Appendix Vergiliana, "Copa Syrisca"

The Syrian hostess

by Virgil

This stunning “carpe diem” poem was traditionally ascribed to Virgil: the majority view these days is that he probably didn’t write it -it is not much like his usual poetry – but who knows? It describes a Syrian hostess and her tavern with its varied attractions. I would like to book a table.

See the illustrated blog post here.

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Copa Syrisca, caput Graeca redimita mitella,
crispum sub crotalo docta movere latus,
ebria famosa saltat lasciva taberna
ad cubitum raucos excutiens calamos.
quid iuvat aestivo defessum pulvere abisse
quam potius bibulo decubuisse toro?
sunt topia et calybae, cyathi, rosa, tibia, chordae,
et triclia umbrosis frigida harundinibus;
en et Maenalio quae garrit dulce sub antro
rustica pastoris fistula more sonat.
est et vappa cado nuper defusa picato,
est crepitans rauco murmure rivus aquae.
sunt etiam croceo violae de flore corollae
sertaque purpurea lutea mixta rosa,
et quae virgineo libata Achelois ab amne
lilia vimineis attulit in calathis.
sunt et caseoli, quos iuncea fiscina siccat,
sunt autumnali cerea pruna die
castaneaeque nuces et suave rubentia mala,
est hic munda Ceres, est Amor, est Bromius;
sunt et mora cruenta et lentis uva racemis,
et pendet iunco caeruleus cucumis.
est tuguri custos armatus falce saligna,
sed non et vasto est inguine terribilis;
huic calybita veni: lassus iam sudat asellus;
parce illi, Vestae delicium est asinus.
nunc cantu crebro rumpunt arbusta cicadae,
nunc varia in gelida sede lacerta latet:
si sapis, aestivo recubans nunc prolue vitro,
seu vis crystalli ferre novos calices.
hic age pampinea fessus requiesce sub umbra
et gravidum roseo necte caput strophio,
formosum tenerae decerpens ora puellae;
a pereat cui sunt prisca supercilia!
quid cineri ingrato servas bene olentia serta?
anne coronato vis lapide ossa tegi?
pone merum et talos; pereat qui crastina curat:
Mors aurem uellens ‘vivite’ ait, ‘venio’.

The Syrian hostess, tipsy, head bound in a Grecian band, does her provoking dance in her famous inn, deftly sways her lithe hips to the castanet and shakes the rattles on her elbows. Why would a tired man prefer being off in the summer dust to lying on a couch to drink? There are gardens, corners, cups, roses, music from pipes and strings and cool tables screened with reed; a girl chatting sweetly in the Arcadian nook, and a country pipe playing pastoral. There is wine breathing, just poured from the resined jar, a brook sounding with its pattering flow. There are violets and garlands of golden flowers, and ones of yellow mixed with purple blooms, and lilies which a siren brought from her pristine river in wicker baskets. There are little cheeses in rush trays to dry. There are plums, waxy with the autumn season, hazel and chestnuts and sweetly blushing apples: here Ceres, Love and Bacchus are dainty; there are blood-coloured brambles and grapes on pliant stems, and the green cucumber on the vine: the garden has a guard with a willow hook: he is not frightening, though huge around the groin. Come, pilgrim: your donkey is tired and sweating; spare him, donkeys are Vesta’s pets. Now the cicadas split the grove with unremitting song, the mottled lizard hides in its cool spot: if you want, now recline and drink from a summer glass, or if you prefer, raise cup on cup of crystal. Come, you’re tired, rest here in the shade of the vine, tie your heavy head with a rosy band, and reap a pretty girl’s lips with kisses; old-fashioned prudes, be damned! Dead, you won’t appreciate these fragrant garlands: why save them? Or should they go on a gravestone for your bones? Bring wine and dice: care for tomorrow, be damned! Death tweaks your ear: “Live,” he says, “I’m on my way!”

`

More Poems by Virgil

  1. The Harpy’s prophecy
  2. Hector visits Aeneas in a dream
  3. More from Virgil’s farming Utopia
  4. What is this wooden horse?
  5. The Trojans prepare to set sail from Carthage
  6. Aeneas is wounded
  7. The death of Pallas
  8. Help for Father Aeneas from Father Tiber
  9. Juno throws open the gates of war
  10. Dido and Aeneas: Hell hath no fury …
  11. Aeneas tours the site of Rome
  12. Charon, the ferryman
  13. Venus speaks
  14. Helen in the darkness
  15. Signs of bad weather
  16. New allies for Aeneas
  17. Souls awaiting punishment in Tartarus, and the crimes that brought them there.
  18. Aeneas finds Dido among the shades
  19. The infant Camilla
  20. The boxers
  21. Rites for the allies’ dead
  22. Aeneas’s vision of Augustus
  23. The death of Priam
  24. The farmer’s happy lot
  25. Aeneas sees Marcellus, Augustus’s tragic heir
  26. Virgil predicts a forthcoming birth and a new golden age
  27. The battle for Priam’s palace
  28. Sea-nymphs
  29. Vulcan’s forge
  30. Aeneas’s oath
  31. Anchises’s ghost invites Aeneas to visit the underworld
  32. Catastrophe for Rome?
  33. Omens for Princess Lavinia
  34. Rumour
  35. Juno is reconciled
  36. Jupiter’s prophecy
  37. Cassandra is taken
  38. Dido’s story
  39. A Fury rouses Turnus to war
  40. In King Latinus’s hall
  41. Dido falls in love
  42. Aeneas and Dido meet
  43. Aeneas arrives in Italy
  44. The farmer’s starry calendar
  45. The journey to Hades begins
  46. Aeneas prepares for a hopeless fight
  47. Mercury’s journey to Carthage
  48. Aeneas comes to the Hell of Tartarus
  49. The death of Dido
  50. Juno’s anger
  51. Aeneas rescues his Father Anchises
  52. Dido and Aeneas: royal hunt and royal affair
  53. The Trojan Horse enters the city
  54. Virgil’s perils on the sea
  55. Into battle
  56. The Aeneid begins
  57. Fire strikes Aeneas’s fleet
  58. Love is the same for all
  59. The portals of sleep
  60. The death of Priam
  61. Virgil’s poetic temple to Caesar
  62. The death of Euryalus and Nisus
  63. Laocoon warns against the Trojan horse
  64. The Fury Allecto blows the alarm
  65. Aeneas saves his son and father, but at a cost
  66. Virgil begins the Georgics
  67. Aeneas learns the way to the underworld
  68. Palinurus the helmsman is lost
  69. King Mezentius meets his match
  70. Aeneas joins the fray
  71. Aeneas prepares to tell Dido his story
  72. King Latinus grants the Trojans’ request
  73. Storm at sea!
  74. Turnus the wolf
  75. Aeneas’s ships are transformed
  76. Turnus at bay
  77. Laocoon and the snakes
  78. The Trojans reach Carthage
  79. Dido’s release
  80. How Aeneas will know the site of his city
  81. Aristaeus’s bees
  82. Mourning for Pallas
  83. The Trojan horse opens
  84. Aeneas reaches the Elysian Fields
  85. The natural history of bees
  86. Turnus is lured away from battle
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