Waltharius123
Attila’s queen Ospirin advises her husband to ensure Walther’s loyalty by arranging a marriage (123–141)
Ospirin elapsum Haganonem regia coniunx | Ospirin: The queen’s name is not found elsewhere. The Roman historian Jordanes (Getica 49) speaks of Attila’s innumerabiles uxores.
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Aeneid 2.783: illic res laetae regnumque et regia coniunx. ‘There in store for you are happy days, kingship, and a royal wife.’
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DSDSDS Hiatus: elapsum Haganonem |
Although the historian Jordanes writes of Attila’s “innumerabiles uxores” [and even identifies the last as having been Ildiko (which sounds suspiciously similar to Hildegund)JZ], Ospirin's name does not appear anywhere outside the Waltharius. [AE] | |||
Attendens domino suggessit talia dicta: | Two examples of slight semantic drift away from Classical Latin: Attendens: “noticing” (rather than “directing attention towards”) Suggessit: “offered, advised” (rather than “supplied, provided”)
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Aeneid 5.852: talia dicta dabat. ‘Such words he said.’ 2.6: talia fando. ‘In telling such a tale. . .’
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Provideat caveatque, precor, sollertia regis, | 125 | Secundum Lucam 12.15: videte et cavete. ‘Take heed and beware.’
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Ne vestri imperii labatur forte columna, | Vestri: the 2nd person plural to indicate respect in addressing a single person (cf. French vous, German Sie) is not found in Classical authors.
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SDSSDS Elision: vestri imperii |
Ospirin uses the second-person plural when speaking to her husband in this passage and in line 376. Walther also uses the second-person plural to speak to Attila (lines 146, 306), and Hildegund uses it for addressing Walther (line 257). This pattern suggests that the poet resorts to this formality either because of Attila’s office or because of the woman-to-man relationship. The use of the second-person plural to indicate respect for a single person is a feature of Later Latin not found in Classical authors. [AE] It is a feature of later Romance languages, however. [MCD]
The figure of Walther as "columna imperii" reappears in line 376 after Walther and Hildegund flee. [AE] | ||||
Hoc est, Waltharius vester discedat amicus, | Discedat: still governed by ne.
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In quo magna potestatis vis extitit huius; | Potestatis equiv. to regni
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Nam vereor, ne fors fugiens Haganonem imitetur, | DSDDDS Elision: Haganonem imitetur |
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Idcircoque meam perpendite nunc rationem: | 130 | SDSDDS | |||||
Cum primum veniat, haec illi dicite verba: | SDSSDS | ||||||
Servitio in nostro magnos plerumque labores | DSSSDS Elision: servitio in |
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Passus eras ideoque scias, quod gratia nostra | Aeneid 7.421: Turne, tot incassum fusos patiere labores? ‘Turnus, will you endure all these labours spent in vain?’ 12.32-33.: me casus, quae, Turne, sequantur/ bella, vides, quantos primus patiare labores. ‘You see what perils, Turnus, what wars pursue me, what heavy burdens you bear above all.’
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DDSSDS False quantities: extra syllable |
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Prae cunctis temet nimium dilexit amicis. | Aeineid 9.430: tantum infelicem nimium dilexit amicum. ‘He but loved his hapless friend too well.’
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Quod volo plus factis te quam cognoscere dictis: | 135 | DSSSDS | |||||
Elige de satrapis nuptam tibi Pannoniarum | De satrapis equiv. to de filiabus satraparum; cf. note on line 43.
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Liber Iudicum 3.3: quinque satrapas Philisthinorum. . . ‘Five princes of the Philistines. . .’
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DDSDDS | "Satrapa" has a decidedly negative and foreign connotation in the Vulgate Bible, where it refers to leaders of the Philistines (Judges, I Kings), leaders appointed by Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel), and leaders following the evil Haman (Esther). The banquet (described in lines 287-321) that Walther throws for the Huns recalls the banquet that Esther gives for Assuerus and Haman in the Book of Esther. Although Lewis and Short gives a technical and specific definition for "satrapa" (“a governor of a province, a viceroy among the Persians”), it is likely that the Waltharius poet uses it in a more general sense, perhaps because of the poetic limitations. Using the word here implicitly compares the Huns to the foreign enemies of the Bible, emphasizing their strangeness. [AE]
"Satrapis" here refers to Attila's vassals, not to Attila himself (as in line 43). Attila invites Walther to choose a bride from the satraps of Pannonia, not meaning that Walther should marry one of the vassals, but his bride should come from the vassal class. Kratz's translation here is fairly loose, but captures the meaning well. [AE] |
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Et non pauperiem propriam perpendere cures. | SDDSDS | ||||||
Amplificabo quidem valde te rure domique, | Rure domique: apparently an ablative of means followed by a locative. Probably one should be assimilated to the other in translation; both possibilities yield acceptable sense.
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Liber Genesis 17.20: et augebo et multiplicabo eum valde. ‘I will increase him, and multiply him exceedingly.’
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Nec quisquam, qui dat sponsam, post facta pudebit. | Pudebit: A personal construction, unusual in Classical Latin, though cf. Plaut. Cas. 5.2.3.
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Quod si completis, illum stabilire potestis.' | 140 | Stabilire: the verb is used with human direct objects in the Vulgate Bible in the sense of “to sustain,” but here it probably has its more literal meaning, continuing the metaphor of the columna from line 126, as Wieland suggests.
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Hiezecihel Propheta 4.6: et cum conpleveris haec. . . ‘And when thou hast accomplished this. . .’
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Complacuit sermo regi coepitque parari. | Psalmi 18.15: et erunt ut conplaceant eloquia oris mei. ‘And the words of my mouth shall be such as may please.’
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