Latin Love Elegy and the Dawn of the Ovidian Age: A Study of the Versus Eporedienses and the Latin Classics (Publications of the Journal of Medieval ... of the Journal of Medieval Latin, 14) 9782503587035, 2503587038

The Versus Eporedienses (Verses from Ivrea), written around the year 1080 and attributed to a certain Wido, is a highly

290 136 2MB

English Pages 175 [176]

Report DMCA / Copyright

DOWNLOAD FILE

Polecaj historie

Latin Love Elegy and the Dawn of the Ovidian Age: A Study of the Versus Eporedienses and the Latin Classics (Publications of the Journal of Medieval ... of the Journal of Medieval Latin, 14)
 9782503587035, 2503587038

Citation preview

PUBLICATIONS OF THE JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL LATIN 14

PUBLICATIONS OF THE JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL LATIN A Publication of The Medieval Latin Association of North America General Editors: Michael W. Herren, C. J. McDonough, Gernot Wieland Associate Editors: Alexander Andrée Bernice M. Kaczynski John Magee Greti Dinkova-Bruun Jean Meyers Carin Ruff David Townsend

University of Toronto McMaster University University of Toronto Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies University of Montpellier Independent Scholar University of Toronto

Advisory Board: Walter Berschin James P. Carley Paolo Chiesa Michael Lapidge Andy Orchard A. G. Rigg Danuta Shanzer Brian Stock Jan M. Ziolkowski

University of Heidelberg York University University of Milan Clare College Cambridge Pembroke College Oxford University of Toronto University of Vienna University of Toronto Harvard University

Marek Thue Kretschmer

LATIN LOVE ELEGY AND THE DAWN OF THE OVIDIAN AGE A STUDY OF THE VERSUS EPOREDIENSES AND THE LATIN CLASSICS

F

© 2020, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978-2-503-58703-5 e-ISBN 978-2-503-58704-2 DOI 10.1484/M.PJML-EB.5.119053 ISSN 2033-883X e-ISSN 2565-9987 D/2020/0095/5 Printed in the EU on acid-free paper

To Leila

Table of Contents Acknowledgements

9

Abbreviations

11

Introduction

13

Edition and Translation

25

Commentary Caveat lector Explanation of the Scale The minus-sign (Weakening Factors) The Asterisk-sign Introductory Remark on VE 1–36

45 45 46 46 47 47

Verse by Verse Commentary The poet’s meeting with the Trojan maiden (1–36) Invitation to enjoy the shade or to bathe (37–48) Invitation to dinner (49–90) The arts (91–98) Meadows, farms, and castles (99–110) Couches and beds (111–46) The imperial tent (147–68) The city’s inhabitants are ready to serve (169–80) The city’s people and merchandise, guilds, artists, and soldiers (181–228) The palace with its bedrooms and suggestive pictures (229–44) The poet’s self-praise (245–54) Transition (255–56) Descriptio puellae (257–80) Transition (281–82) The poet’s eternal glory (283–300)

51 51 58 60 67 68 68 73 76 77 85 90 92 92 98 98

Appendix 1 Sources of Inspiration Classical Latin Poetry Ovid Vergil Juvenal Lucan Martial Statius Horace Ilias Latina Propertius

101 103 103 109 111 112 113 115 115 116 116

Table of Contents Seneca Tibullus Canticum Canticorum Late Latin Poetry Quod natum Phoebus Prudentius Venantius Fortunatus Maximianus Medieval Latin Poetry

116 116 117 119 119 119 119 120 121

Appendix 2 The Versus Eporedienses and the Dawn of the Twelfth Century Wenric of Trier’s Conflictus ovis et lini The Poet of Asti’s Novus Avianus Godfrey of Reims The Ovidian influence The Muses and Dichterstolz/Überbietungstopos, Troy, and translatio The “Orphic discourse” Baudri of Bourgueil

122 123 124 125 126 126 127 129

Appendix 3 Similarities and Matches in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Love Poetry Z 49 (Dulcis amica mea) CR 26 (Si uera somnia) Hugh Primas (1093–c. 1160) Carmina Burana De tribus puellis Bruma grando glacies Fidus amicus here

132 132 134 134 135 138 138 139

Bibliography Primary Sources Classical Late Latin Medieval Secondary Sources

143 143 143 144 145 149

Index nominum

161

Index codicum

164

Index auctorum et carminum

165

Index locorum similium

170

Index locorum similium per ordinem auctorum et carminum digestus

174

8

Acknowledgements The elegiac love poem Versus Eporedienses and the question of its place in the so-called Ovidian age has intrigued me for some time. After having published minor papers on the subject in 2013 and 2016, I decided in 2017 to start digging deeper. At the end of this little journey, I would like to express my gratitude to those who, in one way or another, have been helpful companions. I am especially indebted to Jean-Yves Tilliette for his careful reading of the entire manuscript and for his useful comments and suggestions. Moreover, his works on medieval Latin poetry have been a constant source of inspiration. Rita Copeland provided encouraging feedback on parts of the first draft which assured me that I was on the right track in my contribution to opening up an early form of the classicism of the “long twelfth century,” and for which I thank her. My Trondheim colleague Thea Selliaas Thorsen deserves many thanks for inspiring me to push my research towards Ovid back in 2009. I would also like to thank Lars Boje Mortensen for inviting me to the Centre for Medieval Literature (Centre of Excellence at the University of Southern Denmark) where in the fall of 2017 I had the opportunity to present my initial findings. I am grateful to the editors of the Publications of The Journal of Medieval Latin, Michael W. Herren and Gernot R. Wieland, for their trust in the value of my proposal, and additional special thanks are due to both for their thorough and valuable comments that contributed to improving the final version of the book. For institutional support, I owe thanks to the Faculty of Humanities of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology for the sabbatical year (2018) that allowed me to complete the book, and to the Maison Suger and its director Jean-Luc Lory for offering me accommodation and a stimulating writing environment in the heart of Paris. Finally, I would like to thank the friendly staff of the Biblioteca Capitolare di Ivrea where I had the pleasure of reading the manuscript LXXXV in april 2019. Paris/Trondheim, 2018/19

9

Abbreviations Blaise CC CM SL Du Cange Dümmler 1869 Dümmler 1872 JMLat LS Manitius MGH

Nardi

Niermeyer Offermanns

OLD Paden

PJML PL

Blaise, Albert. Lexicon latinitatis medii aeui. Turnhout, 1975. Corpus Christianorum continuatio mediaevalis series Latina Du Cange, Charles du Fresne. Glossarium mediæ et infimæ latinitatis. Niort, 1883–1887. Dümmler, Ernst. “Gedichte aus Ivrea.” Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum 14 (1869), 245–65. Dümmler, Ernst. Anselm der Peripatetiker, nebst andern Beiträgen zur Literaturgeschichte Italiens im elften Jahrhundert. Halle, 1872. Journal of Medieval Latin Lewis, Charlton T. and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary, founded on Andrews’ edition of Freund’s Latin Dictionary. Oxford, 2002 [1879]. Manitius, Max. Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters. 3 vols. Munich, 1911–1931. Monumenta Germaniae Historica Ldl Libelli de lite imperatorum et pontificum Poetae Poetae Latini medii aevii SS Scriptores (in folio) SS rer. Germ. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi SS rer. Germ. N. S. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, nova series Nardi, Tilde. Italian translation of VE 1–234 in Antonio Viscardi et al. Le origini: Testi latini, italiani, provenzali e franco-italiani. Milan and Naples, 1956. Pp. 405–19. Niermeyer, Jan Frederik. Mediae Latinitatis lexicon minus. 2 vols. Darmstadt, 2002. Offermanns, Winfried. Die Wirkung Ovids auf die literarische Sprache der lateinischen Liebesdichtung des 11. und 12. Jahrhunderts, Beihefte zum Mittel­ lateinischen Jahrbuch 4. Wuppertal, Kastellaun, and Düsseldorf, 1970. Glare, Peter G. W. Oxford Latin Dictionary. 2 vols. Oxford, 2012. Paden, William D. The Medieval Pastourelle, Garland Library of Medieval Literature A/34, 2 vols. New York, 1987. 1:13–25 (integral translation of the VE). Publications of The Journal of Medieval Latin Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina

11

12 PLM RIS Stotz TLL Ziltener

Latin Love Elegy Poetae Latini Minores Rerum Italicarum Scriptores Stotz, Peter. Handbuch zur lateinischen Sprache des Mittelalters, 5 vols. Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft II.5.1–5. Munich, 1996–2004. Thesaurus Linguae Latinae. Leipzig, 1900–. Ziltener, Werner. Studien zur bildungsgeschichtlichen Eigenart der höfischen Dichtung: Antike und Christentum in okzitanischen und altfranzösischen Vergleichen aus der unbelebten Natur. Bern, 1972.

Frequently quoted medieval poems are abbreviated as follows: CB  CC CR  O VE  Z

Carmina Burana, ed. Hilka, Schumann, and Bischoff Carmina Cantabrigiensia, ed. Bulst (except CC 27, ed. Dronke) Carmina Rivipullensia, ed. Moralejo Walter of Châtillon, from the Saint-Omer Collection (MS Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque Municipale, 351), ed. Traill Versus Eporedienses, ed. Dümmler from the florilegium Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, MS C 58, ed. Werner

Introduction The 150 leonine distichs known as the Versus Eporedienses,1 henceforth abbreviated as VE, are ascribed to a certain Wido, probably a cleric of the see of Ivrea, whose name appears on the upper margin of folio 22r of the only extant manuscript containing the VE, the Ivrean codex Biblioteca Capitolare LXXXV.2 It is one of six liturgical manuscripts commissioned by Warmund for the cathedral of which he was the bishop from c. 966 to c. 1005.3 A reference at verses 157–58 to the victory of Emperor Henry IV over the Saxons in 1075 gives a precise terminus post quem for our poem, which was inscribed on the blank folios 21v–23r at some point during the bishopric (c. 1075–1094) of Ogerius:4 Ne ros nocturnus noceat calor atque diurnus Supra tendemus non sine fronde nemus. Si tibi uile nemus, tentoria pluris habemus: Ex ope cesarea uix emerentur ea. Hec sunt ex bisso texstoris pectine spisso, Sunt operis uarii delicie Darii. Eius Alexander successor et huius Euander Pulsus in exilium detulit ad Latium. Per successores hos Cesar adeptus honores, Si liceat dici, contulit ipse mihi. Contulit Heinricus cui Saxon seruit iniquus, Aut uelit aut nolit iam sua iussa colit. Lest the nocturnal dew or the diurnal heat bother us, we will build a shelter of branches and foliage. If a wooden shelter is paltry to you, we esteem the tents of greater value: they could hardly be purchased with imperial wealth. These are of linen, made thick by the weaver’s comb, a variegated piece of work, Darius’s favourite. His successor was Alexander, Dümmler 1869, pp.  245–53; edited again in Dümmler 1872, pp.  94–102 under the title by which the poem has been known ever since: Versus Eporedienses (whereas “Gedichte aus Ivrea” was given as a general title to the VE together with a series of ten hymns included in the 1869 edition, at pp. 252–59). 2  The manuscript was first described by Ludwig Bethmann, “Handschriften der Capitularbibliothek zu Ivrea,” Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde 9 (1847), 611–27, at pp. 624–25; he also gives a short description of the poem. For a more detailed description of the manuscript, see Maria Antonietta Mazzoli Casagrande, “I codici warmondiani e la cultura a Ivrea fra IX e XI secolo,” in Ricerche Medievali vi–ix, in onore di B. Pagnin (Pavia, 1971–1974), pp. 89–139, at 101–05 and 136–37. For a history of the see of Ivrea including a section on the Chapter Library, see Storia della Chiesa di Ivrea dalle origini al XV secolo, ed. Giorgio Cracco (Rome, 1998). 3  The dates are uncertain. Useful studies on Warmond’s bishopric are Gillian Mackie, “Warmundus of Ivrea and Episcopal Attitudes to Death, Martyrdom and the Millennium,” in Papers of the British School at Rome 78 (2010), 219–63; Pierre Alain Mariaux, Warmond d’Ivrée et ses images. Politique et création iconographique autour de l’an mil (Bern, 2002); and Alfredo Lucioni, “Da Warmondo a Ogerio,” in Storia della Chiesa di Ivrea dalle origini al XV secolo, ed. Giorgio Cracco (Rome, 1998), pp. 89–119. 4  Dümmler 1869, p. 261; and Dümmler 1872, p. 88. 1 

13

Latin Love Elegy

14

and his, Evander, driven into exile, brought them to Latium. Having taken possession of the honorary legacy through these successors, if one may say so, the emperor himself bestowed it on me. Henry bestowed it, to whom the Saxon foe is subject; whether he likes it or not he now observes his orders.

To resume: along the banks of the river Po the poet-narrator has met a young woman of Trojan lineage whom he attempts to woo by offering all the riches the region contains (the long invitatio covers two thirds of the poem),5 among which is the royal tent that he has received from the Emperor himself. Our poem6 is interesting for several reasons and its different parts have also caught the attention of scholars for different reasons. Early scholarship on the VE concentrated on its similarities to the famous tenth-century poem 27, Iam, dulcis amica, uenito of the Carmina Cantabrigiensia (henceforth abbreviated as CC),7 and on its constituting a Latin prototype of what became the vernacular genre known as the pastourelle.8 For a schematic overview of the contents, I propose the following five-part division: I. The poet’s meeting with the Trojan maiden (verses 1–36) II. The invitatio: Invitation to enjoy the shade or to bathe (verses 37–48) Invitation to dinner (verses 49–90) The arts (verses 91–98) Meadows, farms, and castles (verses 99–110) Couches and beds (verses 111–46) The imperial tent (verses 147–68) The city’s inhabitants are ready to serve (verses 169–80) The city’s people and merchandise, guilds, artists, and soldiers (verses 181–228) The palace with its bedrooms and suggestive picture (verses 229–44) III. The poet’s self-praise (verses 245–56) IV. Descriptio puellae (verses 257–80) V. Dichterstolz: the poet’s eternal glory (verses 281–300). 6  Included in Manitius, 3:865–67 as well as in introductions to Medieval Latin literature such as Edoardo D’Angelo, La letteratura latina medievale. Una storia per generi, (Rome, 2009), pp. 291–92; Maurice Hélin, La littérature latine au moyen âge (Paris, 1972), p. 63; Letteratura latina medievale (secoli VI– XV). Un manuale, ed. Claudio Leonardi (Florence, 2002), pp. 204–07; Frederic J. E. Raby, A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages, 2 vols (Oxford, 1934), 1:383–87; Joseph Szövérffy, Secular Latin Lyrics and Minor Poetic Forms of the Middle Ages: A Historical Survey and Literary Repertory from the Tenth to the Early Thirteenth Century, 4 vols (Concord NH, 1992), 1:278–80. 7  Peter Dronke, Medieval Latin and the Rise of European Love-Lyric, 2 vols (Oxford, 1968), 1:271–77; Dennis R. Bradley, “Iam dulcis amica venito,” Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 19 (1984), 104–15. 8  Hennig Brinkmann, “Anfänge lateinischer Liebesdichtung im Mittelalter,” Neophilologus 9 (1924), 49–60 and 203–21, at pp.  203–08; Maurice Delbouille, “Les  origines de la pastourelle,” Mémoires de l’Académie Royale de Belgique: Classe des lettres et des sciences morales et politiques. Deuxième série 20 (1926) 1–44, at pp. 40–41: “Souvenons-nous que les clercs du manuscrit de Cambridge ont vécu et écrit dans le Nord-Est de la France, que Wido y a probablement étudié, que l’ ‘anonyme amoureux’ y a séjourné longtemps, que c’est là que chanteront les ‘goliards’ du manuscrit de Benedictbeuern. Pourquoi 5 

Introduction

15

The long invitatio, which was a disturbing element of the pastourelle-hypothesis,9 especially the lines 181–228, attracted the attention of scholars as a unique poetical expression of the economic and cultural growth of the eleventh century 10 reflecting an enthusiasm and excitement for worldy pleasures in a period more often dominated by contemptus mundi.11 The poet’s detailed description of the vast array of exotic luxne pourrait-on placer en Lotharingie, au xe et au xie siècle, le berceau de notre poésie lyrique?”; and more recently Tilliette, “Troiae ab oris. Aspects de la révolution poétique de la seconde moitié du xie siècle,” Latomus 58 (1999), 405–31 at pp. 416–17: “Mais il convient auparavant de rappeler que les versus eporedienses semblent bien représenter l’amplificatio fort scolaire d’un poème autrement plus charmeur, puisqu’il a inspiré jusqu’à Baudelaire, la première invitatio amicae, composée au xe siècle peut-être aussi en Italie, dont le vers si musical Iam dulcis amica venito constitue l’incipit. Simplement, ce que ce poème rythmique anonyme dit en sept quatrains (ou dix, selon les versions) de vers de neuf syllabes, Guido l’expose en trois cents vers dactyliques laborieusement rimés.” 9  The same hypothesis is related to other “proto-pastourelle” poems such as Walter of Châtillon’s Declinante frigore. Jean-Yves Tilliette, “Poésie latine et tradition courtoise (… ou pas): Note sur la chanson d’amour O 17 (Declinante frigore) de Gautier de Châtillon,” La rigueur et la passion: Mélanges offerts à Pascale Bourgain, ed. C. Giraud and D. Poirel (Turnhout, 2016), pp. 329–46 has recently dealt with the question and puts the final nail in the coffin of the Latin “proto-pastourelle.” See further discussion in my comments to vv 1–36, pp. 47-50 esp. footnote 10. 10  Two influential books that mention the VE are Robert R. Bolgar, The Classical Heritage and its Beneficiaries (Cambridge, 1954), at p. 187; and Ronald G. Witt, The Two Latin Cultures and the Foundation of Renaissance Humanism in Medieval Italy (Cambridge, 2012), at pp. 135–36. Dümmler 1869, p. 262 did not fail to point out this dimension: “jedesfalls tritt uns doch darin ein reich gesegnetes Land mit hoch entwickelter städtischer Cultur entgegen, wie es das damalige Italien war, eine durch lebhaften Handel, namentlich den Verkehr mit dem Morgenlande genährte Üppigkeit und Verfeinerung des Le­ bensgenusses, zu welcher die starr ascetische Richtung eines Petrus Damiani und seiner Genossen die entsprechende Kehrseite bildet,” and repeated with some retouche in Dümmler, 1872, pp. 92–93: “Gleichwohl tritt uns doch in diesen Versen ein reichgesegnetes Land mit hochentwickelter städtischer Cultur entgegen, wie es das damalige Italien war, eine durch lebhaften Handel, namentlich den in Amalfi, Venedig, Pisa blühenden Verkehr mit dem Morgenlande genährte Ueppigkeit und Verfeinerung des Lebensgenusses, welche bereits mehr denn hundert Jahre früher Bischof Ratherius von Verona gegeiselt hatte.” 11  Hennig Brinkmann, Geschichte der lateinischen Liebesdichtung im Mittelalter (Darmstadt, 1979, [Halle, 1925]), pp.  7–8: “Sie sind auf dem Boden der paganischen Kultur des Landes erwachsen; sie erst hat die Enststehung von Gedichten ermöglicht, die sinnliche Erotik und leidenschaft­l iches Begehren aussprechen. Kulturgeschichtlich ist diese italienische Liebespoesie ganz anders zu beurteilen als die Dichtung des Freundschaftskultes. Diese geht vom transzendentalen Menschentypus aus, jene beruht auf einer dem Diesseits zugewandten Lebensstimmung.” Tilliette, “Troiae ab oris,” p.  416: “on jugera en tout état de cause digne d’attention le fait qu’à une époque où l’idéologie dominante est celle du ‘mépris du monde,’ du contemptus mundi, l’inventaire des délices de ce monde-ci donne lieu à de tels élans d’éloquence passionnée.” Dümmler and Raby make the point that the secular and sensual should not surprise us in a time not yet affected by the Gregorian Reform; see Dümmler 1869, p. 262: “die für einen geistlichen anstössige Verherrlichung der sinn­l ichen Liebe darf nicht so sehr befremden zu einer Zeit wo der Coelibat noch keinenwegs vollständig

16

Latin Love Elegy

ury goods available at the city market must be seen in the context of the civic culture that emerged with the development of the communes in Northern Italy;12 along the busy trade route of the Po Valley gold, spices, silk, and fur arrive from every corner of the world: from north of the Alps and from the Arab and Byzantine world.13 Yet others are especially interested in the descriptio puellae because it predates by a century the standard reference model presented in Matthew of Vendôme’s Ars Versificatoria 1.56–57.14 Finally, Ernst Robert Curtius famously quoted the VE as an example in his excursus XII on Dichterstolz.15 Returning to our opening quotation, the precious tent is of special significance as it represents the idea of translatio,16 the transmission of power and culture from East to West, in our case: in succession from Persia (Darius) to Macedonia (Alexander) to Latium (Evander) to the Holy Roman Empire (Henry IV) and the Po Valley (the poet-narrator).

durchgedrungen war und zumal an einem Orte an welchem man der kaiserlichen Partei anhieng”; Dümmler 1872, p.  91: “Wenn die in dem Psalter nachgetragenen Gedichte in seine Zeit fallen, so darf es uns nicht allzu sehr überraschen neben jenen frommen Hymnen an die Heiligen eine sehr unumwundene Verherrlichung der sinnlichen Liebe zu finden. So lange es der Geistlichkeit noch freistand, zu heiraten – und an diesem Rechte werden die Bischöfe der kaiserlichen Partei mit ihren Geistlichen sicherlich länger festgehalten haben – konnte man in der Verehrung des weiblichen geschlechtes nichts Anstössiges erblicken”; Raby, A History of Secular Latin Poetry, 1:387: “We need not be surprised to find an Italian priest composing a poem like this – a love invitation – in a country where the clergy often lived openly with wives or concubines, and the influences of secular education were strong.” 12  For a description of this development, see for instance Cinzio Violante, La società milanese nell’età precomunale (Bari, 19813). 13  An exceptionally interesting historical document, illustrating Pavia as a centre of long distance trade, is the Honorantiae civitatis Papiae (c.  1025) mentioning, inter alia, English traders (compare VE 186) or merchants from Venice who are to pay a libra of pepper, cinnamon, galangal, and ginger to the monastery of Saint Martin outside the walls (compare for instance VE 199); see MGH SS 30 (1934), pp. 1444–60. Edition with commentary by Carl-Richard Brühl and Cinzio Violante, Die Honorantie civitatis Papie: Transkription, Edition, Kommentar (Cologne and Vienna, 1983). 14  Edgar De Bruyne, Études d’esthétique médiévale, 4  vols (Bruges, 1946), 2:173–94; Offermanns, p. 136; Jean-Yves Tilliette: “La Descriptio Helenae dans la poésie latine du xiie siècle,” Bien dire et bien aprandre 11 (1993), 419–32; J-Y. Tilliette, “Troiae ab oris,” at p. 414. 15  Ernst Robert Curtius, Europäische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter (Bern, 1948), pp. 477–78. The VE certainly did appeal to Curtius who already in 1939 draws attention to this charming idyll (“reizende Idyll”); see “Die Musen im Mittelalter,” Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 59 (1939), 129–88, at p. 172. 16  The significance of the Trojan reference in the VE was first pointed out by Tilliette, “Troiae ab oris,” pp. 418–20, the point of departure for my discussion in “The Elegiac Love Poems Versus Eporedienses and De Tribus Puellis and the Ovidian Backdrop,” JMLat 23 (2013), 35–47, at pp. 36–37, which will be further developed throughout the present study.

Introduction

17

In the manner of Paris of Baudri of Bourgueil’s17 carmen 7 (c. 1090) who links Troy with the Loire Valley, our poet-narrator is constructing a “new imaginary geography”:18 some of his gifts are associated with Trojan/Roman power,19 but first and foremost he is conquering the heart of a Trojan princess (the outcome of which the poem does not tell). The Trojan lady who remains nameless throughout the VE may be an allusion20 to Ilia (= Rhea Silvia) of Ovid’s Amores 3.6, and if thus interpreted, the poem is not only an expression of Dichterstolz (VE 285: “sum sum sum uates”),21 but also, considering the appearance and suggested settlement of Romulus’s mother in Northern Italy, a patriotic statement. Lombard centres of power surrounding the Po such as, for instance, the city of Pavia,22 would aspire to represent a nova or secunda Roma.23 An eloquent expression of this sentiment are the following verses once inscribed on the Pavia city gates which Opicinus de Canistris quotes in his Liber de laudibus ciuitatis Ticinensis, or simply De laudibus Papiae (1330). Interestingly, they are written in leonine hexameters, with the identical bisyllabic rhyme as the VE, which may suggest that they also date from around the year 1100:24 The poetry of Godfrey of Reims is similarly marked by the idea of translatio, especially carmen 4 (dated between 1065 and 1085). See further my observations in “‘Puer hic,’ ait, ‘equet Homerum…’: Literary  Appropriations of the Matter of Troy in Medieval Latin Poetry ca. 1070–1170 (Part 1),” Mittella­ teinisches Jahrbuch 48 (2013), 41–54. See also under the heading “Godfrey of Reims” in Appendix 2 below. 18  Tilliette, “Troiae ab oris,” p. 418. 19  A Trojan sommelier (VE 67–68), coverlets whose weft threads are Trojan (VE 130–32), the robes which Paris offered to Helen (VE  215–16), and finally, one of the tent’s former owners, the Arcadian exiled Evander (VE 153), representing a primordial transition from Greece to Rome as the first founder of Roman civilization (Aen. 8.313: “Tum rex Euandrus, Romanae conditor arcis”), is also linked to the Trojans as the father of Aeneas’s ally Pallas in the war against the Rutuli. Symbolically, in the Vergilian version of the myth, Aeneas traces his own and Evander’s origin to the same stock (Aen. 8.142: “Sic genus amborum scindit se sanguine ab uno”), and Evander tells Aeneas (Aen. 8.154–68) about how he in his youth had met Anchises. The father of Aeneas had bestowed gifts on him that he in turn passed on to his son Pallas. Thus, the Trojan connection represented by Anchises and Evander prefigures the connection represented by the alliance of their sons Aeneas and Pallas. Ovid evokes the Vergilian story in Fast. 1.461–542 where the idea of a new Troy is told in the prophetic words of Carmentis (1.523–24): “uicta tamen uinces euersaque, Troia, resurges / obruit hostiles ista ruina domos.” 20  I elaborate on this idea in “Amores 3.6 and the Versus Eporedienses,” JMLat 26 (2016), 31–42. 21  Kretschmer, “The Elegiac Love Poems,” p. 36. 22  Before Henry IV aspired to coronation in Pavia (several years after his victory over the Saxons), the ancient capital of the Regnum Italiae had seen the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperors Otto I in 951, Otto III in 996 and Henry II in 1004. See for instance Ian Stuart Robinson, Henry IV of Germany 1056–1106, (Cambridge, 1999), p. 165. 23  William Hammer, “The Concept of the New or Second Rome in the Middle Ages,” Speculum 19 (1944), 50–62. 24  See Liber de laudibus civitatis Ticinensis, ed. Rodolfo Maiocchi and Ferruccio Quintavalle, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores 11 (1903), p. 25. 17 

Latin Love Elegy

18

Quisquis nunc intrat deflexo poplite dicat, Dic prope qui transis, qui porte limina tangis: Roma secunda, uale, mundi caput imperiale. Tu bello Thebas, tu sensu uincis Athenas. Te metuunt gentes, tibi flectunt colla potentes. Whoever enters now, may he kneel and say, Say (this), you who are passing over, touching the threshold: Second Rome, hail, imperial capital of the world, You surpass Thebes in war, Athens in thought, The peoples fear you, the mighty bend their necks to you.

In the century before the formation of the anti-imperial Lombard League, certain Lombard bishops were famously anti-papal. Also, the bishops were men of letters who would express their political stance through poems. Bishop Benzo of Alba’s Ad Heinricum imperatorem deserves special mention as a fascinating source of Lombard bishops supporting Henry  IV. To give just one example: on the occasion of Henry’s conquest of Rome and the ensuing coronation by antipope Clement III in March 1084, Benzo composed his poem 6.5 25 of 54 leonine hexameters in honour of the newly crowned emperor. I quote the verses 7–10, an apostrophe to the city of Rome:26 Regnet in hac uita, cui terga dat Hysmahelita Cesar et augustus trabea sensuque uenustus, Per quem purgaris, per quem noua Roma uocaris, Terram conculcas et celum uertice pulsas. May he rule in this life, before whom the Ishmaelite flees:27 Caesar and Augustus, beautiful in his robe and beautiful in mind, Through whom you are cleansed, through whom you are called a new Rome, You tread the earth under foot and touch heaven with your head.

MGH SS rer. Germ. 65 (1996), pp. 552–58. To a modern reader it would seem somewhat odd to call Rome a new Rome, but in Benzo’s renovatio imperii rhetoric Henry is creating ‘a new Rome’ in the sense that he is restoring Rome. Compare the conclusions of both poems  6.4 and  6.5: “Nemo tradat sepulture paruulum aut uetulum.  / Videant posteri nostri totum hoc per speculum,  / Quod fecistis nouam Romam atque nouum seculum” (6.4.178–80, p. 550) and “Ante deum iacta te, Roma, iuuencula facta, / Et pete nobiscum regem, qui cernit abyssum: / Augustum talem concedat perpetualem.” (6.5.52–54, pp. 556 and 558). For the general idea, see Percy Ernst Schramm, Kaiser, Rom und Renovatio. Studien zur Geschichte des römischen Erneuerungsgedanken vom Ende des karolingischen Reiches bis zum Investiturstreit, (Darmstadt, 1992, [Leipzig, 1929]). 27  The Ishmaelite is a learned allusion to Pope Gregory VII. In biblical exegesis Hagar’s son Ishmael and Sarah’s son Isaac represent respectively the children of the flesh and the children of the promise (Galat. 4.24; Aug., Civ. Dei 15.2). 25 

26 

Introduction

19

Among the Lombard bishops siding with the emperor was Ogerius of Ivrea.28 In fact, Benzo dedicates the poems 4.4 and 4.7 to Ogerius (both in trochaic septenarii grouped in stanzas of three rhymed verses).29 Interestingly, Ogerius was also a man of letters, and Benzo directs the following verses (4.4.82–87) to him: Qui hec audis de maiorum ueniens progenie, Fugientibus occurre, dum est locus uenie, Consule quocumque modo potestati regie. Imitaris Ciceronem, sequeris Salustium, In katalogo uirorum es scriptus illustrium, Frange nostre captionis perplexum gurgustium.30 You who hear this, descendant of a distinguished family, Hasten to those who flee while there is time for mercy. Take care of the King’s power in whatever way you can. You imitate Cicero, you follow Sallust, You are inscribed in the catalogue of illustrious men; Destroy the entangling snare set up for us.

Unfortunately, nothing from his pen survives, but we know that Ogerius wrote a poem on the martyrs of the Theban legion.31 In this respect, it is worth mentioning that in an article32 that escaped my notice when writing my paper on Amores 3.6 and the VE, Marco Giovini draws attention to the hypothesis, advanced in 1912, that Ogerius himself wrote the VE.33 In the same article, Giovini proposes Ovid’s Met. 13.789–869 See for instance Ian Stuart Robinson, Henry IV of Germany, p. 263: “By January 1088 he [Henry’s thirteen year old son Conrad] was once more in Italy, in the company of the new Italian chancellor, Bishop Ogerius of Ivrea, whom the emperor had probably appointed as the young king’s special adviser.” See also Alfred Gawlick, “Bischof Adalbero von Trient und Bischof Oger von Ivrea als Leiter der italienischen Kanzlei unter Kaiser Heinrich IV,” Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 26 (1970), 208–18. 29  MGH SS rer. Germ. 65 (1996), pp. 378–89 and 408–13. For the meter, see Dag Norberg, An Introduction to the Study of Medieval Latin Versification (Washington, DC, 2004), pp. 107–08. Hugo Lehmgrübner, Benzo von Alba: Ein Verfechter der kaiserlichen Staatsidee unter Heinrich IV. Sein Leben und der sogenannte “Pangyrikus” (Berlin, 1887) pp. 46–52 offers a discussion of the historical background of poem 4.4. 30  gurgustium: see Du Cange ad loc.: “vas est vimineum, in quo pisces reservantur; sic et rete piscatorium nuncupatur” etc. See also TLL 3, Sp. 365, 23 ff. 31  Dümmler 1872, p. 91. 32  Marco Giovini, “Il flatus vocis d’amore come delirio d’onnipotenza verbale: I Versus Eporedienses,” Bollettino di Studi Latini 42 (2012), 64–83, at p. 67: “Esiste, però, una seconda e, forse, più accattivante ipotesi, formulata per la prima volta da G. Salvioli nel 1912, secondo cui l’autore ‘in incognito’ dei Versus Eporedienses sarebbe lo stesso vescovo Ogerio.” 33  Giuseppe Salvioli, L’istruzione in Italia prima del mille (Florence, 1912), p.  98. However, in my opinion Salvioli’s short comment smacks more of a careless reading of Dümmler 1872, p. 91 (to which he refers) than of a proper hypothesis: “Un altro vescovo, certo Ogerio, che visse nella seconda metà del secolo  XI e che fu seguace di Enrico  IV, ha lasciato alcune poesie di argomento profano, poesie 28 

20

Latin Love Elegy

(Polyphemus’s declaration of love to Galatea)34 and the Vienna version (Peter Dronke’s “seducer’s version”)35 of CC 27 as models for the VE in addition to pointing again36 to the possible allusions to Juvenal 11.71 and Ovid Met. 2.340–66. As mentioned above, previous scholarship had already associated CC 27 with the VE, but Giovini takes the discussion a step further by presenting some additonal parallels. However, his new findings do not make him reconsider his rather negative judgement of the poem.37 What to make of Wido’s allusive art? Giovini’s solution is to read the VE as a parody. According to Giovini, the poet-narrator’s series of gifts (VE 37–234) and self-praise (VE 245–55) make him a caricature of Ovid’s Cyclops. To that I would add that the erotiche, le quali contengono reminiscenze di scuola.” In other words, Salvioli may easily have overlooked Dümmler’s mention of Wido at pages 87–88. In any case, Salvioli advances no argument in support of the authorship of Ogerius. 34  Bethmann, “Handschriften der Capitularbibliothek,” p.  625 already associated the VE  with the “archetype” of the Theocritean Cyclops: “Es ist ein Idyll, in der Art des Theokritischen Kyklops.” For a bibliography of the ancient Polyphemus poems (including Theocritus idyll 11), see Franz Bömer’s commentary, P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphosen: Buch XII–XIII (Heidelberg, 2006 [1982]), pp. 406–10. For discussions of Medieval Latin (love) poems referring to Polyphemus and Galatea, see Peter Dronke, “A Note on Pamphilus,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 42 (1979), 225–30, and Carsten Wollin, “Zwei metrische Liebesepisteln aus dem Kreis des Petrus Abaelardus,” Sacris erudiri 49 (2010), 339–77. 35  Peter Dronke, “The Song of Songs and Medieval Love-Lyric,” in The Bible and Medieval Culture, ed. Willem Lourdaux and Daniel Verhelst, Mediaevalia Lovaniensia Series I/Studia VII, (Leuven, 1979), pp. 236–62, at 261–62. 36  Marco Giovini, “Quod decet ore teri – Giovenale e il mito delle Eliadi nei Versus Eporedienses (XI sec.),” Maia – Rivista di letterature classiche 48 (1996), 39–50. 37  In fact, his conclusion remains identical; Marco Giovini, “Il flatus vocis d’amore,” pp.  80–81: “Se dunque non mancano nei Versus Eporedienses… immagini poetiche, sporadiche intuizioni liriche e isolati elementi di grande efficacia espressiva, il poemetto nel suo complesso difetta di organicità… le singole idee… risultano intessute, anzi, disperse in una trama elegiaca ipertrofica e al contempo esile dal punto di vista concettuale” repeats verbatim Marco Giovini, “Quod decet ore teri,” p. 47. In my view, it is methodologically problematic to accuse the author of incoherence if the poem does not fit with one’s interpretation. For instance, when the poet-narrator pays the puella a compliment by comparing her to one of the Heliades and by saying that she is more beautiful than Juno (VE 17–18), Giovini would have preferred an elaboration of the myth of the Heliades (Met. 2.340–66), but the author chose not to. Apparently, the idea did not strike the author, and the distichon remained a flattering remark, but that does not make the poem incoherent. See Marco Giovini, “Quod decet ore teri,” p. 47: “Ma a questa sorgiva genialità ‘mitopoietica’ che Guido dimostra nel suo dialogo con gli auctores non corrisponde però un’altrettanto geniale capacità nell’orchestrazione globale della struttura del carmen e così, dopo il verso 41, il poeta pare dimenticarsi della comparazione puella/Eliade donde il suo logorroico corteggiamento aveva preso le mosse.” The criticism, in substance, reproduces Marco Giovini, “Il flatus vocis d’amore,” p. 80: “D’altronde, a tale sorgiva (ma sporadica) versatilità ‘mitopoietica,’ che Guido dimostra in talune circostanze nel dialogo emulativo con gli auctores, non corrisponde un’autentica capacità nell’orchestrazione globale della struttura del carmen: così, dopo il verse 41, il poeta pare dimenticarsi della feconda comparazione puella/Eliade, donde il suo logorroico corteggiamento aveva preso l’avvio.”

Introduction

21

genre of love elegy itself invited allusiveness and playfulness (cf. Ov. Am. 3.1.41: “sum leuis, et mecum leuis est, mea cura, Cupido”),38 and that to imitate Ovid, in particular, meant learning how to be poetically playful. What Baudri of Bourgueil, Godfrey of Reims, Marbod of Rennes, and Wido (or Ogerius?)39 of Ivrea discovered through their appropriation of Ovid’s musa iocosa was the joy of fiction, of which the art of allusion was a significant part.40 However, I would not go so far as calling the VE a parody. I have not found any sufficiently convincing textual support for Giovini’s claim. As the present study shows, especially Appendix 1, the allusions and intertexts are far more complex, and hardly ironic. What is certain is that the question of allusion and imitation in the VE deserves a closer analysis. The relatively scant research done so far suggests that, although Ovid dominates, we should not look for one specific model or expect slavish imitation, but rather expect a creative and elaborate appropriation of the auctores in the VE.41 Finally, the question of possible traces of the VE in later poetry requires further research. To explore all these questions in detail goes beyond the scope of this study, but it is my hope that my commentary will lay some of the groundwork for future research on certain aspects such as the use of the auctores. I will thus dedicate much space to classical parallels (and also, to a lesser degree, to parallels in Medieval Latin love poetry). It is also my hope that the commentary will make the VE known to a wider public. The poem occasionally appears on the syllabus for courses in Medieval Latin literature (especially in Italian universities), but it merits a place in any anthology of Medieval For discussions of Ovid’s take on the genre, see Ingo Gildenhard and Andrew Zissos, “Inspirational Fictions: Autobiography and Generic Reflexivity in Ovid’s Poems,” Greece and Rome 47 (2000), 67– 79; Stephen Harrison, “Ovid and Genre: Evolutions of an Elegist,” in The Cambridge Companion to Ovid, ed. Philip R. Hardie (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 79–94; Alison Keith, “Corpus Eroticum: Elegiac Poetics and Elegiac Puellae in Ovid’s Amores,” The Classical World 88 (1994), 27–40; Caroline A. Perkins, “The Figure of Elegy in Amores 3.1: Elegy as Puella, Elegy as Poeta, Puella as Poeta,” Classical World 104 (2011), 313–31; Jozef Veremans, “La sphragis dans les Amores d’Ovide: une approche stylistique et rhétorique,” Latomus 65 (2006), 378–87; Katharina Volk, “Ille ego: (Mis)Reading Ovid’s Elegiac Persona,” Antike und Abendland 51 (2005), 83–96; Paul Veyne, L’élégie érotique romaine – L’amour, la poésie et l’occident (Paris, 1983); Maria Wyke, The Roman Mistress: Ancient and Modern Representations (Oxford, 2002). 39  The hypothesis is certainly tempting even if hard to prove. 40  See my “The Play of Ambiguity in the Medieval Latin Love Letters of the Ovidian Age,” in Medieval Letters between Fiction and Document, ed. Christian Høgel and Elisabetta Bartoli, Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy 33 (Turnhout, 2015), pp. 247–63 with references to the important works of Gerald Bond and Jean-Yves Tilliette. 41  It is worth remembering Peter Dronke’s insightful words in Medieval Latin and the Rise, 1:181: “The neat and conclusive lists of classical borrowings which it is easy to compile in the case of imitations and rhetorical exercises are rarely applicable to the making of living poems. Here it is not a question of accepting an insubstantial ‘background’ through ignorance of something more solid, but of seing that for poets the poetic past provides oxygen, rather than bricks.” 38 

Latin Love Elegy

22

Latin poetry considering its unique place in the history of Medieval Latin literature (an early example of metrical love poetry, descriptio puellae, poet’s pride, a unique poetical expression of the economic and cultural growth of the eleventh century, and a prime example for showing the use of the classics at the dawn of the renaissance of the “long twelfth century”).42 Hence, I will also include comments on issues that may be helpful for students such as lexical and syntactical matters. The present text is a revision of Dümmler’s diplomatic 1872 edition. This means that I have not normalised standard medieval confusions such as between “ci” and “ti,” “i” and “y,” “i” and “e,” inconsistent use of “h” (which implies superfluous or missing “h” compared to normalised spelling), inconsistent use of double consonants (such as “summe” for “sume” in verses 61, 70, 76 and 126 or “gramatice” for “grammaticae” in verse 91) and the like,43 of which combinations may occur (such as “Imen” for “Hymen” in verse 56). However, I have chosen not to reproduce the manuscript’s inconsistent use of e-caudata. Rarer idiosyncracies (such as “manzere” for “mazere” in verse 65) will be explained in the commentary. In the apparatus I include information from the 1869 edition that Dümmler chose to ignore in the 1872 apparatus. The conjectures by Dümmler’s contemporaries Wilhelm Wattenbach and Rudolf Peiper are probably personal communications. I have not been able to find scholarly works on the VE by any of them. I have not added an apparatus fontium since I treat the question of sources separately (see Appendix 1 and Index locorum similium). Hence, the five mentions of sources originally included in Dümmler’s apparatus are not repeated below but moved to the index locorum similium. Finally, after consultation of the manuscript in  situ, I have chosen to add more palaeographical information such as the occurrence of paragraphs/pilcrows (always in the form of a capital gamma in the manuscript), change of folio, column, and the like. Some scribal corrections (marked corr. as in Dümmler) overseen by Dümmler are also added.

About the Translation The Latin verses, constrained by both the bisyllabic leonine rhyme and the elegiac metre, often contain unusual or awkward syntax and vocabulary.44 I have made no effort to recreate any poetic-rhetorical devices. The following prose rendering is meant as a Tilliette, “Troiae ab oris,” p. 414. For a quick reference, the reader is invited to consult Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide, ed. Frank A. C. Mantello and A. G. Rigg (Washington, DC, 1996), pp. 79–80, or Keith Sidwell, Reading Medieval Latin (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 373–75. For a more detailed study, see Stotz, esp. vol. 3. 44  As critics before me have observed, e.g. Dümmler 1872, p. 91: “Seine Verse leiden durch gesuchten oder ungeschickten Ausdruck öfter an Dunkelheit und nicht selten wiederholen sich ähnliche Wen­ dungen”; Tilliette, “Troiae ab oris,” p. 416: “la langue en est difficile, rendue parfois approximative par les difficultés de la métrique et les exigences de la rime.” 42  43 

Introduction

23

support for readers with insufficient knowledge of Latin and aims, first and foremost, at clarity.45 Hence, as the Latinate reader will see, the translations are occasionally more idiomatic than literal. Finally, I have not felt obliged to change those few lines that happen to coincide with William Paden’s translation –  occasional coincidence is inevitable – except for verse 298, the one line I deliberately have borrowed, and for which he is hereby credited.

Although certain obscurities remain, such as some of those awkward effects caused by the demands of the rhyme. 45 

Edition and Translation

26

Versus Eporedienses



21v b

Cum secus ora uadi placeat mihi ludere Padi, Fors et uelle dedit, flumine Nimpha redit. Tempus erat florum, quod fons est omnis amorum, Mense sub Aprili cum placet esca stili. 5 Accessi tandem scrutatus que sit eandem, Inuitans sedem de prope duco pedem. Mox specie tactus memorandos conspicor actus Et uix continui quod sua non minui, Factus et ut mutus, tandem sum pauca locutus 10 Et multum pauide sed tamen hec auide: “Siste, puella, gradum per amenum postulo

adum Et per aquas alias tam cito e salias. Siste, puella, precor terram, queso, per equor, Si loqueris oli, nil patiere doli. 15 Vestitus, cultus, pulcher super omnia uultus Te generis clari conprobat ore pari. Ex stellis frontis pares germana Phetontis, Iuno tibi cedit, de Ioue quando redit. Dic dic prudentes qui te genuere parentes 20 Et generis ritum dic patrieque situm.” Non stupefacta parum reputans nimis istud amarum Sic timet ipsa loqui sicut ab igne coqui. Spreuit uitauit caput inclinando negauit, Vix uocem rupit quam retinere cupit: 25 “Si de prole uoles, decorat me regia proles, Nobilis est mater, nobilis ipse pater. Si proauos queris, dis uim fecisse uideris, Sanguine de quorum me sapit omne forum. Ne super hoc erra, genuit me Trohica terra, 30 Terra dicata deo nota parente meo. Sed fugiens quendam cupientem figere mendam Hunc circa fluuium floris amo studium.” His siluit dictis curis ex parte relictis, Vix uix assedit se propiusque dedit. 35 Iam iam confisus dubios prius erigo uisus Tactus amore sui taliter amonui: /spatium columnae dimidiatae uacuum/ 3 omnis] gl. in marg. uel dulcis corr.

11–14  in margine add.

29  trohica ex grecia corr.

34  se ex sed

Versus Eporedienses

27

While it pleased me to play along the banks of the river Po, chance and desire granted that a nymph returned from the river. It was the season of flowers which is the whole source of love, in the month of April, when writing is a pleasing allure. At last I approached checking who she might be, offering a seat I took a step closer. Immediately struck by her beauty, I noticed her memorable movements, and hardly restrained myself from violating her privacy; and having become like a mute, I finally uttered these few words, very timidly but still passionately: “Girl, halt your step, by the charming Po and by the other streams I beg you not to leap so quickly. Girl, stop, I beseech you by the earth, I beseech you by the sea, if you converse tête-à-tête with me, you will suffer no harm. Your clothing, elegance, and above all your fair countenance equally prove that you are of noble stock. By the ‘stars’ of your brows you look like a sister of Phaëthon; you outshine Juno when she comes back from Jove. Tell, tell what wise parents bore you, and tell your family’s tradition and the place of your fatherland.” Not a little stunned and considering it (= my advances) too unpleasant (= importunate), she feared talking as much as being burned by fire. She rejected me, shunned me, and refused by turning away her head; she barely broke forth in words she wished to restrain: “If you want to know about my race, a royal descent honours me. Noble is my mother, noble is my father. If you inquire about my forefathers, you seem to do violence to the gods from whose blood every market square knows I descend. Make no mistake about this: the land of Troy brought me forth, a land consecrated to a deity, known for my progenitor. But running away from a certain someone who wants to inflict a blemish on me, I love to busy myself with flowers around this river.” With these words she held her peace, partly letting go of her anxiety; very reluctantly she sat down and moved closer. Immediately gaining confidence, I fixed my previously uncertain eyes on her, and struck by love, incited her thus:

28 22r a





40



45





50



55









60



65

¶ ¶







70



Versus Eporedienses “Si foret hoc gratum floris decerpere pratum, Tu posses mecum munere mota precum, Sepe sub umbella posses, speciosa puella, Ludere letari, cura cupita mari. Quod si tu nolis, caleas ut lumine solis, Ventilet aura sinus, umbra sit apta pinus. Umbra decens lauri precio preciosior auri Te recreare potest umbra nec huius obest. Currit aque uiue fons frondes subter oliue, Ramis sub teneris umbra dee Veneris. Tempore sub ueris placeat quod forte laueris, Fons monet herba recens et locus ipse decens. Si uacat in cena quod delecteris amena: Quod tibi constabit iussio sola dabit. Quod parat alma Ceres numquam mutabile queres, Nec licet inde queri quod uehat urna meri. Vis de mille meris potum? potando frueris, Absit ab hac solus condicione dolus. Artificis cura fiat tibi pocio pura, Oris lenimen quo reuocetur Imen. Ecce mihi ciathi solidis sunt mille parati; Aurea uasa petis: misit amica Thetis. Si cupis argenti, dat multi summa talenti; Innumerata iacet, si tibi summa placet. Cum super omne places, gemmas tibi summe capaces: Non uilis precii res superant Decii. Rex dedit Indorum lapidum mihi munus eorum, Quos erit inter onix: hunc habuit Beronix. Est scyphus in signo factus de manzere ligno: Munus opis uarie rex dedit Ungarie. Vina propinabit Frix quem mea cura parabit, Cum Ganimede Paris copula grata paris. Si gustare parum uelles de carne ferarum, Huius amena cybi fercula summe tibi. Si uolucres queris, dandis pro uelle frueris, Si tribuenda notes, summere plura potes. Si placet a uilla bouis aut caro siue suilla, Hoc erit ad libitum dulciter exhibitum. 46 ramis Wattenbach] amnis MS; teneris] tenebris Peiper 52 uehat ex ueat corr.

Versus Eporedienses

29

If picking flowers from this meadow could be pleasing, you might, moved by the offering of my prayers, often join me for some fun and joy under the sunshade, beautiful girl, a man’s desired object. And if you do not want to get warm in the sunshine, let the wind fan your bosom, let the agreeable shade of a pine be there for you. The nice shade of a laurel, more precious than gold, can refresh you, nor does its shade do any harm. A spring of fresh water runs beneath the leafy branches of an olive, beneath the tender boughs is the shelter of the goddess Venus. The springwater, the fresh grass and the charming place itself suggest that in springtime it might perhaps please you to bathe. ¶ If you have time to enjoy a delightful dinner, your mere command will bring whatever pleases you. You can ask for that never-changing (= inexhaustible) gift that bounteous Ceres provides, nor need you seek for what a vessel of wine brings. You want to drink of a thousand wines? You will enjoy the drinking, let only deceit be removed from this invitation. Thanks to the skill of the craftsman you shall have a pure potion, a soothing treat for your throat, apt to call forth Hymen. ¶ Behold my cups, purchased for a thousand shillings. You seek golden vessels? Kind Thetis has sent them. If you desire them of silver, a great sum of money provides them. If the sum pleases you, it lies there innumerable. Since you please me above all, take these large jewelled goblets: of no small value, they are worth more than the fortune of Decius. The King of the Indians gave me their gems as a gift, among which there will be an onyx: Berenice once possessed it. There is a cup of maplewood made into a work of art: the King of Hungary gave the gift of manifold treasures. ¶ A Phrygian will serve the wine, whom it shall be my care to procure; the combination of this pair, a Paris together with a Ganymede, is a pleasing one. ¶ If you would like to taste a bit of game, take the delightful dishes of this food. If you ask for fowl, fowl you will enjoy, served according to your wish; if you indicate the parts to be served, you may take more. If beef or pork from the farm pleases you, it will be kindly delivered at your pleasure.

30 75



80

22r b



85





90



95





100



105





110

Versus Eporedienses Si reputas magnum, quod dem pascaliter agnum, Mille meis phetis summe quod ipsa petis. Ni foret hoc fedum, dapifer promitteret hedum: A uictu caro sit procul ista caro. Si uis lege noua cum centum matribus oua, Accipe plura quidem re faciente fidem. In gustu piscis si plus inihando deiscis, Diuersi generis compos et auctor eris. His epulis tactis petitur si copia lactis, Vasis ecce nouis uictus ab ore Iouis. Lac nec in iberno deerit neque tempore uerno: Esse probat uerum caseus atque serum. Omne genus pomi prebet custodia promi, Absque quidem uicio quelibet est datio. Terrarum numen tibi suggeret omne legumen Et patiens tolera quod sapient olera. Gramatice partes si uis aut quaslibet artes: Ecce tibi studium sub studio rudium. Cordam siue lire placeat modulando ferire Ut tua lingua petet, nec locus iste uetet. Vis cythare neruum de nostris tangere seruum, Mille dabunt sonitum per facilem monitum. Si reputas carum, sonet ut genus omne tubarum, Hoc sit in hac hora qualibet absque mora. Si diuersorum situs est in mente locorum, Vicinis pratis sunt loca grata satis. Cum castris uille mihi sunt in predia mille: Sub celo tales uix reperire uales. Flores prata dabunt, fontes sua prata rigabunt: En uer perpetuum, fac ibi uelle tuum. Castra regunt uillas in nulla parte pusillas, Preside me dites castra regunt equites. Isti te tutam reddent loca grata secutam, Ne ui predonis dispoliere bonis. Villicus omne dabit quicquid te uelle notabit, Voti pande sinus: nil erit inde minus. Hic ornare thorum poteris uariamine florum:

77 hedum ex edum corr. 90  tolera ex tollera corr. olera ex tolera corr. corr. grata loca ex loca grata corr.

107  reddent ex reddant

Versus Eporedienses

31

If you consider it important that I give you an Easter lamb, take what you seek from my thousand lambkins. If it wasn’t so malodorous, the servant would send forth a goat; let that kind of meat be kept far away from fine meals. If you want, pick out fresh eggs along with their hundred mothers, take even more, if that will prove my sincerity. If you gape with more longing for a taste of fish, you will be lady and mistress of different sorts. If, after this sumptuous banquet, a wealth of milk is demanded, behold, in new vessels, provisions “from the mouth of Jove.” There will be no shortage of milk, neither in winter nor in springtime, cheese and whey prove this to be true. The steward’s care supplies every sort of fruit, and all supplies are certainly without blemish. The genius of the lands will bring you every bean, so patiently bear the smell of the vegetables. ¶ If the parts of grammar or any of the arts is what you want, look, for you there is a course at the school for beginners. Or if it should please you to strike the string of the lyre and sing as your tongue may desire, then let not this place forbid it. Do you want one of our servants to pluck the string of a cythara? by a gentle hint a thousand will produce the sound. If it is dear to your heart that all sorts of trumpets sound, then so be it, at this very hour, without any delay. ¶ If variety of landscape is what you have in mind, there are agreeable places in the meadows nearby. I have a thousand farms with castles on my estates: you can hardly find their like under heaven. The meadows will yield flowers, the springs will water their meadows; behold, eternal spring; do there as you like. The castles dominate farms by no means insignificant, under my rule rich knights manage the castles. They will keep you safe as you pursue the agreeable places, lest you be robbed of your goods by a thief’s attack. The bailiff will give you everything, observing whatever you wish; reveal your inmost desire: you shall lack nothing thereof. ¶ Here you can adorn the couch with a variety of flowers;

32

115





120



125

22v a¶



130



135



140



145









Versus Eporedienses Res probat atque patet, uipera nulla latet. Nec reputato parum, talis solet esse dearum, Cum Marti placuit, Cipris in hoc iacuit. Hunc habuere thorum rex et regina deorum, Cum delectari iuuit amore pari. His super apponam faciens de flore coronam: Ista tegat crines, si paciendo sines. Siue secus pratum mauis uariabile stratum, Stratum tale tibi nos faciemus ibi. De cedro sectum si precipis adfore lectum, Sicut tu dices, ars dabit ipsa uices. Queris ab argento? Nutu te uelle memento: Quod te uelle sciam sedulus efficiam. Quod mittunt Mauri mihi copia sufficit auri: Ex hac materia summe uel ex alia. Si de cristallo lectus placet absque metallo: Prestet imago recens scultor et ipse decens. Culcitra lectorum non uilis habebitur horum, Dant Seres populi materiam foruli. Ex auri lamma fit subtilissima trama: Stamen erit Serum, trama Frigum ueterum. Ut nix albescit stamenque nigrescere nescit, Sed que trama rubet: sol mihi cede, iubet. Mille libras sumam, si digner uendere plumam, Exponi precio nulla monet ratio. In tali pluma iacuit cum coniuge Numa, Ex hac materie fit thorus Egerie. Ornat et est ostrum lectum uelamine nostrum, Quo melius Syrus non habet atque Tyrus, Pellis et omne genus quod soluit sponte Rutenus Fenus iure datum conditione ratum. Ut leuiter scandas, si forte pedalia mandas, Dat tibi smaragdus non sine laude gradus. Rumpere siue moras, quod eas aliunde, laboras, Regibus insolitus dat tibi grisolitus. Ne ros nocturnus noceat calor atque diurnus, Supra tendemus non sine fronde nemus.

117  his] hic Peiper faciens conieci] facies MS 124 sciam supra lineam add. 125  mittunt ex mittant corr. 131  auri ex uri corr. 135  digner ex dignar corr. 140  quo ex quod corr.

Versus Eporedienses

33

the fact is proven and clear: no snake lies hidden. And do not consider it of little value, a couch of this kind is usually for goddesses. Venus lay in it when she delighted Mars. The king and queen of the gods used this couch when it pleased them to take pleasure in mutual love. On top of that, I will add a garland, making it of flowers; let it cover your hair, if your patience permits. ¶ Or if by the meadow you prefer a different kind of bed, such a bed we will make for you there. If you command that a bed be carved of cedar wood, art itself will do the job, just as you say. You look for one of silver? Remind me by a wink that you want it: whatever I know you want, I will carefully accomplish. The abundance of gold which the Moors send me is sufficient: help yourself to this material or to another. If a bed of crystal without any metal pleases you, let a new design and a fit sculptor procure it. ¶ The pillow of these beds will not be despised; the Seric people furnish the material for the case. The finest weft is made of gold-leaf, the warp will be of the Seres, the weft of the ancient Trojans. The warp is white as snow and cannot darken, but the weft, which shines red, commands: “Sun, yield to me!” If I deigned to sell the feather pillow, I would get a thousand pounds, but no reasoning advises to put it up for sale. On such a pillow Numa lay with his wife, Egeria’s cushion was made of this material. A purple cloth decorates our bed and serves as coverlet (neither the Syrian nor the Tyrian has anything better) and every sort of fur which the Ruthenian willingly pays as interest given by law, established by agreement. If perchance you demand stairs so you can easily climb into bed, an emerald makes your steps worthy of no little praise. Or if you struggle to hasten and proceed from the other side, a chrysolite, unusual for kings, allows you to. ¶ Lest the nocturnal dew or the diurnal heat bother us, we will build a shelter of branches and foliage.

34

150



155



160



165



22v b





170



175



180



Versus Eporedienses Si tibi uile nemus, tentoria pluris habemus: Ex ope cesarea uix emerentur ea. Hec sunt ex bisso texstoris pectine spisso, Sunt operis uarii delicie Darii. Eius Alexander successor et huius Euander Pulsus in exilium detulit ad Latium. Per successores hos Cesar adeptus honores, Si liceat dici, contulit ipse mihi. Contulit Heinricus cui Saxon seruit iniquus, Aut uelit aut nolit iam sua iussa colit. Nil nocet his tensis pluuialis copia mensis, Non nix, non glaties, grandinis aut rabies. Lumina candele spernunt miracula tele, Hoc gemme faciunt lumina que pariunt. Adsit tempestas cum turbine fulguris estas: Intus qui residet, cuncta serena uidet. Bis lapides seni dant lumina lumine pleni, Splendor habet quorum nocte micare thorum. Hoc Salomonis opus lustrabit ab ore pyropus: Munus preclarum non in honore parum. Urbis siue mee uox est tibi grata choree: Quod tibi dem dotes, dic et habere potes. Ecce uelut stelle uenient seruire puelle Seruantes edes presto tenere pedes. Tyrones aderunt, tibi qui preludere querunt: Sit procul omnis anus sepe nociua manus. Ut uenias orant, hoc exorando laborant Et pro uelle more sat graue crede fore. Primates captant domine se plausibus aptant: Hoc notat ascribi queque uirago sibi. Acceleres ergo postponens cetera tergo: Vox est ista senum, uox etiam iuuenum. Cum placeas turbe, si uis, maneamus in urbe: Totum quod queres, illud ab urbe feres. Maximus urbis honos: dites habet illa colonos,

149 tentoria ex temptoria corr. 150  in margine add. 155  hos ex os corr. 158  aut…aut ex aud…aud corr. iussa ex iusa corr. 163  tempestas ex tempesta corr. 172  edes ex hedes corr. 173  aderunt ex adherunt corr. 174  sit ex sic corr. 176  crede ex credo corr. 177  se ex si corr. 178  hoc ex hos corr. 179 postponens ex postponans corr.

Versus Eporedienses

35

If a wooden shelter is paltry to you, we esteem the tents of greater value: they could hardly be purchased with imperial wealth. These are of linen, made thick by the weaver’s comb, a variegated piece of work, Darius’s favourite. His successor was Alexander, and his, Evander, driven into exile, brought them to Latium. Having taken possession of the honorary legacy through these successors, if one may say so, the emperor himself bestowed it on me. Henry bestowed it, to whom the Saxon foe is subject; whether he likes it or not he now observes his orders. A  month’s copious rain by no means damages these tents, neither does snow, nor ice, nor the fury of hail. The marvels of the canvas spurn the light of the candle, for hither gems shed their own light. Come storm, summer with whirlwind and lightning: he who remains inside, all he sees is fair weather. Twice-six luminous gemstones give light, their splendour is able to make the couch shine at night. From the entrance a garnet will illuminate this work of a Solomon: a distinguished gift of no little honour. ¶ Or if the voice of my city’s singing dancers is pleasing to you, say that I shall give them as gifts, and you can have them. Behold, like stars girls will come to serve and keep their feet ready as they take care of the house. Young men will stand by, who will seek to entertain you: far hence the often harmful hand of every hag. They beg you to come, this they implore and strive for, and considering their wish, just enough delay (= even a short delay) will be unpleasant, believe me! The dignitaries strive and prepare for their lady’s applause, something every heroine takes as referring to herself (= every heroine wishes to receive such an honour). So, make haste, laying everything else behind, this is the call of the old, as well as the call of the young. ¶ Since you please the crowd, if you want, let us stay in the city; all you seek, you will get it from the city. The glory of the city is very great: it has rich inhabitants,

36

185



190



195



200



205



210



215

23r a





Versus Eporedienses Tantum scire sinum nemo potest hominum. Hanc diuersorum genus incolit omne uirorum: Anglus et Acaicus Noricus Ungaricus. Hanc habitant Indi, gens et prius incola Pindi: Vile nec Indorum tu reputato forum. Hinc sunt iacincti nullo medicamine tincti: Flumine de Nili scribite plura stili. Nullus id ignorat, lapis Indos omnis honorat, Omnis quem Claros contulit atque Paros. Hic etiam iaspis, quem uertice detulit aspis, Dignus honore lapis, si reputare sapis. Expositas Chous merces habet hic et Eous, Sidon cum Tyriis cultibus in uariis. Pallia Iudei, uendunt sua tura Sabei: Nardum cum spica balsama mirifica. Gingiber hic spirat, piper emptor emendo regirat, Hoc pigmentorum dat genus omne forum. Miscet pigmentum proprium per compita uentum, Naris iudicium nescit in hoc uicium. Urbem ne spernas, aperit que mille tabernas, His pro dote datis tu potiare satis. Quos soluit pannos mihi Flandria quosque per annos, Istic comperies quam bona materies. Institor a Creta tulit huc preciosa tapeta: Hec adlata tuo credito proficuo. Hic potes aurificum signis deprendere uicum: Que data te ditent aurea signa nitent. Sole magis splendent ibi queque monilia pendent, Massam materie uincit opus uarie. Ars ibi Vulcani studio non paret inani: Huius opus generis nata tulit Veneris. Hic uestes Elene poteris reperire Lacene, Portus ante maris quas dedit ipse Paris. Quin alie uestes sunt ad tua commoda testes: Est quasi prodigium quod dat opus Frigium. Hic est pictorum manus omnis et hic medicorum,

184 tantum ex quantum corr. scire ex sire corr. 187  indi supra lineam add. 190  nili supra li­ neam add. 192  paros ex claros corr. 193  hic ex his corr. 195  chous ex cous corr. 208  adlata ex ablata corr. 213  ars ex has corr. 215  reperire ex repperire corr.

Versus Eporedienses

37

no man can know such a great asylum. Every race of different men inhabits it: English and Achaian, Norican, Hungarian. Indians inhabit it, and the people and first dweller of Pindus, and do not despise the Indian market. Hence come violet cloths coloured by no dye; o you pens from the river Nile, write many things! Nobody is unaware of it: every gem honours the Indians, every stone which Claros and Paros have brought. Here is a jasper too, which a serpent carried on its head, a stone worthy of honour, if you know how to evaluate. Here the Coan and the man of the East expose their goods to sale, Sidon with the Tyrians in various attire. The Jews sell mantles, the Sabaeans their incense, spikenard, and wonderful balsams. Here ginger scents the air, the customer walks around and buys some pepper, this market offers every kind of spice. The spice spreads its particular fragrance through the streets, in which the judgement of the nose finds no offence. Do not despise the city which opens a thousand taverns; when given in dowry, you may be the mistress of all this. There you will discover the cloths that Flanders sends me every year, and how good the material is. Hither a hawker has brought precious carpets from Crete; believe that they are brought for your benefit. Here you will discover, from the signs, Goldsmiths’ Quarter. Let those works of glittering gold be given and make you rich. Every necklace hanging there shines more than the sun; the workmanship is more beautiful than the mass of malleable material. There, the art of Vulcan never remains idle and inert; the daughter of Venus wore a piece of jewellery like this. Here you can find the clothes of Helen of Sparta, which Paris himself offered before the harbours of the sea. Indeed, these other clothes give evidence of your comforts; that which the Phrygian art yields is almost a prodigy. Here is the guild of painters and here of physicians,

38 220



225





230



235



240





245



250



Versus Eporedienses Et ualet officio quisque sibi proprio. Omne quod est cernas ibi penas preter Auernas: Urbs est cura ioci, forma cupita loci. Teutonici Galli prestant munimina ualli, Hi Martis famuli: sunt patrie tituli. Cappadoces Parti nolentes cedere Marti Aptant incudes, sunt nec ad arma rudes. Bello non serus muros obseruat Iberus, Magni gens precii quam studio pecii. Si populi uultum uites uitando tumultum, Si qua placere tenes, menia quere penes. Sunt camere centum minime sine laude clientum: Cultus opis uarie labe carens carie. Si pro uelle peti datur, ut des membra quieti: Quod resident, Pori dant tibi mille thori. Versus picturam cordis conuertito curam, Mente deos tota quos habet illa nota. Mentis quere uia, cur hic sit Filologia Atlantis proli iure iugata poli. Si scelus hoc esset, nequaquam nupta subesset Nec foret in celis, ni dare uerba uelis. Cum dii letantur, nobis exempla parantur: Quod nos letemur, uult et utrumque femur. Nos Venus inuitat, cum natam diua maritat; Etas cum cogat, ludere Iuno rogat. Ut promissa petas, mea res ortatur et etas Necnon, qua donor, nobilitatis honor. Si speciem spectes, aurem cum pectore flectes, Quod uolo tu facies, tanta uiri facies. Si mea membratim uis membra notare diatim, Laudibus ex equis absque labore nequis. Aurea forma come laus est per menia Rome, Splendentes oculi sunt speculum populi. Cetera narrarem, nisi re manifesta putarem; Cum manifesta patent, flumine metra natent.

224 hi ex in corr. 226  ad ex at corr. 242  et Dümmler] deest MS 245  mea res ortatur et etas] gl. supra lineam uel inuitat principis etas   forma ex forme corr.

Versus Eporedienses

39

and each and every one is an expert in his field. All there is you may see there, except the pains of Hell; cities are for pursuing pleasure, their beauty desired. Germans and Frenchmen undertake the defence of the rampart, these servants of Mars are the glory of the fatherland. Cappadocians and Parthians, unwilling to yield to Mars, prepare the anvils, nor are they unskilled in weapons. Not slow in war, the Spaniards, a people of great value, whom I have sought with zeal, guard the walls. ¶ If you shun the face of people by escaping the crowd, if you look for pleasure, seek within the city walls. There are a hundred chambers by no means lacking the praise of the clients, elegantly furnished and decorated, suffering no defect or decay. If, according to your wish, it is allowed that you give your limbs some rest, the thousand beds of Porus grant you that they may find rest. Direct your heart’s attention towards the picture, focus all concentration on the gods it represents. Grasp by way of reason why Philology is here, joined by heaven’s law to the descendant of Atlas. If this were a crime, she would surely not be married, nor would she be in heaven – unless you want to “give empty words.” When the gods are having a good time, examples are set for us, and each of our thighs long for us to have a good time, too. Venus invites us when she, the goddess, marries off her daughter; as our youth drives us together, Juno asks us to play. ¶ My possessions and age urge you to desire my promises, as well as the honour of nobility with which I am endowed. If you consider my good looks, you will lend your ear and heart, you will do what I wish, so handsome a man am I! If day by day you observe my body limb by limb, you will hardly be able (to observe limbs) of equal praise. The fine form of my golden hair is praised all over the city of Rome, my shining eyes are the people’s mirror. I would have recited the rest if I had not considered it all an evident fact; since all is evident, let the stream of verses flow on.

40 255

¶ 23r b







260



265



270



275





280



285



290



Versus Eporedienses Flumine quod restat, dum Musa iuuamina prestat, Prestat et hoc gratis grata canendo satis. Ne teneas mirum, calami si tingo butyrum, Ut tu lauderis, cum cor amore feris. Lucifer ut stellis, sic es prelata puellis, In prelatiuis est sua forma niuis. Constat et est clarum: superas genus omne rosarum; Sit iudex equus, tu geris omne decus. Dum flauos humeris crines sparsisse uideris Et pro uelle iacis, me sine mente facis. Cerni quando sinis frontem religamine crinis, Hec etiam crebras luce fugat tenebras. Sunt oculi digni gemini ceu lumina signi, Nulla supercilio pars datur in uicio. Dona referre gene nostre nequit usus auene, Lingua nequit uatum, scribat ut omne datum. Ad solis morem facies tua nacta colorem, Hanc quociens uideam, cogit ut astupeam. Cum species oris rosei datur esse coloris, Ni datur hos ori, tunc datur esse mori. Cum gula candescat super hancque monile rubescat, Hec ego dum uideo dulciter inuideo. Es ueluti suber, tumidum quod preterit uber: Uber fructus apis copia queque dapis. Dic dic, quis nescit, quam pectus habunde niuescit: Quod sub ueste latet dignius esse patet. Ne uidearis hebes, dare responsalia debes: Quod protelatur sepe nocere datur. Non protelares, si pristina metra notares, Laus est danda quibus, sicut in ore cibus. Sum sum sum uates, Musarum seruo penates, Subpeditante Clio queque futura scio. Me minus extollo, quamuis mihi cedit Apollo, Inuidet et cedit, scire Minerua dedit. Laude mea uiuit mihi se dare queque cupiuit, Inmortalis erit, ni mea Musa perit. Musa mori nescit nec in annis mille senescit,

275 hancque ex huncque corr. rubescat] gl. rosescat suum ex 276, 279, 280, 277, 278 in margine corr.

277  qui] quod Peiper

276–80  ordo ver-

Versus Eporedienses

41

For while the Muse offers help, she kindly offers too that which remains in the stream with song of quite pleasant verses. ¶ Do not wonder if I dip my quill in butter to have you praised, since you torment my heart with love. As the morning star is to other stars, so you are pre-eminent among other girls: among the incomparable, a snowwhite beauty! It is certain and well-known: you rise above any rose; let the judge be fair, you have every possible charm. When you appear with your blond hair thrown over your shoulders and you toss it at will, you drive me out of my mind. When you reveal your brow with a ribbon in your hair, it chases away even thick darkness with its brightness. Your dignified eyes are like the twin stars of Gemini; no part of your eyebrow shows any blemish. No playing of our pipe can recount the merits of your cheek, no poet’s tongue can describe every gift. Your face gains colour like the sun, every time I see it, it causes me to marvel. When your mouth appears coloured like a rose, then, if a kiss is not given, it is like dying. When your throat shines white and on it a necklace glitters red, I am filled with sweet envy as I look at it all. You are like cork with your swelling breast, bursting with honey and all delights. Tell, tell, who does not know how exceedingly white your snowy breast appears; it is clear: that which is hidden under the gown is even more worthy (of praise). ¶ Lest you seem without feeling, you must give me an answer, delay often turns out to be harmful. You would not have delayed if you had listened to my previous verses; praise must be given them, (being) like food in the mouth. I am, I am, I am a poet! I guard the temple of the Muses; with the help of Clio I know all future things. By no means do I exalt myself, although Apollo yields to me; he begrudges me and yields, since Minerva has granted the knowledge. Any girl who has wished to give herself to me lives on thanks to my praise; she will be immortal, unless my Muse perishes. The Muse cannot die or age in a thousand years;

Versus Eporedienses

42

295



300

Durans durabit nec quod amauit abit. Quod decet ore teri uiuit dictamen Omeri, Et facit esse deum quem coluit Nereum. Perpetuis horis tua uiuit, Flace, Liquoris, Nec ualet illa mori carmine fama fori. Perspicue signa quare sit nota Corinna: Viuere Naso facit quando per ora iacit. Ut semper dures, mihi te subponere cures, Quod si parueris, carmine perpes eris.”

294 Et] supra lineam gl. uel quod 295  flace ex face corr.

Versus Eporedienses

43

she will continue to endure, nor will what she has loved disappear. Homer’s verse lives, deserving to be rendered familiar by recitation, and makes Nireus, whom he has honoured, into a god. Your Lycoris, O Horace, lives forever, nor can she die who, through your verse, has become a public celebrity. Take careful note of why Corinna is known: Ovid made her live when he put her name on everyone’s lips. In order to live on forever, make sure that you submit yourself to me, and if you obey, you will be everlasting in poetry.”

Commentary Caveat lector In the following commentary, I first and foremost discuss various reminiscences and use of the classics (allusions, intertexts, etc.).1 In order to facilitate the reader’s identification of more or less insignificant versus significant matches, I have classified each example in a scale from 1 to 5 (see the index locorum similium). My comments on these examples as well as my comments on matches with contemporary and later parallels are discussed in the appendices 2 and 3. In the index, each entry is followed by an indication of significance marked in parenthesis (from more or less insignificant 2 match to more or less significant). For the reader familiar with Offermanns’ bipartite system (das “funktionslose  / funktionelle Zitat”),3 the two groups of my scale  1–2 and  3–5 can be considered as variants of respectively “das funktionslose Zitat” and “das funktionelle Zitat,” with the reservation that, concerning group 3–5, I would replace certain authorial intention (“absichtliche Verwendung  / Realisierungserwartung”) with (highly) probable; that is, it should be borne in mind that the entries are indications and not always incontestable evidence of knowledge of an earlier text or evidence of influence on a later text. More interesting than the single match are the patterns that emerge when one studies the entire index. Combined with related knowledge of manuscript dissemination and genre characteristics it should be a useful tool in the mapping of both the sources of the VE and its possible influences on later poetry (keeping in mind, of course, that our poem survives in only one extant manuscipt). Typical medieval deviations from classical Latin grammar are not commented upon. For a quick reference, the reader is invited to consult Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide, ed. Frank A. C. Mantello and Arthur G. Rigg (Washington, DC, 1996), pp. 83–92, or Keith Sidwell, Reading Medieval Latin (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 362–72, and Pascale Bourgain, Le latin médiéval, L’Atélier du médiéviste 10 (Turnhout, 2005). For a more detailed study, see Stotz, esp. vol. 4. 2  An isolated match at level 1 or 2 may appear more or less insignificant, but the degree of significance must of course be seen in relation with other factors. For instance, the significance is greater when matches of the same poem occur successively as when we find a level 2 match in close succession between VE 9 and Met. 8.705 and VE 15 and Met. 8.677. 3  Defined as follows in Offermanns, p. 54: “Das Funktionslose Zitat (Parallele) – vom Autor bewußt oder unbewußt, mit oder ohne Realisierungserwartung verwendet und das funktionelle Zitat – es besitzt Verweisungs- oder Signal-Charakter; von ihm muß sowohl absichtliche Verwendung als aus Realisierungserwartung seitens des Autors angenommen werden.” The definition is followed by a footnote explaining that “funktionelle Zitate” may include both of Herman Meyer’s (see Bibliography) “offenbare” and “kryptische.” 1 

45

Latin Love Elegy

46

Explanation of the Scale 1 2 3 4

lexical similarity matching line opening or line ending or same metrical position lexical similarity + situational similarity or similarity in sentiment matching line opening or ending or same metrical position + situational similarity or similarity in sentiment identical

5

At the lowest end of the scale we have what I call lexical similarity which means a match between a combination of at least two words. The combination of words are either identical as in Mart. 9.103: “Dardanius gemino cum Ganymede Paris” > VE 68 “Cum Ganimede Paris copula grata paris” or similar as in Luc. 10.160: “Niliacas crystallos aquas, gemmaeque capaces”  > VE  61: “Cum super omne places, gemmas tibi summe capaces” (same combination of words but different morphology). At level 2 a match of a minimum of three syllables4 occurs at the line opening or ending or at another identical metrical position. Examples: Ov. A. A. 2.107: “Sit procul omne nefas! ut ameris, amabilis esto” > VE 174: “Sit procul omnis anus sepe nociua manus”; Ov. Her. 16.228: “Crescit et inuito lentus in ore cibus” > VE 284: “Laus est danda quibus, sicut in ore cibus”; Juv. 9.30 “et male percussas textoris pectine Galli” > VE 151: “Hec sunt ex bisso texstoris pectine spisso.” A combination of 1 or 2 and additional situational similarity or similarity in sentiment qualifies as a match on level 3 and level 4 respectively. Examples: VE 2: “Fors et uelle dedit, flumine nimpha redit” modelled on Ov. Met. 1.588–89: “Viderat a patrio redeuntem Iuppiter illam / flumine” (level 3) or VE 19: “Dic dic prudentes qui te genuere parentes” modelled on Verg. Aen. 1.606: “Saecula? Qui tanti talem genuere parentes?” (level 4). Special cases and exceptions are marked by the additional signs ÷ and *.

The minus-sign (Weakening Factors) Some expressions, epithets, combinations, or metrical positions are so typical that I have decided to mark them with the minus sign. Examples: Typical expression: “siste gradum.” Typical epithet: “alma Ceres.” Typical combination: “solet esse.” Typical metrical position: “compita” in the fifth foot. Mostly from 4 to 6 syllables, occasionaly even 7 (VE 15: “super omnia uultus”) or 8 (VE 43: “precio preciosior”). 4 

Commentary

47

At level 3, I have included a few matches with weaker lexical similarity for some recurring poems (mostly Ovidian). This means that in these cases the lexical similarity is limited to one word. Likewise, at level 4, I have included a few matches where the lexical similarity is limited to fewer than three syllables.

The Asterisk-sign I have included a few exceptional cases of situational similarity or similarity in sentiment without any lexical similarity or matching openings/endings or metrical positions. It is admittedly more problematic to prove allusions and imitations in cases without lexical support, but most of these cases are included because of their significance in relation to earlier scholarly discussions.

Introductory Remark on VE 1–36 This passage constitutes “Brinkmann’s pastourelle”; he suggests that the VE was written as a school exercise5 on the basis of pieces taken from different genres. He sees the verses 1 to 40 as the first unit, that is, the elaboration of what he calls a “learned pastourelle.” As a main source of inspiration containing the classical features of the pastourelle, he mentions Ovid’s Her. 5 (Oenone Paridi).6 Later interesting parallels7 are poems such as 70, 79, 90, 92, 157, and 158 of the Carmina Burana, henceforth abbreviated as CB,8 poems 21 (Maio mense) and 26 (Si uera somnia) of the Carmina Rivipullensia (the Ripoll poems, henceforth abbreviated as  CR),9 and Walter of Châtillon’s poems Declinante Brinkmann, “Anfänge lateinischer Liebesdichtung,” 204–05: “Ihr Dichter, kein originaler Schöpfer, hat Stücke verschiedener literarischer Gattungen zu einem Gedicht verarbeitet, aber so, daß sich die einzelnen Teile leicht und deutlich ablösen. Wir haben es anscheinend mit einer Schulübung zu tun, deren Aufgabe war, verschiedene Gedichte zu einem Ganzen zu verarbeiten… Dies Gedicht, das wir uns danach als Vorlage von Wido aus. v. 1–40 rekonstruieren können, ist eine von einem Gelehrten verfaßte Pastourelle.” See also Dümmler 1872, pp. 91–92: “Ohne Zweifel kannte der Dichter den von ihm erwähnten Ovid, Vergil und andere classische Autoren, ahmte sie aber kaum im Einzelnen nach. Den alten, zumal wohl auch den Grammatikern, verdankt er mancherlei gelehrte Brocken, mythologische und historische Namen, die er ebenso gern anbringt.” According to Manitius, 3:866: “Es weist sich aus als eine didaktisch gehaltene Idylle mit lyrischem Einschlag und schmeckt stark nach der Schule.” See also Tilliette’s judgement in footnote 8 above. 6  Brinkmann, Geschichte der lateinischen Liebesdichtung, p. 78. 7  Offermanns (p. 122) even suggests a possible influence of the VE on CB 92 and Walter of Châtillon: “Widos Verse haben möglicherweise sowohl auf Walter von Chatillon als auch auf den Dichter der ‘Altercatio’ gewirkt, aber eine endgültige Beurteilung ist ohne umfassende Einbeziehung der ‘locus amoenus’-Literatur, besonders der Paradies-Schielderungen, nicht möglich.” 8  In the following, I quote from Bulst’s edition. See also our discussion of CB 77 and 92 in Appendix 3 below. 9  CR 31 (Si laudare possem florem) and 36 (Redit estas cunctis grata) are also defined as pastourelle by Latzke, but they are thematically less similar to the above-mentioned poems; see Therese Latzke, 5 

48

Latin Love Elegy

frigore (henceforth abbreviated as O 17), Dum flosculum tenera (O 23) and Sole regente lora (henceforth abbreviated as O 32) which share certain “pastoral traits”10 such as: 1. first person poet-narrator VE  1: “Cum secus ora uadi placeat mihi ludere Padi”; Ov. Am. 3.6.2: “ad dominam propero” etc.; CR 21.1–3: “dum per pratum…irem forte”; CR 26.3: “dum solus dormio”; CB 70.1.5: “mee Thisbes adoptato fruebar eloquio”; CB 79.1.3: “totus eram in ardore”; CB  157.3.1: “dum procedo paululum”; CB  158.2.1: “illuc ueni fato dante.”; O  17.1.5–7: “surgens…resedi”; O 32.2.1: “Quam solam ut attendi.” 2. vernal/estival opening VE 3–4: “tempus erat florum…mense sub Aprili”; Ov. Am. 3.6.7: “nunc ruis adposito niuibus de monte solutis”; CR 21.1: “Maio mense”; CR 26.3: “Aprilis tempore”; CB 70.1.1: “Estatis florigero tempore”; CB 79.1.1: “estiuali sub feruore”; CB 157.1.2–3: “exit uirgo propere / facie uernali”; CB 158.1.1–2: “Vere dulci mediante / non in Maio, paulo ante”; O 17.1.1–4: “Declinante frigore / picto terre corpore / tellus sibi credita / multo reddit fenore”; O 32.1.1–2: “Sole regente lora / poli per altiora.” 3. locus amoenus VE 42: “Ventilet aura sinus, umbra sit apta pinus”; CR 21.1–2: “per pratum / pulchris floribus ornatum”; CR  26.4: “in prato uiridi, iam satis florido”; CB  70.1.2–4 “sub “Die Carmina erotica der Ripollsammlung,” Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 10 (1975), 138–201, at p. 200. See also Dronke, Medieval Latin and the Rise, pp. 253–59, 286–87 and 338–41; id., “The Interpretation of the Ripoll Love-Songs,” Romance Philology 33 (1979), 14–42; and David Traill, “The Origin of the Ripoll Love Poems,” in IV Congresso Internacional de Latim Medieval Hispânico, ed. Aires A. Nascimento and Paulo F. Alberto (Lisbon, 2006), pp. 905–12. The CR acquire special interest from their containing traces of the VE. See also our discussion of the CR in Appendix 3 below. 10  To be clear: I do not consider the VE or any of the other Latin poems discussed here as “proto-pastourelles.” For post-Brinkmannian discussions of pastoral elements in medieval Latin poetry, see Keith Bate, “Ovid, Medieval Latin and the Pastourelle,” Reading Medieval Studies 9 (1983), 16–33; Armando Bisanti, “‘Pastorelle’ mediolatine, provenzali, francesi e galego-portoghesi,” in Armando Bisanti, La poesia d’amore nei Carmina Burana, Nuovo Medioevo 84 (Naples, 2011), pp. 143–58; Peter Dronke, “Poetic Meaning in the Carmina Burana,” Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 10 (1975), 116–37; id., Medieval Latin and the Rise, pp. 300–31; id., “La lirica d’amore in latino nel secolo XIII,” in Aspetti della letteratura latina nel secolo XIII: Atti del primo Convegno internazionale di studi dell’Associazione per il Medioevo e l’Umanesimo latini, ed. Claudio Leonardi and Giovanni Orlandi (Florence, 1986), pp. 29–56; Ricarda Liver, “Mittellateinische und romanische Pastourellen,” in Festschrift für Paul Klopsch, ed. Udo Kindermann, Wolfgang Maaz and Fritz Wagner, Göppinger Arbeiten zur Germanistik 492 (Göppingen, 1988), pp. 308–23; Offermanns, pp. 113–23; Tilliette, “Poésie latine et tradition courtoise.”; William Paden, “The Literary Background of the Pastourelle” in Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Lovaniensis: Proceedings of the First International Congress of Neo-Latin Studies, Louvain, 23–28 August 1971, ed. Jozef Ijsewijn and Eckhard Kessler (Munich, 1973), pp. 467–73; Frederic J. E. Raby, “Surgens Manerius summo diluculo,” Speculum 8 (1933), 204–08; Patrick Gerard Walsh, “Pastor and Pastoral in Medieval Latin Poetry,” in Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar 1976, ed. Francis Cairns (Liverpool, 1977), pp. 157–69; id., Love-Lyrics from the Carmina Burana (Chapel Hill and London, 1993), pp. xxiii–xxiv.

Commentary

49

umbrosa residens arbore / auibus canentibus in nemore, / sibilante serotino frigore”; CB 79.2.1–4: “erat arbor hec in prato / quouis flore pictorato / herba, fonte, situ grato / sed et umbra, flatu dato”; CB 157.2.5: “sub arbore frondosa”; CB 158.1.5: “fronde stabat sub uernante”; O  17.2.1–7: “Desub ulmo patula  / manat unda garrula.  / Ver ministrat gramine / fontibus umbracula, / qui per loca singula, / profluunt aspergine / uirgultorum pendula”; O 32.1.5–7: “sub ulmo patula / consederat, nam dederat / arbor umbracula.” 4. meeting with a maiden (usually a shepherdess, peasant girl or maid) VE  5–6: “accessi…inuitans”; Ov.  Am. 3.6.51: “hanc Anien rapidis animosus uidit”; CR 21.5–8: “Vidi…uirginum choream”; CR 26.5–8: “uirgo pulcerrima…ante me uisa est”; CB 70.1.5–6: “mee Thisbes adoptato fruebar eloquio / colloquens de Veneris blandissimo commercio”; CB 79.4.4–6: “cerno forma singulari / pastorellam sine pari / colligentem mora”; CB 157.3.3 “Salue rege digna”; CB 158.3.2: “hanc sequendo precor”; O 17.3.6–7: “uidi sinu patulo / uenire Glycerium”; O 32.2.1: “Quam solam ut attendi.” 5. “don’t be afraid” VE 14: “nil patiere doli” etc.; Ov. Am. 3.6.61–62: “pone metus”; CB 70.11.1: “Times in uanum”; CB 79.5.3–4: “non sum predo / nichil tollo, nichil ledo”; CB 158.3.3: “Nichil timeas hostile.” 6. proposal of love (possibly combined with a promise of gifts and/or praise of beauty) VE 38–40: “tu posses mecum munere mota precum / sepe sub umbella posses, speciosa puella, / ludere letari”; Am. 3.6.66: “munera promissis uberiora feres”; CR 21.25–32 = praise of beauty; CR 26.17 (the “uirgo pulcerrima” inviting): “Ni me dilexeris”; CB 70.4a.1–4: “Ignem cecum sub pectore / longo depasco tempore, / qui uires miro robore / toto diffundit corpore. / Quem tu sola, percipere / si uis, potes extinguere”; CB 90.3.4 (the “rustica puella” inviting): “ueni mecum ludere”; CB 158.3.4–5: “et monile / quod ostendi”; O 17.5.3–6.7: “‘Ades,’ inquam, ‘omnium / mihi dilectissima, / cor meum et anima, / cuius forme lilium / mea pascit intima.’ / ‘In te semper oscito, / uix ardorem domito. / A me quicquid agitur, / lego siue scriptito, / crucior, et merito / ni frui conceditur, / quod constanter optito’”; O 32.3.6–7: “si pateris, a Veneris / disiungent copula.” 7. the girl’s refusal or consent VE 23: “spreuit uitauit caput inclinando negauit”; Ov. Am. 3.6.69: “ter molita fugam ter ad altas restitit undas”; CB 70.15.1–2: “Dulcissime! / totam subdo tibi me”; CB 79.6.2: “ludos uiri non assueui”; CB 157.4.2: “que non nouit hominem” and after the threat of a wolf (6.5): “me gaudeat uxore”; CB 158.4.3: “se sic defendit colo”; O 17.7.1–5: “Ad hec illa frangitur, / humi sedit igitur, / et sub fronde tenera, / dum uix moram patitur, / subici compellitur”; O 32.4.3–5.7: “Hec, precor, obmittatis / ridicula. / Sum adhuc paruula, / non nubilis nec habilis / ad hec opuscula. / Hora meridiana / transit, uide Titana. / Mater est inhumana. / Iam pabula / spernit ouicula. / Regrediar, ne feriar / materna

Latin Love Elegy

50

uirgula,” but then the poems ends with (32.8.1–7): “Quam mire simulantem / ouesque congregantem / pressi nil reluctantem / sub penula. / Flores et herbula / suauiter et molliter / prebent cubicula.” Hennig Brinkmann and Maurice Delbouille11 endeavoured to trace the origin of the vernacular pastourelle12 back to poems such as the VE, CC 27 (Iam, dulcis amica, uenito) and CR 26 (De somnio), a view that has been modified, among others, by William Powell Jones and Erich Köhler.13 More recently, Ferruccio Bertini has pointed out that the differences14 are just as striking as the similarities, and Peter Dronke15 has suggested that a more fruitful link might be established with the elegiac comedy. The discussions of genre and origin need not detain us here.16

Brinkmann, “Anfänge lateinischer Liebesdichtung,” and Delbouille, “Les  origines de la pastourelle.” William Powell Jones, “Some Recent Studies on the Pastourelle,” Speculum 5 (1930), 207–15 agrees that the vernacular pastourelle was inspired by the poems such as the VE, but disagrees with the hypothesis that the vernacular pastourelle draws its origin from medieval Latin love poetry. See also Alfred Jeanroy, La poésie lyrique des troubadours I–II (Toulouse and Paris, 1934, repr, Geneva, 1998), 2:284. 12  A standard reference is Michel Zink, La pastourelle: Poésie et folklore au Moyen Âge (Paris-Montréal, 1972) who also offers a summary (pp. 42–52) of the research of the period from 1846 (Wilhelm Wackernagel) to 1965 (Ada Biella) related to the question of origins. 13  Jones, “Some Recent Studies,” p. 213: “The Latin love poetry from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries certainly cannot be ignored in a study of the pastourelle and Brinkmann is to be congratulated for having demonstrated the fact so well, but to trace the origin of the genre to the specimens which have thus far come to light is, to my mind, out of the question”; Erich Köhler, “La pastourelle dans la poésie des troubadours,” in Études de langue et de littérature du moyen âge: Offertes à Félix Lecoy (Paris, 1973), pp. 279–92, at 281: “De même qu’il ne serait pas possible de concevoir la pastourelle sans une tradition latine du Moyen Age du dialogue d’amour qui l’aurait précédé et qui se réfère à l’Invitatio amicae du xe siècle, aux Versus Eporedienses de Wido de Ivrea (vers 1080), au poème mutilé Clericus et nonna du chansonnier de Cambridge et dont témoignent le poème De Somnio de l’Anònim enamorat de Ripoll de même que les chants de Walther de Châtillon (en partie déjà sous l’influence de la pastourelle latine), de même ne peut-elle cependant pas s’expliquer uniquement à partir de celle-ci.” 14  Instead of being of rustic origins, the maiden is of royal descent, and the love debate has been replaced by the catalogue of gifts. See Ferruccio Bertini, “I Versus Eporedienses – un carme dell’XI secolo letto in prospettiva federiciana,” in Il Paese di Cortesia – Omaggio a Federico II nell’VIII Centenario della nascita, ed. Paolo Aldo Rossi, Ida Li Vigni, Stefano Zuffi (Genoa, 1995), pp. 62–69. 15  See Dronke, “A Note,” p. 230: “The dialogue, with its intellectual verbal wit and virtuoso play on language, seems to me far closer to Ovidius puellarum and Pamphilus than it is to the vernacular pastourelles, to which scholars such as Faral and Brinkmann somewhat awkwardly tried to relate it.” and Medieval Latin and the Rise, p. 243: “The motifs of spring and love provide only a flimsy casket for a concoction which is delightful and unique. To speak of this long virtuoso piece as an early pastourelle (…) only obscures this uniqueness.” 16  For a useful overview, see the observations of Bisanti, “‘Pastorelle’ mediolatine,” pp. 143–48, and Tilliette, “Poésie latine et tradition courtoise.” referred to in footnote 9 of my introduction. 11 

Verse by Verse Commentary The poet’s meeting with the Trojan maiden (1–36) 1. ora: plural of os, neutr. Unusual in the sense of “borders, edges” (although “in ore gladii” is a recurring expression in the Vulgate). Here it is used to indicate riverbanks since the normal word (ripa) would have spoiled the meter (“secus ripas” rendering the final vowel of secus long by position). Interestingly, confusion between ora (fem. sg.) and ora (n. pl.) in the particular meaning of “coast/shore” occurs for instance in the Excidium Troiae: “tantum ut cum naue ad ora maris paratus sis” with the alternative manuscript reading “ad oram.”1 uadi: The Ovidian example of Her. 18.106, “quodque mihi lumen per uada monstrat iter” would evoke the love story of Hero and Leander.2 Note also the metaphor “uadum tentare” = “venture something, embark on something great/dangerous” and the like. See Ov. A. A. 1.437, “cera uadum temptet rasis infusa tabellis,” and 3.469, “uerba uadum temptent abiegnis scripta tabellis.” 2. fors…dedit: the expression is classical. Compare Ov. Am. 1.8.21, “fors me sermoni testem dedit.” An interesting parallell containing this expression in a similar situation (and in identical metrical position) is Ov. Met. 1.452–53 where Apollo chases his first love, the nymph Daphne. As will become clear, the Apollo-Daphne affair is one of Wido’s many Ovidian sources of inspiration: “Primus amor Phoebi Daphne Peneia, quem non / fors ignara dedit, sed saeua Cupidinis ira.” The goddess of Chance who together with the goddess of Love helps Ovid’s lover is also worth mentioning: Ov. A. A. 1.608 “Hinc Pudor: audentem Forsque Venusque iuuat.” flumine nimpha redit: compare Ov. Met. 1.588–89 where Jove spots Io coming from the stream: Viderat a patrio redeuntem Iuppiter illam flumine

See also my comments to verses 41–46.

Alan Keith Bate, Excidium Troie, Lateinische Sprache und Literatur des Mittelalters 23 (Frankfurt, 1986), p. 37. 2  An Ovidian fable dear to Baudri of Bourgueil: Jean-Yves Tilliette, “Le retour du grand Pan: remarques sur une adaption en vers des ‘Mitologiae’ de Fulgence à la fin du xie siècle (Baudri de Bourgueil, c. 154),” Studi Medievali 37 (1996), 65–93. 1 

51

Latin Love Elegy

52

nimpha: “nymph” (LS II/OLD 1), but also “bride, mistress” (LS I), “young woman” (LS I.2/OLD 2). For the bathing nymph scene, see Offermanns, pp. 150–51 who links this distich with Her. 15.157–62 (the naiad who appears before the enamoured Sappho). Similar scenes are Ov. Met. 3.155–99, 4.302–88 and 5.572–603. And let us not forget the Trojan nymph of Her. 5.10: “edita de magno flumine nympha fui.” Note the identical metrical position of flumine nympha. 3. Tempus erat florum: A very interesting parallel for the syntagma “tempus erat florum” occurs in Hugh Primas’s poem 6 (Idibus his Mai). Like the VE it exhibits leonine rhyme and also happens to share some thematic similarities with the VE. Note especially that the syntagma introduces verse 3 in both poems. See also on Idibus his Mai in Appendix 3 below. 5. Accessi: same line opening in Ov.  Met. 5.592, “accessi primumque pedis uestigia tinxi.” Note similarities in imagery: a nymph (Arethusa) bathes in a stream where she is approached by a seducer (Alpheus). Trees along the banks offer a pleasant shade (Ov. Met. 5.590–91 and VE 42–46). 7. memorandos…actus: compare Glaucus having told about his metamorphosis to Scylla in Ov. Met. 13.956, “hactenus acta tibi possum memoranda referre.” specie…conspicor: polyptoton with emphatic effects intensifying the emotive tactus. As will be clear throughout this commentary, our poet has a predilection for polyptoton and geminatio, a clear Ovidian influence.3 8. sua…minui: suggests a sexual assault. Paden translates “I barely refrained from interfering,” and Nardi “a stento trattenendomi dall’offenderla.” For classical parallels combining vix and contineo, see Ter. Eun. 859–60, “conseruam! uix me contineo quin inuolem in / capillum, monstrum,” and Hec. 615–16, “equidem cupio et uix contineor; sed non minuam meum consilium.” Compare also O 17.6.2, “uix ardorem domito.” 9. tandem…locutus: compare CR  26.13 (De somnio) “Tandem sic loquitur: ‘Monitu Veneris…’” See also verses 25 and 42. pauca locutus: same line endings in Hor. Sat. 1.6.56. These are the famous few words of the embarassed Horace when introduced to Maecenas: “ut ueni coram, singultim pauca locutus”; and Ov. Met. 8.705: Philemon exchanging a few words with Baucis: “cum Baucide pauca locutus.” 11. Siste…gradum: typical expression (with the variant “siste pedem”) in both classical elegy and epics, for instance Verg. Aen. 6.465, where Aeneas says to Dido in the underworld: “Siste gradum teque aspectu ne subtrahe nostro”; Ov. Her. 13.100, Laodamia to A fine study on figures of repetition in classical Latin poetry is Jeffrey Wills, Repetition in Latin Poetry: Figures of Allusion (Oxford, 1996). 3 

Verse by Verse Commentary

53

Protesilaus: “inque tuo celerem litore siste gradum”; Ov. Rem. 80: “Si piget, in primo limine siste pedem”; Baeb. Ital. Il. Lat. 1063, the poet to Calliope: “Sed iam siste gradum finemque inpone labori,” (where the line ending echoes Verg. Aen. 2.619, “Eripe, nate, fugam finemque impone labori.”). amenum: the adjective occurs only twice in Ovid (Fast. 4.249 and Trist. 5.2.23). More frequently used by Horace (for instance A. P. 17) or by Vergil, related precisely to rivers, Aen. 7.30: “Hunc inter fluuio Tiberinus amoeno”; 8.31: “Huic deus ipse loci fluuio Tiberinus amoeno,” or 9.680 specifically on the banks of Po and the charming Adige: “siue Padi ripis Athesim seu propter amoenum.” 11–12. Siste, puella, gradum per amenum postulo Padum / Et per aquas alias tam cito ne salias. Compare Foebus abierat (c. 1000) verses 17–18: quo fugis, amabo? cur tam celeriter? Siste gradum, si uis inibo pariter

Paden takes the prepositional phrases (per amenum Padum, per aquas alias) as adverbials of place and translates thus: “Cease your journey, I beg you, girl, along the pleasant Po, / and do not leap so swiftly through other waters”; Nardi reads both prepositional phrases with postulo, translating “Fermati, fanciulla, per l’ameno Po, per gli altri fiumi, ti prego, non balzar via così velocemente!” 13. Paden takes the prepositional phrases (per terram and per equor to an implied gradum picked up from line 11) as adverbials of place translating “I beg you, maiden, to please stop your journey by land or sea”; Nardi reads both prepositional phrases with precor, translating “Fermati, fanciulla: te lo chiedo per la terra, te lo chiedo per il mare.” For Ovidian examples of precor with per, see Am. 2.13.11: “per tua sistra precor, per Anubidis ora uerendi”; Her. 12.77–79: “per mala nostra precor, quorum potes esse leuamen,/ per genus, et numen cuncta uidentis aui, / per triplicis uultus arcanaque sacra Dianae”; also Hor. Epod. 5.5–8: “per liberos te, si uocata partubus / Lucina ueris affuit, / per hoc inane purpurae decus precor, / per improbaturum haec Iouem.” 14. Si loqueris soli, nil patiere doli: similarity in sentiment with Ov. Am. 2.17.25: “Non tibi crimen ero,” or 3.6.61–66: Ilia, pone metus! tibi regia nostra patebit, Teque colent amnes; Ilia, pone metus! Tu centum aut plures inter dominabere nymphas: Nam centum aut plures flumina nostra tenent; Ne me sperne, precor, tantum, Troiana propago: Munera promissis uberiora feres.’

For a more detailed analysis, see Kretschmer, “Amores 3.6 and the Versus Eporedienses,” p. 40.

Latin Love Elegy

54

15. super omnia uultus: identical line ending in Ov. Met. 8.677 (from the humble but generous meal served by Philemon and Baucis). Note the above-mentioned match with 8.705 and VE 9. The Metamorphoses is one of the main sources of inspiration for our poet. 16. ore pari: metonymy. Cause for effect: “with equal mouth,” that is, voice = argument or consent; read as adverbial phrase to “comprobat te (esse) generis clari.” See my simplified translation: equally (prove). 17. stella as a metaphor for eye has no classical model; lumen is the classical standard. See LS  II.E “stella” for pupil occurs in Claud. Carm. min. 27.36–38 (describing the Phoenix’s eye): Iam breue decrescit lumen languetque senili Segnis stella gelu, qualis cum forte tenetur Nubibus et dubio uanescit Cynthia cornu.

See also Baudri of Bourgueil, carm. 200.55: “Non rutilat Veneris tam clara binomia stella.”4 germana Phetontis: one of the Heliades, the sisters of Phaëthon who plunged into the Eridanus/Po, thus ending his journey with his father’s chariot; a clear allusion to Ov. Met. 2.1–366 of which the verses 340–66 narrate the metamorphosis of the Heliades to poplar trees. Giovini, “Quod decet ore teri,” pp. 45–46 claims that this allusion is implicitly taken up in verses 21–22 and 41–42, against which I argue in Kretschmer, “Amores 3.6 and the Versus Eporedienses,” pp. 36–37. 18. tibi cedit: same syntagma in Ecl. 5.18, Menalcas to Mopsus: “iudicio nostro tantum tibi cedit Amyntas.”5 de Ioue quando redit: Nardi’s translation renders explicit the suggestive comment thus: “quando si stacca dall’amplesso di Giove.” 19. dic dic: geminatio enhancing the poet-narrator’s curiosity. Compare verse 279. qui te genuere parentes: modelled on Aeneas’s first meeting with Dido, Verg. Aen. 1.603–06: Di tibi, siqua pios respectant numina, siquid Usquam iustitia est et mens sibi conscia recti, Praemia digna ferant. Quae te tam laeta tulerunt Saecula? Qui tanti talem genuere parentes?

I am grateful to Jean-Yves Tilliette for this reference. For the Überbietungstopos “you are more beautiful than…,” see Wollin, “Zwei metrische Liebes­ episteln,” pp. 353–55. 4  5 

Verse by Verse Commentary

55

21. Non stupefacta parum: litotes. reputans: a favorite verb. See verses 75, 97, 113, 188 and 194. 22. Sic timet ipsa loqui sicut ab igne coqui: according to Giovini, “Quod decet ore teri,” pp.  45–46 the distich takes up the above-mentioned allusion of verse  17. See also verses 41–42. Ziltener, p. 118 treats the expression as idiomatic: Das Gefühl der Widerwärtigkeit kann sich bis zu Angst und Schrecken steigern, deren Ursache namentlich durch den Blitz verbildlicht wird. In der lateinischen Dichtung begegnet das Bild nicht nur in Kurzvergleichen wie tua fulmine saevior ira est (Ov. Met. 13.858), sondern auch in epischen Gleichnissen. Drei okzitanische Vergleiche meines Repertoriums heben Schrecklichkeit durch übersteigernde Gegenüberstellung u.a. mit Feuer (Wasser und dem Meer) hervor. ‘Etwas fürchten wie’ oder ‘mehr fürchten als das Feuer’ hat dabei durchaus sprichwörtlichen Charakter. Und Cerveris pero ja·n suy tan Que mil tans m’es d’esmay que si ardia steht in seiner Formulierung den Versus Eporedienses nahe: Sic timet ipsa loqui sicut ab igne coqui, was den Schluß gestattet, es handle sich auch in diesem Falle um eine geläufige Wendung.

ipsa loqui: the same metrical position (but hexameter contra pentameter) in Ov. Met. 3.358 (about the nymph Echo): Vocalis nymphe, quae nec reticere loquenti Nec prior ipsa loqui didicit, resonabilis Echo.

Interestingly, the meeting of this nymph with the handsome young Narcissus is also described with a fire-metaphor, but inverted compared to our nymph. Whereas Wido’s nymph fears talking like being burned by fire, Echo is all aflame with passion at the sight of Narcissus (Ov. Met. 3.370–74): Ergo ubi Narcissum per deuia rura uagantem Vidit et incaluit, sequitur uestigia furtim, Quoque magis sequitur, flamma propiore calescit, Non aliter quam cum summis circumlita taedis Admotas rapiunt uiuacia sulphura flammas.

23. Spreuit uitauit…negauit: asyndeton, gradatio and homoioteleuton reinforcing the girl’s rejection. caput inclinando: same metrical position in Baudri of Bourgueil, carm. 134.951: “Qua regina suum caput inclinando cubabat.” 24. uocem rupit: Vergilian expression, e.g. Aen. 2.129, 3.246, 11.377. retinere cupit: same line ending in Ven.  Fort. 7.5.24: “Te petit illa sibi, haec retinere cupit.” 25. regia proles: same line ending in Fidus amicus here, verse  11: “Tu superare soles. Est et tibi regia proles,” the epistolary love poem (verses  1–25  + reply 26–31) from the anthology contained in the thirteenth-century manuscript Reims, Bibliothèque

Latin Love Elegy

56

municipale  1275 (at fol.  191r), edited by Wattenbach,6 mentioned by Dronke,7 Offermanns pp.  60 and  104, and more thoroughly discussed by Ruhe.8 See further comments to the verses  27, 40, and 257–80 and my discussion of Fidus amicus here in Appendix 3 below. Therese Latzke points to the similarity of CR 26.6, “et proles sanguine progressa regio” which should be seen in combination with the similarities of VE 9 et 42 and CR 26.13 and 26.9. See also Ov. Met. 8.90, Scylla, daughter of King Ninus: “Suasit amor facinus; proles ego regia Nisi.” 26. Nobilis est mater, nobilis ipse pater: note the parallel structure with geminatio to mark the dignity (each hemistich of the pentameter line introduced by nobilis and ending with mater/pater). Compare verse 180. 27. proauos: compare Helen’s words when Paris boasts about his ancestry and royal name, Ov. Her. 17.53–54: Et genus et proauos et regia nomina iactas; Clara satis domus haec nobilitate sua est.

Compare also here with the lady of Fidus amicus here, verse 7: “Te ditat, te nobilitat, series proauorum.” See also verses 25 above and 40 below. 28. sanguine de quorum: same line opening in pseudo-Hildebert of Lavardin, De origine mundi, prol. 35: “sanguine de quorum genus effluxit populorum.” omne forum: identical line ending in verse 200. 29. genuit me Trohica terra: for the question of the puella’s identity, see Kretschmer, “Amores 3.6 and the Versus Eporedienses,” esp. pp. 40–41. Relevant for the idea of the Trojan progenitor Dardanus as Italian is Verg. Aen. 3.163–68: Est locus (Hesperiam Grai cognomine dicunt), Terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glaebae, Oenotri coluere uiri, nunc fama minores Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem: Hae nobis propriae sedes, hinc Dardanus ortus Iasiusque pater, genus a quo principe nostrum.

See also Servius, Comm. in Aen. 3.167:

Wilhelm Wattenbach, “Beschreibung einer Handschrift der Stadtbibliothek zu Reims,” Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde 18 (1893), 491–526, at pp. 521–22. 7  Dronke, Medieval Latin and the Rise, p. 251. 8  Ernstpeter Ruhe, De amasio ad amasiam: Zur Gattungsgeschichte des mittelalterlichen Liebesbriefes, Beiträge zur romanischen Philologie des Mittelalters 10 (Munich, 1975), pp. 204–07. 6 

Verse by Verse Commentary

57

Dardanus et Iasius fratres fuerunt Iouis et Electrae filii (…) Hi tamen fratres cum ex Etruria proposuissent sedes exteras petere, profecti. et Dardanus quidem contracta in Troia iuuentute Dardaniam urbem condidit, a qua Troianorum origo creuit.

29–30. Trohica terra / Terra: alliteration and anadiplosis. 30. dicata deo: same metrical position in Ven. Fort. 6.4.8: “Virgo dicata deo, hinc rapienda polo.” 31–32. Sed fugiens quendam cupientem figere mendam  / Hunc circa fluuium floris amo studium: compare Ov. Am. 3.6.49–50: Illa gemens patruique nefas delictaque Martis Errabat nudo per loca sola pede.

For more examples, see Kretschmer, “Amores 3.6 and the Versus Eporedienses,” p. 40. Hunc circa: same line opening in Ov. Met. 11.613: “hunc circa passim uarias imitantia formas.” 33–34. His siluit dictis curis ex parte relictis, / Vix uix assedit se propiusque dedit: similarity in sentiment with Ov. Met. 2.860–63, Europa approaching Jove disguised as a bull: Sed quamuis mitem metuit contingere primo; Mox adit et flores ad candida porrigit ora. Gaudet amans et, dum ueniat sperata uoluptas, Oscula dat manibus; uix iam, uix cetera differt!

Note also that the first and last word of both hemistichs of line 33 ends in -is: “His siluit dictis / curis ex parte relictis.” His siluit dictis: same line opening in the beast epic Ysengrimus9 (c. 1150) 6.349: “His siluit dictis rimansque procacibus irquis (= hircis).” Note the leonine hexameter. 34–35. Vix uix… / Iam iam…: geminatio. erigo uisus: = erigo oculos as in Ov. Met. 4.145–46, the dying Pyramus: Ad nomen Thisbes oculos iam morte grauatos Pyramus erexit uisaque recondidit illa.

36. Tactus amore sui taliter amonui: amonui (for admonui) enhances the second hemistich’s “imitation” of the first: “Tactus amore sui taliter amonui.” tactus amore: the kind of audience Ovid wanted for his love poems, Am. 2.1.5–6: Me legat in sponsi facie non frigida uirgo Et rudis ignoto tactus amore puer. See introduction and bibliography in Ysengrimus, ed. and tran. Jill Mann, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 26 (Cambridge, MA, 2013). 9 

Latin Love Elegy

58

Invitation to enjoy the shade or to bathe (37–48) 38. Tu posses mecum munere mota precum: for the Ovidian precept of offering gifts to the domina, see A. A. 2.261–68: Nec dominam iubeo pretioso munere dones: Parua, sed e paruis callidus apta dato. Dum bene diues ager, dum rami pondere nutant, Adferat in calatho rustica dona puer: Rure suburbano poteris tibi dicere missa, Illa uel in Sacra sint licet empta Via; Adferat aut uuas aut, quas Amaryllis amabat, (At nunc castaneas non amat illa) nuces.

However, our poet’s following catalogue of gifts appears as an amplificatio of Am. 3.6.67–68: Ne me sperne, precor, tantum, Troiana propago: Munera promissis uberiora feres.

Note also the alliteration: “mecum munere mota.” 39. umbella: classical occurrences only in Mart. 14.28 and Juv. 9.50. 40. Ludere letari: for ludo in an erotic sense,10 see, inter alia, Ov. A. A. 2.389: “Ludite, sed furto celetur culpa modesto”; Maxim. 1.81: “Cum media tantum dilexi ludere forma.” See also VE 244. To that one could add that “floris decerpere pratum” of verse 37 carries a barely concealed double entendre. Compare the initial greeting of Fidus amicus here with the same metrical position (but hexameter contra pentameter): Fidus amicus here mandat sine fine ualere Viuere, letari, felici laude beari.

Saepe sub umbella posses, speciosa puella,  Ludere letari, cura cupita mari.

See also verses 25 and 27 above. cura: about the puella, see TLL II.B.2 “metonymice de persona amata,” compare, inter alia, Ov. Am. 3.1.41: “Sum leuis, et mecum leuis est, mea cura, Cupido”; Ov. Her. 15.123: “Tu mihi cura, Phaon! te somnia nostra reducunt”; Ov. Rem. 311: “Haeserat in quadam nuper mea cura puella”; Verg. Ecl. 10.22: “tua cura Lycoris.” Note the play of alliteration in the distich 39–40 with exchanging s/p-sounds in the hexameter line and parallel distribution in the pentameter line (l in the first and c in the second hemistich): “Sepe sub umbella posses, speciosa puella, / Ludere letari, cura cupita mari.” Compare VE 212. 10 

See James Noel Adams, The Latin Sexual Vocabulary (London, 1987), p. 163.

Verse by Verse Commentary

59

The depiction of the locus amoenus is enhanced by the repetition of umbra (42, 43, 44, 46) and fons (45, 48). 41. Quod si tu: compare Ov. Met. 1.593, “quod si sola times latebras intrare ferarum,” where Jove seduces Io. See my comments to verses 45–46. lumine solis: same line ending in Verg. Aen. 7.130: “quare agite et primo laeti cum lumine solis.” 42. Ventilet aura sinus: compare CR 26.9, “Auram dum uentilat, interdum dulcia.” See also verses 9 and 25 for other matches with CR 26. An Ovidian parallel is Fast. 5.609, Europa approaching Jove disguised as a bull: “aura sinus implet, flauos mouet aura capillos.” Latzke11 mentions Ovid’s advice on how to take advantage of the breaths of air in A. A. 3.301: “Haec mouet arte latus tunicisque fluentibus auras / accipit.” sinus: LS II. A/OLD 2. “The hanging fold of the upper part of the toga, about the breast, the bosom of a garment; also the bosom of a person.” The general meaning, LS I/OLD 8–10, is “a bent surface (raised or depressed), a curve, fold, a hollow,” etc., including “the bend or belly of a sail swollen by the wind” (cf. OLD 7); thus, the aura filling or bending sinus also appears in the context of sailing, e.g. in Ov. Am. 2.11.38: “inpleat illa tuos fortior aura sinus”; or Ov. Pont. 4.10.16: “curuet ut impulsos utilis aura sinus.” sit apta: same metrical position in Ov. A. A. 1.152: “quaelibet officio causa sit apta tuo,” and Ov. Trist. 2.490: “quaeque, docet, liquido testa sit apta mero.” Giovini “Quod decet ore teri,” pp. 45–46 claims that the distich 41–42 takes up the allusion in verse 17. See also my comment to verse 22. 43. precio preciosior auri: compare Ov. Am. 3.8.3, “Ingenium quondam fuerat pretiosius auro,” and Ov.  A.  A. 2.299, “Aurata est? ipso tibi sit pretiosior auro,” on which Late Latin examples probably depend: Claud., Bell. Get. 607, “contemptas proculcat opes; pretiosior auro,” and Maxim. 1.19, “Quin etiam uirtus fuluo pretiosior auro.” Note also the polyptoton: Ovid, “aurata…auro”; VE, “precio preciosior.” The universal and timeless idea of “more-precious-than-anything-in-the-world” appears in two similar medieval variants containing “pretio pretiosior” in the same metrical position: the mid eleventh-century poem De viribus herbarum by Odo of Meung,12 verse 114, “Quae constat mundi pretio pretiosior omni,” and Milo of St Amand, De sobrietate13 (c. 850–71) 2.723, “et, quod in orbe uiget, pretio pretiosior omni.” See also Dulcis amica mea, 10–13, “In terra nulla fuit unquam pulcrior illa / Immo nec qualis nec abhinc erit altera talis. / Que modo sunt uel erunt, cedunt tibi, queque fuerunt,” and Avertat penas Latzke, “Die Carmina erotica,” p. 178. See Manitius, 2:539–47. 13  For an updated bibliography, see http://www.geschichtsquellen.de/repOpus_03442.html 11 

12 

Latin Love Elegy

60

deus 15, “Dulcior in terra res non conprenditur illa.” For the topos of “more precious than gold,” see Ziltener, pp. 122–23, who juxtaposes VE 43 and Concilium Romarici montis, verses 40–41: “Hec uestis coloribus colorata pluribus / gemmis fuit clarior auro preciosior.” 45–46. Currit aque uiue fons frondes subter oliue: / Ramis sub teneris umbra dee Veneris: compare O 23 (Sub oliue… Fons… Aquarum, etc.), second stanza: Eram uacans ocio Sub oliue pallio, Fons a dextris murmurat Aquarum suspirio Et uer fontem purpurat Flore multiphario.

umbra dee Veneris: Ov. Am. 2.18.3: “nos, Macer, ignaua Veneris cessamus in umbra.” Note that umbra occurs four times in verses  42–46. The invitation to enjoy the shade when the sun is burning (VE 41: “Quod si tu nolis, caleas ut lumine solis”) has an Ovidian parallel in Met. 1.588–94 where Jove catches sight of the nymph Io, who, like our nymph, is coming from the stream (VE 2), and addresses her thus: Viderat a patrio redeuntem Iuppiter illam Flumine et ‘o uirgo Ioue digna tuoque beatum Nescioquem factura toro, pete’ dixerat ‘umbras Altorum nemorum’ (et nemorum monstrauerat umbras) ‘Dum calet et medio sol est altissimus orbe. Quod si sola times latebras intrare ferarum, Praeside tuta deo nemorum secreta subibis…

47. tempore sub ueris: compare the Ovidian “tempora ueris” of Fast. 1.496, 2.150, 4.902, 5.602, and Met. 1.116. 48. herba recens: Met. 15.202, Pythagoras’s description of spring: “uere nouo est; tunc herba recens et roboris expers.” Thematically, the verses 41–48 remain in the pastoral describing idyllic shady spots near a river, a spring, etc. For a discussion of the topoi, see Offermanns, pp. 113–23 and 150–51. Ovidian parallels for the topos of fons: Am. 3.1.3; Fast. 2.166; Met. 3.161, 4.407–29, 4.285–388, 5.256–314, 5.572–95, etc.

Invitation to dinner (49–90) I have found no textual support for Giovini’s claim (Giovini, “Il flatus vocis,” pp. 78–79, which takes up Giovini, “Quod decet ore teri,” pp. 44–45) that this section of the poem is an allusion to the dinner described in Juv. 11. As I will show below, Cleopatra’s banquet in Luc. 10.107–71 served as a source of inspiration.

Verse by Verse Commentary

61

49. Si uacat: same line openings in Ov. Pont. 1.1.3, “Si uacat, hospitio peregrinos, Brute, libellos / excipe,” and 3.3.1, “Si uacat exiguum profugo dare tempus amico.” 50. iussio: post-classical. Occurs in Dracontius’s De laudibus Dei and Sedulius’s Carmen paschale. 51. alma Ceres: same metrical position in Ov. Fast. 4.547, “Abstinet alma Ceres somnique papauera causas”; Ov. Met. 5.572, “Exigit alma Ceres, nata secura recepta”; Verg. Georg. 1.7, “Liber et alma Ceres, uestro si munere tellus.” 53. mille meris potum? potando: alliteration and polyptoton. To indicate the infinite resources, mille is repeated throughout the poem; see also verses 57, 76, 96, 101, 135, 203, 234, 291. 54. Absit ab hac solus condicione dolus: no love potion to fear. 55. Artificis cura: same line opening in Novus Avianus14 (c. 1100) 2.1.9–10, “Artificis cura facit ut deus ista figura: / potat, edit, ridet, cuncta futura uidet.” 57. ciathi: this word occurs once in Ovid, (Fast. 3.532: “quot sumant cyathos, ad numerumque bibunt),” five times in Horace (carm. 1.29.8, 3.8.13, 3.19.12–14; sat. 1.1.55, 1.6.117), and three times in Juvenal (5.32, 9.47, 13.44). solidis: against Nardi (“Ecco, ho qui pronti mille massicci calici,” taking solidis as the neuter solidum, “a solid substance,”), Paden takes solidis from the masculine solidus, “a gold coin,” translating: “Behold, I have acquired with coin a thousand cups.” 58. misit amica Thetis: who received them from Vulcan, one imagines, in imitation of Il. Lat. 855–60. 59. Si cupis argenti: that is, uasa argenti (after the aurea uasa of the preceding verse). Compare Juv. Sat. 9.141 and 10.19 (“…argenti uascula puri”). 60. Innumerata: post-classical for innumera. 61. gemmas…15 capaces: compare Luc. 10.160–63. Niliacas crystallos aquas, gemmaeque capaces Excepere merum, sed non Mareotidos uuae, Nobile sed paucis senium cui contulit annis Indomitum Meroe cogens spumare Falernum. Edition by Armando Bisanti and Loriano Zurli, Astensis poetae Novus Avianus, Favolisti latini medievali 5 (Genoa, 1994). For the medieval reception, see Armando Bisanti, “Appunti sulla fortuna mediolatina e romanza dei Novi Aviani,” Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 39 (2004), 207–18. 15  gemmas: TLL II. B “de rebus ex gemma factis… fere i. q. poculum” as in Met. 8.571–73: “Protinus appositas nudae uestigia nymphae / instruxere epulis mensas dapibusque remotis / in gemma posuere merum.” 14 

Latin Love Elegy

62

This is the first clear trace of Cleopatra’s banquet (Luc. 10.107–71), an ideal passage to describe the splendour, riches, and luxury of the Orient: “Excepere epulae tantarum gaudia rerum  / Explicuitque suos magno Cleopatra tumultu  / Nondum translatos Romana in saecula luxus.” See also my comment to verse 132. 62. Non uilis: litotes. Decii: take Decius either as the God of dice16 or (with small initial) as the die itself. Cf. Blaise, “dé” and Niermeyer, “die, dice.” Decius similarly occurs in the gambling poems CB 195, 203 and CB 215 and Hugh Primas, carm. 1 (Hospes erat michi). 63. lapidum: for lapis in the sense of gem, see the puella who poscit munera (at verse 429) in Ov. A. A. 1.431–32: “Quid, cum mendaci damno maestissima plorat / Elapsusque caua fingitur aure lapis?” 63–64. Rex dedit Indorum lapidum mihi munus eorum / Quos erit inter onix: hunc habuit Beronix: here we find the onyx possessed by Beronix, which naturally makes one think of Cleopatra’s sister Berenice. Note also the Lucan passage containing the descriptions of the onyx used for the floors17 of Cleopatra’s palace in verses 116–17 “totaque effusus in aula / Calcabatur onyx.” However, there is good reason to believe that two sources of inspiration have been combined here, namely Lucan and Juvenal’s diamond worn on the finger of the Judean princess Berenice18 – the famous (Acts 25.13, 25.23 and 26.30) daughter of Herod Agrippa I and sister of Herod Agrippa II who had an affair with Titus19 – as described in Sat. 6.155–58: Grandia tolluntur crystallina, maxima rursus Murrina, deinde adamas notissimus et Beronices In digito factus pretiosior. hunc dedit olim Barbarus incestae gestare Agrippa sorori.

As explained in Carmina Burana, ed. and tran. David Traill, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 49. 2 vols (Cambridge MA, 2018), 2:687. 17  Onyx also decorates the floor described in Mart. 12.50.4. Vessels of onyx used for storing oil or ointment are described by Horace, Carm. 4.12.17; Martial, 7.94.1 and 11.49.6; and Propertius, 2.13.30. 18  No Berenice occurs in Lucan, only the homonymous city (modern Benghazi) at 9.524. 19  See Suet. Tit. 7.1: “Praeter saeuitiam suspecta in eo etiam luxuria erat, quod ad mediam noctem comissationes cum profusissimo quoque familiarium extenderet; nec minus libido propter exoletorum et spadonum greges propterque insignem reginae Berenices amorem, cum etiam nuptias pollicitus ferebatur”; and Cassius Dio 66.15: “Βερενίκη δὲ ἰσχυρῶς τε ἤνθει καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐς τὴν Ῥώμην μετὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ Ἀγρίππα ἦλθε· καὶ ὁ μὲν στρατηγικῶν τιμῶν ἠξιώθη, ἡ δὲ ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ ᾤκησε καὶ τῷ Τίτῳ συνεγίγνετο. Προσεδόκα δὲ γαμηθήσεσθαι αὐτῷ, καὶ πάντα ἤδη ὡς καὶ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ οὖσα ἐποίει, ὥστ´ ἐκεῖνον δυσχεραίνοντας τοὺς Ῥωμαίους ἐπὶ τούτοις αἰσθόμενον ἀποπέμψασθαι αὐτήν.” 16 

Verse by Verse Commentary

63

65. scyphus: perhaps known through the incipit of Hor.  Carm. 1.27, “Natis in usum laetitiae scyphis” or else Verg. Aen. 8.278, “et sacer impleuit dextram scyphus.” factus de manzere ligno: Niermeyer (mazer) translates “maplewood” with reference to Vita S. Leonis IX papae20 (c. 1050) 2.6 which, interestingly, also speaks of a scyphus: “scifum preciosi mazeris.” The same reference is found in Blaise. Manzer (“bastard”) for mazer is a confusion also found in the tradition of the Vita. See MGH SS rer. Germ. 70 (2007), apparatus ad loc., p. 202. For more examples, consult Du Cange, ad loc. in signo: ablative for accusative due to the rhyme. 66. opis uarie: same combination in Verg. Georg. 2.468, “Diues opum uariarum.” 67–68. Vina propinabit Frix quem mea cura parabit, / Cum Ganimede Paris copula grata paris: compare Mart. 6.78 and 9.103: Potor nobilis, Aule, lumine uno Luscus Phryx erat alteroque lippus. Huic Heras medicus ‘Bibas caueto: Vinum si biberis, nihil uidebis.’ Ridens Phryx oculo ‘Valebis’ inquit. Misceri sibi protinus deunces, Sed crebros iubet. Exitum requiris? Vinum Phryx, oculus bibit uenenum. Quae noua tam similis genuit tibi Leda ministros? Quae capta est alio nuda Lacaena cycno? Dat faciem Pollux Hiero, dat Castor Asylo, Atque in utroque nitet Tyndaris ore soror. Ista Therapnaeis si forma fuisset Amyclis, Cum uicere duas dona minora deas, Mansisses, Helene, Phrygiamque redisset in Iden Dardanius gemino cum Ganymede Paris.

See further discussion in Appendix 1 below. Paris…paris: see also verses 78, 248, and 277–78 for the play on homographs.21 For an updated bibliography, see http://www.geschichtsquellen.de/repOpus_02895.html. In the midtwelfth century, Serlo of Wilton wrote entire poems on homographs and homophones; see his poems 2 (Versus de differenciis) and 18, edited by Jan Öberg, Serlon de Wilton: Poèmes latins (Stockholm, 1965), pp. 79–88 and 96–100. Similar thirteenth-century works are the (still not edited) Aequivoca and De aequivocis, the former, as its seems, erroneously, the latter correctly attributed to John of Garland. For the attribution, see Elsa Marguin-Hamon, “Tradition manuscrite de l’œuvre de Jean de Garlande,” Revue d’histoire des textes, n. s. 1 (2006) 189–257, at p. 192. See also Alexandru Cizek, “Docere et delectare: Zur Eigenart der versus differentiales im Novus Grecismus Konrads von Mure,” ed. Peter Stotz, Dichten 20  21 

64

Latin Love Elegy

69. Si gustare parum uelles de carne ferarum: compare Baudri’s Paris praising the abundance of game in order to persuade Helen in carm. 7.204–05. For more examples, see my discussion of Baudri in Appendix 2 below. 70. summe tibi: as line opening in Hor. Sat. 2.3.237. 71. pro uelle: For the medieval extended use of uelle as a neuter indeclinable verbal noun (here with pro “in accordance with/according to their will”), see Arthur G. Rigg, “Morphology and Syntax,” in Mantello and Rigg, p. 85. Clearly a favourite expression in VE; compare verses 176, 233 and 264. 72. summere plura: same metrical position in Ysengrimus 1.432, “Hunc, qui pluris eget, sumere plura decet” in leonine hexameter. 73. suilla: occurs rarely in classical Latin literature. Juvenal on the Jews 14.96–99 has Quidam sortiti metuentem sabbata patrem Nil praeter nubes et caeli numen adorant, Nec distare putant humana carne suillam, Qua pater abstinuit, mox et praeputia ponunt.

dulciter: occurs rarely in classical Latin literature and only in prose (Apuleius, Cicero, Pliny the Younger, and Quintilian). 75. Si reputas magnum: See also verses 21, 97, 113, 188 and 194. pascaliter: see Du Cange, “pascalis, solemnis; unde pascaliter, pro solemniter, prout in majoribus festis solitum est.” A very rare adverb even in medieval Latin literature. See also Blaise, “comme pour une fête pascale, solennellement: Goscel.-Cant. c. 37 D.” The only other occurrence I have found is in the letter of a certain Peter to Felix, bishop of Cordoba (fl. 764): “ille enim post occisum pascaliter tipicum agnum.”22 dapifer: post-classical. For other occurrences in medieval Latin poetry, see for instance, the beast epics Ecbasis cuiusdam captivi (c. 1050),23 verses 569 and 1018 and Ysengrimus 4.267. Giovini, “Il flatus vocis,” p. 74 sees a thematic parallell (75–77: “agnum…hedum”) in Ov. Met. 13.827–28: Sunt, fetura minor, tepidis in ouilibus agni, Sunt quoque, par aetas, aliis in ouilibus haedi.

als Stoff-Vermittlung: Formen, Ziele, Wirkungen. Beiträge zur Praxis der Versifikation lateinischer Texte im Mittelalter (Zürich, 2008), pp. 191–212. 22  Juan Gil, “Para la edición de los textos visigodos y mozárabes,” Habis 2 (1973), 189–213, at p. 192. See also Germain Morin, “Un évêque de Cordoue inconnu et deux opuscules inédits de l’an 764,” Revue Bénédictine 15 (1898), 289–95. 23  For an updated bibliography, see http://www.geschichtsquellen.de/repOpus_02041.html

Verse by Verse Commentary

65

78. caro…caro: plays on the homographs (adjective  – noun). For similar puns, see verses 68, 248 and 277–78. Same pun in the Novus Avianus 3.8.16: Iuro uelut caro, displicet esca caro.

79. Si uis lege noua cum centum matribus oua: compare Juv. 11.71, “oua adsunt ipsis cum matribus.” See Giovini, “Quod decet ore teri,” pp.  44–45, Giovini, “Il flatus vocis,” pp. 78–79, and Dümmler 1872, apparatus ad loc. To that one could perhaps also mention Mart. 7.31.1–3 (considering also fetis of VE 76): Raucae chortis aues et oua matrum Et flauas medio uapore Chias Et fetum querulae rudem capellae…

81. inihando deiscis: for the normal spelling inhiando dehiscis. 82. auctor eris: same line ending in Ov. Fast. 5.192, “optima tu proprii nominis auctor eris”; Ov. Her. 7.138, “et nondum nati funeris auctor eris”; Ov. Rem. 22, “et nulli funeris auctor eris.” See also Ov. Met. 9.214: “Tune meae necis auctor eris?” 83. copia lactis: same line ending in Verg. Georg. 3.308, “densior hinc suboles, hinc largi copia lactis,” and even more similar in sentiment in the conclusion (verses 79–83) of Verg. Ecl. 1 with its invitation to spend the night together: Hic tamen hanc mecum poteras requiescere noctem Fronde super uiridi: sunt nobis mitia poma, Castaneae molles et pressi copia lactis. Et iam summa procul uillarum culmina fumant Maioresque cadunt altis de montibus umbrae.

84. Vasis ecce nouis: compare Juv. 6.356, “et uasa nouissima donat.” uictus ab ore Iouis: this seems to be a learned allusion to Ov. Fast. 5.111–21 (see also 3.443–44), that is, the myth according to which the Cretan Naiad Amalthea brought up the infant-god on the milk of her goat: Ab Ioue surgat opus. prima mihi nocte uidenda Stella est in cunas officiosa Iouis: Nascitur Oleniae signum pluuiale Capellae; Illa dati caelum praemia lactis habet. Nais Amalthea, Cretaea nobilis Ida, Dicitur in siluis occuluisse Iouem. Huic fuit haedorum mater formosa duorum, Inter Dictaeos conspicienda greges, Cornibus aeriis atque in sua terga recuruis, Ubere, quod nutrix posset habere Iouis. Lac dabat illa deo; sed fregit in arbore cornu, Truncaque dimidia parte decoris erat, Sustulit hoc nymphe cinxitque recentibus herbis, Et plenum pomis ad Iouis ora tulit.

Latin Love Elegy

66

85. Lac nec in iberno deerit neque tempore uerno: modelled on Verg. Ecl. 2.22, “lac mihi non aestate nouum, non frigore defit”;24 see Offermanns, p. 103. Giovini’s claim (“Il flatus vocis,” p. 74) for Ov. Met. 13.829 “lac mihi semper adest niueum: pars inde bibenda” is certainly weaker. 86. caseus atque serum: Ovid’s description of the Parilia creates the right pastoral atmosphere; compare Fast. 4.769–70: Ubera plena premam, referat mihi caseus aera, Dentque uiam liquido uimina rara sero.

Giovini’s claim (“Il flatus vocis,” p. 74) for Ov. Met. 13.830, “seruatur, partem liquefacta coagula durant” has no lexical support. 87. Omne genus pomi prebet custodia promi: note the alliteration. Again, Giovini (“Il flatus vocis,” p. 74) sees a parallell to Ov. Met. 13, verse 812: “sunt poma grauantia ramos.” promi: a rare word in classical Latin literature; occurs in Horace, Sat. 2.2.16 and Prudentius, Liber Peristephanon 2.160.25 88. datio: occurs rarely in classical Latin literature, and only in prose (Cicero, Festus, Livy, Pliny the Elder, Varro, Vitruvius). 89. omne legumen: same line ending at the conclusion of Juv. 15.174 “tamquam homine et uentri indulsit non omne legumen.” 90. Et patiens tolera quod sapient olera: for Horace herbs and vegetables are the symbol of the simple but happy life as in Epist. 1.17.13–15: ‘Si pranderet holus patienter, regibus uti, Nollet Aristippus.’ ‘Si sciret regibus uti, Fastidiret holus qui me notat.’

or Sat. 1.6.110–12: Hoc ego commodius quam tu, praeclare senator, Milibus atque aliis uiuo. Quaecumque libido est, Incedo solus; percontor quanti holus ac far. 24  Although the Greek sources of the Latin classics need not concern us here, Vergil himself depends on Theocritus. In his Idyll 11, Polyphemus says the following to Galatea (verses 35–37): κἠκ τούτων τὸ κράτιστον ἀμελγόμενος γάλα πίνω: / τυρὸς δ᾽ οὐ λείπει μ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἐν θέρει οὔτ᾽ ἐν ὀπώρᾳ, / οὐ χειμῶνος ἄκρω: ταρσοὶ δ᾽ ὑπεραχθέες αἰεί. Theocritus’s Idyll 11 was of course also an important model for Ovid’s myth of Polyphemus and Galatea. 25  As for the Medieval Latin poetry, the occurrence in Saxo Grammaticus’s Lay of Ingellus (Gesta Danorum 6.9.12 third line of the third stanza) is not surprising considering his debt to Horace. Karsten Friis-Jensen, “The Lay of Ingellus and its classical models,” ed. Karsten Friis-Jensen, Saxo Grammaticus: A Medieval Author between Norse and Latin Culture (Copenhagen, 1981), pp. 65–78 also points to Prudentius as a likely model for Saxo.

Verse by Verse Commentary

67

The invitation to dinner in Epist. 1.5. is fairly close in sentiment: Si potes Archiacis conuiua recumbere lectis Nec modica cenare times holus omne patella, Supremo te sole domi, Torquate, manebo.

The arts (91–98) 92. sub studio rudium: Paden translates “after your study of cooking-spoons” taking rudis as a noun (LS I.I: “to stir with in cooking; a stirring-stick, spatula”  / OLD  1: “A spatula or similar implement for stirring and mixing ingredients”), Nardi “sotto la guida di rudi [maestri]” taking rudis as an adjective to implied teachers. Note also the alliteration and polyptoton in “studium sub studio.” 93. Cordam…ferire: expression used by Sen., Troad. 833, “tinnulas plectro feriente chordas.” See also Conflictus ovis et lini 316, “dum chordas feriunt, nomen ad astra ferunt.” 95. Vis cythare neruum de nostris tangere seruum: compare Ov. Met. 10.108, “qui citharam neruis et neruis temperat arcum.” Nardi translates “se desideri che uno dei nostri servi tocchi le corde della cetra” constructing Vis with acc. + inf. (“de nostris tangere seruum,” which in normal prose would be “unum de nostris seruis tangere”), taking “cythare neruum” as the direct object of tangere, whereas Paden translates “Do you wish to stroke the obedient string of one of our lutes,” construing Vis with complementary infinitive taking the problematic “neruum seruum cythare de nostris” as the direct object of tangere. Nardi’s solution is preferable. 96. dabunt sonitum: Vergilian expression (Aen. 2.243, 3.238, 3.584, 5.139, 5.435, 7.567, 9.667, 10.488, 11.458, 11.799, 12.267, 12.524) but only in the present or perfect tense. See Ov. Ibis 159, “uerbera saeua dabunt sonitum nexaeque colubrae” for the only occurrence of “dabunt sonitum.” 97. Si reputas: same line opening in verse 75. See verses 21, 113, 188 and 194. genus omne tubarum: compare the similar hexameter ending verse 261, “genus omne rosarum,”26 and also in the pentameter verse 200, “Hoc pigmentorum dat genus omne forum.” 98: Hoc sit in hac hora qualibet absque mora: similar rhymes in Hermann of Werden’s Hortus deliciarum (c. 1225) verse 7865, “Ibimus absque mora set qua nescimus in hora.” Same line ending in Ysengrimus 7.538, “libera sit uirtus, prodeat absque mora.” 26  A classical hexameter ending indeed: compare Mart. Spect. 24.5; Ov. Her. 10.1; Met. 10.705; Stat. Theb. 5.391; Verg. Georg. 4.224, and, for completeness, we could add the unlikely source of Lucr. 1.163 and 5.1338, all ending in “genus omne ferarum”!

Latin Love Elegy

68

Meadows, farms, and castles (99–110) 100. loca grata: see also verse 107. 102. Sub celo: Verg. Aen. 1.331, “quo sub caelo tandem.” 104. perpetuum uer: as line opening in Ov. Met. 5.391, “perpetuum uer est”; as line ending in Juv. 7.208, “spirantisque crocos et in urna perpetuum uer.” 105–06. Castra regunt…castra regunt: geminatio. 107. loca grata: the same metrical position in Ov. Met. 10.230, “deserere alma Venus. ‘sed quid loca grata, quid urbes / peccauere meae?’”; 11.393, “arce focus summa, fessis loca grata carinis”; Ov. Trist. 1.1.15, “uade, liber, uerbisque meis loca grata saluta.” 105–08: compare Ov. Am. 3.6.61. See Kretschmer, “Amores 3.6 and the Versus Epore­ dienses,” p. 40. 109. Villicus: a farm manager. For classical examples, see the character Olympius in the Plautine comedy Casina. Several occurrences in Horace (epist. 1.14.15, 2.2.160), Juvenal (3.195, 3.228, 4.77, 11.69 vilica,) and Martial (1.49.26, 1.55.11 vilica, 2.11.9, 3.58.20 vilica). 110. pande sinus: same metrical position (but hexameter contra pentameter) as in Juv. 1.150 “totos pande sinus.”

Couches and beds (111–46) 111. uariamine: post-classical; see Stotz VI.63.1. Occurrences in John the Deacon (late ninth century), Versiculi de Cena Cypriani, Suppositio, verse  7: “Aspice depictam multo uariamine mensam”; Ruodlieb (c.  1050), fragm. 11.40: “Multum distincte faciens uariamina queque”; De anulo baculo gladio diademate versus (c. 1100), verse 52: “Quam manus artificis lapidum uariamine pingit”; Petrus Pictor (fl. 1100), Pastoralis, verse 114: “Ne, si non ponat, doceat fidei uariamen”; Sigebert Gembloux (1030–1112), Passio Thebeorum (c. 1074), 3.595: “Omne quod in mundo geritur uariamine tanto.”27 112. Res probat: Ov. Met. 3.350, “resque probat letique genus nouitasque furoris”; 9.127, “re28 probat et missa fugientia terga sagitta.” As shown in the introduction, Ogerius of Ivrea wrote a poem on the same subject. Ernst Dümmler, who edited both the Versus Eporedienses and Sigebert’s poem, wrote the following in “Sigeberts von Gembloux Passio Sanctae Luciae Virginis und Passio Sanctorum Thebeorum,” Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften Berlin: Abhandlungen der historisch-philologischen Klasse (1893), 1–125, at p. 12: “Den­ selben Gegenstand behandelte Heinrich’s IV Kanzler, der Bischof Ogerius von Ivrea, dessen Werk noch im J. 1717 vorhanden war und später verschollen ist.” 28  Some manuscripts read res. See Tarrant’s edition, apparatus ad loc. 27 

Verse by Verse Commentary

69

uipera nulla latet: compare Verg. Ecl. 3.93, “frigidus, o pueri, fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba,” and Ov. Pont. 3.3.102, “utque latens ima uipera serpit humo”; cf. Offermanns, p. 103 and Dümmler 1872, apparatus ad loc. Compare also Baudri of Bourgueil, carm. 200.8: “inque breuis tactu nulla uenena latent.”29 113. Nec reputato parum: see verses 21, 75, 97, 188, and 194 for similar expressions. solet esse: same metrical position in Ov. Pont. 3.3.19, “qualis in aeriae tergo solet esse columbae”; Ov. Her. 16.351, “terror in his ipso maior solet esse periclo”; Her. 17.41, “sed quia credulitas damno solet esse puellis.” For Ovidian pentameter lines, see Pont. 1.2.116, “auxilio trepidis quae solet esse reis”; 4.10.24, “qui quota terroris pars solet esse mei”; Ibis 44, “cum pecore infirmo quae solet esse lupis.” esse dearum: same line ending in Ov. Met. 9.381, “et frutices omnes corpus putet esse dearum.”30 114: Cypris: cf. LS II.D: “Cypris, ĭdis, f., the Cyprian, i.e. Venus (in post-class. poetry).” Occurs in Ausonius, Dracontius, Martianus Capella, and Maximianus. The myth was dear to Ovid: A.  A. 2.561–92; Am. 1.9.39–40; Met. 4.169–89; Trist. 2.377. 115. regina deorum: such is the title Juno gives herself in Ov. Met. 2.512 which has the same line ending: “quaeritis aetheriis quare regina deorum / sedibus hic adsim?” 116. amore pari: compare the affair of Mars and Venus as told in Ov.  Met.  4, where Venus seeks revenge by afflicting the detractor Sol/Apollon with an “equal passion” (4.190–93): Exigit indicii memorem Cythereia poenam Inque uices illum, tectos qui laesit amores, Laedit amore pari. quid nunc, Hyperione nate, Forma colorque tibi radiataque lumina prosunt?

117–18. His super apponam faciens de flore coronam / Ista tegat crines, si paciendo sines: compare the Ovidian precept of offering a garland in A. A. 2.269–70, “…missaque corona / te memorem dominae testificere tuae”; a classical topos occurring for instance in Ov. Am. 1.1.29 and Hor. Carm. 3.30.16. The same line ending in Tibullus where a boy offers a garland to the lares (2.1.59–60):31 Rure puer uerno primum de flore coronam Fecit et antiquis imposuit Laribus. I am grateful to Jean-Yves Tilliette for the reference to Baudri’s carm. 200. Or “esse deorum” (depending on the edition). 31  The distich is partly conserved in the eleventh-century florilegium of the Venetian manuscript Marc. Z. L. 497 at fol. 41r. See Francis L. Newton, “Tibullus in Two Grammatical Florilegia of the Middle Ages,” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 93 (1962), 253–86, at p. 267. 29  30 

70

Latin Love Elegy

See also the elegiac comedy De tribus puellis, verses 111–12: Tunc faciens geminas uario de flore coronas Imposui capiti praemia digna suo.

faciens: I  have introduced the conjecture faciens for facies. Alternatively, one could change the punctuation and read “His super apponam, facies de flore, coronam” – “On top of that” (in analogy with Hor., Sat. 2.6.3 “et paulum siluae super his foret.”) “I will add a garland, you will make (it) of flowers” 119. uariabile: post-classical. The earliest occurrences I have found are in Boethius, De institutione arithmetica 1.1, 2.31–32; In librum Aristotelis Peri hermeneias commentarii, editio secunda 3.9, editio prima 1.9; Cassiodorus, De anima 4, and pseudo-Acro (on Hor., carm. 2.16.32). 119–20. stratum / Stratum: anadiplosis. 125. Quod mittunt Mauri mihi copia sufficit auri: note the alliteration. In Juvenal 11, one of Wido’s sources of inspiration, the Moors provide rich Romans with tusks for the production of luxury articles and pieces of art in ivory, or more precisely, a gaping leopard of ivory to support a table-top (11.120–27): At nunc diuitibus cenandi nulla uoluptas, Nil rhombus, nil damma sapit, putere uidentur Unguenta atque rosae, latos nisi sustinet orbis Grande ebur et magno sublimis pardus hiatu Dentibus ex illis quos mittit porta Syenes Et Mauri celeres et Mauro obscurior Indus, Et quos deposuit Nabataeo belua saltu Iam nimios capitique graues.

The above-mentioned (see verses 61–64) banquet of Cleopatra (Luc. 10.107–71) also describes ivory to support tables (10.144–45): Dentibus hic niueis sectos Atlantide silua Inposuere orbes.

An interesting parallell is found in Godfrey of Reims, carm. 4.270: Missaque de Mauris tibi delegatur inauris

See also my comments to vv. 183 and 247 for more examples. 127. Si de cristallo: see my comment to verse 61 for the mention of crystal in Cleopatra’s banquet crystal (Luc. 10.160). 128. ipse decens: same line ending in Theodulf of Orléans, carm. 2.38, “qui super addatur campagus ipse decens.” Note also scultor (> it. scultore) for normal spelling sculptor.

Verse by Verse Commentary

71

129. Culcitra lectorum: mattress or pillow filled with feathers or down; cf.  Juv. 5.17, “tertia ne uacuo cessaret culcita lecto”; Mart. 5.62.5, “nulla tegit fractos – nec inanis – culcita lectos.” 130. Dant Seres populi materiam foruli: compare Ov. Am. 1.14.6, “uela colorati qualia Seres habent”; or Verg. Georg. 2.121, “uelleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres.” foruli: in classical Latin, book-case, as in Juv. 3.219, “hic libros dabit et forulos mediamque Mineruam,” but here mattress cover or pillow-case is meant; Niermeyer: “forulus, fur- (