I am the Unmarried Daphne: a poem from Faustus Sabaeus

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid

I am the unmarried Daphne

I am friend to harp and bow [1] 

I provide visions to prophets [2]

I am an imperial honor. [3]

I am always blooming,

I can always repel lightning. [4]

Apollo wears my crown in triumphal ceremonies.

But: what if I hadn’t been so hard-hearted

To the man I rejected

To the man I fled?

I was pretty,

But a stupid girl

And powerless against him.

 

[1]  a reference to the different types of things made from wood from the bay tree 

[2] bay leaves were used in religious ceremonies during divination

[3] in Roman cultures, crowns made of laurel / bay trees were symbols of victory

[4] bay trees were thought to repel lightning

 

--Faustus Sabaeus, Picta Poesis Ovidiania

Innuba sum Laurus: Cytharis & amica pharetrae:

Somnia vaticainans: imperialis honor.

Usque virens, ac usque valens depellere fulmen:

Meque triumphail cinxit honore Deus;

Quem sprevi, & fugi, quid si non dura fuissem?

Pulchra, sed insipiens virgo, et inepta fui.

 

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

Mars & Pallas, Joined in Battle *and* Origin Stories: Faustus Sabaeus

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Epigrams, book 1 p.61-2

Mars & Pallas

Over here, you see a woman

Wearing an aegis, a helmet, and a spear,

And over there, there’s a splendid looking youth in full armor.

One is the daughter of Jupiter,

The other is a son of Juno.

Both are warriors, and wage war effectively.

Both are around the same age,

But have different origin stories:

Mars doesn’t have a dad,

And Minerva doesn’t have a mom.

 

 

 

De Marte et Pallade

Gorgone munitam & galea quam cernis & hasta

tectum armis iuvenem conspicuum, atque trucem

Illa Jovis nata est, Junonis filius iste, 

Bella gerunt ambo, & strenue & arma movent.

Pene pares aetate ambo, sed dispare ab ortu

patre quidem Mavors, matre Minerva caret.

 

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

Apollo and Venus, United in Grief: a poem by Faustus Sabaeus

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid

While Venus and Apollo were wandering through the blossoming fields on Cyprus,

They noticed that the soil had vibrant stars*.

And over here they ran into the Hyacinth flower,

And over there they spotted the red Adonis flower,

Each one beautiful even in death.

Apollo said, “Tell me, sister,  does this land

Gloat over the death of our boyfriends,

Or is the earth weeping alongside us in pain?

This star is my grief, and that star is yours;

This one was Hyacinth, the other was Adonis.”

 

* a metaphor for flower

Dum Venus in Cypro, & Phoebus per prata vagantes

F1orida: habere solum* sidera picta vident:

Dumque Hyacinthus ibi, atque rubens occurrit Adonis:

Pulcher uterque suo funere, Phoebus ait:

Dic soror, haec nostris num exultat amoribus istis?

An luctu & nostro terra dolore gemit?

Hic meus, iste tuus dolor, & gratissimus ignis:

Ille Hyacinthus erat: alter Adonis erat.

 

 Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

 

 

 

M/M: In Honor of Cyparissus; Faustus Sabaeus

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid

To the Sun:

Cherish this tree you see before you

upon this shore blossoming with flowers

beside these clear waters.

O Creator of All Things,

Who Knows What Fate holds,

Who Moves the Heavens of each solstice,

I consecrate this tree.

I beg you to defend the Cypress [Cyparissus] 

let neither the heat of summer

nor the ice of winter harm him.

May this beloved tree endure

formerly cherished by you, now even more so cherished by me. 

Ad Solem.

Hanc tibi, quam cernis, radiantem floribus oram,

propter aquae fluvium lucidioris habe.

Consecro, cunctorum o genitor, quae circuit orbis:

quae fati, et variant conscia signa poli.

Solstitiis utrisque, precor defende Cupressum;

ne noceant aestus, ne glacialis hiemis.

arbor enim Chariti nostrae dilecta perennet:

quondam cura tui, nunc mage cura mei.

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

M/M: Apollo Mourns Hyacinthus, Faustus Sabaeus

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid

While Apollo mournfully washed the blood off his hands

From the tragic accident and death of Hyacinthus,

The cruel loss of his loved one kept running in a loop through his mind.

He groaned the following words about such an awful loss:

“Already these lofty groves have grown, fertilized by the blood of my loved one,

And now the earth blossoms from a repeated loss,

and the river runs red with blood.”

Invita dum caede manus lavat amne cruentas

tristis Apollo: quibus perdidit Oebaliden:

fata suorum animo evolvens crudelia amorum

protulit in casus talia verba truces

iam creuere meo nemora alta cruore: et eodem

vulnere nunc humus est florida, et unda rubet.

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

 

 

 

In Praise of Tiresias: Faustus Sabaeus

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid

Fate prophesied that you would transform from a man to a woman;

Then you’d return to being a man, but one without sight.

Tiresias, you were also a judge for the gods, albeit for a trivial dispute

and your reward for the judgment was a punishment.

You were blinded, but you will see it all,

And your punishment will benefit you;

For if it is godlike to know the future, then you are a god.

De mare quod fies mulier: tibi fata minantur,

masque reverteris, sed sine luce, senex.

Tiresia, et iudex superum, de lite iocosa:

Tristia de dulcia praemia lite feres.

Caecus eris, sed cuncta videbis; poenia iuvabit:

si ventura Dei est noscere, Divus eris.

 

 Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

  

In Praise of the Ace Champion Daphne, Faustus Sabaeus (1580)

In Praise of Daphne

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid,  p. 16

To Daphne

O Daphne, chaste maiden,

There are those who criticize you

Because you rejected the love of a beautiful god.

But I’m not going to, for you became the glory of prophets,

Who loves those who triumph in their chastity.

If you can spurn both Apollo and even Love herself,

I’m not surprised that you can also expel evil spirits

And are immune from the bolts of Jupiter [1]

 

---

[1] According to lore, laurel/bay trees repel lightning.

 

In Praise of Daphne

Ad Daphnen

Sunt qui te damnant, Daphne o castissima virgo:

quod tam formosum spernis amata Deum.

Arguo non ego te: quia facta es gloria vatum,

atque triumphantum virginitatis amans.

Nec miror, Phoebum si spreveris, atque Cytheren

Daemonas expellens, nec Jovis arma timens.

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

The Marriage of Iphis & Ianthe: Faustus Sabaeus (1580)

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid

 Note: The last line is not published here, as it uses a bodily humor pun 

Iphis was a woman. By hiding in a man’s clothing

Even her father believed she was a man.

Her father promised her in marriage to pretty Ianthe,

A bride for a bride, a woman marrying a woman.

The day of the wedding draws near…

The bride approaches…

Venus was there

And Juno was there 

And Hymen was there...

and Iphis ended up marrying Ianthe.

 

De Iphide

Iphis erat mulier: latitantem in veste virili

vicini, immo pater credidit esse marem.

Deceptus genitor pulcram huic despondet Ianthem:

cum sponsa sponsa ut virgine virgo cubet.

Taede accenduntur: procedit nupta, Cythere,

Et Iuno praesens...et Hymen...

[et] potitur namque Iphis Ianthe.

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.