The music for this podcast was generously provided by Dr. Stefan Hagel.
Cover illustration and voice of Ovid provided by Lu (twitter: @DRScomics, instagram: @dead_romans_society, tumblr: @ovidiana).
Foley sounds for soundscape provided by zapsplat.com.
Hosting, English sections, and editing provided by Margrethe.
Transcript:
Mar: Salve aveque. This is Margrethe from Ovid Daily, for our podcast special: “Evenings with Ovid”. Joining me today from the far-off shores of the Black Sea is the eminent Latin poet Publius Ovidius Naso, (given voice by the excellent Lu), here to read one of his most moving works: Tristia. Last week, we heard Carmina Septima, where you asked your friends and readers to accommodate any flaws found in your magnum opus, the Metamorphoses, which seems to me to be a reasonable request for an unfinished manuscript. Are you ready to share the next installment?
L/O: Ita. Aures praebete, quaeso. Vobiscum cupio quolibet esse modo.
L/O:
In caput alta suum labentur ab aequore retro
flumina, conversis Solque recurret equis:
terra feret stellas, caelum findetur aratro,
unda dabit flammas, et dabit ignis aquas:
omnia naturae praepostera legibus ibunt,
parsque suum mundi nulla tenebit iter:
omnia iam fient, fieri quae posse negabant,
et nihil est, de quo non sit habenda fides.
Haec ego vaticinor, quia sum deceptus ab illo,
laturum misero quem mihi rebar opem.
Tantane te, fallax, cepere oblivia nostri,
adflictumque fuit tantus adire timor,
ut neque respiceres, nec solarere iacentem,
dure, neque exsequias prosequerere meas?
Illud amicitiae sanctum et venerabile nomen
re tibi pro vili est sub pedibusque iacet?
Quid fuit, ingenti prostratum mole sodalem
visere et alloquio parte levare tuo,
inque meos si non lacrimam demittere casus,
pauca tamen ficto verba dolore pati,
idque, quod ignoti faciunt, vel dicere saltem,
et vocem populi publicaque ora sequi?
Denique lugubres vultus numquamque videndos
cernere supremo dum licuitque die,
dicendumque semel toto non amplius aevo
accipere, et parili reddere voce “vale”?
At fecere alii nullo mihi foedere iuncti,
et lacrimas animi signa dedere sui.
Quid, nisi convictu causisque valentibus essem
temporis et longi vinctus amore tibi?
Quid, nisi tot lusus et tot mea seria nosses,
tot nossem lusus seriaque ipse tua?
Quid, si dumtaxat Romae mihi cognitus esses,
adscitus totiens in genus omne loci?
Cunctane in aequoreos abierunt irrita ventos?
Cunctane Lethaeis mersa feruntur aquis?
Non ego te genitum placida reor urbe Quirini,
urbe, meo quae iam non adeunda pede est,
sed scopulis, Ponti quos haec habet ora Sinistri,
inque feris Scythiae Sarmaticisque iugis:
et tua sunt silicis circum praecordia venae,
et rigidum ferri semina pectus habet:
quaeque tibi quondam tenero ducenda palato
plena dedit nutrix ubera, tigris erat:
aut mala nostra minus quam nunc aliena putares,
duritiaeque mihi non agerere reus.
Sed quoniam accedit fatalibus hoc quoque damnis,
ut careant numeris tempora prima suis,
effice, peccati ne sim memor huius, et illo
officium laudem, quo queror, ore tuum.
Mar: Gratias tibi ago, Ovidi. I have here the English translation of our guest’s poem, originally translated by A.L. Wheeler in 1924.
“To their sources shall deep rivers flow, back from the sea, and the sun, wheeling his steeds, shall hurry backwards; the earth shall support stars and the sky shall be cloven by the plough, water shall produce flame and flame water; all things shall proceed reversing nature’s laws and no part of the universe shall keep its path; everything that I once called impossible shall now take place, and there is nothing that one ought not to believe. All this I prophesy because I have been deceived by that man who I thought would bring aid to me in my wretchedness.
“Treacherous one, did you forget me so utterly or were you so afraid to approach me in my misfortune that you did not regard or comfort me in my downfall, cruel man, or become one of my funeral escort? Does the sacred and revered name of friendship lie, a cheap thing, beneath your feet? What trouble was it to visit a comrade overwhelmed by a mighty disaster, to do your part in relieving him with words of comfort, and if not to let fall a tear at my misfortune, yet to suffer a few words of feigned sorrow to escape you and, as even strangers do, at least to say something, to copy the people's speech, the public phrases in fine to look upon my sad features never to be seen again, on the last day, whilst you might, and to hear the “Farewell” never more to be uttered in all time and to return it to me in a like tone? Others did this who were bound to me by no tie, and wept in token of their feeling. What if in our common life there were not strong reasons for our union, and in our long continued love? What if you had not known so many of my gay and serious moments, and I so many of yours? What if you had known me merely at Rome you who have so often been my comrade in all sorts of places? Have all these things been in vain, vanishing into the winds that blow over the sea? Are they all carried away, drowned in Lethe's waters? You were not born, I think, in Quirinus’ peaceful city, the city that my feet must enter nevermore, but of the crags which stand upon this coast of the ill-omened Pontus, or in the cruel mountains of Scythia and Sarmatia. Your heart also is girt with veins of flint, and seeds of iron are implanted in your unyielding breast. She who once nursed you, offering full udders to be drained by your tender throat, was a tigress; or else you would think my woes less foreign to you than you now do, nor would you stand accused by me of hardheartedness.
“But since this also has been added to my fated ills, that those early years fall short of consummation, see to it that I forget this sin and praise your service with the same lips with which I now complain.”
Mar: Thank you so much for listening, and be sure to tune into Ovid Daily’s “Evenings with Ovid” next week for the next installment of Ovid’s Tristia. Vale beneque placideque quiescas!
Mar: A transcript for this podcast is available at oviddaily.substack.com. Our text comes from the 1924 Loeb Classical Library edition of the Tristia, edited and translated by A.L. Wheeler. Our music is performed by Dr. Stefan Hagel on the Hellenistic Aulos, a link to which is available in the description, and on our website on our “Resources” page. Foley sounds for our soundscape are provided by zapsplat.com. Our lovely cover art was illustrated by Lu, and you can see more of Lu’s art on Twitter @DRScomic, or on Tumblr @ovidiana. If you wish to contact Ovid Daily, you may email me at oviddaily@substack.com.
Tristia 1.8