Laudator Temporis Acti

I've been reading Alan Cameron, Claudian: Poetry and Propaganda at the Court of Honorius (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970). On pp. 202-203, in chapter VIII ("The Pagan at a Christian Court"), Cameron discusses a hymn to the moon in the Latin Anthology (number 723 Riese). Following Eduard Norden, Die Geburt des Kindes: Geschichte einer religiösen Idee (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1924), p. 25, n. 3, Cameron suggests that Claudian may have written the hymn, which is preserved in Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Latin 4841 (formerly Regius 5960, formerly Colbertinus 3603; 10th century), folio 92 verso.

Here is an image of the text and apparatus from Anthologia Latina sive Poesis Latinae Supplementum, Pars I: Carmina in Codicibus Scripta, Fasc. II: Reliquorum Librorum Carmina, ed. Alexander Riese, 2nd ed. (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1906), pp. 207-208 (stitched together by me so as to exclude extraneous matter):

There is a strikingly different version in The Oxford Book of Latin Verse, ed. H.W. Garrod (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912), pp. 361-362 (number 309):


I assume that many of the differences are due to Garrod's own emendations. See op. cit., p. viii:

I have spent a good deal of labour on the revision of texts: and I hope that of some poems, particularly the less known poems, this book may be found to offer a purer recension than is available elsewhere.

On Garrod's radical restoration of lines 8-11, see his "Notes on the Poetae Latini Minores," Journal of Philology 32 (1913) 72-78 (at 74-75), where he says (p. 75):

The Moon has seven appellations: and in each month its light fails for seven days, and is renewed again for seven days, turn and turn about (alternis). In other words, the seven names of the moon correspond to the number of days in which it alternately, in its last and first, and, again, in its second and third, quarters, waxes and wanes.

Finally, here is another version of the hymn, from Poetae Latini Minores, ed. Emil Baehrens, vol. III (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1881), pp. 163-164:

More conjectural emendations can be found in:

• W. Morel, "Some Emendations in Late Latin Texts," Classical Quarterly 35.3/4 (July-October, 1941) 136-138 (at 138, reading cluis for Choris in line 9, but he was anticipated by Riese in the apparatus of his first edition)
• D. R. Shackleton Bailey, "Notes on Riese's Anthologia Latina (Vol. 2)," Classical Philology 77.2 (April, 1982) 113-132 (at 125, correcting line 11 to: et rursum renovas alternis lumina mensa)

Shackleton Bailey's new Teubner edition of Anthologia Latina is unavailable to me. I don't have access to J.B. Hall's Teubner edition of Claudian either. [Michael Hendry writes, "I thought you'd like to know that the possibly Claudian poem 'Luna decus mundi' is neither in Hall's Teubner Claudian (not even in the Appendix of Spuria and Suspecta) nor in Shackleton Bailey's Teubner Anthologia Latina. The latter says "I 1" on the cover, but I don't believe he ever did a second volume. In any case, the highest Riese number in the concordance of numeration of the volume I have is 480."]

I'm not confident enough about my knowledge of astronomy to attempt a translation of this interesting poem. An edition, translation, and commentary might make a good subject for a master's thesis. Here are transcriptions of the texts.

Riese's text:

Luna decus mundi, magni pars maxima caeli,
Luna iugum Solis, splendor vagus, ignis et humor,
Luna parens mensum numerosa prole renascens!
Tu biiugos stellante polo sub Sole gubernas,
Te redeunte dies fraternas colligit horas,        5
Te pater Oceanus renovato respicit axe,
Te spirant terrae, tu vinclis Tartara cingis,
Tu sistro renovas brumam, tu cymbala quassas,
Isis, Luna, +Choris, Caelestis Iuno, Cybebe!
Alternis tu nomen agis sub mense diebus        10
Et rursum renovas alterni lumina mensis.
Tunc minor es, cum plena venis; tunc plena resurgens,
Cum minor es: crescis semper, cum deficis orbe.
Huc ades et nostris precibus dea blandior esto
Luciferisque iugis concordes siste iuvencas,        15
Vt volvat Fortuna rotam, qua prospera currant.

Garrod's text (line numbers added):

Luna decus mundi, magni pars maxima caeli,
Luna, uagus noctis splendor, quam signa secuntur,
Luna parens mensum numerosa prole renascens:
tu biiugos stellante polos ab Sole gubernas,
te redeunte dies fraternus colligit horas;        5
te pater Oceanus renouato respicit amne,
te spirant terrae, tu uinclis Tartara cingis;
tu sistro resonas, Brimo, tu cymbala quassas;
Isis Luna Core, uel Vesta es Iuno Cybelle.
septenis tu lumine eges sub mense diebus        10
et rursum renouas alternans lumina mensis.
tunc minor es, cum plena uenis; tunc plena resurgens,
cum minor es: crescis semper, cum deficis orbe.
huc ades et nostris precibus dea blandior esto
Luciferique iugis concordis siste iuuencas,        15
ut uoluat fortuna rotam, qua prospera currant.

Baehrens' text:

Luna decus mundi, magni pars maxima caeli,
Luna iugus Solis splendor, tuus ignis et humor,
Luna parens mensum numerosa prole renascens:
Tu biiugo stellante polos ab Sole gubernas,
Te redeunte dies fratermus colligit horas;        5
Te pater Oceanus remouato respicit amne,
Te spirant terrae, tu uinclis Tartara cingis;
Tu sistro renouas brumam, tu cymbala quassas;
Isis, Luna, Cora esque Ceres tu, Iuno, Cybelle!
Alternis tu nomen agis sub mense diebus        10
Et rursum renouas alterni lumina mensis.
Tunc minor es, cum plena uenis; tunc plena resurgens,
Cum minor es: crescis semper, cum deficis orbe.
Huc ades et nostris precibus dea blandior esto
Luciferisque iugis concordes siste iuuencas,        15
Ut uoluat fortuna rotam, qua prospera currant.