Difference between revisions of "WalthariusPrologue"
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| − | |[[Omnipotens | + | |[[Omnipotens]] [[genitor]], [[summae]] [[virtutis]] [[amator]], |
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|{{Commentary|''Genitor…amator…spiritus'': the poet begins by invoking the Trinity, i.e., the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.}} | |{{Commentary|''Genitor…amator…spiritus'': the poet begins by invoking the Trinity, i.e., the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.}} | ||
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File:Waltharius-Preface.png | File:Waltharius-Preface.png | ||
File:Waltharius-Preface_1.png | File:Waltharius-Preface_1.png | ||
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|[[Iure]] [[pari]] [[natusque]] [[amborum]] [[spiritus]] [[almus]], | |[[Iure]] [[pari]] [[natusque]] [[amborum]] [[spiritus]] [[almus]], | ||
Latest revision as of 17:47, 14 December 2009
Dedicatory Preface
| Omnipotens genitor, summae virtutis amator, | Genitor…amator…spiritus: the poet begins by invoking the Trinity, i.e., the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. | Vergil, Aeneid 10.668: Omnipotens genitor. . . ‘Almighty father. . .’ | | |||
| Iure pari natusque amborum spiritus almus, | Natusque amborum equiv. to qui ex Patre Filioque procedit | |||||
| Personis trinus, vera deitate sed unus, | Trinus equiv. to triplex | |||||
| Qui vita vivens cuncta et sine fine tenebis, | Vita vivens: the phrase either reinforces or contrasts with the sense of sine fine. | |||||
| Pontificem summum tu salva nunc et in aevum | 5 | Pontificem summum…Erchamboldum: the title does not refer to the pope, but was a normal way of addressing an archbishop. The dedicatee is probably Erchambold, Bishop of Strasbourg from 965 to 991; as a prince-bishop with considerable secular power he held the equivalent of archepiscopal rank. Men of the same name served as the Bishop of Eichstätt from 882 to 912 and the Archbishop of Mainz from 1011 to 1021 In aevum equiv. to in aeternum |
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| Claro Erckambaldum fulgentem nomine dignum, | Ovid, Tristia ex Ponto 5.7.45: vix sunt homines hoc nomine digni. ‘They are scarce men worthy the name.’ | |||||
| Crescat ut interius sancto spiramine plenus, | Interius equiv. to intra, penitus | |||||
| Multis infictum quo sit medicamen in aevum. | Infictum: “genuine” | |||||
| Praesul sancte dei, nunc accipe munera servi, | Praesul equiv. to pontifex | |||||
| Quae tibi decrevit de larga promere cura | 10 | De larga…cura: the use of a preposition with the ablative of means, characteristic of Medieval Latin, is a step on the way to the disappearance of the case system in most modern Romance languages. | ||||
| Peccator fragilis Geraldus nomine vilis, | Geraldus: the identity of this person, and his relationship to the rest of the poem, is not known. Nomine: the author makes a very direct comparison of his own status with that of Erchambold, as praised in line 6. |
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| Qui tibi nam certus corde estque fidelis alumnus. | Alumnus: either equivalent to servus, or perhaps signaling that the prologue’s author had himself been a student of Erchambold. | |||||
| Quod precibus dominum iugiter precor omnitonantem, | ||||||
| Ut nanciscaris factis, quae promo loquelis, | ||||||
| Det pater ex summis caelum terramque gubernans. | 15 | |||||
| Serve dei summi, ne despice verba libelli, | ||||||
| Non canit alma dei, resonat sed mira tyronis, | Canit…resonat: the subject is libellus; the latter verb is used transitively. Tironis equiv. to iuvenis |
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| Nomine Waltharius, per proelia multa resectus. | ||||||
| Ludendum magis est dominum quam sit rogitandum, | The point is clearly that the poem is meant for entertainment, not religious edification, but the grammatical construction is uncertain. Althof considers libellus to be implied as the subject of both verbs and takes ludendum and rogitandum as gerunds denoting purpose, with ad twice omitted. Alternatively we have first an impersonal passive periphrastic construction with the gerundive (cf. Horace’s nunc est bibendum), with the second (transitive) verb being awkwardly attracted into this construction. | |||||
| Perlectus longaevi stringit inampla diei. | 20 | Perlectus: sc. libellus. Longaevi stringit inampla diei: difficult to interpret. Many texts (not Strecker’s) split the first and third of these words, yielding longae vi and in ampla and thus further multiplying the possibilities. The sense seems to be “shortens the length of an old man’s day” (or simply “of the long day”). Wieland sees in stringit the image of a drawn sword: “fights against.” |
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| Sis felix sanctus per tempora plura sacerdos, | Aeneid 1.330: sis felix nostrumque leves, quaecumque, laborem. ‘Show grace to us, whoever you may be, and lighten this our burden.’ | |||||
| Sit tibi mente tua Geraldus carus adelphus. |
