To Tonantius.
Your opinion of my verse has always been so flattering that you rank me alongside the finest poets — and ahead of most. I would believe you, if your affection for me did not run as deep as your judgment. That is precisely why your praise of me can be wrong without being dishonest.
Beyond that, you are now asking me to send you some Asclepiadean verses hammered out on the Horatian anvil — something to recite over wine. I obey, though I must warn you: I have never been more absorbed in prose than I am right now. You will find that my passion for meter has largely cooled. It is not easy to do something well when you do it rarely.
[Here Sidonius includes a short poem declining to compete with Horace in lyric meters, noting that even Leo — "the king of the Castalian chorus" — and Lampridius, who lectures to students at Bordeaux, would struggle with the task.]
But whenever you sit down to a fine dinner, fill the time — and I say this with real conviction — with edifying conversation rather than drinking songs. If you are still too young for that, at least borrow from Apuleius [the 2nd-century author from Madaura, famous for philosophical dinner-party debates] some questions fit for the table: pose them, solve them, and sharpen your mind even while you relax.
Since we have stumbled onto the subject of banquets, here is something I composed years ago at a dinner hosted during the reign of Emperor Majorian [reigned 457-461]. A friend had asked me to come, and someone produced a book by Petrus, the imperial secretary. I dashed off a poem on the spot — as did my table companions Domnulus, Severianus, and Lampridius, each of us drawing a different meter by lot so that no one would suffer the embarrassment of direct comparison.
[The poem itself is a lively piece in short lines celebrating the banquet: calling for silk hangings and Persian tapestries, garlands of flowers, incense, lamps burning balsam oil, fine Falernian wine, musicians from Corinth, flute-players, actors in comedy and tragedy — all in honor of Petrus, whose book has delighted emperor, senate, soldiers, and common people alike. It closes by dismissing the pagan Muses: "Away with Hippocrene, away with Apollo and Minerva — one God alone grants gifts like these."]
There — you asked me for something to sing, and I have ended up singing myself. I dug these trifles out of the bottom of a chest where the mice had been at them for twenty years, like the state of things Odysseus found when he finally came home. Forgive the foolishness of the performance. But I will say this, without false modesty or false boldness: I hope you will judge my little piece with the same generosity I showed when praising our friend's entire book. Farewell.
EPISTULA XIII
Sidonius Tonantio suo salutem.
1. Est quidem, fateor, versibus meis sententia tua tam plausibilis olim, tam favorabilis, ut poetarum me quibusque lectissimis comparandum putes, certe compluribus anteponendum. crederem tibi, si non, ut multum sapis, ita quoque multum me amares. hinc est, quod de laudibus meis caritas tua mentiri potest nec potest fallere.
2. praeter hoc poscis, ut Horatiana incude formatos Asclepiadeos tibi quospiam, quibus inter bibendum pronuntiandis exerceare, transmittam. pareo iniunctis, licet, si umquam, modo maxime prosario loquendi genere districtus occupatusque. denique probabis circa nos plurima ex parte metrorum studia refrigescere; non enim promptum est unum eundemque probe facere aliquid et raro.
Iam dudum teretes hendecasyllabos
attrito calamis pollice lusimus,
quos cantare magis pro choriambicis
excusso poteras mobilius pede;
(5) sed tu per Calabri tramitis aggerem
vis ut nostra dehinc cursitet orbita,
qua Flaccus lyricos Pindaricum ad melos
frenis flexit equos plectripotentibus,
dum metro quatitur chorda Glyconio,
(10) nec non Alcaico vel Pherecratio,
iuncto Lesbiaco sive anapaestico,
vernans per varii carminis eglogas,
verborum violis multicoloribus.
istud, da veniam, fingere vatibus
(15) priscis difficile est, difficile et mihi,
ut diversa sonans os epigrammata
nil crebras titubet propter epistulas,
quas cantu ac modulis luxuriantibus
lascivire vetat mascula dictio.
(20) istud vix Leo, rex Castalii chori,
vix, hunc qui sequitur, Lampridius queat,
declamans gemini pondere sub stili
coram discipulis Burdigalensibus.
hoc me teque decet: parce, precor, iocis;
(25) quaeso, pollicitam servet ad extimum
oratoris opus cura modestiam,
quo nil deterius, si fuerit simul
in primis rigidus, mollis in ultimis.
3. Quin immo quotiens epulo mensae lautioris hilarabere, religiosis, quod magis approbo, narrationibus vaca; his proferendis confabulatio frequens, his redicendis sollicitus auditus inserviat. certe si saluberrimis avocamentis, ut qui adhuc iuvenis, tepidius inflecteris, a Platonico Madaurensi saltim formulas mutuare convivialium quaestionum, quoque reddaris instructior, has solve propositas, has propone solvendas hisque te studiis, et dum otiaris, exerce.
4. sed quia mentio conviviorum semel incidit tuque sic carmen nobis vel ad aliam causam personamque compositum sedulo exposcis, ut me eius edendi diutius habere non possis haesitatorem, suscipe libens quod temporibus Augusti Maioriani, cum rogatu cuiusdam sodalis ad caenam conveniremus, in Petri librum magistri epistularum subito prolatum subitus effudi, meis quoque contubernalibus, dum rex convivii circa ordinandum moras nectit oxygarum, Domnulo, Severiano atque Lampridio paria pangentibus (iactanter hoc dixi, immo meliora); quos undique urbium ascitos imperator in unam civitatem, invitator in unam cenam forte contraxerat.
5. id morae tantum, dum genera metrorum sorte partimur. placuit namque pro caritate collegii, licet omnibus eadem scribendi materia existeret, non uno tamen epigrammata singulorum genere proferri, ne quispiam nostrum, qui ceteris dixisset exilius, verecundia primum, post morderetur invidia. etenim citius agnoscitur in quocumque recitante, si quo ceteri metro canat, an eo quoque scribat ingenio. tu vero tunc opportunius subiecta laudabis, cum totus otio indulseris. non enim iustum est, ut censor incipias cum severitate discutere quod non potuit amicus cum serietate dictare.
Age convocata pubes,
locus hora, mensa causa
iubet ut volumen istud,
quod et aure et ore discis,
(5) studiis in astra tollas.
Petrus est tibi legendus,
in utraque disciplina
satis institutus auctor.
celebremus ergo, fratres,
(10) pia festa litterarum.
peragat diem cadentem
dape, poculis, choreis
genialis apparatus.
Rutilum toreuma bysso
(15) rutilasque ferte blattas,
recoquente quas aeno
Meliboea fucat unda,
opulentet ut meraco
bibulum colore vellus.
(20) peregrina det supellex
Ctesiphontis ac Niphatis
iuga texta beluasque
rapidas vacante panno,
acuit quibus furorem
(25) bene ficta plaga cocco
iaculoque ceu forante
cruor incruentus exit;
ubi torvus et per artem
resupina flexus ora
(30) it equo reditque telo,
simulacra bestiarum
fugiens fugansque Parthus.
Nive pulchriora lina
gerat orbis atque lauris
(35) hederisque, pampinisque
viridantibus tegatur.
cytisos, crocos, amellos,
casias, ligustra, calthas
calathi ferant capaces,
(40) redolentibusque sertis
abacum torosque pingant.
manus uncta suco amomi
domet hispidos capillos
Arabumque messe pinguis
(45) petat alta tecta fumus.
veniente nocte nec non
numerosus erigatur
laquearibus coruscis
camerae in superna lychnus;
(50) oleumque nescientes
adipesque glutinosos
utero tumente fundant
opobalsamum lucernae.
Geruli caput plicantes
(55) anaglyptico metallo
epulas superbiores
umeris ferant onustis.
paterae, scyphi, lebetes
socient Falerna nardo
(60) tripodasque cantharosque
rosa sutilis coronet.
iuvat ire per corollas
alabastra ventilantes;
iuvat et vago rotatu
(65) dare fracta membra ludo,
simulare vel trementes
pede, veste, voce Bacchas.
bimari remittat urbe
thymelen palenque doctas
(70) tepidas ad officinas
citharistrias Corinthus,
digiti quibus canentes
pariter sonante lingua
vice pectinis fatigent
(75) animata fila pulsu.
Date et aera fistulata,
Satyris amica nudis;
date ravulos choraulas,
quibus antra per palati
(80) crepulis reflanda buccis
gemit aura tibialis.
date carminata socco,
date dicta sub cothurno,
date quicquid advocati,
(85) date quicquid et poetae
vario strepunt in actu:
Petrus haec et illa transit.
opus editum tenemus,
bimetra quod arte texens
(90) iter asperum viasque
labyrinthicas cucurrit.
sed in omnibus laborans
et ab omnibus probatus,
rapit hinc et inde palmam,
(95) per et ora docta fertur.
procul hinc et Hippocrenen
Aganippicosque fontes
et Apollinem canorum
comitantibus Camenis
(100)abigamus et Minervam
quasi praesulem canendi;
removete ficta fatu:
deus ista praestat unus.
Stupuit virum loquentem
(105)diadematis potestas,
toga, miles, ordo equester
populusque Romularis;
et adhuc sophos volutant
fora, templa, rura, castra.
(110)super haec fragorem alumno
Padus atque civitatum
dat amor Ligusticarum.
similis favor resultat
Rhodanitidas per urbes,
(115)imitabiturque Gallos
feritas Hibericorum.
nec in hoc moratus axe
cito ad arva perget euri
aquilonibusque et austris
(120)zephyrisque perferetur.
6. Ecce, dum quaero quid cantes, ipse cantavi. tales enim nugas in imo scrinii fundo muribus perforatas post annos circiter viginti profero in lucem, quales pari tempore absentans, cum domum rediit, Ulixes invenire potuisset. proinde peto, ut praesentibus ludicris libenter ignoscas. illud vero nec verecunde nec impudenter iniungo, ut quod ipse de familiaris mei integro libro pronuntiavi, hoc tu quasi sollicitatus exempli necessitate de meo sentias. vale.
◆
To Tonantius.
Your opinion of my verse has always been so flattering that you rank me alongside the finest poets — and ahead of most. I would believe you, if your affection for me did not run as deep as your judgment. That is precisely why your praise of me can be wrong without being dishonest.
Beyond that, you are now asking me to send you some Asclepiadean verses hammered out on the Horatian anvil — something to recite over wine. I obey, though I must warn you: I have never been more absorbed in prose than I am right now. You will find that my passion for meter has largely cooled. It is not easy to do something well when you do it rarely.
[Here Sidonius includes a short poem declining to compete with Horace in lyric meters, noting that even Leo — "the king of the Castalian chorus" — and Lampridius, who lectures to students at Bordeaux, would struggle with the task.]
But whenever you sit down to a fine dinner, fill the time — and I say this with real conviction — with edifying conversation rather than drinking songs. If you are still too young for that, at least borrow from Apuleius [the 2nd-century author from Madaura, famous for philosophical dinner-party debates] some questions fit for the table: pose them, solve them, and sharpen your mind even while you relax.
Since we have stumbled onto the subject of banquets, here is something I composed years ago at a dinner hosted during the reign of Emperor Majorian [reigned 457-461]. A friend had asked me to come, and someone produced a book by Petrus, the imperial secretary. I dashed off a poem on the spot — as did my table companions Domnulus, Severianus, and Lampridius, each of us drawing a different meter by lot so that no one would suffer the embarrassment of direct comparison.
[The poem itself is a lively piece in short lines celebrating the banquet: calling for silk hangings and Persian tapestries, garlands of flowers, incense, lamps burning balsam oil, fine Falernian wine, musicians from Corinth, flute-players, actors in comedy and tragedy — all in honor of Petrus, whose book has delighted emperor, senate, soldiers, and common people alike. It closes by dismissing the pagan Muses: "Away with Hippocrene, away with Apollo and Minerva — one God alone grants gifts like these."]
There — you asked me for something to sing, and I have ended up singing myself. I dug these trifles out of the bottom of a chest where the mice had been at them for twenty years, like the state of things Odysseus found when he finally came home. Forgive the foolishness of the performance. But I will say this, without false modesty or false boldness: I hope you will judge my little piece with the same generosity I showed when praising our friend's entire book. Farewell.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.