Sulpicia: indiscretion has its charms

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Valerie Block

Roman fresco (c. 53-79 CE) of a young woman with stylus and wax tablets, from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Found in Pompeii.

Roman fresco (c. 53-79 CE) from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Found in Pompeii. Probably not the poet Sulpicia, but an ancient woman with a writing implement, nonetheless.

Many women wrote poetry in ancient Rome, but the works of only one have survived. Six short poems written by Sulpicia, the daughter of the jurist and orator Servius Sulpicius Rufus, and the niece of the statesman and patron of the arts Valerius Messalla Corvinus, have survived, handed down as part of the Corpus Tibullianum, a collection of poems by Tibullus and other poets affiliated with Messalla. Sulpicia lived during the time of Augustus.

The above description adapted from Diatoma and The Handbook to life in Ancient Rome, by Lesley Adkins and Roy A. Adkins.

At last. It’s come. Love,
the kind that veiling
will give me reputation more
than showing my soul naked to someone.
I prayed to Aphrodite in Latin, in poems;
she brought him, snuggled him
into my bosom.
Venus has kept her promises:
let her tell the story of my happiness,
in case some woman will be said
not to have had her share.
I would not want to trust
anything to tablets, signed and sealed,
so no one reads me
before my love–
but indiscretion has its charms;
it’s boring
to fit one’s face to reputation.
May I be said to be
a worthy lover for a worthy love.

Seneca on Monday — the key to peace of mind

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Valerie Block

Statue of Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger in Cordoba, Spain, by Amadeo Ruiz Olmos

CV. On Facing the World with Confidence

The most important contribution to peace of mind is never to do wrong. Those who lack self-control lead disturbed and tumultuous lives; their crimes are balanced by their fears, and they are never at ease. For they tremble after the deed, and they are embarrassed; their consciences do not allow them to busy themselves with other matters, and continually compel them to give an answer. Whoever expects punishment, receives it, but whoever deserves it, expects it. Where there is an evil conscience something may bring safety, but nothing can bring ease; for a man imagines that, even if he is not under arrest, he may soon be arrested. His sleep is troubled; when he speaks of another man’s crime, he reflects upon his own, which seems to him not sufficiently blotted out, not sufficiently hidden from view. A wrongdoer sometimes has the luck to escape notice but never the assurance thereof.

Seneca Epistles 93-124, Translation by Richard Gummere. Loeb Classical Library.

Photo credit: Gunnar Bach Pedersen, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

June Word of Mouth

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Valerie Block

Children’s Picture Book: Mr. Particular — Jason Kirschner

Fiction: Red April — Santiago Roncagliolo

Memoir: The Bridge Ladies — Betsy Lerner

Documentary: My Italian Secret — Oren Jacoby

TV: Occupied — Karianne Lund, Jo Nesbø, Erik Skjoldbjærg. Netflix.

Writing: The Clockwork Muse — Eviator Zerubavel

Not-So-Ancient Inspiration: “The bad thing about all religions is that, instead of being able to confess their allegorical nature, they have to conceal it; accordingly, they parade their doctrines in all seriousness as true sensu proprio, and as absurdities form an essential part of these doctrines we have the great mischief of a continual fraud. Nay, what is worse, the day arrives when they are no longer true sensu proprio, and then there is an end of them; so that, in that respect, it would be better to admit their allegorical nature at once. But the difficulty is to teach the multitude that something can be both true and untrue at the same time. Since all religions are in a greater or less degree of this nature, we must recognise the fact that mankind cannot get on without a certain amount of absurdity, that absurdity is an element in its existence, and illusion indispensable; as indeed other aspects of life testify.”

Arthur Schopenhauer, from “The Christian System” in Religion: A Dialogue, and Other Essays, (1910) as translated by Thomas Bailey Saunders, p. 106.

Seneca on Saturday — the dangers of chat

Posted on June 11, 2016 by Valerie Block

Mosaic from the Villa dei Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily. 3-4th century CE.

CV. On Facing the World with Confidence

Nothing, however, will help you so much as keeping still –talking very little with others, and as much as may be with yourself. For there is a sort of charm about conversation, something very subtle and coaxing, which, like intoxication or love, draws secrets from us. No man will keep to himself what he hears. No one will tell another only as much as he has heard. And he who tells tales will tell names, too. Everyone has someone to whom he entrusts exactly what has been entrusted to him. Though he checks his own garrulity, and is content with one hearer, he will bring about him a nation, if that which was a secret shortly before becomes common talk.

Seneca Epistles 93-124, Translation by Richard Gummere. Loeb Classical Library.

Deity of the Month: Vesta

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Valerie Block

Remains of the Temple of Vesta, in the Forum at Rome.

The goddess of the hearth fire. She was identified with Hestia, the Greek goddess of the hearth. In early Rome the family in each household would gather at the hearth once a day to perform a sacrifice to Vesta. There was a small circular temple of Vesta in the Forum at Rome, where the fire on her altar was kept constantly burning by the Vestal Virgins. This eternal flame represented the goddess, who was not portrayed by statues. Vesta had a festival on 9 June.

From Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, by Leslie Adkins, and Roy A. Adkins.

Image courtesy of GinoMM, from Wikimedia Commons

Seneca on Saturday — how to avoid envy II

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Valerie Block

Mosaic in front of a fish monger’s shop in the Piazza of Corporations, Ostia Antica, 3rd century CE. The image is of a dolphin with a fish and an octopus in its jaws. “IMBIDE CALCO TE” means “Envious one, I tread on you.” Photo credit: Eric Taylor, from http://www.ostia-antica.org.

CV. On Facing the World with Confidence

Contempt remains to be discussed. He who has made this quality an adjunct of his own personality, who is despised because he wishes to be despised and not because he must be despised, has the measure of contempt under control. Any inconveniences in this respect can be dispelled by honourable occupations and by friendships with men who have influence with an influential person; with these men it will profit you to engage but not to entangle yourself, lest the cure may cost you more than the risk.

Seneca Epistles 93-124, Translation by Richard Gummere. Loeb Classical Library.