Synopsis (by C.H. Moore): "A hymn to Faunus as protector of the flocks and herds. The occasion, as the tenth verse shows, was not the great city festival of the Lupercalia on February 15, but the country celebration which fell on the 5th of December. The first two strophes contain the prayer for the god's favor; the remaining two describe the holiday."
| Text | Crib | |
|---|---|---|
|
Faune, nympharum fugientium amator, per meos finis et aprica rura lenis incedas, abeasque paruis aequus alumnis, |
Faunus, lover of fleeing nymphs, may you walk gently through my property and the sunny countryside, and may you depart in kindliness to my young flock, |
|
|
5 |
si tener pleno cadit haedus anno, larga nec desunt Veneris sodali uina craterae, uetus ara multo fumat odore. |
if at the year's end a tender kid goat falls [as sacrifice to you] and much wine fills the bowl (companion to Venus), [and] the old altar is smoky with abundant fragrance. |
|
10 |
Ludit herboso pecus omne campo, cum tibi nonae redeunt Decembres; festus in pratis uacat otioso cum boue pagus; |
The whole herd sports on the grassy plain, when the fifth of December returns in your honor; the festive rural folk loll about in the meadows with the ox which is free [from the yoke]; |
|
15 |
inter audacis lupus errat agnos, spargit agrestis tibi silua frondis, gaudet inuisam pepulisse fossor ter pede terram. |
the wolf wanders amidst the fearless lambs, the forest scatters its wild leaves for you; the peasant delights to have struck the hated ground thrice with his foot. |
1 The prayer occupying the first two strophes follows a "quid pro quo" (something in return for something) pattern common in ancient literature:
The Roman god Faunus and his Greek counterpart Pan are often found near nymphs: Menander, The Ill-Tempered Man (Dyskolos) 37; Lucretius 4.580-581; Vergil, Georgics 2.495.
3 Eduard Fraenkel (Horace, p. 204, n. 4) points out that often in prayers "it was the custom to describe in detail the manner in which a daemon or god was to make his entrance. Special attention was paid to his gait (incessus) and sometimes also to the manner in which he was to set his feet on the ground and to his footwear." Fraenkel cites many examples, of which Catullus 61.9-10, addressed to Hymenaeus, is one: "Come hither, wearing yellow slippers on your snow-white feet" (huc ueni niueo gerens / luteum pede soccum).
5 Horace, Odes 1.4.11-12: "Now also it is fitting to sacrifice to Faunus in the shady groves, whether he demands a lamb, or whether he prefers a kid goat" (nunc et in umbrosis Fauno decet immolare lucis, / seu poscit agna siue malit haedo).
6-7 Terence, Eunuchus 732: "Without Ceres (goddess of grain) and Liber (god of wine), Venus (goddess of love) is cold" (sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus), quoted also by Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, 2.23.60.
9 The grass is still green in early December.
11 The picture of peasants resting on the meadow recalls Ovid's description of the feast of Anna Perenna on March 15 (Fasti 3.525): "The common folk come and drink while scattered here and there throughout the green grass" (plebs uenit ac uirides passim disiecta per herbas / potat).
12 Ovid, Fasti 1.669: "Let the rustic folk keep their festival" (pagus agat festum).
Instead of pagus (country folk), some manuscripts read pardus (panther), which probably arose from a reminiscence of the Vulgate translation of Isaiah 11.6: "The wolf will live with the lamb, and the panther will lie down with the kid goat" (habitabit lupus cum agno, et pardus cum haedo accubabit).
13 Faunus also protects Horace's kid goats from wolves at Odes 2.17.9.
14 Pelting someone with leaves is a mark of honor:
15 The peasant hates the ground because of the toil it exacts from him. L.P. Wilkinson, The Georgics of Virgil (Cambridge: The University Press, 1969), p. 53, cites a humorous modern parallel: "I remember a college waiter who annually, after the staff supper in the hall, used to dance with evident satisfaction on the High Table."
16 A reference to the three-step dance known as the tripudium.
Horace's description of rustic merrymaking brings to mind certain paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569), such as The Peasant Dance.
Faunus, who after Nymphs dost range,
Through my precincts, and fruitful Graunge
Pass gently, and propitious be
To flocks, and me.
A tender Kid the year shall end,
Full cups of liquor (Venus friend)
We'l pay; Fumes shall on Altars flie
In odours high.
Beasts, when Decembers Nones appear,
In grazy grounds make sportive chear:
The jocund Clown in Meads doth feast;
The Oxe doth rest.
The Wolf 'mongst fearless Lambs doth stray,
Woods strew thee leafs upon this day;
The Ditcher joyes with measur'd mirth
To tread the Earth.
Faunus, thou lover of coy nymphs who fly thee,
Enter my bounds, and fields that slope to sunlight;
Enter them gently; and depart, proptitious
To my young weanlings,
If tender kid, when the year rounds, be offered;
If to the bowl, Venus's boon companion,
Fail not libation due! -- With ample incense
Steams thine old altar,
Loose strays the herd on grassy meads disporting,
What time December's Nones bring back thy feast-day;
Blithe, o'er the fields, streams forth the idling hamlet,
Freed -- with its oxen.
Fearless the lambs behold the wolf prowl near them;
The woodland strews its leaves before thy footstep;
And on his hard task-mistress Earth, exulting,
Thrice stamps the delver!
Wooer of young Nymphs who fly thee, Lightly o'er my sun-lit lawn, Trip and go, nor injured by thee Be my weanling herds, O Faun: If the kid his doomed head bows, and Brims with wine the loving cup, When the year is full; and thousand Scents from altars hoar go up. Each flock in the rich grass gambols When the month comes which is thine; And the happy village rambles Fieldward with the kine: Lambs play on, the wolf their neighbour; Wild woods deck thee with their spoil: And with glee the sons of labour Stamp upon their foe the soil.
Walk lightly oe'r my sunny fields and round my little farm, And spare the firstlings of my flock from blight or wasting harm, Dear Faun, who know'st the flying nymphs to follow and to charm. We'll slay a kid, a tender kid of one full year, well grown, And with the wine which Venus loves, the brimming cups we'll crown, And round the ancient altar's horns the incense shall be strown. And when December's nones come round, the nones beloved of thee, In the long grass the herds and flocks shall sport upon the lea; And man and beast in idleness the livelong day shall be. For thee the very wolves shall play the fearless lambs among; For thee the very trees shall shed their leaves so fresh and strong; And the plowman shall adore thee with rustic dance and song.
The scampering Nymphs be free to scare;
But, Faunus, through my sunny ground
Steal gently, and my fatlings spare
Upon thy rounds.
The season's kid thy grace bespeaks,
The bowl of wine is brimming well,
Love's mate: the antique altar reeks
With savoury smell.
Soon as December's Nones return,
The flock from grazing pass to play,
Both ox unyoked and village earn
Their holiday.
Wolves prowl, with fearless lambs around;
The leaf is falling from the oak;
The merry ditcher stamps the ground
With triple stroke.
O wont the flying Nymphs to woo,
Good Faunus, through my sunny farm
Pass gently, gently pass, nor do
My younglings harm.
Each year, thou know'st, a kid must die
For thee; nor lacks the wine's full stream
To Venus' mate, the bowl; and high
The altars steam.
Sure as December's nones appear,
All o'er the grass the cattle play;
The village, with the lazy steer,
Keeps holyday.
Wolves rove among the fearless sheep;
The woods for thee their foliage strow;
The delver loves on earth to leap,
His ancient foe.
Faunus, of flying nymphs the lover,
Walk gentley through my sunny lands,
And, going, let my lands, dear rover,
Have kindness at your hands.
If, when the year dies, from my fold
A tender kid be given to you,
And wine, and if my altar old
Smoke with the incense due.
The sheep in grassy meadow play,
What time is your December feast,
And villagers make holiday,
The oxen are released.
Not then can wolves dismay create;
For you the trees their green leaves shoot;
And clowns, in dance, the earth they hate
Spurn with a flying foot.
Fond wooer of the wood-nymphs fugitive,
Come to my confines, Faunus, to those leas
That take the sun, that visited in peace
With kindly sweet aspect my younglings thrive.
If at the full-orbed year, a kid I give,
And if that bowls, of Venus compeers, please
With full unstinted liquor; if with these
On your hoar altar the thick odours live.
The herds are gladdened with the grasslands sweet,
What time December's Nones are here, when meet
The jocund hinds that loose them with their steer;
The careless lambs the wild wolves wander through,
The woodland lays its wealthy leaves for you,
The delver treads the earth, his only fear!