02.02.26: Level 3; the poetry of Rome: introduction – you’ve just gotta love Lesbia

To give you an idea of the direction in which this set of posts is going, the ability to scan a Latin poem and to analyse its effects are requirements of the UK A Level (post-16) Latin examination.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z_QAPB3XeA

Uīuāmūs mĕă Lēsbĭa ͜ ātque ͜ ămēmŭs

rūmōrēsquĕ sĕnūm sĕuērĭōrŭm

ōmnēs ūnĭŭs aēstĭmēmŭs āssĭs

dā mī bāsĭă mīllĕ deīndĕ cēntŭm

deīn mīlle ͜ āltĕră deīn sĕcūndă cēntŭm

Deīnde ͜ ūsque ͜ āltĕră mīllĕ deīndĕ cēntŭm

deīn cūm mīlĭă mūltă fēcĕrīmŭs

cōntūrbābĭmŭs īllă nē scĭāmŭs

aūt nē quīs mălŭs īnuĭdērĕ pōssĭt

cūm tāntūm scĭăt ēssĕ bāsĭōrŭm

(Catullus V)

Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love,

and let us judge all the rumors of the old men

to be worth just one penny!

Give me a thousand kisses, then another hundred,

then another thousand, then a second hundred,

then yet another thousand more, then another hundred.

Then, when we have made many thousands,

we will mix them all up so that we don't know,

and so that no one can be jealous of us when he finds out

how many kisses we have shared.

The composer, Farya Faraji, makes the following comment: “In my opinion, the best place to start for reconstructing their music is the poetry: Ancient Roman poetry used the interplay of long vs short vowel lengths and stress accent to create rythmic effects to the poetry, not unlike modern rap does.”

And that’s where we’re going to start – not with Catullus, but with a verse from the 4^th century. We’ll meet Catullus – and his fairweather friends – later. The following posts will look at the 4^th century Pater Noster of Juvencus (recited by Vincent).