Arma gravi numero violentaque bella parabam
edere, materia conveniente modis.
par erat inferior versus—risisse Cupido
dicitur atque unum surripuisse pedem.
I was preparing to produce arms and violent wars in weighty meter, with subject matter fitting the rhythms. The lower verse was equal—Cupid is said to have laughed and to have stolen away one foot.
This is a metapoetic text describing an attempted composition in epic verse being transformed into elegiac poetry through divine intervention. The “weighty meter” refers to dactylic hexameter, the traditional meter of epic poetry used for martial themes in works like the Aeneid. The joke centers on Cupid (the god of love) stealing a “foot” - both a unit of poetic meter and a playful physical action attributed to the mischievous deity. By removing one foot from each alternate line, Cupid transforms the heroic hexameter into elegiac couplets, the standard meter for love poetry. This reflects a common Hellenistic and Roman literary device where poets justify their choice of genre through divine intervention. The opposition between martial themes (arma, bella) and love poetry embodied by Cupid represents the classic tension between epic and elegiac genres in classical literature.
Quis tibi, saeve puer, dedit hoc in carmina iuris?
Pieridum vates, non tua turba sumus.
quid, si praeripiat flavae Venus arma Minervae,
ventilet accensas flava Minerva faces?
quis probet in silvis Cererem regnare iugosis,
lege pharetratae Virginis arva coli?
Who gave you this right over poetry, cruel boy? We are poets of the Pierides, not your crowd. What if Venus should seize blonde Minerva’s weapons, or fair-haired Minerva should wave burning torches? Who would approve of Ceres ruling in the mountainous woods, or fields being tilled under the law of the quiver-bearing Virgin?
The speaker addresses Cupid (the “cruel boy”) in a rhetorical complaint about divine jurisdiction. The Pierides were the Muses, nine sister goddesses who presided over poetry and the arts, worshipped especially on Mount Pierus in Macedonia. The passage employs a sophisticated rhetorical device of comparing inappropriate role reversals among the gods: Venus (goddess of love) taking Minerva’s weapons (representing wisdom and warfare), Minerva wielding Venus’s symbols (the burning torches of passion), Ceres (goddess of agriculture) ruling the wild woods, and Diana (the “quiver-bearing Virgin”) overseeing farming. Each pairing emphasizes the absurdity of Cupid interfering with serious poetry by showing other deities stepping outside their proper domains. The reference to Minerva as “flava” (blonde or fair-haired) reflects a traditional epithet in Roman poetry, though it’s not a common feature of her artistic depictions.
crinibus insignem quis acuta cuspide Phoebum
instruat, Aoniam Marte movente lyram?
sunt tibi magna, puer, nimiumque potentia regna;
cur opus adfectas, ambitiose, novum?
an, quod ubique, tuum est? tua sunt Heliconia tempe?
vix etiam Phoebo iam lyra tuta sua est?
Who would equip Phoebus, distinguished by his hair, with a sharp spear, while Mars plays the Aonian lyre? You have great and too powerful kingdoms, boy; why do you ambitiously seek a new task? Is everything everywhere yours? Are the Heliconian vales yours? Is scarcely even his own lyre safe now for Phoebus?
This passage continues the theme of inappropriate role reversals among deities. Apollo (Phoebus) is referenced with his traditional attribute of distinctive hair - he was often depicted with long, flowing locks. Mount Helicon was sacred to the Muses, and the term “Aonian” refers to Boeotia, the region where Helicon is located. The Vale of Tempe, though properly in Thessaly, is here used generically to refer to any sacred poetic vale, specifically those on Mount Helicon. The image of Mars (god of war) playing Apollo’s lyre while Apollo takes up martial weapons emphasizes the absurdity of mixing divine domains. The speaker’s increasingly agitated questions reflect anxiety about Cupid’s overwhelming influence, extending even to Apollo’s own realm of poetry and music.
cum bene surrexit versu nova pagina primo,
attenuat nervos proximus ille meos;
nec mihi materia est numeris levioribus apta,
aut puer aut longas compta puella comas.’
When a new page has well begun with its first line, that next line weakens my strength; nor do I have subject matter suitable for lighter meters - either a boy or a girl with well-arranged long hair.
This text discusses the process of poetic composition, specifically the contrast between different poetic meters. The reference to “nervos” (strength, sinews) employs a metaphor common in classical literature where creative or intellectual power is expressed in physical terms. The final line alludes to typical subjects of Latin love poetry - beautiful youths and maidens, with special attention to physical features like carefully arranged hair (compta comas). Long, elaborate hairstyles were particularly fashionable among Roman women of means, who often had slaves dedicated to hair arrangement (ornatrices). The mention of “numeris levioribus” (lighter meters) refers to elegiac verse, which was considered less weighty than epic hexameter and was the standard meter for love poetry in Latin literature.
Questus eram, pharetra cum protinus ille soluta
legit in exitium spicula facta meum,
lunavitque genu sinuosum fortiter arcum,
‘quod’ que ‘canas, vates, accipe’ dixit ‘opus!’
I had complained, when immediately he, with his quiver loosened, selected arrows made for my destruction, and strongly bent his curved bow against his knee, and said “Receive, poet, the work that you shall sing!”
The scene depicts a divine intervention by Cupid, the god of love, who is characterized by his bow and arrows. The quiver (pharetra) and arrows (spicula) were his standard attributes in classical art and literature. The gesture of bending the bow against the knee (genu) was a common military and hunting technique in antiquity, emphasized in both literary descriptions and artistic representations. The term “vates” for poet carries religious overtones, as it originally meant a divinely inspired prophet or seer before becoming a poetic term. The description of arrows specifically made for the speaker’s destruction reflects the common literary trope of love as a form of warfare or death, with Cupid as a militant deity whose weapons cause metaphorical wounds of love rather than physical injury.
Me miserum! certas habuit puer ille sagittas.
uror, et in vacuo pectore regnat Amor.
Sex mihi surgat opus numeris, in quinque residat:
ferrea cum vestris bella valete modis!
Wretched me! That boy had unerring arrows. I burn, and Love reigns in my empty heart. Let my work rise in six feet and settle into five: farewell, iron wars, with your meters!
The text employs common elegiac motifs involving Cupid (the “boy” with arrows) and the metaphor of love as burning or fire. The specific reference to “six” and “five” feet describes the elegiac couplet’s structure: a line of dactylic hexameter followed by pentameter, marking the speaker’s transition from epic to love poetry. The farewell to “iron wars” represents the traditional renunciation of martial epic themes in favor of love poetry, a standard literary device in Roman verse.
The formula “me miserum” was a characteristic outcry in Roman poetry, especially in love elegy, conveying emotional distress. The personification of Love (Amor) as a ruling force within the heart reflects Roman conception of emotions as external divine forces taking possession of mortals. The image of Cupid’s arrows was not merely poetic - Romans would have been familiar with countless artistic representations of the god as an armed child, his arrows representing the sudden, inevitable nature of falling in love.
cingere litorea flaventia tempora myrto,
Musa, per undenos emodulanda pedes!
Crown the golden temples with shoreline myrtle, O Muse, you who must be sung through eleven-foot verses!
This elegant couplet contains several references to ancient poetic conventions. The myrtle (myrtus) was sacred to Venus and commonly used for ceremonial wreaths, particularly associated with triumph and poetic inspiration. The specification of “shoreline” myrtle was significant as coastal varieties were considered especially sacred. The reference to “eleven feet” describes elegiac couplets, which alternate between hexameter (six feet) and pentameter (five feet) lines, totaling eleven metrical feet per couplet.
The imagery of golden or yellow temples reflects a common poetic idealization of physical beauty in classical literature. The invocation of the Muse follows the ancient tradition of calling upon divine inspiration at the beginning of a poetic work. The gerundive “emodulanda” suggests both obligation and artistic refinement in the metrical composition, emphasizing the technical skill required in elegiac verse.