The “Capitoline Wolf,” suckling Romulus and Remus, bronze; the twins were added in the late fifteenth century by Italian sculptor Antonio Pollaiuolo; the wolf itself, once considered sixth–fifth century Etruscan, is now dated by many scholars to the thirteenth century. Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy
Scala / Art Resource, NY
GRAMMATICA
Verba: List all the conditional sentences in the chapter’s readings and identify the specific type of condition in each.
CAPVT XXXIV
Constantine’s Arch, a Haunted House, and “Hanging” in Pompeii
In this chapter you’ll read the propagandizing inscription on the monumental Arch of Constantine, and a collection of graffiti scribbled by friends, enemies, lovers, and hotel guests, all hanging out—or flat out hanging(!)—in Pompeii. Two epigrams will illuminate Martial’s thoughts on legacy-hunters and a stingy host, and you’ll also read the younger Pliny’s account of a haunted house in Athens, Greece, Aulus Gellius’ anecdote on the linguistic talents of king Mithridates VI, and a dozen or so proverbs and famous quotations, including Cicero’s familiar admonition about not knowing what happened before you were born.
Grammatica nova: Deponent verbs, and ablative with special deponents.
NSCRPTINS
The Arch of Constantine
IMP • CAES • FL• CONSTANTINO MAXIMO
P • F • AVGVSTO • S • P • Q • R
QVOD INSTINCTV DIVINITATIS MENTIS
MAGNITVDINE CVM EXERCITV SVO
TAM DE TYRANNO QVAM DE OMNI EIVS
FACTIONE VNO TEMPORE IVSTIS
REMPVBLICAM VLTVS EST ARMIS
ARCVM TRIVMPHIS INSIGNEM DICAVIT
Imp(ertr) Caes(ar) Fl(vi) Cnstantn Maxim P(i) F(lc) August S(entus) P(opulus) q(ue) R(mnus), quod nstnct dvnittis, mentis magnitdine, cum exercit su tam d tyrann quam d omn eius factine n tempore ists rempblicam ultus est arms, arcum triumphs nsignem dicvit.
CIL 6.1139: Inscribed on both the north and south sides of the Arch of Constantine, which was erected in A.D.. 315 to honor the emperor Flavius Valerius Constantinus, “Constantine the Great,” for his victory over his rival Maxentius at the momentous battle of Saxa Rubra, October 28, A.D.. 312. Spanning the Via Triumphalis between the Palatine Hill and the Colosseum, the monumental triple arch towers nearly 70’ high and is otherwise remarkable for its incorporation of artworks from earlier reigns. The side of the arch facing west bears the inscription SIC X SIC XX, which we saw on the largiti dish of Constantine’s co-emperor and eventual foe Licinius from this same period (Capvt XXXI); Constantine had reigned for 10 years at the time of the dedication of his arch, and the “as 10, so 20” expressed the hope for another successful decade—which he more than achieved, governing until his death in 337. Compare the Arch of Titus in Capvt XX.
pius, -a, -um, dutiful, devoted; “pious,” “piety” with flx and Augustus, a conventional element in the emperor’s titulature.—nstnctus, -s, m., instigation, prompting; inspiration; “instinct.”—dvnits, dvnittis, f., nature of a god, divinity; divine being, divine power; Constantine was the first Christian emperor and co-author of the Edict of Milan, a proclamation of religious tolerance throughout the Roman empire, and so the reference to his divine inspiration is esp. pointed.—magnitd, magnitdinis, f., magnitude, vast extent, greatness.—tam…quam: here essentially = et…et.—tyrann: i.e., Maxentius, condemned here to anonymity.—facti, factinis, f., action of making, producing; group of proponents, faction.—istus, -a, -um, lawful; just, justified.—rempblicam: rs pblica was sometimes written as two separate words, sometimes as a single word, as here.—ulcscor, ulccs, ultus sum, to take revenge; avenge.—arcus, -s, m., bow; arch, vault; “arc.”—triumphus, -, m., triumph, triumphal procession.—nsignis, -e, clearly visible, conspicuous; (a mark of) honor (for), in honor of; “insignia.”—dic (1), to indicate, show; dedicate, devote.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), “Veduta dell’Arco di Constantino,” etching, ca. 1750. Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz / Art Resource, NY; photo: Volker-H. Schneider
The Arch of Constantine, Rome, Italy, A.D.. 315 (CIL 6.1139)
James C. Anderson, jr.
Enjoy!
VTERE FELICITER tere flciter!
CIL 10.7037: This and similar phrases appear frequently on a wide variety of utilitarian and decorative household and personal items, ranging from rings, glasses and vases, to mosaics—all urging the user/ viewer to “enjoy” (CIL 8.22654.5; 10.8059.505; 13.10025.195 and 214). A variant that turns up often is fruere m (from fruor, fru, frctus sum + abl., to enjoy, delight in), e.g., CIL 13.10024.70.
HANGING OUT IN POMPEII
Time on Their Hands
ROMVLA
HIC • CVM
STAPHYLO
MORATVR Rmula hc cum Staphyl mortur.
CIL 4.2060: Either Romula or her beau Staphylus scribbled this on a column in the House of the Tetrastyle Atrium, located on Pompeii’s Via dell’Abbondanza.
moror, morr, mortus sum, to delay, linger, loiter, hang around; spend time; “moratorium.”
Houses on the Via dell’Abbondanza, Pompeii, Italy
Robert I. Curtis
Tired of Waiting
C • IVLIVS […]MIGENIVS • HIC
TV QVID • MORARIS G(aius) Ilius [Pr]migenius hc: t quid morris?
CIL 4.1650: From a building on the Vicoletto del Foro, where we can imagine Primigenius once waited impatiently for a friend or lover.
quid: here, as often, = for what reason? why?
Oops!
MIXIMVS IN LECTO FATEOR PECCAVIMVS HOSPESSI
DICES QVARE NVLLA MATELLA FVIT
Miximus in lect, fateor; peccvimus, hospes.
S dcs, “Qur?”—nlla matella fuit!
CIL 4.4957: Scribbled next to a doorway in the Inn of the Muledrivers (on the Via Stabiana) by a guest who had clearly lingered just a little too long! The gentleman may have soiled the place, but at least he was a poet: the lines are an elegiac couplet.
mei, meiere, mix, mictum, to urinate; “micturate,” “micturition.”—lectus, -, m., bed, couch.—pecc (1), to sin, do wrong; “peccadillo.”—hospes, hospitis, m., stranger, guest; host, here the innkeeper; “hospice,” “hospitality.”—matella, -ae, f., vessel, pot; chamber pot.
Once Burned, Twice Shy
QVISQVIS AMAT CALIDIS NON DEBET FONTIBVS VTI NAM • NEMO • FLAMMAS • VSTVS • AMARE POTEST
Quisquis amat, calids nn dbet fontibus t, nam nm flamms ustus amre potest.
CIL 4.1898: Scribbled in the basilica by someone who had felt the fires of love; elegiac couplet.
calidus, -a, -um, hot; “scald.”—fns, fontis, m., spring; water; “font,” “fountain” hot springs were generally valued for their medicinal benefits.—flamma, -ae, f., flame, fire; fiery heat; heat (of passion); flame (figurative for a person one is passionate about, as in Eng. “an old flame”); “flammable.”—r, rere, uss, ustum, to destroy by fire, burn; “combustion.”
Go Hang Yourself!
SAMIVS CORNELIO SVSPENDRE Samius Cornli: suspend
CIL 4.1864: Graffito from the basilica; clearly Samius and Cornelius were not on friendly terms!
suspend, suspendere, suspend, suspnsum, to hang (up), suspend; kill by hanging; used reflexively in the pass. for hanging oneself, and often, as here, in cursing someone (cf. “Go Hang Yourself!”, Capvt XXVIII); “suspend,” “suspension.” The pass. imperat., seen here and identical in the sg. to the pres. act. infin., was not common in classical Lat., being found chiefly with DEPONENT verbs.
Way Too Many Graffiti
ADMIROR O PARIENS TE • NON CECIDISSE […]S • QVI TOT SCRIPTORVM TA[…]IA SVSTINEAS
Admror, parins, t nn cecidisse [run]s, qu tot scrptrum ta[ed]ia sustines.
CIL 4.1904: The author addresses the wall upon which he writes, an interior wall of the basilica that was covered, like so many public bathroom walls in 21st-
cent. America, with countless graffiti. Our scribbler’s attempt at copying out an elegiac couplet he had seen before (other versions of the distich appear in the town’s Large Theater and its amphitheater, CIL 4.2461 and 2487—see drawing below) was somewhat imperfect, as the is unnecessary and disrupts the meter, and the word for “wall” is misspelled. The words runs and taedia, obscured in this graffito, can be conjecturally restored based on the other two occurrences.
admror, admrr, admrtus sum, to wonder at, be amazed (that); admire; “admiration.”—paris (here misspelled), parietis, m., wall; “parietal.”—runa, -ae, f., collapse, ruin; fallen debris, often pl.—tot, indecl. adj., that number of, so many; “totally.”—taedium, -, n., weariness, boredom; boring thing, nuisance; “tedium,” “tedious.”—sustine, sustinre, sustinu, to hold up, support; endure, bear, tolerate; “sustain.”
QUAESTI: What double-entendre may we assume the writer intended in sustines?
Graffito from the basilica, Pompeii, Italy (CIL 4.2487)
Mathew Olkovikas (from CIL)
PRVERBIA ET DICTA
Nescre autem quid antequam ntus ss acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. (Cicero Or. 34.120: antequam, conj., before; “antebellum.”—accid, accidere, accid, to fall down; befall, happen; “accident.”)
Av, impertor: moritr t saltant! (Suetonius Claud. 21.6: av, interj., also spelled hav, greetings, hail!—salt [1], to greet; “salute,” “salutatorian.”)
Hom totins moritur, quotins mittit sus. (Publilius Sent.: totins…quotins, correlative adv., as often…as, whenever; “total,” “quotient.”—sus, i.e., members of his family.)
Nascents morimur. (Manilius Astron. 4.16.)
Dulce et decrum est pr patri mor. (Horace Carm. 3.2.13: decrus, -a, -um, beautiful, handsome; glorious, noble; “decor,” “decorous.”)
Magns homins virtte mtimur, nn fortn. (Nepos Eum. 1: mtior, mtr, mnsum, to ascertain length [size, volume, etc.] of, measure; estimate, appraise; “measure,” “commensurate.”)
Pudor docr nn potest, nsc potest. (Publilius Sent.: pudor, pudris, m., [sense of] shame; decency, modesty; scrupulousness; “impudence.”)
“Aliter loqueris,” inquis, “aliter vvis.” (Seneca Vit. Beat. 18.1: aliter, adv., in another way, otherwise; aliter…aliter, [in] one way…[in] another; “alias,” “alibi.”)
Rem ten, verba sequentur. (Cato the Elder, in Gaius Julius Victor Ars Rhet. 1, De Inventione.)
Vincere scs, Hannibal; victrit nescs. (Livy Urbe Cond. 22.51: Hannibal, Hannibalis, m., Hannibal, Carthaginian leader in Rome’s 2nd Punic War.)
Fattur facinus is qu idicium fugit. (Publilius Sent.: facinus, facinoris, n., deed, act; misdeed, crime.)
Hom extr corpus est suum, cum rscitur. (Publilius Sent.: extr, prep. + acc., outside [of]; “extramural.”—rscor, -r, to be/ become angry; “irascible.”)
LITTER TRA
Where’s the Beef?
Unguentum, fateor, bonum dedist
convvs here, sed nihil scidist.
Rs salsa est bene olre et surre:
qu nn cnat et unguitur, Fabulle,
hic vr mihi mortuus vidtur. 5
Martial Epig. 3.12: The guest got his party favor (apophortum) from his host Fabullus, but not much to eat! Meter: hendecasyllabic. For another of Martial’s poems on unguentum, see “Xenia: Unguentum: Keep This Perfume,” Capvt XXXI; and for a photo of the sort of jar used for such cosmetics, see Capvt XXII.
unguentum, -, n., ointment, unguent; perfume.—dedist…scidist: end-line rhyme, which became common in medieval Lat., was used sparingly in classical verse.—convva, -ae, m./ f., table companion, guest; “convivial,” “conviviality.”—here: = her.—scind, scindere, scid, scissum, to split, cleave; tear apart, rend; cut, slice; “scissors,” “rescind” at a sumptuous dinner party one might expect a roasted pig or at least a chicken, and not just “soup and salad”!—salsus, -a, -um, salted; preserved with salt; salty; “salsa,” “sauce” Martial here plays on both the word’s culinary sense and its common metaphorical sense, salted with humor, witty, funny: cf. our use of the word “saucy.”—ole, olre, olu, to give off a smell, smell (good or bad), stink; “redolent.”—suri, surre (perf. tense lacking), to feel hunger, be hungry.—ungu, unguere, nx, nctum, to smear with oil; dress (food) with oil; anoint (the body) with oil/ perfume, often for ritual purposes, including anointing the corpse at a funeral; “unguent,” “unction.”—vr, adv., truly, really; “very,” “veritably.”
* * *
“To be perfumed and yet not fed, makes one feel quite truly dead!”
* * *
Beware of Heirs Bearing Gifts
Mnera qu tibi dat locuplt, Gaure, senque,
s sapis et sents, hoc tibi ait, “Morere!”
Martial Epig. 8.27: Considering the source, Gaurus would be better off without these gifts; legacy-hunters (capttrs) were all too common in Rome, and were commonly targeted by satirists. Compare “Seeing Is Believing,” Capvt XIX. Meter: elegiac couplet.
mnus, mneris, n., service, duty; gift, present, offering; “munificent.”—locupls, locupltis, wealthy, rich; “deplete.”—sapi, sapere, sapv, to have good taste; have good sense, be wise; “sapient,” “homo sapiens.”—morere: remember, if the verb is DEPONENT and the form looks like a pres. act. infin., it’s not!
A Haunted House
Erat Athns spatisa et capx domus sed nfmis et pestilns. Per silentium noctis sonus ferr, et s attenders crius, strepitus vinculrum longius prm, deinde proxim reddbtur: mox apparbat dlon, senex maci et squlre cnfectus, prmiss barb, horrent capill crribus compeds, manibus catns gerbat quatibatque. Inde inhabitantibus trsts draeque nocts per metum vigilbantur; vigiliam morbus et, crscente formdine, mors sequbtur. Nam interdi quoque, quamquam abscesserat img, memoria imginis oculs inerrbat, longiorque causs timris timor erat. Dserta inde et damnta slitdine domus ttaque ill mnstr relicta.
Pliny Ep. 7.27.5–6: In a letter in which he asks a friend whether he believes in ghosts, Pliny describes a notorious haunted house, complete with a ghastly apparition rattling chains!
Athnae, -rum, f. pl., Athens, a major city in Greece; the form here is LOCATIVE, commonly employed with city names, = in/ at Athens.—spatisus, -a, -um, covering a wide area, of great size; “spacious.”—capx, gen. capcis, able to hold a lot, roomy; “capacious.”—domus, -s (-), f., house, home; “domicile,” “domestic.”—nfmis, -e, having a bad name, with a bad reputation; “infamous.”—pestilns, gen. pestilentis, full of disease; dangerous; “pestilential.”—silentium, -, n., quiet, silence.—sonus, -, m., sound, noise; “sonic,” “sonar.”—attend, attendere, attend, attentum, to pay attention, listen carefully; “attend,” “attentive.”—strepitus, -s, m., noise; din; here clanking, rattling; “obstreperous.”—vinculum, -, n., bond, chain.—proximus, -a, -um, nearest, next (in location); next (in order), second-best; with , nearby; “proximity.”—redd, reddere, reddid, redditum, to give back, return; deliver, serve; reflect, echo; “rendition,” “surrender.”—appare, apparre, apparu, apparitum, to be visible, show itself; be seen, appear; “apparent,” “apparition.”—dlon, -, n., apparition, ghost; “idol.”—macis, -, f., thinness (of body); wasting; “emaciated.”—squlr, squlris, m., roughness; dirtiness, filth; “squalor,” “squalid.”—cnfici, cnficere, cnfc, cnfectum, to do, perform; complete, conclude; consume, wear out; destroy, kill; “confectory.”—prmiss: lit., sent forth; here long flowing, shaggy.—barba, -ae, f., beard; “barber,” “barb.”—horrns, gen. horrentis, dreadful, awful; “horrendous.”—capillus, -, m., hair; “capillary.”—crs, crris, n., leg, lower leg, shin.—compes, compedis, f., usually pl., fetters, shackles; “impede.”—catna, -ae, f., chain; “chain,” “concatenation.”—quati, quatere (no perf. tense), to move vigorously back and forth, shake.—inde, adv., thence, from that place; in consequence of that, therefore; then.—inhabit (1), to dwell in, inhabit.—drus, -a, -um, awful, dreadful, terrifying; “dire.”—vigil (1), to be awake, stay awake; spend awake; “vigil,” “vigilant.”—vigilia, -
ae, f., keeping guard; being awake, wakefulness, sleep deprivation.—formd, frmdinis, f., fear, terror; “formidable.”—interdi, adv., during daylight, by day.—quamquam, conj., although.—abscd, abscdere, abscess, abscessum, to go away; vanish, disappear; “abscess.”—img, imginis, m., likeness, image; apparition, ghost, phantom; “imagination.”—inerr (1), to wander in, pass through; “errant,” “erratic.”—dser, dserere, dseru, dsertum, to desert, abandon; with dserta here sc. est.—damn (1), to condemn; “damnation.”—slitd, slitdinis, f., loneliness, solitude; desert, waste, wasteland; here standing empty.—mnstrum, -, n., unnatural thing; monstrous creature, monster; “monstrosity.”
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