Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes

by Richard A LaFleur

  QUAESTINS: Comment on the wordplay in Venerem…venustum. What is the intended effect of the ANAPHORA imus…imus? If you were the poet, how might you finish out the sixth verse (in English at least, if not in Latin)?

  Graffito from the House of Poppaeus Sabinus, Pompeii, Italy

  Kay Stanton (from CIL)

  And a Lover Curses His Would-be Rival

  SI • QVIS FORTE • MEAM • CVPIET • VIO[…PVELLAM • ILLVM • IN • DESERTIS MONTIBVS • VRAT AMOR

  S quis forte meam cupiet vio[lre] puellam, illum in dserts montibus rat amor.

  CIL 4.1645: Written on a post beneath a drawing of the god Mercury; Vico dei Soprastanti, Pompeii. This scribbler curses any prospective rival for his girlfriend’s aff ection, but does so in an elegiac couplet! CIL’s editors compare another graffito in which the writer, Crescens, expresses the hope that his rival will be eaten by a bear—also in the mountains!

  forte, adv., by chance, accidentally; “fortuitous.”—viol (1), to desecrate, violate, profane; treat violently, injure; violate (sexually).—dsertus, -a, -um, deserted, uninhabited.—r, rere, uss, ustum, to destroy by fire, burn; “combustible.”

  QUAESTI: Comment on the METAPHOR in rat amor, and compare amris igns in the preceding graffito.

  Sculptrx: Terentia’s Farewell to Her Brother

  VIDI PYRAMIDAS SINE TE DVLCISSIME FRATER ET TIBI QVOD POTVI LACRIMAS HIC MAESTA PROFVDI ET NOSTRI MEMOREM LVCTVS HANC SCVLPO QVERELAM. SIC NOMEN DECIMI CENTIANNI PYRAMIDE ALTA PONTIFICIS COMITISQVE TVIS TRAIANE TRIVMPHIS LVSTRA SEX INTRA CENSORIS CONSVL IS ESSE[…

  Vd pramids sine t, dulcissime frter,

  et tibi, quod potu, lacrims hc maesta profd,

  et nostr memorem lucts hanc sculpo querlam.

  Sc nmen Decim Gentin pramide alt,

  pontificis comitisque tus, Trine, triumphs,

  5

  lstra sex intr cnsris, cnsulis, exst[et].

  CIL 3.21 (and compare 3.6625): A lament in dactylic hexameter verse composed by a woman (as attested by the feminine adjective maesta in the 3rd verse) for her deceased brother, and inscribed on the stone facing, now lost, of the Great Pyramid in the Giza necropolis outside Cairo, Egypt. The deceased has been identified, from external evidence, as Decimus Terentius Gentianus, consul in A.D.. 116 and an illustrious senator during the reign of Trajan (Trinus, emperor A.D.. 98–117); the poem’s author, Gentianus’ sister and thus named Terentia, was clearly well educated, as her composition is reasonably well crafted and contains echos of earlier Latin poets, including Horace and Ovid. Several poems by Roman women have been found on other Egyptian monuments of this same period; the stone on which this one was inscribed has been lost and the transcription is in some places uncertain (the transcription above is, as usual, essentially that of the CIL, but the edited version follows the restoration of Franz Bücheler in CLE).

  pramis, pramidis, acc. pl. pramids, f., pyramid (either in general or one of the Egyptian Pyramids).—quod: here = whatever, as much as.—lacrima (lacruma), -ae, f., tear; “lacrimal ducts,” “lacrimose.”—maestus, -a, -um, unhappy, sad, mournful.—prfund, prfundere, prfd, prfsum, to pour forth; “profuse,” “profusion.”—memor, gen. memoris, mindful; + gen., preserving the memory (of), commemorative (of).—lctus, -s, m., grief, mourning.—sculp, sculpere, sculps, sculptum, to carve, sculpt; engrave (an inscription, drawing, design) on a surface; “sculpture” final -, as we have seen before, was often shortened in poetry. This is of course one of the activities alluded to in the title of this text, Scribblers, Scvlptors, and Scribes.—querla, -ae, f., grievance, complaint; lament; “querulous,” “quarrel.”—nostr memorem lcts hanc…querlam: this sort of INTERLOCKING WORD ORDER, often in an adj.1—adj.2—noun1—noun2 alternating pattern, is a common feature of Lat. verse.—altus, -a, -um, high, lofty, towering, deep; “altitude,” “exalt.”—pramide: sc. in; prepositions usual in prose were commonly omitted in verse.—pontifex, pontificis, m., pontifex; member of the “college” of pontiff s, who typically wielded considerable political and religious authority in Rome. The head of the college was called the Pontifex Maximus, which survived into modern times as a title sometimes applied to the Catholic Pope.—comes, comitis, m./ f., companion; friend, comrade; “concomitant,” “count” (a nobleman’s title); used here, as often, of one of the emperor’s inner circle of advisors.—triumphus, -, m., triumph, triumphal procession, a ceremony celebrating the conquests of a victorious general.—lstrum, -, n., purification ceremony, lustration, a ceremony performed by Rome’s censors every five years, hence the word’s additional sense, seen here, five-year period; “lustral.”—intr, prep. + acc., within, inside; “intramural.”—cnsor, cnsris, m., censor, one of the high-ranking Roman officials appointed every four or five years to update citizen lists; “censorious.”—pontificis comitis…cnsris, cnsulis: all four nouns are in APPOSITION with Gentin.—exst, exstre, exstit, to stand out; exist, be found; “extant.”

  QUAESTINS: What specific adventure does Terentia lament experiencing without her brother? How does the poem demonstrate the woman’s pride in her family? By what exceptionally young age had Terentius held the offices his sister enumerates?

  Epitaph to Clodia Charis

  D•M

  L • ARVLENVS

  ZOSIMVS • FECIT

  CLODIAE • CHARI

  DI • SVAE • CONIVG

  DVLCISSIMAE

  QVAE SI AD VITAE

  METAM PERVENISSET

  NON HOMINIB

  NEQ • DIS INVIDI

  SSET VIX SECVM

  VIXIT DIES XV D(s) m(nibus) L(cius) Arulnus Zsimus fcit Cldiae Charid suae coniug() dulcissimae. Quae s ad vtae mtam pervnisset, nn hominib(us) neq(ue) ds invdisset. Vix scum vxit dis XV.

  CIL 10.2106: Epitaph from a tombstone at Puteoli set up by Lucius Arulenus Zosimus to his wife Clodia Charis (Charis, Charidis, “Grace,” a Greek cognomen like her husband’s—both were most likely freedmen); the text from dulcissimae to the end was apparently not original, and it is true that, just as we often detect interpolations in medieval manuscripts, ancient inscriptions were sometimes creatively “enhanced” by later hands—and some supposed to be ancient turn out to be much later, even modern, “forgeries.”

  ds mnibus: for this formula, common in epitaphs, see notes to “Bathe, Drink, and Be Merry!” in Capvt XXXI.—coninx, coniugis, m. or f., spouse; “conjugal.”—mta, -ae, f., turning post, goal (on a race course); boundary, limit, end.—perveni, pervenre, pervn, perventum, to come through to, arrive at, reach; “convention.”—vix, adv., hardly, scarcely, with difficulty.—s: as often, the reflexive pron. refers, not to the subj. of the clause, but to another principal figure in the text, in this case Zosimus.—dis: ACC. OF DURATION OF TIME, for….

  PRVERBIA ET DICTA

  Nn, s male nunc, et lim sc erit. (Horace Carm. 2.10.17–18.)

  Alia fne initia. (Pliny HN 9.65.)

  Et serv homins sunt et aequnum lactem bibrunt, etiam s ills malus ftus oppresserit. (Petronius Sat. 71.1: aequ, adv., evenly; to an equal degree; similarly, likewise; “equally.”—lac, lactis, n., acc. sometimes lactem, milk; “lactic,” “lactate.”—ftus = ftum.)

  Fortna ops auferre, nn animum potest. (Seneca Med. 176: aufer, auferre, abstul, abltum, to bear away, carry off; take away, destroy; “ablation.”)

  Ante mortem n lauds hominem quemquam. (Sirach 11.30: quisquam, quidquam, indef. adj. or pron., any; anyone, anything.)

  Contumliam s dcs, audis. (Plautus Pseud. 1173: contumlia, -ae, f., insulting language, insult, indignity, aff ront; “contumely.”)

  Nminem pecnia dvitem fcit. (Seneca Ep. 119.9.) 8. Heu—quam difficilis glriae custdia est! (Publilius Sent.)

  In silvam nn ligna fers. (Horace Sat. 1.10.34: silva, -ae, f., forest, woods; “sylvan,” “Pennsylvania.”—lignum, -, n., often pl., wood, logs; “lignify.”)

  S mihi perget quae volt dcere, ea quae nn volt audiet. (Terence An. 920: perg, pergere, perrx, perrctum, to move onward, proceed; “direction.”—volt: c
ommon alternate for vult.)

  Cnsili melius vincs quam racundi. (Publilius Sent.: vincs: POTENTIAL SUBJUNCT., you could…, you might….—racundia, -ae, f., proneness to anger, hot temper; “irate,” “irascible.”)

  Nisi per t sapis, frstr sapientem audis. (Publilius Sent.: sapi, sapere, sapv, to have good taste; have good sense, be wise; “sapient,” “homo sapiens,” “insipid.”—frstr, adv., to no purpose, in vain; “frustrate,” “frustration.”)

  LITTERTRA

  If My Epigrams Offend You, Don’t Read Them!

  Lascvam verbrum vrittem, id est epigrammatn linguam, excsrem, s meum esset exemplum: sc scrbit Catullus, sc Mrsus, sc Ped, sc Gaetulicus, sc qucumque perlegitur. S quis tamen tam ambitis trstis est ut apud illum in nll pagin Latn loqu fs sit, potest epistol vel potius titul contentus esse. Epigrammata ills scrbuntur qu solent spectre Flrls. Nn intret Cat thetrum meum, aut s intrverit, spectet.

  Martial Epig., prologue: In this excerpt from the prose introduction to his first book, Martial defends the lascva vrits of his epigrams; compare “Epitaph for a Poet,” Capvt XXVI.

  lascvus, -a, -um, playful, frisky; mischievous, naughty, risqué “lascivious.”—epigramma, epigrammatis, gen. pl. epigrammatum or epigrammatn, n., inscription, epitaph; short poem, epigram.—excs (1), to excuse, justify.—exemplum, -, n., example, model; “exemplar.”—Catullus…Gaetulicus: the popular and widely admired 1st-cent. B.C. poet, Gaius Valerius Catullus, had indeed written verse that was often similarly racy and satiric, and was one of Martial’s chief models; the Augustan poet Marsus wrote in a similar vein, as did Albinovanus Pedo, a friend of Ovid, and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus, a Roman senator and consul during the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula whose lively erotic poems are also mentioned by the younger Pliny.—qucumque, quaecumque, quodcumque, indef. adj., whoever, whatever, any…that.—perleg, perlegere, perlg, perlctum, to scan, survey; read over, read through, read thoroughly (we might say “from cover to cover”); “legible.”—ambitis, adv., with a desire to win favor; ostentatiously; “ambitious.”—trstis: here prudish.—pagina, -ae, f., page (of a book); “paginate,” “pagination.”—Latn, adv., in the Latin language, in Latin.—loqu: to speak; from the DEPONENT verb loquor, loqu, loctus sum; “eloquent,” “elocution.”—fs, indecl. noun, right, sacred duty; + est, idiom, it is right; “nefarious.”—epistula (epistola), -ae, f., letter, epistle; “epistolary.”—vel, conj., or.—potius, adv., rather, preferably, instead.—titulus, -, m., label, title; “titular.”—contentus, -a, -um, content, satisfied.—sole, solre, solitus sum, to be accustomed (to), be used (to); “insolent,” “obsolete.”—spect (1), to look at, see, watch; “spectator,” “spectacle.”—Flrls, Flrlium, m. pl., the Floralia, a festival held in late April, honoring Flora, goddess of flowers and flowering; the week-long event was marked by drinking and revelry (think of Mardi Gras), and was regarded by prostitutes as their own special holiday.—intr (1), to go into, enter; “introduce,” “intramural.”—Cat: both (Marcus Porcius) Cato the Elder, the conservative 2nd cent. B.C. Roman senator, and his great-grandson Cato the Younger were regarded as models of sternness and sobriety; a well-known anecdote related that the younger Cato exited a bawdy theatrical performance at the Floralia in 55 B.C., in order not to inhibit the actors by his presence.—thetrum, -, n., theater.

  QUAESTINS: What are Martial’s arguments in defense of the frank language of his poems, and do you consider them valid?—would a Roman?

  From “Robberski” to “Robber”?

  “Cinnam,” Cinname, t iubs vocr:

  nn est hic, rogo, Cinna, barbarismus?

  T, s “Frius” ante dictus esss,

  “Fr” ist ratine dcerris.

  Martial Epig. 6.17: Cinnamus, when he was freed, decided to change his Greek slave name (too cutesy perhaps?—it means “Cinnamon”) to the venerable Roman cognomen “Cinna” Martial was unimpressed. Meter: hendecasyllabic.

  barbarismus, -, m., barbarism, impropriety (in speech or pronunciation).—Frius: a well-known Roman family name.—fr, fris, m./ f., thief, robber, burglar; “furtive,” “furtively.”

  A Good Face Beats a Good Family

  Ingenuam ml, sed s tamen illa negtur,

  lbertna mihi proxuma condici est.

  Extrm est ancilla loc: sed vincet utramque

  s faci, nbs haec erit ingenua.

  Martial Epig. 3.33: For some Romans beauty ranked higher than bloodline! Meter: elegiac couplet.

  ingenuus, -a, -um, native to a place; born of a free father, freeborn; “ingenue,” “ingenuous.”—lbertna, -ae, f., freedwoman; “libertine.”—proximus (proxumus), -a, -um, nearest, next (in location); next (in order), second-best; “proximity,” “approximate.”—condici, condicinis, f., contract, agreement; option, choice; situation, circumstance; “condition.”—extrmus, -a, -um, outermost, last, final; “extreme.”—extrm…loc: sc. in; prepositions usual in prose were commonly omitted in verse.—ancilla, -ae, f., female slave, slave-girl; “ancilla,” “ancillary.”—vincet…s: = s vincet; in poetry, unusual word order is, well, usual!—uterque, utraque, utrumque, each (of the two).—facis, faci, f., outward appearance, looks; good looks, beauty; “prima facie,” “face,” “facial.”

  More Kitchen Tricks

  Ut carnem salsam dulcem facis:

  Carnem salsam dulcem facis, s prius in lacte coqus et poste in aquam.

  Apicius Coq. 1, Epimeles (“The Manager,” i.e., the chef), 1.10: Similar recipes for cooking fish in milk and water are in use today. For more on Apicius, see Capvt XIV.

  ut…facis: PURPOSE CLAUSE.—car, carnis, f., flesh (of animals), meat; “carnivorous,” “chile con carne.”—salsus, -a, -um, salted; preserved with salt; salty; “salsa,” “sauce.”—prius, adv., before, previously; beforehand, first; “prior.”—coqu, coquere, cox, coctum, to prepare food, cook; the same root as in the title of Apicius’ book; “concoct,” “kitchen.”

  Ut mel malum bonum facis:

  Mel malum bonum facis ad vndendum, nam partem mal et dus bon s simul miscueris.

  Apicius Coq. 1, Epimeles, 1.15: Let the buyer beware!

  mel, mellis, n., honey; “mellifluous.”—vnd, vndere, vndid, vnditum, to sell; “vend,” “vendor” vndendum, GERUND, with ad = for selling, to sell.—simul, adv., in company, together; at the same time, at once; as soon as; “simultaneous.”

  King Romulus’ Drinking Habits

  Eundem Rmulum dcunt, ad cnam voctum, ibi nn multum bibisse, quia postrdi negtium habret. E dcunt: “Rmule, s istc omns homins faciant, vnum vlius sit. Hs respondit: “Imm vr, crum, s, quantum quisque volet, bibat; nam ego bib quantum volu.”

  Aulus Gellius NA 11.14.2: The “Athenian (or Attic) Nights” of Aulus Gellius (ca. A.D.. 125–180) was a collection, in 20 volumes, of widely varied notes on history, philosophy, science, grammar, literature, and other topics of interest to him from his studies and travels. Here he cites an anecdote from the historian Lucius Piso Frugi’s account of the life of Rome’s legendary first king, Romulus.

  quia, conj., since, because.—postrdi, adv., (on) the following day, the next day.—negtium, -, n., business (neg- + tium); “negotiate.”—istc, adv., that way (of yours), in that manner.—vlis, -e, costing little, cheap; “vile,” “vilify.”—imm, adv., corrects or contradicts a preceding statement, rather, more correctly, not at all.—crum: i.e., expensive, as in our idiom, “it came at a dear price” sc. sit.

  QUAESTI: What circumstances, imagined in Romulus’ witty reply to his dinner companions, might cause the price of wine to go up?

  The Vastness of Rome’s Imperial Power

  Populus Rmnus rge Rmul in Caesarem Augustum septingents per anns tantum operum pce bellque gessit, ut, s quis magnitdinem imperi cum anns cnferat, aettem ultr putet. Ita lt per orbem terrrum arma circumtulit ut qu rs illus legunt nn nus popul, sed generis hmn facta condiscant. Tot in labribus perculsque iacttus est ut ad constituendum eius imperium contendisse Virts et Fortna videantur.

  Florus Epit. 1, Introduction 1–
2: For Florus’ two-volume summary of Roman history, which was largely an abridgement of Livy’s 142-volume work, see notes to “The Augustan Peace,” in Capvt XXXI.

  septingentus, -a, -um, 700.—opus, operis, n., work, task; deed, accomplishment; “Opus #2,” “magnum opus.”—magnitd, magnitdinis, f., magnitude, size, extent.—ultr: here, beyond (what might be expected), out of proportion to; the reverse word order in aettem ultr is a common rhetorical device termed ANASTROPHE.—lt, adv., widely, extensively; “latitude.”—orbis, orbis, m., circle, sphere; orbis terrrum, idiom, the world, earth; “orb,” “orbit.”—circumfer, circumferre, circumtul, circumltum, to carry around; spread around, extend; “circumference” sc. populus Rmnus as subject.—condisc, condiscere, condidic, to learn thoroughly, learn about; “discipline.”—tot, indecl. adj., that number of, so many; “totality.”—iact (1), to throw, toss; toss about, buff et, torment; “eject,” “projectile.”—cnstitu, cnstituere, cnstitt, cnstittum, to found, establish; “constitute,” “constitution” ad cnstituendum imperium, GERUNDIVE PHRASE = to establish its….—Virts et Fortna: not merely examples of PERSONIFICATION, as both were regarded as deities and had temples in Rome.