Sunday, May 21, 2023
A Curse in Plautus
Plautus, Casina 642-643 (tr. Wolfgang de Melo):
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Get away from me and get hanged!Line 643 reminds me of the enumeration of body parts in some curse tablets. It isn't mentioned in Henk S. Versnel, "καὶ εἴ τι λ[οιπὸν] τῶν μερ[ῶ]ν [ἔσ]ται τοῦ σώματος ὅλ[ο]υ[.. (... and any other part of the entire body there may be ...) An Essay on Anatomical Curses," in Fritz Graf, ed., Ansichten griechischer Rituale. Geburtstags-Symposium für Walter Burkert (Stuttgart: B.G. Teubner, 1998), pp. 216-267.
May the gods destroy you, breast, ears, and head!
i in malam a me crucem!
pectus, auris, caput teque di perduint!
