Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

8585

Ovid, Fasti, 4.783-4.806
expositus mos est: moris mihi restat origo: I’ve set forth the custom: I must still tell of its origin:
turba facit dubium coeptaque nostra tenet. But many explanations cause me doubt, and hold me back.
omnia purgat edax ignis vitiumque metallis Greedy fire devours all things, and melts away the dro
excoquit: idcirco cum duce purgat ovis. From metals: the same method cleans shepherd and sheep?
an, quia cunctarum contraria semina rerum Or is it because all things are formed
sunt duo discordes, ignis et unda, dei Of two opposing powers, fire and water
iunxerunt elementa patres aptumque putarunt And our ancestors joined these elements, and thought fit
ignibus et sparsa tangere corpus aqua? To touch their bodies with fire and sprinkled water?
an, quod in his vitae causa est, haec perdidit exul Or did they think the two so powerful, because they contain
his nova fit coniunx, haec duo magna putant? The source of life: denied to the exile, it makes the new bride?
vix equidem credo: sunt qui Phaethonta referri I can scarce believe it, but some consider it refer
credant et nimias Deucalionis aquas. To Phaethon, and to Deucalion’s flood.
pars quoque, cum saxis pastores saxa feribant Some say, too, that once when shepherds struck
scintillam subito prosiluisse ferunt; Stones together, a spark suddenly leapt out:
prima quidem periit, stipulis excepta secunda est: The first died, but the second set fire to straw:
hoc argumentum flamma Parilis habet? Is that the basis for the fires of the Parilia?
an magis hunc morem pietas Aeneia fecit Or is the custom due rather to Aeneas’ piety
innocuum victo cui dedit ignis iter? To whom the fire gave safe passage, in defeat?
num tamen est vero propius, cum condita Roma est Or is this nearer the truth, that when Rome was founded
transferri iussos in nova tecta Lares They were commanded to move the Lares to their new homes
mutantesque domum tectis agrestibus ignem And changing homes the farmers set fire to the houses
et cessaturae supposuisse casae And to the cottages, they were about to abandon
per flammas saluisse pecus, saluisse colonos? They and their cattle leaping through the flames
quod fit natali nunc quoque, Roma, tuo. As happens even now on Rome’s birthday?

Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

7 results
1. Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, 35 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
2. Catullus, Poems, 64.1-64.15 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
3. Ovid, Fasti, 1.267-1.272, 1.319-1.332, 3.300, 4.722-4.723, 4.725-4.730, 4.747-4.776, 4.784-4.806, 5.721 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) 1.319. The day may take its name from the girded priest 1.320. At whose blow the god’s sacrifice is felled: 1.321. Always, before he stains the naked blade with hot blood 1.322. He asks if he should (agatne), and won’t unless commanded. 1.323. Some believe that the day is called Agonal because 1.324. The sheep do not come to the altar but are driven (agantur). 1.325. Others think the ancients called this festival Agnalia 1.326. ‘of the lambs’, dropping a letter from its usual place. 1.327. Or because the victim fears the knife mirrored in the water 1.328. The day might be so called from the creature’s agony? 1.329. It may also be that the day has a Greek name 1.330. From the games (agones) that were held in former times. 1.331. And in ancient speech agonia meant a sheep 1.332. And this last reason in my judgement is the truth. 3.300. And set out cups filled with fragrant wine. 4.722. of the Parilia, and not in vain if kindly Pales aids me. 4.723. Kindly Pales, if I respect your festival 4.725. Indeed, I’ve often brought ashes of a calf, and stalk 4.726. of beans, in chaste purification, in my full hands: 4.727. Indeed, I’ve leapt the threefold line of flames 4.728. And the wet laurel’s sprinkled me with dew. 4.729. The goddess, moved, blesses the work: my ship 4.730. Sets sail: may favourable winds fill my sails. 4.747. Saying: ‘Protect the cattle and masters alike: 4.748. And drive everything harmful from my stalls. 4.749. If I’ve fed sheep on sacred ground, sat under a sacred tree 4.750. While they’ve unwittingly browsed the grass on graves: 4.751. If I’ve entered a forbidden grove, or the nymph 4.752. And the god, half-goat, have fled at sight of me: 4.753. If my knife has pruned the copse of a shady bough 4.754. To fill a basket of leaves for a sick ewe: 4.755. Forgive me. Don’t count it against me, if I’ve sheltered 4.756. My flock, while it hailed, in some rustic shrine 4.757. Don’t harm me for troubling the pools. Nymphs 4.758. Forgive, if trampling hooves have muddied your waters. 4.759. Goddess, placate the springs, and placate their divinitie 4.760. On our behalf, and the gods too, scattered in every grove. 4.761. Let us not gaze on Dryads, or on Diana bathing 4.762. Nor on Faunus, as he lies in the fields at noon. 4.763. Drive off disease: let men and beasts be healthy 4.764. And healthy the vigilant pack of wakeful dogs. 4.765. May I drive back as many sheep as dawn revealed 4.766. Nor sigh returning with fleeces snatched from the wolves. 4.767. Avert dire famine: let leaves and grass be abundant 4.768. And water to wash the body, water to drink. 4.769. May I press full udders, may my cheeses bring me money 4.770. May the wicker sieve strain my liquid whey. 4.771. And let the ram be lusty, his mate conceive and bear 4.772. And may there be many a lamb in my fold. 4.773. And let the wool prove soft, not scratch the girls 4.774. Let it everywhere be kind to gentle hands. 4.775. Let my prayer be granted, and every year we’ll make 4.776. Huge cakes for Pales, Mistress of the shepherds.’ 4.784. But many explanations cause me doubt, and hold me back. 4.785. Greedy fire devours all things, and melts away the dro 4.786. From metals: the same method cleans shepherd and sheep? 4.787. Or is it because all things are formed 4.788. of two opposing powers, fire and water 4.789. And our ancestors joined these elements, and thought fit 4.790. To touch their bodies with fire and sprinkled water? 4.791. Or did they think the two so powerful, because they contain 4.792. The source of life: denied to the exile, it makes the new bride? 4.793. I can scarce believe it, but some consider it refer 4.794. To Phaethon, and to Deucalion’s flood. 4.795. Some say, too, that once when shepherds struck 4.796. Stones together, a spark suddenly leapt out: 4.797. The first died, but the second set fire to straw: 4.798. Is that the basis for the fires of the Parilia? 4.799. Or is the custom due rather to Aeneas’ piety 4.800. To whom the fire gave safe passage, in defeat? 4.801. Or is this nearer the truth, that when Rome was founded 4.802. They were commanded to move the Lares to their new homes 4.803. And changing homes the farmers set fire to the houses 4.804. And to the cottages, they were about to abandon 4.805. They and their cattle leaping through the flames 4.806. As happens even now on Rome’s birthday?
4. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 1.94-1.96, 14.791-14.795, 15.111-15.126 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
5. Propertius, Elegies, 4.4, 4.4.73-4.4.78 (1st cent. BCE
6. Tibullus, Elegies, 2.5.87-2.5.90 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
7. Vergil, Georgics, 1.50, 1.125-1.146 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) 1.50. Elysium's fields, and Proserpine not heed 1.125. Ye husbandmen; in winter's dust the crop 1.126. Exceedingly rejoice, the field hath joy; 1.127. No tilth makes placeName key= 1.128. Nor Gargarus his own harvests so admire. 1.129. Why tell of him, who, having launched his seed 1.130. Sets on for close encounter, and rakes smooth 1.131. The dry dust hillocks, then on the tender corn 1.132. Lets in the flood, whose waters follow fain; 1.133. And when the parched field quivers, and all the blade 1.134. Are dying, from the brow of its hill-bed 1.135. See! see! he lures the runnel; down it falls 1.136. Waking hoarse murmurs o'er the polished stones 1.137. And with its bubblings slakes the thirsty fields? 1.138. Or why of him, who lest the heavy ear 1.139. O'erweigh the stalk, while yet in tender blade 1.140. Feeds down the crop's luxuriance, when its growth 1.141. First tops the furrows? Why of him who drain 1.142. The marsh-land's gathered ooze through soaking sand 1.143. Chiefly what time in treacherous moons a stream 1.144. Goes out in spate, and with its coat of slime 1.145. Holds all the country, whence the hollow dyke 1.146. Sweat steaming vapour?

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
age, golden	Keith and Myers, Vergil and Elegy (2023) 190
agonalia	Keith and Myers, Vergil and Elegy (2023) 190
allusion	Keith and Myers, Vergil and Elegy (2023) 190
callimachus	Keith and Myers, Vergil and Elegy (2023) 190
de re rustica (varro), circumstances of composition in 37 bc	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
de re rustica (varro), settings of	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
epirus	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
farm owners, roman	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
four-element theory	Konstan and Garani, The Philosophizing Muse: The Influence of Greek Philosophy on Roman Poetry (2014) 150
freedmen	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
janus	Keith and Myers, Vergil and Elegy (2023) 190; Konstan and Garani, The Philosophizing Muse: The Influence of Greek Philosophy on Roman Poetry (2014) 150
lautolae (spring of)	Konstan and Garani, The Philosophizing Muse: The Influence of Greek Philosophy on Roman Poetry (2014) 150
numa	Konstan and Garani, The Philosophizing Muse: The Influence of Greek Philosophy on Roman Poetry (2014) 150
ovid	Keith and Myers, Vergil and Elegy (2023) 190
pales	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
parilia	Konstan and Garani, The Philosophizing Muse: The Influence of Greek Philosophy on Roman Poetry (2014) 150; Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
pirate war (67 bc)	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
pompey, cn. magnus, pirate war of	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
pompey, cn. magnus, reliance on varro	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
religion	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
sacrifice	Konstan and Garani, The Philosophizing Muse: The Influence of Greek Philosophy on Roman Poetry (2014) 150
tibullus	Keith and Myers, Vergil and Elegy (2023) 190
varro, m. terentius, military career of	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
varro, m. terentius, services to pompey	Nelsestuen, Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic (2015) 119
venus	Konstan and Garani, The Philosophizing Muse: The Influence of Greek Philosophy on Roman Poetry (2014) 150
vesta	Konstan and Garani, The Philosophizing Muse: The Influence of Greek Philosophy on Roman Poetry (2014) 150
water'	Hellholm et al., Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (2010) 8