Mala causa est quae requrit misericordiam. (Publilius Sent.: misericordia, -ae, f., pity, sympathy; “miserable.”)
Frstr rogtur qu miserr nn potest. (Publilius Sent.: frstr, adv., to no purpose, in vain; “frustrate.”—misereor, miserr, miseritus sum, to feel compassion, show pity; “commiserate.”)
LITTER TRA
THREE ELEGIACS BY MARTIAL
Pretty Is as Pretty Does
Dclms bell, causs agis, Attice, bell
historis bells, carmina bella facis;
compnis bell mms, epigrammata bell
bellus grammaticus, bellus es astrologus,
et bell cants et salts, Attice, bell
bellus es arte lyrae, bellus es arte pilae.
Nl bene cum facis, facis tamen omnia bell,
vs dcam quid ss? Magnus es ardali.
Epig. 2.7: Martial’s Atticus (fictitious?) is a “jack of all trades” who does everything bell but nothing bene! Compare Martial’s rant against Sabellus, “Mr. Prettyman,” in Capvt XXXI.
dclm (1), to make speeches (esp. as a rhetorical exercise, common both in schools and in public performance), declaim; “declamation.”—bell, adv., beautifully, prettily; in an agreeable manner, nicely; “belle,” “embellish.”—causs: i.e., in court.—historia, -ae, f., inquiry, research; (written) history.—compn, compnere, composu, compositum, to put together; compose; “component,” “composition.”—mmus, -, m., mime, a comic, often bawdy stage production, popular with Roman audiences.—epigramma, epigrammatis, n., inscription, epitaph; short poem, epigram.—grammaticus, -, m., expert on linguistic and literary matters, scholar, grammarian, teacher.—astrologus, -, m., astronomer; astrologer; astrology attracted avid followers in imperial Rome, though astrologers were banned by the emperor Claudius.—cant (1), to sing; “chant,” “incantation.”—salt (1), to dance; “desultory.”—arte: ABL. OF RESPECT, in (respect to) the….—lyra, -ae, f., lyre, a stringed instrument popular in Greco-Roman antiquity; “lyric,” “lyrical.”—pila, -ae, f., ball; for ballgames in ancient Rome, see “Strike Three—You’re Out!”, in Capvt V.—nl: =nihil.—vs dcam: = vs ut dcam.—ardali, ardalinis, m., busybody, fuss-budget, trifler, goof-off.
Murder My Wife!
Omns qus habuit, Fabine, Lycris amcs
extulit: uxr fat amca meae.
Epig. 4.24: With friends like Fabianus’ wife (?) Lycoris, who needs enemies?!
effer, efferre, extul, ltum, to carry out; lift up; bury; “elated.”
Put up or Shut up!
Cum tua nn ds, carpis mea carmina, Lael.
Carpere vel nl nostra, vel de tua!
Epig. 1.91: We have “litterateurs” like Laelius today, alas—expert at critiquing books, but with no talent for creating them.
d, dere, did, ditum, to give out, emit; produce, publish; “edit,” “editor.”—carpis: here, not pluck or seize, but pluck at, pick at, criticize; “carp.”—vel…vel, conj., either…or.
A Heart Destroyed
Hc est mns dducta tu mea, Lesbia, culp
atque ita s offici perdidit ipsa su,
ut iam nec bene velle queat tibi, s optima fs,
nec dsistere amre, omnia s facis.
Catullus Carm. 75: The perplexing mix of emotions Catullus expresses here reflects a desperately low point in the relationship chronicled in his cycle of Lesbia poems. Meter: elegiac couplet.
hc, adv., to this place, hither.—ddc, ddcere, ddx, dductum, to lead away, take away; bring down; “deduction.”—mns…tu mea…culp: a sort of CHIASMUS in the ABBA noun-adj.-adj.-noun arrangement, but as mea modifies mns, and tu modifies culp, the nounA-adjB-adjA-nounB produces another common poetic ABAB structure called INTERLOCKED WORD ORDER.—perd, perdere, perdid, perditum, to destroy, ruin, lose; “perdition.”—que, qure, quv, to be able, can.—dsist, dsistere, dstit, to leave off, desist, cease.—omnia: i.e., everything terrible and hurtful.
QUAESTINS: Catullus’ manipulation of word order in line 1 produces the juxtaposition tu mea; what do you see as the emotional effect? Officium was a cardinal Roman virtue; what sense(s) of the word does Catullus have in mind here, and what translation other than simply “duty” would especially suit this context? Consider thoughtfully the three-word phrases that conclude verses 3 and 4: comment on the word-choice, the word order, the sound effects, and the interplay between the semantically connected verbs fs and facis; each phrase is the PROTASIS, the imagined premise, of a condition—comment on the paradox in Catullus’ response to each of these two scenarios in which he imagines Lesbia.
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912), “Lesbia Weeping over a Sparrow,” oil on panel, 1866. Private collection
Private Collection / The Bridgeman Art Library
Creating the World
In prncipi crevit Deus caelum et terram. Terra autem erat innis et vacua et tenebrae super faciem abyss et spritus De ferbtur super aqus. Dxitque Deus, “Fat lx,” et facta est lx. Et vdit Deus lcem quod esset bona, et dvsit lcem ac tenebrs. Appellvitque lcem “diem” et tenebrs “noctem” factumque est vespere et mne dis nus. Dxit quoque Deus, “Fat frmmentum in medi aqurum et dvdat aqus ab aqus.” Et fcit Deus frmmentum, dvsitque aqus quae erant sub frmment ab hs quae erant super frmmentum et factum est ita. Vocvitque Deus frmmentum “caelum,” et factum est vespere et mne dis secundus. Dxit vr Deus, “Congregentur aquae quae sub cael sunt in locum num et appareat rida,” factumque est ita. Et vocvit Deus ridam “terram” congregtinsque aqurum appellvit “maria,” et vdit Deus quod esset bonum.
Genesis 1.1–10: For Jerome’s Latin translation of the Bible, known as the “Vulgate,” see “In the Beginning,” Capvt XIX.
Manuscript 3, folio 4, “The Six Days of the Creation,” from the Bible of St. Sulpicius of Bourges, vellum, twelft h century. Bibliothèque Municipale de Bourges, Bourges, France
Lauros / Giraudon/ The Bridgeman Art Library
innis, -e, containing nothing, empty, deserted; vain; “inane.”—vacuus, -a, -um, containing nothing, empty, deserted; idle, disengaged; “vacuum,” “vacuous.”—tenebrae, -rum, f. pl., complete absence of light, darkness; “tenebrous.”—super, prep. + acc., above, over; beyond; upon; “superior,” “supernatural.”—facis, -, f., outward appearance, looks; face, countenance; “facial,” “prima facie.”—abyssus, -, m., unfathomable depth, bottomless pit; the deep, sea; “abyss,” “abysmal.”—quod esset: that it was; in later Lat. quod, conj., = that was often used to introduce a clause with either an indic. or a subjunct. verb, where classical Lat. would employ acc. + infin. in IND. STATE. (here, e.g., Cicero might write vdit lcem esse bonam).—dvd, dvdere, dvs, dvsum, to separate into two parts; divide; “division.”—factum…est: here impers., and there was (made).—mne, adv. and indecl. noun, early in the day, (in) the morning; here vespere et mne = in/ with the evening and the morning.—frmmentum, -, n., support, prop, vaulted structure; vault of the heavens, sky; “firmament.”—congreg (1), to bring together, collect; “congregate.”—appare, apparre, apparu, apparitum, to be visible, show itself; be seen, appear; “apparent,” “apparition.”—rida, -ae, f., dry place, dry land; “arid,” “aridity.”—congregti, congregtinis, f., gathering (together), collection; “congregation.”
GRAMMATICA
Verba: Identify each jussive noun clause in the chapter’s readings. List all the forms of f, fier, and, for practice with this important irregular verb, transform all the singulars to plural, and all plurals to singular; check your work by consulting the Summrium Frmrum appendix.
CAPVT XXXVII
Oracles, Oral Hygiene, and the Ides of March
In this chapter you’ll read another “Kilroy Was Here” graffito, scribbled by a visiting athlete on a column of Pompeii’s Large Palaestra, several more oracular responses like those presented in Capvt XXIII, a selection of proverbs including the ancient equivalent of our “either fish or cut bait,” two of Martial’s Apophoreta composed to accompany gifts of toothpaste and a bedroom lamp, a brief letter from Cicero to his wife Terentia, the historian
Florus’ account of Julius Caesar’s assassination on the Ides of March 44 B.C., and a hurried note of congratulations from Cicero written to one of Caesar’s assassins perhaps on that very day.
Grammatica nova: The irregular verb e place and time constructions.
NSCRPTINS
Pacatus Hung Out Here
PACATVS
HIC • CVM SVIS
MASIT POMPEIS Pactus hc cum sus m
Graffito from the Large Palaestra, Pompeii, Italy (CIL 4.8660)
Mathew Olkovikas (from CIL)
CIL 4.8660: Graffito written on a column in the back portico of Pompeii’s Large Palaestra, a gymnasium complex that was ultimately converted to a gladiators’ barracks; whoever Pacatus was (an athlete from out of town, the CIL editors conjecture), he and his buddies were proud to have visited!
Pompei, -rum, m. pl., Pompeii; the form Pompes reflects a common tendency, which you have seen before, to drop the stem vowel -i- before a case-ending beginning with -- (see notes on “Bathe, Drink, and Be Merry,” Capvt XXXI).
More Responses from the Oracle
CIL 12.2175, 2176, 2179–81, 2186, 2188, 11.1129: For the ancient practice of consulting oracles for guidance on matters both personal and public, see “Some Oracular Responses,” Capvt XXIII, and “How MANY Kisses,” Capvt XXX. Like the responses (sorts) you read in Capvt XXIII, the first several presented here, composed in rough dactylic hexameters, may be from a temple of Fortuna near Padua; the last is from a bronze tablet found at Forum Novum (modern Fornovo di Taro), like the others probably 1st cent. B.C. These ancient oracular responses were often “ready-made” and therefore deliberately ambiguous and subject to multiple interpretations—something we’re accustomed to with today’s daily newspaper horoscopes and Chinese fortune cookie “predictions”!
2175:
DE INCERTO CERTA NE FIANT
SI SAPIS CAVEAS D incert certa n fant; s sapis, caves.
incertus, -a, -um, uncertain, unsure, doubtful; unreliable, untrustworthy; “incertitude.”—cave, cavre, cv, cautum, to beware of, avoid; “caveat emptor,” “precaution.”
2176:
DE VERO FALSA NE FIANT IVDICE FALSO D vr falsa n fant idice fals.
falsus, -a, -um, untrue, false; “falsity.”
2179:
FORMIDAT OMNES QVOD METVIT ID SEQVI SATIVST Formdat omns; quod metuit id sequ satiust.
formd (1), to fear, dread; “formidable.”—metu, metuere, metu, to fear, dread; revere, admire; “meticulousness.”—sequ: here to chase, pursue.—satiust: a common contraction for satius (compar. of adj. satis, here essentially = melius) + est.
2180:
HOMINES MVLTI SVNT CREDERE NOLI Homins mult sunt; crdere nl.
homins mult: i.e., deceitful ones; the line is an incomplete dactylic hexameter, and an early editor (Ritschl) suggested supplying an adj. as the first word, either mendcs or fallcs (cf. “mendacity,” “fallacious”).
2181:
HOSTIS INCERTVS DE CERTO NISI CAVEAS
Hostis incertus d cert, nisi caves.
2186:
PERMVLTIS PROSVM VBEI PROFVI GRATIA NEMO Permults prsum: ubei prfu, grtia
permultus, -a, -um, a great deal, very much; “multitudinous.”—prsum, prdesse, prfu, to be of use (to), do good, provide help (to); be beneficial, be advantageous.—ubei: = ubi.—grtiam nm: sc. dedit.
2188:
QVOD FVGIS QVOD IACTAS TIBEI QVOD DATVR SPERNERE NOLEI Quod fugis, quod iacts, tibei quod datur spernere nlei!
iact (1), to throw; throw away, cast off; “eject,” “reject.”—tibei…nlei: on the analogy of ubei above, what are the usual forms of these two words?—spern, spernere, sprv, sprtum, to scorn, despise, spurn (which, by the way, is not a derivative).
11.1129a.1–2:
…] NVNC CONSOLTAS • QVIESCAS AC VI[…] FR[…]ARI[……] MO[…]EM PROCVL • APSTE • HABE[…
[Quid] nunc cnsolts? Quiscs ac v[t] fr[u]ri[s].
[…] mo[rt]em procul aps t hab[s].
quid: supplied as suggested by the editors of CIL, to complete the question; these are the first two in a series of oracular replies, which are otherwise largely illegible due to damage to the bronze tablet on which they were engraved.—cnsult (cnsolt, 1), to deliberate, debate; consult (for advice); “consultation.”—quisc, quiscere, quiv, quitum, to repose in sleep; rest, find rest; “quiet,” “requiem,” “requiescat in pace.”—fruor, fru, frctus sum, + abl., to enjoy, delight in; “fruit,” “fructose.”—procul, adv., some way off; far away (in space or time); source for the misspelled and syntactically erroneous name of a short-lived but meteorically successful 1960s British rock group, “Procol Harum.”—aps: alternate form of the prep. ab/ abs.
QUAESTI: Think carefully about the meaning of each response, as you would if you had yourself consulted the oracle and received these replies; which ones are open to diff ering interpretations?—be specific.
PRVERBIA ET DICTA
Cui peccre licet peccat minus. (Ovid Am. 3.4.9: pecc [1], to sin, do wrong; “peccadillo.”)
Nihil magis amat cupidits, quam quod nn licet. (Publilius Sent.)
“Aut bibat,” inquit, “aut abeat.” (Cicero Tusc. Disp. 5.118.)
Dum est vta grta, mortis condici optima est. (Publilius Sent.: condici, condicinis, f., contract, agreement; option, choice; situation, circumstance; “condition.”)
Exul, ubi e nusquam domus est, sine sepulcr est mortuus. (Publilius Sent.: exul, exulis, m., person in exile, exile.—nusquam, adv., in no place, nowhere; never.—sepulc[h]rum, -, n., grave, tomb; “sepulchre,” “sepulchral.”)
Invtat culpam, qu pecctum praeterit. (Publilius Sent.: pecctum, -, n., sin, wrongdoing; cf. pecc above.—praetere = praeter + e, to go beyond/ past; bypass, omit, overlook; “preterite.”
rtus, cum ad s rediit, sibi tum rscitur. (Publilius Sent.: rscor, rscr + dat., to be angry [at], become angry; “irate,” “irascible.”)
Ab domum ac suspende t! (Plautus Poen. 309: suspend, suspendere, suspend, suspnsum, to hang (up), suspend; kill by hanging; “suspender,” “suspense.”)
Ab ad Acherontem! (Plautus Amph. 1002: Achern, Acherontis, m., Acheron, a river in the Underworld; the Underworld; both this and the preceding were common types of curses, not unlike those used by some rude folks today!)
Ille bell, hic pce, cvittem auxrunt: Rmulus septem et trgint regnvit anns, Numa trs et quadrgint. (Livy Urbe Cond. 1.21: auge, augre, aux, auctum, to increase, expand; strengthen; “augment,” “authority.”—Rmulus, -, m., Romulus, legendary founder and first king of Rome, reigning, according to tradition, from 753–717 B.C.—trgint, indecl. adj., 30.—rgn [1], to rule, govern; “regent,” “reign,” “interregnum.”—Numa, -ae, m., Numa, legendary second king of Rome, 717–673 B.C.—quadrgint, indecl. adj., 40.)
Facilis dscnsus Avern—nocts atque dis patet tr inua Dtis. (Vergil Aen. 6.126–27: dscnsus, -s, m., walking downhill, descent.—Avernus, -, m., Avernus, lake near Puteoli and mythic entrance to the Underworld; the Underworld.—ter, -tra, -trum, dark, gloomy.—Ds, Dtis, m., Dis, god of the Underworld.)
Ad locum unde exeunt flmina revertuntur, ut iterum fluant. (Ecclesiastes 1.7: revertor, revert, reversus sum, to turn around and go back, return; “revert,” “reverse.”)
Nec quae praeteriit iterum revocbitur unda, nec quae praeteriit hra redre potest. (Ovid Ars Am. 3.63–64: revoc [1], to call back, recall; bring back; “revoke,” “revocation.”—unda, -ae, f., wave [of the sea]; stream, river; “undulate,” “redundant.”)
Longum iter est per praecepta, breve et efficx per exempla. (Seneca Ep. 1.6.5: praeceptum, -, n., advice, precept, instruction; “preceptor.”—efficx, gen. efficcis, effective, productive; “efficacious,” “efficacy.”)
Parv enim sunt fors arma, nisi est cnsilium dom. (Cicero Off. 1.22.76: parv, GEN. OF INDEF. VALUE, of…worth.—fors, i.e., outside the country, abroad.)
LITTER TRA
More Apophorta:
Lucerna Cubiculris
; Dulcis cnscia lectul lucerna:
quidquid vs facis licet, tacb.
Terracotta oil lamps with gladiator motifs. Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz / Art Resource, NY; photo: Ingrid Geske
Martial Epig. 14.39: The oil-lamp (lucerna) accompanied by this note promised not to reveal the secrets of its new owner’s bedroom. The meter of this epigram and the next is hendecasyllabic.
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