Saturday, March 09, 2019
Inscription for a Lintel
LATEBRAE DVLCES. See Horace, Epistles 1.16.15-16 (tr. John Davie):
Norman W. Dewitt, "Epicurean Doctrine in Horace," Classical Philology 34.2 (April, 1939) 127-134 (at 132):
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This retreat, so charming, yes, if you believe me, so beautiful,Latebrae is more than a retreat — it's a hiding place.
keeps me safe and sound, you'll be pleased to know, in September's season.
hae latebrae dulces, etiam, si credis, amoenae,
incolumem tibi me praestant Septembribus horis.
Norman W. Dewitt, "Epicurean Doctrine in Horace," Classical Philology 34.2 (April, 1939) 127-134 (at 132):
Λάθε βιώσας.—Frag. 86 Bailey, 551 Usener. This idea appealed to Horace chiefly in his later years; a single reference occurs in the Satires but several in the Epistles. Characteristic is the tendency to associate it with the Sabine farm and deserted or semi-deserted towns, Lebedus, Gabii, Fidenae, Ulubrae, Ferentinum. The ideology, of course, is more pervasive than the specific terminology. The key words are fallo = λανθάνω, obliviscor, et similia (Satires ii.6.62):But cf. Geert Roskam, Live Unnoticed (Λάθε βιώσας): On the Vicissitudes of an Epicurean Doctrine (Leiden: Brill, 2007), pp. 172-173 (at 173, note omitted):
ducere sollicitae iucunda oblivia vitae.Epistles i.11.7-10:
scis Lebedus quid sit? Gabiis desertior atqueIbid. 29-30:
Fidenis vicus; tamen illic vivere vellem,
oblitus meorum, obliviscendus et illis.
quod petis hic est;Ibid. 16.15: "hae latebrae dulces, etiam, si credis, amoenae"; ibid. 17.10: "nec vixit male qui natus moriensque fefellit"; ibid. 18.103: "an secretum iter et fallentis semita vitae."
est Ulubris, animus si te non deficit aequus.
What precisely does Horace want to escape from at his estate? It is neither the troubles of the political world, nor the disadvantages which a great fame entails, but the Septembribus horis. Horace's sweet latebrae provide protection against the unhealthy season of autumn. Accordingly, the emphasis in this context is not upon reaching tranquillity of mind, nor even by attaining ἀσφάλεια ἐξ ἡσυχίας, but upon maintaining corporeal health. The whole passage, then, has nothing to do with the Epicurean ideal of λάθε βιώσας.