Ὧ λευκὰ Γαλάτεια, τί τὸν φιλέοντ’ ἀποβάλλῃ,
λευκοτέρα πακτᾶς ποτιδεῖν, ἁπαλωτέρα ἀρνός …
λευκοτέρα πακτᾶς ποτιδεῖν, ἁπαλωτέρα ἀρνός …
(11.19-20)
O white Galatea, why do you spurn my love?
whiter than cream cheese, softer than a lamb…
whiter than cream cheese, softer than a lamb…
ἐξένθοις, Γαλάτεια, καὶ ἐξενθοῖσα λάθοιο,
ὥσπερ ἐγὼ νῦν ὧδε καθήμενος, οἴκαδ’ ἀπενθεῖν·
ποιμαίνειν δ’ ἐθέλοις σὺν ἐμὶν ἅμα καὶ γάλ’ ἀμέλγειν
καὶ τυρὸν πᾶξαιτάμισον δριμεῖαν ἐνεῖσα.
ὥσπερ ἐγὼ νῦν ὧδε καθήμενος, οἴκαδ’ ἀπενθεῖν·
ποιμαίνειν δ’ ἐθέλοις σὺν ἐμὶν ἅμα καὶ γάλ’ ἀμέλγειν
καὶ τυρὸν πᾶξαιτάμισον δριμεῖαν ἐνεῖσα.
(11.63-66)
Why don’t you come out, Galatea, and when you come out forget,
like me who is sitting here, to go back home?
May you be willing to tend the sheep with me and milk them
and set the cheese putting in sharp rennet.
like me who is sitting here, to go back home?
May you be willing to tend the sheep with me and milk them
and set the cheese putting in sharp rennet.
ὦ Κύκλωψ Κύκλωψ, πᾷ τὰς φρένας ἐκπεπότασαι;
αἴ κ’ ἐνθὼν ταλάρως τε πλέκοις καὶ θαλλὸν ἀμάσας
ταῖς ἄρνεσσι φέροις, τάχα κα πολὺ μᾶλλον ἔχοις νῶν.
τὰν παρεοῖσαν ἄμελγε· τí τὸν φεύγοντα διώκεις;
εὑρησεῖς Γαλάτειαν ἴσως καὶ καλλίον’ ἄλλαν.
αἴ κ’ ἐνθὼν ταλάρως τε πλέκοις καὶ θαλλὸν ἀμάσας
ταῖς ἄρνεσσι φέροις, τάχα κα πολὺ μᾶλλον ἔχοις νῶν.
τὰν παρεοῖσαν ἄμελγε· τí τὸν φεύγοντα διώκεις;
εὑρησεῖς Γαλάτειαν ἴσως καὶ καλλίον’ ἄλλαν.
(11.72-76)
O Cyclops, Cyclops! Where is your sound mind gone?
If you went to weave your baskets or gather shoots
for the lambs, you would show more sense.
Milk the ewe that you have; why chase one that flees from you?
Perhaps you will find another Galatea, even fairer.
If you went to weave your baskets or gather shoots
for the lambs, you would show more sense.
Milk the ewe that you have; why chase one that flees from you?
Perhaps you will find another Galatea, even fairer.
Michael Paschalis has an article on the cheesy connotations of the names Tityrus and Galatea:"Tityrus and Galatea (Virgil, Eclogue 10; An Expected Relationship." It's in 2008, vol. 5 at dictynna.revues.org I quote from it:
"In Theocritus 6 the name is differently contextualized. Here is the passage:
καὶ γάρ θην οὐδ’ εἶδος ἔχω κακὸν ὥς με λέγοντι.
ἦ γὰρ πρᾶν ἐς πόντον ἐσέβλεπον, ἦς δὲ γαλάνα,
καὶ καλὰ μὲν τὰ γένεια, καλὰ δέ μευ ἁ μία κώρα,
ὡς παρ’ ἐμὶν κέκριται, κατεφαίνετο, τῶν δέ τ’ ὀδόντων
λευκοτέραν αὐγὰν Παρίας ὑπεφαίνετο λίθοιο.
ἦ γὰρ πρᾶν ἐς πόντον ἐσέβλεπον, ἦς δὲ γαλάνα,
καὶ καλὰ μὲν τὰ γένεια, καλὰ δέ μευ ἁ μία κώρα,
ὡς παρ’ ἐμὶν κέκριται, κατεφαίνετο, τῶν δέ τ’ ὀδόντων
λευκοτέραν αὐγὰν Παρίας ὑπεφαίνετο λίθοιο.
(6.34-38)
For in truth, I am not as ugly as they say.
Only lately I was looking into the sea, when all was calm,
and I thought my beard looked beautiful, and so did my one eye,
while my teeth gleamed whiter than Parian marble.
Only lately I was looking into the sea, when all was calm,
and I thought my beard looked beautiful, and so did my one eye,
while my teeth gleamed whiter than Parian marble.
- 21 Hunter 1999, 257-258.
As
noted above, in literature the meaning of names is not static but
dynamic; it may change within a collection of poems or within the same
poem. Richard Hunter sums up the semantics of the present passage as
follows: “Whereas in Idyll 11 Polyphemos gazed ἐς πόντον in the
hope of seeing the beloved Galateia (18), here he looks ἐς πόντον and
sees his own beloved self: instead of Γαλάτεια, there is γαλάνα …,
instead of a girl (κώρα, cf. 1.82), there is his eye, κώρα … In Idyll 11 whiteness was on the side of ‘Miss Milky’; now the Cyclops has it”.21
One has to be reminded that we never hear the voice of Galatea but only
the voice of the Cyclops. In other words her name acquires meaning only
through him and according to his viewpoint. In Idyll 11 he sees ‘γάλα’ in her name; here he sees ‘γαλάνα’,
‘calm of the sea’, because it is what suits him and specifically what
permits him to see his own reflection in the water. Theocritean Γαλάτεια
is a purely mental construction. In other words her name exists only in
the Cyclops’ fantasy and is shaped according to his mood and love
passion or strategy. This is the ground where poetry challenges
philology."
 |
| MORETUM |
Speaking of cheese, we should not forget that the Moretum, a pseudo-Vergilian poem, is about the concoction of a flavored cheese sauce, something like pesto:
"The Moretum's most striking passage is the description of the making of the dish itself, in which the changing color and texture of the mixture of garlic, cheese, and herbs in the mortar is carefully observed (99-104, 109-13).
dextera pistillo primum fragrantia mollit
alia, tum pariter mixto terit omnia suco.
it manus in gyrum: paulatim singula vires
deperdunt proprias, color est e pluribus unus,
nec totus viridis, quia lactea frusta repugnant,
nec de lacte nitens, quia tot variatur ab herbis.
. . .
procedebat opus; nec iam salebrosus, ut ante,
sed gravior lentos ibat pistillus in orbis.
ergo Palladii guttas instillat olivi
exiguique super vires infundit aceti
atque iterum commiscet opus mixtumque retractat.
His right hand first softens the pungent garlic, then he mashes everything so the juices mix equally. His hand goes round; gradually the ingredients lose their own character, and one color emerges from them all, not totally green, because the white bits resist, nor shining with the milk, because it is varied by all the herbs.
. . .
The work proceeded; no longer bumpy, as before, but the pestle moved more heavily as it circled. So he pours in drops of Athena's oil and on top of that a little vinegar for sharpness and again he mixes the product and remixes it." William Fitzgerald, "Labor and Laborer in Latin Poetry: the Case of the Moretum."
More on this poem next week, when we consider Eclogue 2.
