Tag: Early Roman Poetry

Money, Insult and Duty: Some Fragments from Caecilius

~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

Caecilius Statius was a Roman poet who flourished after the second Punic War.

Fr. 19-21

“Although I came here contracted by your wages
I am not dependent on you for this reason:
If you speak of me badly you’ll hear bad things in return”

quamquam ego mercede huc conductus tua advenio, ne tibi
me esse ob eam rem obnoxium reare; audibis male si male dicis mihi.

Fr. 43-4

“People can endure trouble easily if there is no injury with it.
They can also endure injury unless they must handle insults too”

Facile aerumnam ferre possunt si inde abest iniuria;
etiam iniuriam, nisi contra constant contumeliam.

Fr. 54-5

“Why do you tell of such barbarism when you’re illiterate and unmannered?”

Quid narras barbare cum indomitis moribus, inlitterate inlex?

Fr. 56

“You pile of failures, how’d you forget your manners?”

Qui, homo ineptitudinis cumulatus, cultum oblitus es?

Fr. 109

“May the gods unbless you and your badly kept memory!”

Ut te di omnes infelicent cum male monita memoria!

Fr. 171

“Live as you can since you can’t live as you want”

Vivas ut possis quando nec quis ut velis.

Fr. 179

“Are you free?”

Liberne es?

Fr. 257

“A man is god to another man if he knows his duty”

Homo homini deus est si suum officium sciat.

Image result for Ancient Roman tragedy

Fragmentary Friday: A Dead Husband Among the Living (Caecilius)

~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

Caecilius, fr. of The Little Necklace 136-150

“It is a wretched man who doesn’t know how to hide his misery outside.
My wife, even if I am silent, gives away the secret with her body and deeds.
She has everything you wouldn’t wish except a dowry.
Whoever wishes to be wise should learn from me, a man free but enslaved to enemies
In a safe town and citadel. Why should I wish her safe when she deprives me
Of all joy? While I gasp for her death, I am dead among the living.
She claims that there is a secret affair between me and my serving-woman.
She accuses me of it—then by begging, insisting, and arguing, she convinced me to sell her.
Now, I believe she is planting this kind of rumor among her relatives:
“Of all you women, which one in the bloom of youth
Succeeded in taking from her own husband what I, merely an old hag,
Stole away from mine: his sweet girlfriend!”
These are the sort of meetings they will have this day: I will be torn apart by wretched rumor!”

is demum miser est, qui aerumnam suam nescit occultare
foris: ita me uxor forma et factis facit, si taceam, tamen indicium.
Quae nisi dotem, omnia, quae nolis, habet: qui sapiet, de me discet,
qui quasi ad hostes captus liber servio salva urbe atque arce.
Quae mihi, quidquid placet, eo privatu vim me servatum.
Dum ego eius mortem inhio, egomet vivo mortuus inter vivos.
Ea me clam se cum mea ancilla ait consuetum, id me arguit,
ita plorando, orando, instando atque obiurgando me obtudit,
eam uti venderem; nunc credo inter suas
aequalis et cognatas sermonem serit:
“quis vestrarum fuit integra aetatula,
quae hoc idem a viro
impetrarit suo, quod ego anus modo
effeci, paelice ut meum privarem virum?”
haec erunt concilia hodie, differor sermone miser.

The News of War Corrupts our Public Discourse: Ennius, Annales fr. Book viii. 252-8

~ sententiaeantiquae ~ 3 Comments

Ennius, Annales book 8, 262-8

“After [the details of] the battles are well-known
Wisdom is publicly rejected, affairs are pursued with force,
A good speaker is spurned, and the wretched warrior is loved.
Men strive not with educated speeches but instead with insults
attack one another and enter into mutual enmity.
They seize property suddenly not by the right of law but with swords
As they seek sovereignty and wander with the power of the mob.

<proeliis……promulgatis>
Pellitur e medio sapientia, vi geritur res,               263
Spernitur orator bonus, horridus miles amatur.
Haut doctis dictis certantes sed maledictis
Miscent inter sese inimicitiam agitantes.
Non ex iure manu consertum sed magis ferro
Rem repetunt, regnumque petunt, vadunt solida vi.

The Annales of Quintus Ennius are available only in fragmentary form. They told the tale of Roman history in epic form from the story of Romulus and Remus down to his own time period (2nd Century BCE; Ennius served in the Second Punic War). While there are many fragments, only a handful are longer than a line or two.

It is difficult to evaluate from the short lines the quality of Ennius (his reputation is pretty good). From what we have, however, it seems that he was well-versed in the Homeric epics. One thing to note about the style from a Latin perspective, is how short the sense-units are in comparison to those of a later epic poet like Vergil (the slightly earlier Lucretius seems to be closer to Ennius in allowing most of his lines to make sense on their own).

Indeed, the ringing and repetition of the last line above (Rem repetunt, regnumque petunt, vadunt solida vi) seems much more akin to Lucretian style and some oral Greek traditions, perhaps…