.)
Verba rbus prob. (Seneca Ep. 20.1: prob [1], to approve of, commend; win approval for; prove; “probe,” “probable,” “approbation.”)
na dis aperit, cnficit na dis. (Ausonius Ros. Nasc. 2.40: dis, generally m., was often treated as fem., esp. when referring to a specific day or to the passing of time, as in this reference to a day in the life of a rose.—aperi, aperre, aperu, apertum, to open (up); disclose, reveal; “aperture.”—cnfici, cnficere, cnfc, cnfectum, to do, perform; complete, conclude; consume, wear out; destroy, kill; “confection.” What is the effect of the CHIASMUS?)
Omnis in ferr est sals. (Seneca Herc. Fur. 342.)
Facis tua computat anns. (Juvenal Sat. 6.199: facis, -, f., outward appearance, looks; face, countenance; “facial,” “prima facie.”—comput [1], to calculate, count up; “compute,” “computation.”)
Nunc autem manet fids, sps, crits—tria haec; maior autem hs est crits. (1 Corinthians 13.13: crits, crittis, f., dearness, high price; love, aff ection; “charity.”—maior, here = greatest, most important; “major,” “majority.”—hs, sc. ex.)
Modus omnibus rbus. (Plautus Poen. 238: sc. est.)
Mribus antqus rs stat Rmna virsque. (Ennius Ann. 467.)
Lgs, inquit, bonae ex mals mribus procreantur. (Macrobius Sat. 3.17.10: lx, lgis, f., law, statute; “legislate,” “legal.”—prcre [1], to beget, give birth to; generate, produce; “procreate.”)
LITTERTRA
Apophorta: Creus
Hic tibi nocturns praestbit creus igns:
Subducta est puer namque lucerna tu.
Martial Epig. 14.42: Candles were popular presents during the December holiday Saturnalia, especially as gifts from clients to patrons. For Martial’s Apophoreta, see Capvt VII; meter: elegiac couplet.
creus, -, m., wax candle.—nocturnus, -a, -um, of the night, nocturnal; “nocturne.”—praest, praestre, praestit, praestitum, to excel; exhibit, show, off er, provide.—subdc, subdcere, subdx, subductum, to draw up, raise; draw off; remove, steal; “subduce.”—puer…tu: separating the noun-adj. pair and positioning the noun at the line’s midpoint pause (the CAESURA) and its adj. at the end produces a kind of internal rhyme that was common in the short, pentameter verses of elegiac couplets.—namque: = nam.—lucerna, -ae, f., oil lamp.
Apophorta: Strigils
Pergamon hs msit. Curv dstringere ferr:
Nn tam saepe teret lintea fullo tibi.
Martial Epig. 14.51: This note accompanied a set of strigils (strigilis, strigilis, f.), implements commonly used in Roman baths for scraping bathing oil (typically stored in a jar called an “aryballos”), sweat, or dirt from the skin.
Pergamon, -, n., Pergamum, a city in Mysia, a district of northwest Asia Minor.—curvus, -a, -um, curved, crooked; wrong.—dstringere, a relatively rare pass. imperat., lit., be scraped = scrape yourself.—tam, adv., so, to such a degree.—ter, terere, trv, trtum, to rub, wear out; “detritus.”—linteum, -, n., linen cloth; towel, napkin; “lint.”—full, fullnis, m., fuller, launderer; final - was often shortened in Lat. poetry, a reflection of conversational speech. Martial’s point is that if the bather scrapes off as much of the bath oil as possible, his towel will be less soiled and more easily cleaned.
Toilet set with aryballos and two strigils on a chain. British Museum, London, Great Britain
© The Trustees of the British Museum
The Packs on Our Backs
D Vitis Hominum
Prs imposuit Iuppiter nbs dus:
propris repltam vitis post tergum dedit,
alins ante pectus suspendit gravem.
Hc r vidre nostra mala nn possumus;
ali simul dlinquunt, cnsrs sumus.
Phaedrus Fab. 4.10: Gaius Julius Phaedrus (ca. 15 B.C.–A.D.. 50), a freedman of the emperor Augustus, composed 5 volumes of moralizing fables in verse (chiefly, as here, iambics), many of them animal fables based on those of the early, semi-legendary Greek fabulist Aesop; Phaedrus’ work established fable as a formal literary genre and has remained popular over the centuries. Several of these brief, lively, often humorous poems are included among the readings in this book, for the insights they provide into the philosophizing and ethics of the Roman “man on the street.”
pra, -ae, f., shoulder bag, satchel, backpack.—impn, impnere, imposu, impositum, to put on, place on; “impose,” “imposition.”—dus: which noun in the line must this adj. modify? Remember this caveat: nouns and their modifying adjectives, while usually adjacent in prose, are often widely separated in verse, so it is all the more important when reading poetry to pay very close attention to the word endings that signal noun-adj. agreement; you’ll find another example of noun-adj. separation in the poem’s next line.—Iuppiter, Iovis, m., Jupiter, Jove, king of the gods and chief Olympian deity.—proprius, -a, -um, one’s own, peculiar, proper, personal; “appropriate,” “proprietary.”—repltus, -a, -um, full (of), replete (with); repltam, sc. pram.—tergum, -, n., back.—alinus, -a, -um, belonging to another (from alius), another person’s; the verse is quite elliptical: with alins sc. vitis, and with gravem sc. pram.—pectus, pectoris, n., breast, chest, heart; “pectoral,” “expectorate.”—suspend, suspendere, suspend, suspnsum, to hang up, suspend; interrupt; “suspension.”—simul, adv., in company, together; at the same time, at once; as soon as; “simultaneity.”—dlinqu, dlinquere, dlqu, dlictum, to be lacking, fail; misbehave, do wrong, err; “delinquent,” “delict.”—cnsor, cnsris, m., censor, one of two Roman officials appointed every four or five years to update citizen lists and remove individuals found guilty of crimes or moral offences; more generally, judge, critic; “censorious,” “censure.”
GRAMMATICA
Nmina: List all the 5th-declension nouns in this chapter’s readings, and identify the number, gender, and case of each; consult the Summrium Frmrum appendix, if necessary. Next identify all ablative nouns and pronouns and specify the grammatical use or function of each.
CAPVT XXIII
Politics, Prophecies, and Broken Promises
The readings in this chapter include several oracular responses from a shrine near Padua, some electoral programmata comparable to modern “negative campaign ads,” Martial’s satiric comment on a lady who never quite gives what she promises, and a humorous scene from the popular “Banquet of Trimalchio” episode in Petronius’ Satyricon. The chapter’s Prverbia et Dicta provide insights into Roman views on trust, justice, and the labors of love.
Grammatica nova: Participles.
NSCRPTINS
The Oracle Speaks
CIL 12.2174, 2177, 2182, 2183, 2185, 2187, 2189: The ancient Greeks and Romans frequently consulted soothsayers, or “oracles,” for answers to questions on both public and personal matters; Delphi in Greece was one of the major oracular sanctuaries, sacred to Apollo, but there were many others throughout the Mediterranean world, and the so-called “Sibylline oracles” were especially fam
ous in Roman history. While few of the questions survive, we have many of the oracular responses (Latin sorts), some preserved in literary texts and others, like those presented here, inscribed on small bronze tablets designed to be drawn from an urn. Typical responses, like those here, were brief, often just a sentence or two, enigmatic (sometimes like the predictions we read in Chinese fortune cookies), and composed in roughly dactylic hexameter rhythms—both the verse form and the obscure language were supposed to validate the messages’ divine origin. These several inscriptions are part of a group of 17 found possibly in the remains of a temple of Fortuna near Padua and usually dated to the first cent. B.C.
2174:
CREDIS QVOD DEICVNT NON SVNT ITA NE FORE STVLTV Crdis quod deicunt? Nn sunt ita: n for stultu.
crd, crdere, crdid, crditum, to believe, trust; “credit,” “credible,” “creed.”—deicunt: = dcunt; as we have seen before, the diphthong ei was commonly substituted for long in inscriptions, a reflection of actual speech patterns.—ita, adv., so, thus.—n fors: do not be.
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