nix super horto in urbe

nix super horto in urbe







Vides ut alta stet nive candidum
Soracte, nec iam sustineant onus
silvæ laborantes, geluque
flumina constiterint acuto.

dissolve frigus ligna super foco
large reponens atque benignius
deprome quadrimum Sabina,
o Thaliarche, merum diota.

permitte divis cetera, qui simul
stravere ventos æquore fervido
deprœliantes, nec cupressi
nec veteres agitantur orni.

quid sit futurum cras, fuge quærere et
quem Fors dierum cumque dabit, lucro
appone nec dulces amores
sperne puer neque tu choreas,

donec virenti canities abest
morosa. nunc et campus et areæ
lenesque sub noctem susurri
composita repetantur hora,

nunc et latentis proditor intimo
gratus puellæ risus ab anulo
pignusque dereptum lacertis
aut digito male pertinaci.


Horatius I.ix

See how with deep blanketing snow stands shining
Soracte, now the load they do not sustain,
the straining trees, and the biting ice
chokes the flow of chilling river waters.

Dispell the frigid cold with wood on the fire
piling on high and graciously go and
fetch a fair jar of four-year Sabine,
o Thaliarchus, of the unmixed wine.

Leave to the Gods all else, and then when they have
laid low the lashing winds and the churning waves
from violent motion, neither cypresses
nor ancient mountain ashes will yet stir.

Whatever the morrow bring, banish the search,
whichever days that Fortune grant, count as
profit won, and neither winsome loves
spurn, my boy, nor that you do the dances;

As long as still flourishing green, care-worn grey
remains at bay. Now the park and market squares
under darkness and gentle whispers
are sought again at the appointed hour.

Now too the pleasing deceiver, the girlish
laugh sounding from the secret, shadowy corner
and the precious promisory band
slipt off hand or arm with coyest pleading.


Horatius I.ix

translation © Antonius Volcinus de Montibus

Thanks for the pictures and your translation of I.ix. I'm grateful for the encouragement to fight winter's melancholy with a two-handled jug of wine. Though that thought had already occurred to me in an inchoate form, I value the company of like-minded ancients. That ode, inspired by Alcaeus, has in its turn inspired many poets. I like Kenneth Rexroth's effort, with the stacks standing in for a frozen Roman winter day:

Under Soracte
Another day, deep in the stacks,
Where no one had come for years.
Walled in by the forbidding tomes
Of Migne's Patrologia,
I stood, reading the heart tearing
Plaints of Abelard. All at once
I realized that for some time
I had been smelling a sweet, light
Perfume, very faint, and very chic;
And then I heard the shiver
Of thin bracelets, and a murmur
That went on and paused and went on again;
And discovered that beyond me
In the next aisle a boy and girl
Made love in the most remote
Corner of knowledge.

I hope you'll serve as magister bibendi of a local symposium some time soon.

illic omne malum vino cantuque levato,
deformis aegrimoniae dulcibus alloquiis
Epode xiii

I felt a little bad about adding something off-topic to the new and current restaurant haiku thread:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 689#113689

... so I took my haiku, which isn't about a restaurant, out from there and moved it here, where the theme is winter weather...

A

________
Not restaurant related, though food related and containing the traditional seasonal element or connexion of the genre... In fact, this one has to do with today's conditions...

The wind whipped snow builds
white mounds without, while within
steam wafts from my bowl.



Gnocchetti Sardi with Swiss Chard and Beans.
- fry garlic and dried hot chiles (peperoncini) in olive oil in a large Dutch oven or similar deep pan.
- add washed, cut Swiss Chard.
- add a little water.
- add previously cooked beans.
- add salt and pepper.
- cook gnocchetti separately; drain but reserve several cups of the cooking water.
- add the gnocchetti to the pan with the other ingredients.
- add as much of the pasta cooking water you want to achieve the desired level of soupiness.
- finish with a drizzle of high quality oil and perhaps a little more crushed hot pepper or some freshly grated sheeps milk cheese (e.g., pecorino, incannestrato, etc.).

Antonius