M/M: I Miss You, Buddy: Ausonius to Paulinus 1.16-19

Name:  Ausonius Date:  310 – 395 CE Region:  Aquitania, Gaul [modern France] Citation:  Letter 27.34 – 37

In this letter to Paulinus, Ausonius complains about his absence by comparing their relationship to other great relationships of mythology.

 

Faithless one! You’d really break up Pirithous and Theseus,

Separate Euryalus from his Nisus?

You’d convince Pylades to abandon Orestes,

And keep the Sicilian Damon from offering himself as a hostage

So Pythias can escape?

Impie, Pirithoo disiungere Thesea posses,

Euryalumque suo socium secernere Niso!

Te suadente fugam, Pylades liquisset Orestem,

Nec custodisset Siculus vadimonia Damon!

Ausonius [Decimus Magnus Ausonius; 310 – 395 CE, modern France] was a Roman poet from Aquitania, Gaul who lived during the 4th century CE. He is best known for his epic poem Mosella, which describes the Moselle River, and his Epistles, a series of literary poems between himself and the Christian poet Paulinus. 

M/M: Dying like a flower: Hyacinthus & Euryalus, Servius In Aen. 9.433

Name: Servius Date: 4th – 5th century CE Region: [modern Italy] Citation:   Commentary on the Aeneid, 9.433

9.433: “Like when a purple flower is cut by a plow.” This is the rationale for the comparison:  it is appropriate to compare Hyacinthus to Euryalus, because he was also a very beautiful man and he also turned into a flower when he died.

 

433] PURPUREUS VELUTI CUM FLOS SUCCISUS ARATRO habetur ratio comparationis: videtur enim Euryalo Hyacinthum comparare, qui pulcherrimus fuit et post mortem conversus in florem est 

 Servius [Maurus Servius Honoratus; 4th – 5th century CE] Servius’ name is unfortunately the only thing we know of this author. Little is known about the author or manuscript tradition for the grammatical commentary of Vergil’s Aeneid.

 

Some Poems on Love from the Codex Salmasianus

 263. De Hippolyto et Phaedra

Pudor* can prevail over lies;

But even chaste and innocent blushing

Vincere falsa pudor poterat; sed castus et insons

Erubuit Phaedrae vincere falsa pudor.

Blushed at Phaedra’s lies.

[*Pudor is a complex term that is difficult to translate. It is anything from a person's sense of self worth and self respect, a person's physical chastity, or an emotional response to impiety (e.g., blushing)]

264. De tumulo Achillis

Love kindles strife

To burn lovers more enticingly

To [reach] the ultimate sign of devotion.

Iurgia conflat amor, ut blandius urat amantes,

Ad cumulum fidei iurgia conflat amor.

265. De Niso & Euryalo

The name of friendship must be cherished with great responsibility;

The greatest part of life is the name of friendship.

Nomen amicitiae magna pietate colendum est

Maxima pars vitae est nomen amicitiae.

266. Item, unde supra

Dear mind, when you are loved, love back!

It is rare to find friends,

It is rare to keep them.

Dear mind, when you are loved, love back.

Mens, ubi amaris, ama; rarum est agnoscere amicos;

rarum servare <est>. Mens, ubi amaris, ama.

--Codex Salmasianus #263 - 266

The Codex Salmasianus is a manuscript of Latin poetry that preserves poetry from 6^th century CE and earlier. It was named after Claude de Saumaise, a 17th century scholar who owned the manuscript. 

M/M: Love in these Trying Times, Ovid, Tristia I.ix.23-36

Caesar doesn’t mind a person staying true to their friend in troubled times, even if you’re a friend to his enemy. He won’t even get mad—his self-control is beyond compare—at someone in trying times who loves whatever it is he loved before.

Thoas himself is said to have approved of Pylades after he heard the story of Orestes’ companion.

From Hector’s mouth came praises of the loyalty of Patroclus for his great Achilles.  

When “pious” Theseus went with his friend Pirithous to the Underworld, they say that the god of the Tartarus himself grieved for him.

One can believe that when the tale of Nisus’ & Euryalus’ faith were told to you, Turnus, your cheeks were wet with tears.

 
There is piety among the wretched, and it is valued even among the enemy.

But oh my, how few men are moved by my words!

sed tamen in duris remanentem rebus amicum

     quamlibet inviso Caesar in hoste probat,

nec solet irasci—neque enim moderatior alter—

     cum quis in adversis, siquid amavit, amat.

de comite Argolici postquam cognovit Orestae,

     narratur Pyladen ipse probasse Thoas.

quae fuit Actoridae cum magno semper Achille,

     laudari solita est Hectoris ore fides.

quod pius ad Manes Theseus comes iret amico,

     Tartareum dicunt indoluisse deum.

Euryali Nisique fide tibi, Turne, relata

     credibile est lacrimis inmaduisse genas.

est etiam in miseris pietas, et in hoste probatur.

     ei mihi, quam paucos haec mea dicta movent! 

--Ovid, Tristia I.ix.23-36

 Ovid was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia, where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.

When I Find Myself In Times of Trouble... Ovid, Trist.1.5.17-34

 

Name:     Ovid Date:       43 BCE – 17 CE Region:   Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Sorrows 1.5.17-34

In this poem, the exiled poet Ovid writes about the importance of true friendship and loyalty.

 

If my ship were sailing on a friendly wind,

Perhaps I could forget your loyalty.

For Pirithous would not have felt Theseus’ friendship

If he hadn’t gone on a quest to the Underworld.

If not for wretched Orestes’ madness,

Pylades would not be seen as a paragon of love.

If Euryalus had not fallen in battle against the Rutulians, Nisus would have no glory.

Just like gold bubbles up from the smelter’s furnace,

Faith also must endure a tribulation.

Whenever Fortune smiles down upon us serenely

She blesses us with uninterrupted prosperity,

But as soon as she grows angry,

Our good times flee,

Instead of the tons of friends we once had,

We can scarcely find one.

And although I used to ponder examples of this trope,

Now this evil has befallen me, too.

Of all my “friends,” y’all are the two or three friends I have left.

The rest belong to Fortune’s clique, not mine.

  

Si tamen haec navis vento ferretur amico,

ignoraretur forsitan ista fides.

Thesea Pirithous non tam sensisset amicum,

si non infernas vivus adisset aquas.

Ut foret exemplum veri Phoceus amoris,

fecerunt Furiae, tristis Oresta, tuae.

Si non Euryalus Rutulos cecidisset in hostes,

Hyrtacidae Nisi gloria nulla foret.

Scilicet ut flavum spectatur in ignibus aurum,

tempore sic duro est inspicienda fides.

Dum iuvat et vultu ridet Fortuna sereno,

indelibatas cuncta sequuntur opes:

at simul intonuit, fugiunt, nec noscitur ulli,

agminibus comitum qui modo cinctus erat.

Atque haec, exemplis quondam collecta priorum,

nunc mihi sunt propriis cognita vera malis.

Vix duo tresve mihi de tot superestis amici:

cetera Fortunae, non mea turba fuit.

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.

M/M: A List of "Really Good Friends": Hyginus, Fab. 257

 

Name: Hyginus   Date:  64 BCE – 17 CE Region:  Hispania [modern Spain] / Alexandria [modern Egypt]; Rome [modern Italy] Citation:  Fables 257

People who were “really good friends”:

·            Strophius’ son Pylades was “really good friends” with Agamemnon’s son Orestes

·            Ixion’s son Pirithous was “really good friends” with Theseus

·            Peleus’ son Achilles was “really good friends” with Menoetes’ son Patroclus

·            Tydeus’ son Diomedes was “really good friends” with Capaneus’ son Sthenelus

·            Aeacus’ son Peleus was “really good friends” with Amyntor’s son Phoenix

·            Jupiter’s son Hercules was “really good friends” with Poeas’ son Philoctetes

·            Harmodius and Aristogiton [loved each other] like brothers

·            In Sicily, there was a very cruel tyrant named Dionysius. Moeros [1] wanted to kill him because he was torturing and killing his own citizens. Guards caught Moeros in the act and brought him to the king. When he was interrogated, he confessed his plot. Naturally, the king ordered him to die by crucifixion. Moerus asked for a three day extension so that he could arrange his sister’s wedding. He offered the tyrant his friend and companion Selinuntius, who would serve as collateral for his pledge to return on the third day.  The king granted his request, and told Selinuntius that he would die instead if Moerus didn’t return on the proper day. Then he let Moerus go.

Once he arranged his sister’s affairs, Moerus started his journey back, but a sudden rainstorm occurred and flooded the river so much that he could neither ford nor swim across it. Moerus sat upon the river bank and began to weep, saddened that his friend would have to die for him.

Therefore when the tyrant ordered the crucifixion of Selinuntius on noon of the third day, Selinuntius responded that the day was not yet over.

In the middle of the afternoon, the king ordered Selinuntius’ execution. No sooner had he been led to the cross when Moerus, having crossed the river, ran up to the executioner and shouted as he neared, “Hold up! I’m here—release my friend!”

Once this was done, this news was relayed back to the king. The king ordered both men to be brought before him and told them that since they had proven their friendship to each other, he would spare Moerus’ life.

Also, Nisus was “really good friends” with Euryalus, and died for him.

 

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[1] This is the story of Damon and Pythias.

A List of “Really Good Friends” from Mythology

Qui inter se amicitia iunctissimi fuerunt:

·         Pylades Strophii filius cum Oreste Agamemnonis filio.

·         Pirithous Ixionis filius cum Theseo Aegei filio.

·         Achilles Pelei filius cum Patroclo Menoetii filio.

·         Diomedes Tydei filius cum Sthenelo Capanei filio.

·         Peleus Aeaci filius cum Phoenice Amyntoris filio.

·         Hercules Jovis filius cum Philocteta Poeantis filio

·         Harmodius et Aristogiton [more fraterno]

·         In Sicilia [Dionysius] tyrannus crudelissimus cum esset suosque cives cruciatibus interficeret, Moeros tyrannum voluit interficere. Quem satellites cum deprehendissent armatum, ad regem perduxerunt. Qui interrogatus respondit se regem voluisse interficere. Quem rex iussit cruci figi, a quo Moerus petit tridui commeatum ut sororem suam nuptui collocaret et daret tyranno Selinuntium amicum suum et sodalem qui sponderet eum tertio die venturum. Cui rex indulsit commeatum ad sororem collocandam, dicitque rex Selinuntio, ut nisi ad diem Moerus veniret eum eandem poenam passurum, et dimittit Moerum. Qui collocata sorore cum reverteretur, repente tempestate et pluvia orta flumen ita increvit ut nec transiri nec transnatari posset. Ad cuius ripam Moerus consedit et flere coepit ne amicus pro se periret. 

[Tyrannus] autem Selinuntium cruci figi cum iuberet ideo, quod horae sex tertii iam diei essent ne veniret Moerus, cui Selinuntius respondit diem adhuc non praeteriisse. cumque iam et horae novem essent, rex iubet duci Selinuntium in crucem. Qui cum duceretur vix tandem Moerus liberato flumine consequitur carnificem exclamatque a longe, “Sustine, carnifex! Adsum, quem spopondit!” Quod factum regi nuntiatur. Quos rex ad se iussit perduci vitamque Moero concessit, rogavitque eos ut se in amicitiam reciperent [2]

·         Nisus cum Euryalo suo pro quo et mortuus est.

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[2]The story of Harmodius and Aristogeiton follows this story.

Hyginus [Caius Julius Hyginus; 64 BCE – 17 CE, modern Spain or Egypt] was one of Augustus’ freedmen and a famous mythographer. He was originally from Hispania [modern Spain].  Some think that he was actually from Alexandria [modern Egypt], and brought to Rome as a boy by Caesar after the fall of Alexandria. He studied under the Greek scholar Cornelius Alexander, then followed in his footsteps. He was in charge of the Palatine library, and despite this, still had the time to teach many people. He was very close friends with the poet Ovid and Clodius Licinius, the former consul and historian who, after Hyginus fell into poverty, supported him financially for as long as he lived.

M/M: Blessed pair! Nisus & Euryalus 3: Vergil, Aen. 9.384-449

Nisus and Euryalus: No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory of Time

Name:  Vergil Date:  70 – 19 BCE Region:  Mantua [modern northern Italy] Citation:  Aeneid 9.176-223, 384-413, 416-418,420-449

On duty that night at the fortress' gates was Nisus, the valiant son of Hyrtacus, whom the huntress Ida had trained in hunting and sent off to accompany Aeneas.
Standing beside him was his companion Euryalus, a teenager who surpassed all Trojans in beauty. He was born too young to earn his armor at Troy; his first touch of adulthood was blossoming on his chin.
They shared one love; they fought side-by-side. Both stood on duty at the gate.

Nisus said “Do the gods inspire you to seek glory, or does your own desire drive you? For I need to fight—or do some big gesture—I’m not content to just sit around here. You know how cocky our Rutulian enemy is. Their watch fires are scattered, sputtering out, and their watchmen are sleeping or drunk. They're not vigilant at all.

“Look at how confident I am in this plan, and what I've devised based on these facts. Everyone (the Trojan leaders and menfolk alike) is clamoring for Aeneas to return. They're looking for volunteers to come fetch him, even offering a reward. I think I can find a way to him through that heap of enemies, and find a path to our ally Pallas’ city walls.”

Euryalus, inspired by a love of praise, spoke to his companion, “Nisus, do you shirk from letting me join you on the most important time of all? Will I send you off alone into such danger? Listen, I no longer have a father. My dad Opheletes fell by the Greeks in Troy's fateful struggle. But he raised me better than that! And Aeneas, the man I followed to our ultimate destiny; he raised me better than this, too! I didn't come all this way, doing all these adventures with you otherwise. What life is there for me, if I only had life, and not honor?”

Nisus responded: “No, it isn't right. I would never think that of you. But Jupiter, I pray to god (or whatever god it is), look on me with kindness, to bring me back to you,

while you're there, waiting to cheer me on from the sidelines. You see how the situation is. If some enemy or act of god should take me away from you, I want you to live on. You're too young to die. Let it be you who brings my body back from the battlefield and lays it to rest in my tomb. Or, if Fortune does not permit even that, honor me with an empty grave. I do not want to break your mother's heart. Of all the Trojan women, she alone left the safety of Acestes’ walls to follow you here.”

Euryalus said, “Stop being such a worrywart! My mind is made up. Come on, let’s go.”

Together, they woke up the next shift of watchmen. They leave their posts in the hands of competent replacements, and together with his companion Nisus, they head for the king's headquarters.

 

While on a secret mission, Nisus and Euryalus are detected by Rutulian scouts. They flee, but are separated from each other:
          Euryalus, overcome by brambles and fear, is trapped!

 

But Nisus already fled. By dumb luck, he escaped the enemy through the territory that will later be named “Alba.” He looks around and cannot find his companion. He calls, “Unlucky Euryalus, where are you? Did I leave you behind? Where can I follow you?”

He goes in circles through the forest, looking for traces of his friend in the underbrush. Then he hears hoofbeats; he hears the riders approach. Soon after he hears a shout and sees Euryalus surrounded by a band of Rutulians but vainly trying to defend himself.

What should Nisus do? What resources does he have to rescue the youth from his attackers? Should he jump into the fight, rushing to his own doom, to endure an “honorable” death?

Aiming his weapon, Nisus catches sight of the moon and voices this prayer:  “Divine daughter of Leto, glory of the stars and protector of this grove, help me in my task! If my father Hyrtacus’ offerings to you ever meant something, if my thanksgiving offerings from my hunting trips ever meant anything to you, if my offerings of incense or other holy offerings ever touched you, please, allow me to take on these men and send this spear through the air towards them!”

He finished praying, and hurled his spear with all his might. It flies through the night and arrives in Sulmo’s chest...

The Rutulians looks around, alert. Nisus aims another spear and sends it into their midst. It shoots through the air and pierces Tagus’ temples; his brains spurt from the wound.

The Rutulian leader Volcens roars in anger. He cannot see who threw the spear, so he takes out his anger on Euryalus. “You shall pay the penalty for both of these men…in blood!” Volcens said, attacking the Trojan youth with his sword.

Then, terrified, Nisus shouted from the distance, betraying his hiding-place, trying to stop his greatest nightmare from happening, “It was me! It was me! I did it! Stab me instead, oh Rutulians! This was my fault, it wasn’t him! I swear by the heavens, and the stars are my witness! The only thing he did wrong was love his cursed companion too much!”

So Nisus spoke, but a sword pierces his friend’s chest, crushing Euryalus’ delicate ribcage.

Euryalus swoons in death, and gore spreads across the lad’s pretty limbs.  His head flops forward, just like when a purple flower dies, cut by a tractor’s plow, or when a poppy droops when it is weighed down by heavy raindrops.

But Nisus rushes into the midst of the enemy, seeking vengeance upon Volcens. Volcens alone is his goal.

Although surrounded, Nisus puts up a good fight. His sword gleams in the starlight as he slashes against his foe, and it plunges into his enemy’s shrieking face, killing the man who stabs him in return.

Then, dying, Nisus threw himself atop his slain friend and succumbed to dreamless sleep.

Fortunate pair! If my epic means anything, no day shall ever erase you from history, as long as Aeneas’ Capitol still stands, as long as father Rome reigns supreme.

 

Nisus and Euryalus: No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory of Time

Nisus erat portae custos, acerrimus armis,
Hyrtacides, comitem Aeneae quem miserat Ida
venatrix iaculo celerem levibusque sagittis,
et iuxta comes Euryalus, quo pulchrior alter
non fuit Aeneadum Troiana neque induit arma,
ora puer prima signans intonsa iuventa.
His amor unus erat pariterque in bella ruebant;
tum quoque communi portam statione tenebant.
Nisus ait: “Dine hunc ardorem mentibus addunt,
Euryale, an sua cuique deus fit dira cupido?
Aut pugnam aut aliquid iamdudum invadere magnum
mens agitat mihi, nec placida contenta quiete est.

Cernis quae Rutulos habeat fiducia rerum:
lumina rara micant, somno vinoque soluti
procubuere, silent late loca. Percipe porro
quid dubitem et quae nunc animo sententia surgat.
Aenean acciri omnes, populusque patresque,
exposcunt, mittique viros qui certa reportent.
Si tibi quae posco promittunt (nam mihi facti
fama sat est), tumulo videor reperire sub illo    
posse viam ad muros et moenia Pallantea.”
Obstipuit magno laudum percussus amore
Euryalus, simul his ardentem adfatur amicum:
“Mene igitur socium summis adiungere rebus,
Nise, fugis? Solum te in tanta pericula mittam?
Non ita me genitor, bellis adsuetus Opheltes,
Argolicum terrorem inter Troiaeque labores
sublatum erudiit, nec tecum talia gessi
magnanimum Aenean et fata extrema secutus:
est hic, est animus lucis contemptor et istum 
qui vita bene credat emi, quo tendis, honorem.”
Nisus ad haec: “Equidem de te nil tale verebar,
nec fas; non ita me referat tibi magnus ovantem
Juppiter aut quicumque oculis haec aspicit aequis.
Sed si quis (quae multa vides discrimine tali)
si quis in adversum rapiat casusve deusve,
te superesse velim, tua vita dignior aetas.

Sit qui me raptum pugna pretiove redemptum
mandet humo, solita aut si qua id Fortuna vetabit,
absenti ferat inferias decoretque sepulcro.
Neu matri miserae tanti sim causa doloris,
quae te sola, puer, multis e matribus ausa
persequitur, magni nec moenia curat Acestae.”
Ille autem: “Causas nequiquam nectis inanis
nec mea iam mutata loco sententia cedit.
Acceleremus” ait, vigiles simul excitat. Illi
succedunt servantque vices; statione relicta
ipse comes Niso graditur regemque requirunt.

...

Euryalum tenebrae ramorum onerosaque praeda
impediunt, fallitque timor regione viarum.
Nisus abit; iamque imprudens evaserat hostis
atque locos qui post Albae de nomine dicti
Albani (tum rex stabula alta Latinus habebat),
ut stetit et frustra absentem respexit amicum:

“Euryale infelix, qua te regione reliqui?
Quave sequar?” Rursus perplexum iter omne revolvens
fallacis silvae simul et vestigia retro
observata legit dumisque silentibus errat.
Audit equos, audit strepitus et signa sequentum;
nec longum in medio tempus, cum clamor ad auris
pervenit ac videt Euryalum, quem iam manus omnis
fraude loci et noctis, subito turbante tumultu,
oppressum rapit et conantem plurima frustra.
Quid faciat? Qua vi iuvenem, quibus audeat armis
eripere? An sese medios moriturus in enses
inferat et pulchram properet per vulnera mortem?
Ocius adducto torquet hastile lacerto
suspiciens altam Lunam et sic voce precatur:
“Tu, dea, tu praesens nostro succurre labori,
astrorum decus et nemorum Latonia custos.
Si qua tuis umquam pro me pater Hyrtacus aris
dona tulit, si qua ipse meis venatibus auxi
suspendive tholo aut sacra ad fastigia fixi,
hunc sine me turbare globum et rege tela per auras.”

Dixerat et toto conixus corpore ferrum
conicit. Hasta volans noctis diverberat umbras
et venit aversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique
frangitur, ac fisso transit praecordia ligno...[1]
Diversi circumspiciunt. Hoc acrior idem
ecce aliud summa telum librabat ab aure.
Dum trepidant, it hasta Tago per tempus utrumque... [2]
Saevit atrox Volcens nec teli conspicit usquam
auctorem nec quo se ardens immittere possit.
“Tu tamen interea calido mihi sanguine poenas
persolves amborum” inquit; simul ense recluso
ibat in Euryalum. Tum vero exterritus, amens,
conclamat Nisus nec se celare tenebris
amplius aut tantum potuit perferre dolorem:
“Me, me, adsum qui feci, in me convertite ferrum,
o Rutuli! Mea fraus omnis, nihil iste nec ausus
nec potuit; caelum hoc et conscia sidera testor;

tantum infelicem nimium dilexit amicum.”  
Talia dicta dabat, sed viribus ensis adactus
transadigit costas et candida pectora rumpit.
Volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus
it cruor inque umeros cervix conlapsa recumbit:
purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro 
languescit moriens, lassove papavera collo
demisere caput pluvia cum forte gravantur.
At Nisus ruit in medios solumque per omnis
Volcentem petit, in solo Volcente moratur.
Quem circum glomerati hostes hinc comminus atque hinc 
proturbant. Instat non setius ac rotat ensem
fulmineum, donec Rutuli clamantis in ore
condidit adverso et moriens animam abstulit hosti.
Tum super exanimum sese proiecit amicum
confossus, placidaque ibi demum morte quievit.
Fortunati ambo! Si quid mea carmina possunt,
nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.

Vergil, also known as Virgil, [Publius Vergilius Maro; 70 – 19 BCE, modern Italy] was born in Mantua, Cisalpine Gaul, and lived during the tumultuous transition of Roman government from republic to monarchy. His writing talent earned him a place of honor among Maecenas’ fellow authors under Augustan rule. He was friends with numerous famous authors of the time period, including Horace and Asinius Pollio. His former slave Alexander was the most influential romantic partner in his life, and the poet memorialized his love for him under the pseudonym “Alexis” in Eclogue 2. His masterpiece, the Aeneid, tells the story of Aeneas’ migration from Troy to Italy; it was used for centuries as the pinnacle of Roman literature.

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[1] The graphic description of Sulmo’s wound will not be published here.

[2] The graphic description of Tagus’ wound will not be published here.