21 Domitius Marsus, Fragment 147
Domitius Marsus was a friend of Tibullus and Vergil, and may have enjoyed the patronage of Maecenas, a confidant of the Emperor Augustus He composed a collection of epigrams titled Cicuta (“hemlock”) because its bitting sarcasm was so venomous, erotic elegiac poems, an epic poem Amazonis, and a prose work on wit (De urbanitate). Most of these are lost but a few epigrams survive. In this epigram, demands of erotic love drive apart two close friends, both named Bavius (?).
| 1 | Omnia cum Baviō commūnia frāter habēbat, |
| 2 | Ūnanimī frātrēs sīcut habēre solent, |
| 3 | Rūra domum nummōs atque omnia; dēnique, ut āiunt, |
| 4 | Corporibus geminīs spīritus ūnus erat. |
| 5 | Sed postquam alterius mulier concumbere <frātrī> |
| 6 | Nōn vult, dēposuit alter amīcitiam. |
| 7 | Omnia tunc īrā, tunc omnia līte solūta, |
| 8 | <et> nova rēgna duōs accipiunt <dominōs>. |
| 1 | habēbat: habeō is a verb familiar verb (it’s a Top 40 Latin word). But don’t take it for granted: there’s a universe of meaning in this seemingly simple word. Take a few minutes to become reacquainted with this important word by reading the complete entry on Logeion (note esp. meanings A-E and esp. K). Do you think the habēbat in 1 and the habēre in 2 have the same sense? |
| 2 | sīcut: introduces the simile of frātrēs. If you look at the line’s scansion, you’ll see that sīcut follows the mid-verse break. What affect does this have? |
| 3 | Rūra domum nummōs: a marvelous asyndeton because the caesura. What affect does this convey to the list? |
| 5-6 | alterius…alter: “of one… the other…”; do you think two forms of alter refer to the same person (Bavius A) or to Bavius A and Bavius B? How does this interpretative decision affect the Message of the poem? |
Interrogata
- Who is to blame for the dissolution of this friendship?
- What significance do you find in the introduction of political imagery in the poem’s last line?
- Has a friend ever taken advantage of your friendship? Did the relationship recover or was it irreparably diminished?
