Readings from Latin Verse Part 8

O bona patria, num tua praemia plena tenebo?

Plaude, cinis meus, est tua pars Deus; eius es, et sis.

Plaude, cinis meus, est tua pars Deus; eius es, et sis. 50 _Bernard of Cluny._

THE HEAVENLY CITY.

Me receptet Sion illa, Sion, David urbs tranquilla, Cuius faber Auctor lucis, Cuius portae lignum crucis, Cuius muri lapis vivus, 5 Cuius custos Rex festivus.

In hac urbe lux solennis, Ver aeternum, pax perennis: In hac odor implens caelos, In hac semper festum melos; 10 Non est ibi corruptela, Non defectus, non querela; Non minuti, non deformes, Omnes Christo sunt conformes.

Urbs in portu satis tuto, 15 De longinquo te saluto, Te saluto, te suspiro, Te affecto, te requiro.

Quantum tui gratulantur, Quam festive convivantur, 20 Quis affectus eos stringat Aut quae gemma muros pingat, Quis chalcedon, quis iacinthus, Norunt illi qui sunt intus.

In plateis huius urbis 25 Sociatus piis turbis c.u.m Moyse et Elia Pium cantem Alleluia. Amen.

_Hildebert._

ABBREVIATIONS.

A. & G. = Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar.

B. = Bennett's Latin Grammar.

G. & L. = Gildersleeve and Lodge's Latin Grammar.

Lex. = Harper's Latin-English Lexicon.

cf. = _confer_, compare.

e.g. = _exempli gratia_, for example.

ff. = following.

i.e. = _id est_, that is.

l.,ll. = line, lines.

lit. = literally.

p., pp. = page, pages.

sc. = _scilicet_, understand, supply.

vol. = volume.

NOTES.

CLa.s.sICAL LATIN POETRY.

I. ENNIUS. 239-169 B.C.

Ennius ut noster cecinit, qui primus amoeno Detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam, Per gentes Italas hominum quae clara clueret.

Lucretius, 1. 117-119.

Let us venerate Ennius like the groves, sacred from their antiquity, in which the great and ancient oak trees are invested not so much with beauty as with sacred a.s.sociations.--Quintilian, 10. 1. 88,--translated by Sellar.

Q. Ennius, 'the Father of Latin Literature,' was born at Rudiae, a town of Calabria and a point of contact between the Italian and Greek civilizations. He served with the rank of centurion in the Roman army in Sardinia and attached himself to Cato the Censor. In 204 he came to Rome, where he lived modestly, supporting himself by teaching Greek and by his writings. There he became an intimate friend of the great Scipio.

The most famous of his works are the tragedies, written on Greek models, and the _Annals_, a long epic poem in eighteen books, whose subject is the history of Rome from the earliest times to Ennius' own day. We have fragments of about twenty-five of the tragedies. Of the _Annals_ about six hundred lines are preserved.

Ennius introduced the dactylic hexameter into Latin poetry.

He was versatile, widely read in Greek literature, a man of practical interests and intellectual vigor. His intense patriotism was rewarded by an enduring popularity.

For Reference: Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_ (Oxford, 1889), chapter 4; the collections of the fragments by Vahlen (Leipzig, 1854) and by Muller (St. Petersburg, 1885).

Metres: Dactylic Hexameter, B. 368; A. & G. 615: _Selections_ 1-5.

Trochaic Septenarius, B. 366, 2; A. & G. 620: _Selections_ 6, 7. Elegiac Stanza, B. 368, 369; A. & G. 616: _Selection_ 8.

_1._ 'Lines of tender regret and true hero-wors.h.i.+p.'--Sellar. Cf. Livy, 1. 16. 2, 3. Prose translation in Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_, p. 110. 3. qualem...genuerunt: How great a guardian of our country did the G.o.ds create in thee!--Sellar. 4. O pater, o genitor: pater is a t.i.tle of respect, genitor the actual parent. sanguen: an ante-cla.s.sic neuter collateral form of sanguis. 5. intra luminis oras: within the realms of light (Sellar), a favorite expression with later poets.

_2._ 'Sentiments truly regal and worthy of the race of the Aeacidae.'

Cicero, _De Officiis,_ 1. 12.

This is Pyrrhus' reply to Fabricius and other envoys sent to negotiate for the ransom of the Roman prisoners after the battle of Heraclea, 280 B.C.

Prose translation and fine comment in Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic, p. 99.

1. dederitis: perfect subjunctive in a prohibition. 2. nec cauponantes bellum: not making petty traffic of war. 3. vitam: accusative of specification. 5. accipe: to Fabricius, while ducite (1. 8) is to all the envoys. 7. eorundem: scanned as three syllables. 8.

volentibus...dis: under favor of the great G.o.ds.--Sellar. Final s in volentibus as in vivus (_Selection_ 8. 2) is neglected in scanning.

_4._ These lines were often quoted. They are imitated by Vergil, _Aeneid,_ 6. 845-846:

Tu Maximus ille es, unus qui n.o.bis cunctando rest.i.tuis rem.

Prose translation in Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic, p. 106.

1. cunctando: by biding his time.--Sellar. rem equals rem publicam. 2.

noenum equals ne, not + oenum, old form of unum, one. This eventually contracts into non. rumores: what men said of him.--Sellar.

_5._ One of the grandest lines in Latin poetry. Cicero says of it (_De Republica_, 5.1): 'For brevity and for truth it is like the utterance of some oracle.'

1. Moribus...virisque: By olden custom and great men Rome stands.

virisque: of. Sir William Jones, _An Ode in Imitation of Alcaeus_:

What const.i.tutes a state?

Not high-raised battlement, nor labored mound, Thick wall or moated gate: Not cities fair with spires and turrets crowned: No;--men, high-minded men,--...

Men, who their duties know, But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain.

_6._ From the _Telamo_, spoken by Telamon on receiving tidings of his son's death. Sellar describes the pa.s.sage as 'this strong and scornful triumph over natural sorrow.'

Prose translation in Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_, p. 113.

1. ei re sustuli: to that end (i.e. with full knowledge of the fact) I bred them. re: dative, B. 52, 3; A. & G. 98, d, NOTE.

_7._ From the _Telamo_. This is Epicurean doctrine. Cf. Tennyson, _The Lotos-Eaters, Choric Song_ at end:

like G.o.ds together, careless of mankind.

For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurl'd Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curl'd Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world: Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands, Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deeps and fiery sands, Clanging fights, and flaming towns, and sinking s.h.i.+ps, and praying hands.

But they smile, _etc_.

Prose translation in Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Republic_, p. 78.