CERTAMINA
A. RECITATIONES: oral delivery of a passage. This year we have provided
(i.) a prose passage arranged as a short play to be presented by three personae: Narrator, Sibyl, Tarquinius Superbuos.
(ii.) a passage from Vergil that may be recited by one person (the Sibyl) or by two, the Sibyl’s words framed by the narrator.
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Skeletal drama for Tarquin and the Siby (i.e. you may enhance),
adapted from a story in Latin and the Romans
Narrator: Ōlim ad Tarquinium Superbum, septimum et ultimum rēgem Rōmae, appropinquāvit fēmina senissima quae secum novem librōs portābat. Hōs librōs rēgī ostendit...
Sibyl: Hī librī, ō rēx, divīna ōrācula sunt. Da mihi satis pecūniae et tibi hōs librōs tradam. Nōnne eōs cupis?
[librōs spectāns] Tarquinius Superbus: Quantum pretium petis?
Narrator: Fēmina magnum pretium prō novem librīs quaesīvit.
Tarquinius Superbus: Pretium nōn est aequum! Librōs tuōs cape ac discēde! Valē!
Narrator: Illa quidem sine morā discessit et trēs ex novem librīs exussit. Post paucōs diēs fēmina ad rēgem revēnit et quaesīvit:
Sibyl: Nōnne tū, ō rēx, sex reliquōs librōs jam coemere cupis?
Tarquinius Superbus: Quantum pretium hōrum sex librōrum nunc petis?
Sibyl: Idem pretium hodiē petō quod anteā petīvī.
Tarquinius Superbus: Mehercule! Prō reliquīs sex librīs tantum pretium omnīno nōn dabō! Tē tuōsque librōs ē rēgnō meō celeriter remove! [et ille eam rīsit]
Narrator: Fēmina iterum discessit et trēs ex reliquīs librīs iterum exussit. Mox rūrsus adfuit et idem pretium pro reliquīs librīs petīvit. Regī ita dīxit:
Sibyl: Ego, ō rēx, magna Cumārum Sibylla sum, famā nōta in omnī orbe terrārum. Librōs meōs coemere dēbēs, nam multa dē fortūnīs populī Rōmānī nārrant. Sī eōs coemēs, tibi atque populō tuō praesidium dabunt. Idem pretium iterum petō quod anteā petītum est.
Narrator: Hōc tempore autem Tarquinius nōn rīdēbat. Itaque rēx eōdem pretiō reliquōs librōs coēmit.
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Vergil –– the Sibyl’s prophecy to Aeneas(VI.83–98). Optional, but desirable narrator role to set up and finish the Sibyl’s prophecy ( 77–82, 98–91)
Vergil, Aeneid VI. 77–101
At Phoebī nōndum patiēns, immānis in antrō
bacchātur vātēs, magnum sī pectore possit
excussisse deum; tanto magis ille fatīgat
ōs rabidum, fera corda domāns, fingitque premendō. 80
Ōstia iamque domūs patuēre ingentia centum
sponte suā, vātisque ferunt respōnsa per aurās:
“Ō tandem magnīs pelagī dēfūncte perīclīs
(sed terrae graviōra manent), in rēgna Lavīnī
Dardanidae venient (mitte hanc dē pectore cūram), 85
sed nōn et vēnisse volent. Bella, horrida bella,
et Thybrim multō spūmantem sanguine cernō.
Nōn Simoīs tibi nec Xanthus nec Dōrica castra
dēfuerint; alius Latiō iam partus Achillēs,
nātus et ipse deā; nec Teucrīs addita Iūnō 90
usquam aberit, cum tū supplex in rēbus egēnīs
quās gentīs Italum aut quās nōn ōrāveris urbīs!
Causa malī tantī coniūnx iterum hospita Teucrīs
externīque iterum thalamī.
Tū nē cēde malīs, sed contrā audentior ītō 95
quam tua tē fortūna sinet. Via prīma salūtis,
quod minimē rēris, Graiā pandētur ab urbe.”
Tālibus ex adytō dictīs Cūmaea Sibylla
horrendās canit ambāgīs, antrōque remūgit,
obscūrīs vēra involvēns; ea frēna furentī 100
concutit, et stimulōs sub pectore vertit Apollō.
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B. SCRIPTIONES: a Haiku written about the Sybil, inspired either by a student’s research on the figure of the Sibyl or inspired by one of the photos below.
A Haiku is a short poem of 17 syllables in three lines, arranged 5-7-5. Should one of your students want the challenge of a metrical haiku, please put them in contact with me and a tutor will work directly with them. It may be me.
