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