Hello dear readers, it is time for poetry! Twice in one day, you lucky dogs. This poem is a poem addressed to Vergil, who was on a trip to Athens at the time of writing. It is a very cheery poem about the continual folly of man, which seems like a great thing to write for a friend who is making a dangerous voyage. One interesting thing is the imagery of the cruel, belligerent winds, which may have inspired the personification of winds in the Aeneid (I don't know the official word on this, but this poem was addressed to Vergil, so I suppose it's not unlikely). Another small note, the son of Japtus is Prometheus, and that line is a great example of Alexandrian allusion. The Alexandrian school was a school of poetry who wrote mostly lyric stuff, no epics (they thought that epic poetry should begin and end with Homer), and was very popular during late Republican Rome. Their shtick was to make as many as obtuse allusions as possible, usually to mythology and geography, just to prove how smart they were and generally be huge douchebags, kind of like those people who will throw references of Infinite Jest and obscure garage bands into daily conversation. Basically, Alexandrians were the hipster scum of the late BCs.
Sincere Regards,
Michael Coffey
The Latin:
Sic te diua potens Cypri,
sic fratres Helenae, lucida sidera,
uentorumque regat pater
obstrictis aliis praeter Iapyga,
nauis, quae tibi creditum
debes Vergilium; finibus Atticis
reddas incolumem precor
et serues animae dimidium meae.
Illi robur et aes triplex
circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci
commisit pelago ratem
primus, nec timuit praecipitem Africum
decertantem Aquilonibus
nec tristis Hyadas nec rabiem Noti,
quo non arbiter Hadriae
maior, tollere seu ponere uolt freta.
Quem mortis timuit gradum
qui siccis oculis monstra natantia,
qui uidit mare turbidum et
infamis scopulos Acroceraunia?
Nequicquam deus abscidit
prudens Oceano dissociabili
terras, si tamen impiae
non tangenda rates transiliunt uada.
Audax omnia perpeti
gens humana ruit per uetitum nefas;
audax Iapeti genus
ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit;
post ignem aetheria domo
subductum macies et noua febrium
terris incubuit cohors
semotique prius tarda necessitas
leti corripuit gradum.
Expertus uacuum Daedalus aera
pennis non homini datis;
perrupit Acheronta Herculeus labor.
Nil mortalibus ardui est;
caelum ipsum petimus stultitia neque
per nostrum patimur scelus
iracunda Iouem ponere fulmina.
The Translation:
Thus the mighty goddess of Cyprus,
thus Helen’s brothers, the shining stars
the father of winds guide you,
all but the Northwest restrained,
ship, you who are entrusted with Vergil,
I pray that you return safely to Attic lands,
and you watch over that half of my soul.
Oak and copper thrice was wrapped round my heart
which first bound the fragile raft to the savage sea,
it neither fears the headlong Southwest wind fighting with the North,
nor will the doleful Rains, nor the South’s wrath,
(there is no greater judge of the Adriatic
whether he wishes
to stir or sooth the seas).
What stage of
death does he fear,
he, who with dry
eyes saw swimming terrors,
the
tumbling sea and the infamous
Ceraunian cliffs?
Wise God split
the earth with the discordant Ocean in vain
if, even still, impious
boats skim across the untouchable depths.
The human race is
eager to suffer every forbidden sin;
the daring son of
Japtus brought fire to the nations with an evil trick;
after the fire
was brought from it’s ethereal home,
want and a new
court of fever fell upon the earth
And need spurred
on the once-slow state of distant death.
Though Daedalus could not give the empty air
to man with wings, he
tried.
The hardship of Hercules broke through the Archeon;
there is nothing too steep for mortals;
we aim for Heaven itself with folly and
Because of our sins, we do not let
Jove lay down his wrathful flames.
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