Works and Days

ORBIS TERRAE | Sunt in terrâ tres partes, quibus nomina sunt Asia, Libya, et Europa. Europa vergit ad septentrionem, Libya ad meridiem, et Asia ad orientem. ad occidentem vergit Oceanus, qui etiam terram circumdat. in mediâ terrâ est urbs sancta Ierusalem. Ierusalem est in Asiâ.

MARE MEDITERRANEUM | inter Europam et Libyam est Mare Mediterraneum. Sunt in mari quinque insulae magnae, quibus nomina sunt Corsica, Sardinia, Sicilia, Creta, et Cyprus.

INSULA INUNDATA | hanc fabulam Aegyptii narrant: olim in Oceano erat insula magna, cui nomen erat Atlantis. Nautae et milites hanc insulam inhabitabant. Europam et Libyam vicerunt, sed milites Athenarum Atlanteos superaverunt. tunc erat calamitas. in unâ nocte Atlantis sub undas evanuit. nautae ultra columnas Herculis navigant quod Atlantem invenire volunt, sed nemo Atlantem invenit.

Exercent illi sociae commercia linguae:
per gestum res est significanda mihi.
Barbarus hic ego sum, quia non intellegor ulli,
et rident stolidi uerba Latina Getae.

They hold commerce in their common tongue:
for me, the thing must be signified through a gesture.
I am a barbarian here,
since I am not understood by anyone;
and the stolid Getae laugh at my Latin words.

–Ovid, Tristia V.10.35-38

The Seven Sages:

Thales of Miletus: “Know thyself” (gnohthi seauton).
Solon of Athens: “Nothing in excess” (mehden agan).
Periander of Corinth: “Practice is everything” (meleteh to pan).
Cleoboulos of Lindos: “Moderation is best” (metron ariston).
Chilon of Sparta: “Pledge, and ruin is near at hand.” (engua, para d’ ateh).
Bias of Priene: “Too many are bad” (hoi pleistoi kakoi).
Pittakus of Mitylene: “Know the right time” (kairon gnohthi).

Honorable Mention:

Callimachus of Alexandria: “A big book is a big evil.” (mega biblion mega kakon).
Menander of Athens: “He whom the gods love dies young” (hon hoi theoi philousin, apothnehiskei neos).

heh megaleh paideusis en anthrohpoisi siohpeh;
martyra Pythagoran ton sophon auton ekhoh,
hos, laleein eidohs, heterous edidaske siohpan,
pharmakon hehsukhiehs enkrates heuromenos.

Silence is men’s chief learning. The sage Pythagoras himself is my witness. He, knowing himself how to speak, taught others to be silent, having discovered this potent drug to ensure tranquillity.

Epigram 46 (Palladas)
from The Greek Anthology, Volume IV, trans. W. R. Paton

eis aidehn itheia katehlysis, eit’ ap’ Athehnohn
steikhois, eite nekys niseai ek Meroehs.
meh se g’ aniatoh patrehs apotehle thanonta;
pantothen eis ho pherohn eis aidehn anemos.

The way down to Hades is straight, whether you start from Athens or whether you betake yourself there, when dead, from Meroe. Let it not vex thee to die far from thy country. One fair wind to Hades blows from all lands.

Epigram 3 (Anonymous)
from The Greek Anthology, Volume IV, trans. W. R. Paton

Non usitata nec tenui ferar
pinna biformis per liquidum aethera
vates neque in terris morabor
longius invidiaque maior

I will be borne, a two-formed poet, not by a slight
or common wing through the liquid airs,
nor will I linger too long in lands
and greater than envy

urbis relinquam. Non ego, pauperum
sanguis parentum, non ego, quem vocas,
dilecte Maecenas, obibo
nec Stygia cohibebor unda:

I will leave cities behind. Not I, the blood
of poor parents, not I, whom you call,
beloved Maecenas, I shall not die,
nor shall I be confined by the Stygian wave.

iam iam resident cruribus asperae;
pelles et album mutor in alitem
superne nascunturque leves
per digitos umerosque plumae.

already now rough skin grows on my legs
and I am changed into a white bird
and above smooth feathers grow
between my fingers and shoulders.

Iam Daedaleo notior Icaro
visam gementis litora Bosphori
Syrtisque Gaetulas canorus
ales Hyperboreasque campos;

Already better known than Icarus son of Daedalus,
I the melodious bird shall see the shores
of the groaning Bosphorus, the Syrtis and Gaetulians
and the Hyperborean fields;

me Colchus et qui dissimulate metum
Marsae cohortis Dacus et ultimi
noscent Geloni, me peritus
discet Hiber Rhodanique potor.

Colchis will know me and the Dacians
who check their fear of the Marsian cohort
and the remotest Geloni; the learned Spaniard
and the Rhone-drinker will learn of me.

Absint inani funere neniae
luctusque turpes et querimoniae;
conpesce clamorem ac sepulcri
mitte supervacuas honores

Let there be no dirges for the empty funeral
nor unseemly grief and lamentation;
restrain the clamor and omit
the superfluous honors of the tomb.

Quintus Horatius “Horace” Flaccus, December 8, 65 BC – November 27, 8 BC

cum divus Augustus sibi atque urbi Romae templum apud Pergamum sisti no prohibuisset, qui omnia facta dictaque eius vice lege observem, placitum iam exemplum promptius secutus sum, quia cultui meo veneratio senatus adiungebatur. ceterum ut semel recepisse veniam habuerit, ita per omnes provincias effigie numinum sacrari ambitiosum, superbum; et vanescet Augusti honor, si promiscis adulationibus vulgatur.

When the deified Augustus did not prohibit a temple to be set up at Pergamum to himself and to the city of Rome, I–who will observe all his words and deeds as if in the place of the law–followed more readily a pleasing example, since to my cult the worship of the senate was added. But though this may be considered to have received pardon on one occasion, to be thus worshipped through all the provinces in the form of a god would be over-ambitious and arrogant; and the honor of Augustus fades, it it is spread with such common flattery.

ego me, patres conscripti, mortalem esse et hominum officia fungi satisque habere si locum principem impleam et vos testor et meminisse posteros volo; qui satis superque memoriae meae tribuent, ut maioribus meis dignum, rerum vestrarum providum, constantem in periculis, offensionum pro utilitate publica non pavidum credant.

For myself, gentlemen of the Senate, I know that I am mortal and perform the duties of men. I consider it enough if I occupy the first place, and I call you to witness and I wish future generations to remember; they will render enough and more than enough to my memory, if they will believe me worthy of my ancestors, provident of your concerns, steadfast in dangers, and not fearful of injury for the public welfare.

haec mihi in animis vestris templa, hae pulcherrimae effigies et mansurae. nam quae saxo struuntur, si iudicium posterorum in odium vertit, pro sepulchris spernuntur. proinde socios civis et deos ipsos precor, hos ut mihi ad finem usque vitae quietam et intellegentem humani divinique iuris mentem duint, illos ut, quandoque concessero, cum laude et bonis recordationibus facta atque famam nominis mei prosequantur.’

These are my temples in your hearts, my most beautiful and lasting images. For things built of stone, if the judgment of posterity turns to hatred, are scorned as tombs. Accordingly I request these things from allies, citizens, and the gods themselves: from the gods, that they may give me until the end of my life a mind peaceful and understanding of the law of men and of gods; from men, when I cease to be, that my deeds and the report of my name may be remembered with praise and with favorable recollections.

perstititque posthac secretis etiam sermonibus aspernari talem sui cultum. quod alii modestiam, multi, quia diffideret, quidam ut degeneris animi interpretabantur. optumos quippe mortalium altissima cupere: sic Herculem et Liberum apud Graecos, Quirinum apud nos deum numero additos: melius Augustum, qui speraverit. cetera principibus statim adesse: unum insatiabiliter parandum, prosperam sui memoriam; nam contemptu famae contemni virtutes.

He persisted hereafter even in private conversations to reject such veneration of his cult. Some understood this as modesty, others thought him diffident, certain ones concluded he was of a degenerate mind: for indeed the best of mortals desired the highest things: thus Hercules and Liber among the Greeks, Quirinus among us were added to the gods; Augustus had done better, who had hoped; all else comes immediately to sovereigns; one thing must be insatiably acquired, a favorable memory: for virtues are scorned by contempt for fame.

–Tacitus, Annals IV.37-38

Excerpt from Southey’s Common-place Book: page 643, under “Miscellaneous anecdotes and gleanings”. Comments in brackets are my own.

“Est enim nescio quid natura’ insitum nationibus aliis longe a’ nostris moribus ingeniisque alienum; atque ut Falerni vini sapor alius est quam Taracinensis, ita michi videntur homines ab ipsa’ in qua’ nascuntur terra’, saporem, ut ita dixerim, naturae ingeniorumque traxisse.” — Leon. Aretine, Epist. tom. 2, p. 101

[Roughly translated] For there is something (I know not what) foreign implanted by nature to other nations distant from our customs and characters; and as the flavor of Falernian wine is different than Taracinian, just so men seem to me (michi) to have drawn out from that very land in which they are born a flavor, as I have said, of nature and of characters.

Editor J.W.W. (Southey’s son-in-law John Wood Warter, B.D.) comments:

I am under the impression that in the word michi here, Southey thought he had a similar word to “miching”, see supra, p. 329, and in turning to his copy of Leon. Aretines’s “Letters” before me, I find his well-known mark against the word. I suspect he had in his mind the word Micha, on which see Du Cange in v. The word michi, however, is here simply the pedantic form of mihi. I give the following from Noltini, as the work may not be in everyone’s hands. [Indeed.]

“Absurda etiam est consuetudo pronunciantium H per CH, ut miCHi pro mihi, niCHil pro nihil; id quod ab Leonardo Aretino profectum est, qui consonantis C adjectionem in ejusmodi vocabulis serio defendere est adnixus, L. 8. Ep. 2. ad Antonium Grammaticum. Voss. Art. Gr. 149. A quo quidem tempore monachi ita non solum pronunciarunt, sed etiam scripserunt, ut codices complures manibus ipsorum exarati satis testantur, qui michi, nichil scriptum exhibent.” Lexicon Lat. Ling. Anibarbarum, H. p. 70. Ed, 1780. –J.W.W.

[Translated] Also absurd is the custom of pronouncing H as CH, for example “michi” for “mihi”, nichil for nihil; this was started by Leonardo Aretino, who earnestly took pains to defend the addition of the consonant C in such words… from which time indeed monks not only pronounced it thus, but also wrote it, as not a few manuscripts written by their hands give ample witness, which show “michi, nichil” written.

The Leon. Aretino mentioned seems to be on Leonardo Aretino, alias Bruni, 1369-1444. For “miching”, v. Southey 329, where he quotes from Dryden’s comedy The Wild Gallant: “a raw miching boy.” J.W.W. comments: “TODD in Johnson says that “micher” is used in the Western countries for a truant boy. the words of Hamlet naturally occur, “Marry this is miching malicho; it means mischief.” Act iii, sc. 2.”

I am not sure how exactly the mihi > michi shift is be explained given the otherwise general disappearance (in pronunciation, if not spelling) of h in post-classical Latin. Mihi and nihil sometimes appear as mi and nil (as expected, and even in classical Latin), but it may be that the appearance of ch was an overcompensatory attempt to keep h in those words while it was being lost elsewhere. The spelling “ch” presumably reflected the prevalent pronunciation, though Aretino seems to have been a conscious advocate of the practice.

Noltini also notes that with the loss in pronunciation of h it was also often inserted in spelling where it did not belong, particulary after “c” (after the pattern of loan-words from Greek with “chi”?): “ut Hionius pro Ionius, simulacrum pro simulacrum, cHorona, CHenturio, cHommoda, pro corona, Centurio, commoda; coHerceo pro coerceo.” (Johann Friedrich Nolte, Lexicon Latinae Linguae antibarbarum).

Am I to understand from J.W.W.’s commentary that Southey interpreted michi as meaning that the people of other countries were truant as well as flavorful?

That didn’t answer your question.

Quem mihi dabis, qui aliquod pretium tempori ponat, qui diem aestimet, qui intellegat se cotidie mori? In hoc enim fallimur, quod mortem prospicimus: magna pars eius iam praeterit; quidquid aetatis retro est mors tenet. Fac ergo, mi Lucili, quod facere te scribis, omnes horas conplectere.

Can you give me someone who can place some price on time, who can determine the value of a day, who can know himself to be dying day by day? For in this we all deceived, insofar as we look forward at death: a great part of it has already passed by; as much of our life as is past, death holds. Do therefore, my Lucilius, as you write that you do: embrace every hour.

–Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4-65 A.D.) Epistulae Morales I.2

Vides ut alta stet nive candidum
Soracte nec iam sustineant onus
silvae laborantes geluque
flumina constiterint acuto?

You see how Soracte stands white with deep snow
and no longer do the groaning woodlands
endure their burden, and the streams
stand frozen with sharp ice?

Dissolve frigus lina super foco
large reponens atque benignus
deprome quadrimum Sabina,
o Thaliarche, merum diota.

Dissolve the chill, piling logs plentifully
above the hearth, and more generously
fetch the four-wintered wine,
o Thaliarchus, in the two-eared Sabine jar.

permitte divis cetera, qui simul
stravere ventos aequore fervido
deproeliantis, nec cupressi
nec veteres agitantur orni.

leave the rest to the gods, who
as soon as they have scattered the winds
warring on the violent sea,
neither the cypresses nor the old ash trees are shaken.