QUESTIONS ARISING FROM 144th. MEETING – 24/3/23 (the record of earlier meetings can be downloaded from the main Circulus page as can the version of Ciceronis Filius with illustrations added. The illustrated text of Genesis is available on the Genesis page, of Kepler's Somnium on the Somnium page, of Eutropius' Breviarium on the Eutropius page and of Nutting's Ad Alpes on the Ad Alpes page)
Food served at Lily’s place in Honcongulum (香港仔, Aberdeen) included sūsium (sushi), cicera cum saffrānō (chickpeas with saffron, ferculum Graecum (a Greek dish) brought by Eugene), gallīnācea, porcīna, carrotae,and cochleae marīnae (abalone). Alcoholic beverages included vinum Iapōnicum (saki), proseccānum (prosecco), vīnum Sīnicum (米酒, maijau, donated by Lily’s father) and vīnum Campānum (champagne).
Beware the Ides of March!
The meeting was a belated commemoration of the Ides of March and members accordingly came in an approximation of Roman dress, with togas either especially bought or improvised from rolls of fabric. All came unarmed, though in the picture Sam is wielding a ballpoint pen – an approximately authentic touch as Caesar managed to stam one of the assailants in the arm with his stylus. Our clothing was also not quite as in a dinner party in 44 B.C. as upper class Romans probably did not dine in their togas but instead wors a garment known as a synthesis or [vestis] cēnātōria and thought to have resembled a modern dressing gown,
We read the account of the assassination written around 150 years after the event by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, whose Lives of the Twelve Caesars might be called the Apple Daily of the ancient world. However, despite his fondness for gossip, his position as imperial archivist under Trajan meant he did have access to official records and he seems also to have weighed and compared different sources. Most famously, in the extract that we read, he records that most accounts claim Caesar said nothing when being stabbed but that some believed he spoke the Greek words καὶ σὺ τέκνον (kai tu teknon And you, child?) to Brutus. Go to https://antigonejournal.com/2023/03/julius-caesars-last-words/ for a modern discussion of this issue.
Chris thought that, in addition to both a partiality for gossip and a readiness to consult varied sorces, Suetonius sometimes may have made up additional details just to make his account seem more plausible. He suggested that the desctiption of Caesar holding petitions in his left hand on the way to the seanate might be an example.
Suetonius also served as secretary for Trajan’s successor Hadrian until dismissed, according to the Historia Augusta (?c.500 A.D.), for `"conducting [himself] toward [the empress], Sabina, in a more informal fashion than the etiquette of the court demanded." Discussion of this detail perompted comparison with the poet Ovid whose exile from Rome is thought to be partly the result of his relationship with Augustus’ grand-daughter, Julia. With both men, the involvement, though incurring the ruler’s keen displeasure, may not have amounted to any sexual liaison.
Whatever his relationship with Julia, Ovid, if his poems are truly autobiographical, was not short of girl-friends, He is often credited with a sympathetic understanding of feminine psychology but Tanya thought that in one poem he apologised for pulling out his girl friend’s hair! Investigation afterwards revealed this was probably Amores 1.7, in which the actual offence seems to have been messing up her hairdo and accidentally scratching her face. There is, however, controversy over how serious the `assault’ was and how far Ovid was speaking tongue-in-cheek. For a discussion, see the essay at https://dcc.dickinson.edu/ovid-amores/essays/1.7
Returning to Julius Caesar, the possibility that he did say τέκνον, which could carry the meaning `my son’, has encouraged speculation that Caesar might have been Brutus’s biological father. However, although Brutus’s mother, Servilia, was one of Caesar’s sexual conquests, the historians’ consensus is, against his paternity since Caesar was only around 15 when Brutus was born and it is generally thought that the affair took place when Servilia was quite old.
Chris C., who had bought a copy of the TV series in Shenzhen, mentioned that Servilia features prominently in the HBO-BBC historical drama `Rome’. She is depicted in a power struggle with Atia, the mother of Octavian, Caesar’s great-nephew and heir, and in one episode one woman sends the other a Nubian slave with a massive penis and a bucket of ice! The series also features a sub-plot involving centurions Pullo and Vorenus, whose rivalry is depicted in one incident in Book V of Caesar’s De Bello Gallico. In the dram, Pullo is the actual father of Caesarion, the son who Cleopatra claimed was Caesars’, and he rescues and adopts the boy after the Battle of Actium and Cleopatra’s suicide. Whilst very entertaining, `Rome’ goes far beyond the known facts and there is no evidence in the ancient sources for the feud between Servilia and Atia or for Pullo’s relationship with Cleapatra. There is a summary both of the fictional story of Servilia and Atia and of what is known from the historical record at https://hbo-rome.fandom.com/wiki/Servilia_of_the_Junii
The series’ portrayal of Atia is a complete contrast with her reputation in Classical times as a woman of exceptional virtue. In chapter 28 of his Dialogus de Oratoribus (written around 102 A.D.) Tacitus has one of the speakers refer to her as exemplifying the best features of a traditional Roman mother, in whose presence `no base word could be uttered without grave offence, and no wrong deed done.’ Suetonius does, however, record a story of how, around the time of Octavian’s conception, a serpent glided up to her when she was sleeping in the Temple of Apollo and left a permanent impression of its shape and colour on her body (Life of Augustus, c.94). Though the story was told to suggest that Augustus’ real father might have been Apollo himself, it is perhaps possible that a rumour about her sexual proclivities was re-purposed to serve imperial propaganda needs,
John, who had seen only short clips from the series, thought that among the inaccuracies was the scene where Brutus, after his defeat at Philippi in 43 B.C., seeks death by rushing towards the advancing enemy forces rather than falling upon his own sword. Chris explains that in the film nobody was willing to harm him so eventually he himself just ran onto somebody’s drawn sword. John thought that that although Caesar had given orders at Pharsalus that Brutus should be spared, it was unlikely Octavian and Anthony would have been so considerate!
Suetonius lists various omens allegedly observed in the run-up to Caesar’s death, including horses he had dedicated being observed weeping. We doubted whether horses could weep at all and it waa later conformed that, although they do often shed tears, this is in respose to physical irritation not to emotional stress (see https://www.helpfulhorsehints.com/tear-shedding-crying-in-horses/ ). Sam mentioned other distinctivbe deatures of equine anaromy, including `percussive circulation’ (the need to stamp on the ground to keep the blood moving) and their inability to vomit. In the course of their evolution, they apparently sacrificed sturdiness of their legs for greater speed.
There was mention of the practice in earlier times of using Latin for material thought too obscene to be presented in the vernacular. John recalled as an undergraduate looking at the Loeb edition of the Greek novel Δάφνις καὶ Χλόη (Daphnis and Chloe), written in the 2nd.century A.D. In the facing translation, the anatomically explicit details are in Latin and so John, like many other classics students, was able to skim rapidly through the text just to read the `naughty bits’!
Chris C, who is an accomplished musician, explained how baroque music had been intended as a basis for improvisation, rather like modern jazz compositions. Because of this, any `historically authentic’ performance should actually depart in some ways from the composer’s score!
Eugene and Jesse had temporarily given up meat as their Lenten penance. Whilst Christians have never required ordinary believers to undergo the rigorous fasting imposed on pious Muslims during Ramadan, it was customary during the Middle Ages to give up `luxury foods’, including meat, during Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter. Households would use up their eggs etc. on Shrove Tuesday (the day before Lent began) to make pancakes. They would also consume their meat and the resulting party was a carnival (rom Latin carō, meat, flesh). By the 1950s, when John was a student in a Cartholic primary school, the requirement was looser, but it was still customary to choose something (for example, sweets) to do without until Easter. It was also then obligatory for Catholics not to meat on Fridays, though fish was permitted and there was thus no great sacrifice: in his play In Good King Charles’ Golden Days. Bernard Shaw has Charles I make fun of his brother, later James II, for telling his hostess that `I shall require only five kinds of fish.’. Nonethelsss, the removal of the requirement of `Friday abstinence’ meant, as Roy Hattersly notes in The Catholics, that, at least in Britain, there was no longer any clear difference in daily life between Catholics and the rest of the population.
In Good King Charles’ Golden Days, completed when Shaw was 83, is not one of his better-known plays but it includes the usual sparkling dialogue. He imagines the royal brothers lunching at Isaac Newton’s house in the countryside, where another guest is Charles Fox, founder of the Society of Friends (`Quakers’), with royal mistresses thrown in for good measure. Shaw’s own preface to the play can be read at http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300441h.html
On the subject of religious backgrounds, Chris described himself as one-sixteenth Jewish by descent, but also a fake Catholic, in contrast to his mother who was a lapsed one. John is also a lapsed Catholic, having been brought up in that religion beause his paternal grandfather converted from Anglicanism in the late 19th century, apparently since he wanted clear and confident answers to his theological enquiries and the Catholics in those days were dogmatic enough to provide them. John’s mother converted after meeting his father.
We discussed briefly the extent to which Christians had retained or thrown over various provisions in the Old Testament. Some of these are quite bizarre, such as the prohibition on wearing clothes made up of different fabrics. Sam suggested, however, that this might have been based on the difficulty of washing composite garments. Other injunctions are simply appalling, including `thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’ and this gem, highlighted in a recent Medium article:
“If a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they punish him, then his father and mother shall take him before the elders of the city and declare, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and won’t obey; he is a worthless drunkard.’ Then the men of the city shall stone him to death. In this way, you shall put away this evil from among you, and all the young men of Israel will hear about what happened and will be afraid.” Deuteronomy 21:18–21
Tanya talked about the Chinese characters for Cantonese obscenities, including the one easily confused with the Latin word meaning `for a long time’ (diū), unless one is careful to keep the Latin term bisyllabic. John I mentioned the standard reference, A Dictionary of Cantonese Slang, produced by two Hong Kong University academics, Christopher Hutton and John Bolton. This cannot unfortunately now be re-issued or updated because the two authors, one of whom is a friend of Tanya’s, are joint holders of the copyright and have now fallen out. There is, however, a useful discussion of the key terms at https://www.learndialect.sg/singapore-cantonese-swear-words-vulgarities/
As one of us was celebrating his birthday, we discussed briefly the appropriate songs in different languages. When asked to provide a Latin version some years back, John had suggested `Congrātulāmur tibi, congrātulāmur tibi, congratulāmur cāre/cāra X, congrātlulāmur tibi’. An alternative might be `Ad multōs annos, annos plūrimōs, annōs plūrimōs, cāre/cāra X, annōs plūrimōs.’ There were also brief demonstrations of the French and Afrikaans versions, for which see respectively https://www.fluentu.com/blog/french/happy-birthday-song-in-french/#toc_3 and (with completely different music and lyrics) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulX0uKMZksI
There was a non-serious discussion of candidates for an official circulus meme or emblem, including suggestion of slogans CULTUS NON SUMUS (`We are not a cult’), HIC PONTIFICES CORRIGUNTUR (`Here popes are corrected’, referring to our 2013 dissection of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation statement – see https://linguae.weebly.com/latinitas-pontificalis.html ) or HIC DISCERPTATUR (`Here one is riped apart’, referring to the fate of the bird pursued ny other into the senate house shortly before Caesar’s assassination). A rampant horse weeping was suggested as a apropriate emblem. As a suitable aggressive parallel, John mentioned the motto of the Stuart dynasty. NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT (`Nobody provokes me with impunity’).
Pope Benedict resigns
We touched on the question of allegedly untranslatable words and also, even where a translatiion was clearly available, of being much more familiar with the term in one language than in another. Among terms difficult to translate, Lily mentioned the French piquant (referring particularly to the sting of alcohol on a wound) which she thought corresponded closely to Cantonese laaht (辣) but did not exactly match any English word, whilst John thought of Cantonese yiht naauh熱鬧, which was perhaps slightly different from its usual English translation of `lively’. For John, it was of course, English terms which were normally dominat but one counter example was the name of the Hong Kong goverment’s emergency resue service màhn ōn deuih(民安隊). He rembers this more easily than the official English name `Civil Aid Service’ because they were once called out to find him when he was stranded at night on a hillside above Lion Rock Tunnel. As soon as it was daylight, he was able to make his way safely off the slope himself but his wife’s use of the Cantonese term afterwards lodged very firmly in his brain. Near the end, we discussed Monica’s search for a suitable English stage-name and she and Lily hit on Morphina, from Morpheus, the Greek god of sleep, as a possibity. Her Chinese stage-name alluded to the famous story of the philosopher who wondered if he was a man dreaming he was a butterfly or a burtterfly dreaming he was a man. Finally, we decided to fix 21 April for the next meeting and Hillary suggested we stick to Suetonius and sample his Life of Nero.
SUETONIUS (from DIVUS JULIUS, c.80-82)
Cōnspīrātum est in eum ā sexāgintā amplius, Gāiō Cassiō Mārcōque et Decimō Brūtō Conspiracy-formed was against him by sixty plus with-Gaius Cassius and-Marcus and Decimus Brutus prīncipibus cōnspīrātiōnis. Quī prīmum cūnctātī utrumne in Campō per comitia tribūs ad leaders of-conspiracy they first having-hesitated whether in Field-of-Mars during assembly tribes to suffrāgia vocantem partibus dīvīsīs ē ponte dēicerent atque exceptum trucīdārent,[1] voting him-calling with-groups divided from bridge they-should-throw-down and caught should-kill an in Sacrā Viā vel in aditū theātrī adorīrentur, postquam senātus Īdibus Mārtiīs in Pompēī or in Sacred Way or in entrance of-theatre they-should-attack after senate for-Ides of-March in Pompey’s cūriam ēdictus est, facile tempus et locum praetulērunt. meeting-hall called was easy time and place they-preferred
[81] Sed Caesarī futūra caedēs ēvidentibus prōdigiīs dēnūntiāta est. Paucōs ante mēnsēs, cum But to-Caesar future killing by-clear signs intimated was a-few before months when in colōniā Capuā dēductī lēge Iūliā[2] colōnī ad extruendās vīllās vetustissima sepulcra in Colonia at-Capua those-installed by Lex Julia settlers for constructing villas very-old tombs dīs[s]icerent idque eō studiōsius facerent, quod aliquantum vāsculōrum operis were-demolishing and-this the more-enthusiastically were-doing because some-quantity of vases of-workmanship antīquī scrūtantēs reperiēbant, tabula aēnea in monimentō, in quō dīcēbātur Capys ancient whilst-rummaging they-were-finding tablet bronze in tomb in which was-said Capys conditor Capuae sepultus, inventa est cōnscrīptā litterīs verbīsque Graecīs hāc sententiā: founder of-Capua buried found was with-written in-letters and-words Greek this sentence quandōque ossa Capyis dētēcta essent, fore ut illō prōgnātus manū cōnsanguineōrum and-when bones of-Capys mcovered had-been it-would-happened that from-him descendant at-hand of-relatives necārētur magnīsque mox Ītaliae clādibus vindicārētur.[3] Cuius reī, nē quis fābulōsam aut be-killed and-great soon for-Italy disasters be-avenged of-this story lest anyone myth or commentīciam putet, auctor est Cornēlius Balbus, familiārissimus Caesaris. Proximīs diēbus falsehood should-think author is Cornelius Balbus very-close-friend of-Caesar in-nearest days
NOTES [1] The Comitia Tribūta assembly, which elected the lower magistrates, sometimes met on the Campus Martius (Field of Mars) an open areas in a bend of the Tiber to the north-west of the city centre, Voters passed over temporary bridges to cast their ballots and the proposal was for one group of the conspirators to throw Caesar down from one of them to be attacked by others below. [2] This was the Lex Julia de Agro Campano, a law passed on Julius Caesar’s initiative during his consulship in 59 B.C. assigning public land in Campania, the region inland from the bay of Naples, to veterans who had served under his then ally, Pompey. Capua was sixteen miles north of Naples and, although its name probably derives from the Etruscan Capeva (`City of Marshes), there was apparently also a tradition linking it with Capys, a Trojan prince and grandfather of Aeneas. [3] Caesar is seen as Capys’ descendant because the Julian clan was supposedly descended from Aeneas’s son, Julus. The mention of relatives could be taken as a reference to Brutus, who was rumoured (probably falsely) to be Caesar’s illegitimate son. The engraved sentence is given in reported speech rather than directly quoted. The periphrasis with fore ut and the subjunctive is, as usual, preferred to the future passive infinitive (necātum īrī).
equōrum gregēs, quōs in trāiciendō Rubicōnī flūminī cōnsecrārat ac vagōs et sine cūstōde of-horses herds which in crossing to-Rubicon river he-had dedicated and loose and without keeper dīmīserat, comperit pertinācissimē pābulō abstinēre ūbertimque flēre. Et immolantem sent-off he-learned most-stubbornly from-grazing to-abstain and-copiously to-weep and {Caesar]sacrificing haruspex Spūrinna monuit, cavēret perīculum, quod nōn ultrā Mārtiās Īdūs prōferrētur. sooth-sayer Spurinna warned he-should-beware danger which not beyond of-March Ides would-be-postponed Prīdiē autem eāsdem Īdūs avem rēgāliolum[1] cum laureō rāmulō Pompēiānae cūriae sē on-day-before moreover same Ides bird `kinglet’ with of-laurel small-branch into-Pompeian meeting-hall itself īnferentem volucrēs variī generis ex proximō nemore persecūtae ibīdem discerpsērunt. Eā bringing-in birds of-varying kind from neighbouring grove having-chased there tore-apart on-that vērō nocte, cui inlūxit diēs caedis, et ipse sibi vīsus est per quiētem interdum suprā nūbēs actual night after-which dawned day of-murder also himself to-himself seemed during sleep sometimes above clouds volitāre, aliās cum Iove dextram iungere; et Calpurniā uxor imāgināta est conlābī fastīgium to-fly sometimes with Jupiter right-hand to-join and Calpurnia wife imagined to-be-collapsing roof domūs marītumque in gremiō suō cōnfōdī; ac subitō cubiculī forēs sponte patuērunt. Ob of-house and-husband in embrace her to-be-stabbed and suddenly of-bedroom doors spontaneously opened because-of haec simul et ob īnfirmam valītūdinem diū cūnctātus an sē continēret et quae these-things at-same-time and because-of poor health for-long-time hesitated whether self he-should-confine and things- which apud senātum prōposuerat agere differret, tandem Decimō Brūtō adhortante, nē frequentīs ac in senate he-had-proposed to-do defer at-last with-Decimus Brutus urging not large-numbers and iam dūdum opperientis dēstitueret, quīntā ferē hōrā[2] prōgressus est libellumque īnsidiārum now for-long-time waiting he-should-let-down at-fifth about hour he set out and and-note plot indicem ab obviō quōdam porrēctum lībellīs cēterīs, quōs sinistrā manū tenēbat, quasi mox revealing by on-the-way someone proferred with-notes other which in-left hand he-was-holding as-if soon lēctūrus commiscuit. Dein plūribus hostiīs caesīs, cum litāre nōn posset, introiit going-to-read he-added then with-many sacrificial-victims slain although obtain-favourable-omens not he-could he-entered cūriam sprētā religiōne Spūrinnamque irrīdēns et ut falsum arguēns, quod sine ūllā meeting-hall spurned with-religious-scruple and-Spurinna mocking and as false[prophet] accusing because without any suā noxā Īdūs Mārtiae adessent: quanquam is vēnisse quidem eās dīceret, sed nōn praeterīsse. to-himself harm Ides of-march were-here although he to-have-come indeed them said but not to-have-passed
[82] Assidentem cōnspīrātī speciē officiī[3] circumstetērunt, īlicōque Cimber Tillius, quī him-taking-seat conspirators with-appearance of-duty stood-around and-there-and-then Cimber Tillius who prīmās partēs suscēperat, quasi aliquid rogātūrus propius accessit renuentīque et gestū leading role had-assumed as-if something about-to-ask nearer came-up and- as-he-shook-his-head and with-gesture
NOTES [1] Possibly a sparrow or wren. [2] i.e between approximately10 and 11 a.m. [3] i.e. pretending to pay their respects
in aliud tempus differentī[1] ab utrōque umerō togam adprehendit: deinde clāmantem: 'ista to another time put-it-off from each shoulder toga pulled-off then him-shouting this quidem vīs est!' alter ē Cascīs āversum vulnerat paulum īnfrā iugulum. Caesar Cascae actually violence is one of the-Cascas him-turning-away wounded a-little below throat Caesar Casca’s brāchium arreptum graphiō trāiēcit cōnātusque prosilīre aliō vulnere tardātus est; utque arm having-been-seized with-stylus ran-through and-trying to-leap-up by-another wound slowed was and-as animadvertit undique sē strictīs pūgiōnibus petī, togā caput obvoluit, simul sinistrā he-noticed on-all-sides himself with-drawn daggers to-be-under-attack with-toga head he-covered at-same-time with-left manū sinum ad īma crūra dēdūxit, quō honestius caderet etiam īnferiōre corporis parte vēlātā. Hans fold to bottom of-legs drew-down so-that more-decently he-would-fall also with-lower of-body part covered Atque ita tribus et vīgintī plāgīs cōnfossus est ūnō modō ad prīmum ictum gemitū sine vōce And thus with-three and twenty wounds stabbed he-was with-one only at first blow groan without word ēditō, etsī trādidērunt quīdam Mārcō Brūtō irruentī dīxisse: καὶ σὺ τέκνον;[2] Exanimis uttered although have-reported some-people to-Marcus Brutus rushing-at-him to-have-said and you child lifeless diffugientibus cūnctīs aliquamdiū iacuit, dōnec lectīcae impositum, dēpendente brāchiō, trēs with-scattering all-the-others for-some-time he-lay until on-litter him- placed with-dangling- arm three servolī domum rettulērunt. Nec in tot vulneribus, ut Antistius medicus exīstimābat, lētāle mere-slaves home brought-back and-not in so-many wounds as Antistius doctor reckoned fatal ūllum repertum est, nisi quod secundō locō in pectore accēperat. any found was except that-which in-second place in breast he-had-received.
NOTES [1] The participles are dative of personal involvement, so, literally `for-him shaking his head..’ [2] The Greek would have been pronounced as kai su teknon?