XVI
O matre pulchra filia pulchrior,
quem criminosis cumque voles modum
pones iambis, sive flamma
sive mari libet Hadriano.
Non Dindymene, non adytis quatit 5
mentem sacerdotum incola Pythius,
non Liber aeque, non acuta
sic geminant Corybantes aera,
tristes ut irae, quas neque Noricus
deterret ensis nec mare naufragum 10
nec saevus ignis nec tremendo
Iuppiter ipse ruens tumultu.
Fertur Prometheus addere principi
limo coactus particulam undique
desectam et insani leonis
vim stomacho apposuisse nostro. 15
Irae Thyesten exitio gravi
strauere et altis urbibus ultimae
stetere causae, cur perirent
funditus inprimeretque muris 20
hostile aratrum exercitus insolens.
Conpesce mentem: me quoque pectoris
temptavit in dulci iuventa
feruor et in celeres iambos
misit furentem. Nunc ego mitibus 25
mutare quaero tristia, dum mihi
fias recantatis amica
opprobriis animumque reddas.
First the mother and, then, the daughter;
“He also discovered that his predecessor had acquired the next-door neighbor’s wife as mistress and had been making ‘progress’ with her teen-age daughter as reinforcement for her mother’s efforts…” Tattoo, pg. 243.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Empirically, it is hard to fit in a goal-rational w0rld as a value-rational>/I> person. Honor to those who try.
Ishmael Zechariah