#LatinForTheDay – 6 June #Seneca
“et iam coeperat fugientes semper tesseras quaerere et nihil proficere:
nam quotiens missurus erat resonante fritillo
utraque subducto fugiebat tessera fundo;
cumque recollectos auderet mittere talos,
lusuro similis semper semperque petenti,...
“et iam coeperat fugientes semper tesseras quaerere et nihil proficere:
nam quotiens missurus erat resonante fritillo
utraque subducto fugiebat tessera fundo;
cumque recollectos auderet mittere talos,
lusuro similis semper semperque petenti,...
"decepere fidem: refugit digitosque per ipsos
fallax adsiduo dilabitur alea furto.
sic cum iam summi tanguntur culmina montis,
inrita Sisyphio volvuntur pondera collo.”
Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 14.4-15.1
fallax adsiduo dilabitur alea furto.
sic cum iam summi tanguntur culmina montis,
inrita Sisyphio volvuntur pondera collo.”
Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 14.4-15.1
‘And already Claudius had begun to chase the ever-vanishing dice, all to no avail:
For whenever he was about to roll, rattling his shaker,
Both dice slipped out though the hole in the box’s base;
And when he dared the cast his gathered-up dice yet again,...
For whenever he was about to roll, rattling his shaker,
Both dice slipped out though the hole in the box’s base;
And when he dared the cast his gathered-up dice yet again,...
Ever and always like a man scrabbling about and desperate to play,
They caught him out. Each die – what a traitor! – slipped
Through his fingers, with its everlasting legerdemain....
They caught him out. Each die – what a traitor! – slipped
Through his fingers, with its everlasting legerdemain....
'So it is, whenever the mountain’s topmost peaks are crested,
That the futile burden of Sisyphus slips from his shoulder.’
That the futile burden of Sisyphus slips from his shoulder.’
At the end of the Apocolocyntosis ('The Pumpkinification'), a satirical work on the death and deification of the emperor Claudius, the deceased emperor is punished in the Underworld for his crimes with a torment akin to that of Sisyphus.
Suetonius (Claudius 33.2) highlights Claudius' 'addiction' to dicing, even being claimed to have written a book on the subject.
The Image at the head of this thread is the 'Apotheosis of Claudius' - a sculptural work of Andrea Calamech incorporating original Roman elements, ca. 1560 (Museo Nacional del Prado: E000225).
Link - museodelprado.es/en/the-collect…
#LatinForTheDay #Seneca 🧵
Link - museodelprado.es/en/the-collect…
#LatinForTheDay #Seneca 🧵
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