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Jun 8 6 tweets 3 min read
#LatinForTheDay – 8 June #Tibullus

“saepe ego temptavi curas depellere vino:
at dolor in lacrimas verterat omne merum.
saepe aliam tenui: sed iam cum gaudia adirem,
admonuit dominae deseruitque Venus.
tunc me discedens devotum femina dixit,...
"...a pudet, et narrat scire nefanda meam.
non facit hoc verbis, facie tenerisque lacertis
devovet et flavis nostra puella comis.
talis ad Haemonium Nereis Pelea quondam
vecta est frenato caerula pisce Thetis.”

Tibullus, Elegies 1.5.37-46
‘Often I have tried to numb the pain with wine;
But my agony curdled every vintage to tears.
Often I held some other girl tight: but, on ecstasy’s brink,
Love conjured up my mistress and then... limped off.
My would-be paramour would then huff off, saying that I was...
'Bewitched, that my Darling was a damned enchantress.
Not with spells does she do this, but rather with
Face, flanks, and flaxen hair has she bedevilled me.
Just like the sea-blue Nereid was – like Thetis – when once borne
To Peleus of Haemonia in her briny-bridled bogie.’
A touch of Tibullus on the debilitating effects of his infatuation with Delia. As he goes on to say, "haec nocuere mihi" - 'These charms of hers have been my bane'.
The Image at the head of this thread is 'A Mermaid' by John William Waterhouse, 1900 (Royal Academy of Arts: 03/805).

Link - royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/wo…

#LatinForTheDay #Tibullus

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More from @DocCrom

Jun 8
Ancient Coin of the Day: As today marks the beginning of the end of his reign, a quick look at some of the coins of the Roman Emperor Macrinus! #ACOTD #Numismatics #Macrinus 🧵

Image: RIC IV Macrinus 50c; Münzkabinett Berlin (18277254). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.4.…
Marcus Opellius Macrinus briefly reigned as Roman Emperor in AD 217-218, following the murder of his predecessor Caracalla. Indeed, Macrinus - the Praetorian Prefect - was alleged to have had been the instigator of the conspiracy against Caracalla.
He was also the first emperor not drawn from the senatorial class and, given the issues of his brief reign, never had the opportunity to visit Rome.
Read 13 tweets
Jun 7
#EpigraphyTuesday🧵– The Insus Tombstone

Discovered in 2005, this inscription and relief sculpture served as the tombstone for a Roman auxiliary cavalry soldier: ca. Late 1st Century AD. #Roman

Image: Lancaster City Museum. Link - lancashiremuseumsstories.wordpress.com/2021/02/12/the…
The piece is a fine example of the ‘Reiter’ (‘Rider’) style of monument, with a representation of a mounted soldier. Standing some 2.25m high, the overall piece is both impressive and energetic.
Inscription:

Dis
Manibus Insus Vodulli
[fil]ius cive(s) Trever eques alae Aug(ustae)
[ t(urma)] Ṿictoris curator Domitia [? h(eres) f(aciundum) c(uravit)]
Read 10 tweets
Jun 6
#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,... Image
"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
‘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,...
Read 8 tweets
May 25
#LatinForTheDay – 25 May #Martial

“hic ubi sidereus propius videt astra colossus
et crescunt media pegmata celsa via,
invidiosa feri radiabant atria regis
unaque iam tota stabat in urbe domus.
hic ubi conspicui venerabilis Amphitheatri... Image
"...erigitur moles, stagna Neronis erant.
hic ubi miramur velocia munera thermas,
abstulerat miseris tecta superbus ager.
Claudia diffusas ubi porticus explicat umbras,...
"...ultima pars aulae deficientis erat.
reddita Roma sibi est et sunt te praeside, Caesar,
deliciae populi, quae fuerant domini.”

Martial, On the Shows 2
Read 8 tweets
May 25
Ancient Artefact of the Day: Bronze Mouse – complete with snack for nibbling; Roman, ca. 1st Century AD. Traditionally associated with the cult of the god Apollo Smintheus, but read on! #AAOTD #Mouse

Image: Getty Collection (96. AC. 268). Link - getty.edu/art/collection…
While an unassuming little piece, it falls into a category of artefact long associated with the cult of Apollo Smintheus, the deity who at the beginning of the ‘Iliad’ visits a plague upon the Greeks for their desecration of his temple and the mistreatment of his priest, Chryses.
These figurines are common throughout the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, with the British Museum alone holding 15 examples, including this dapper little chap sporting a Papposilenos mask.

Image: British Museum (1876,0510.2). Link – britishmuseum.org/collection/obj…
Read 11 tweets
May 24
#LatinForTheDay – 24 May #Catullus

“Lesbia mi praesente viro mala plurima dicit:
haec illi fatuo maxima laetitiast.
mule, nihil sentis. si nostri oblita taceret,...
"...sana esset: nunc quod gannit et obloquitur,
non solum meminit, sed quae multo acrior est res,
iratast. hoc est, uritur et loquitur.”

Catullus 83
‘Lesbia throws so much shade at me, whenever her husband is about:
Her sniping’s a source of great joy to that dull-witted slob.
Dumbass – you know bugger all! If she were silent, oblivious to me,...
Read 6 tweets

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