Against the Barbarian
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Cruel barbarian, bestial man, envious pest,
Who dares to unravel the praises of Peter the Venerable,
I am not surprised that you angrily spit out invective at us.
Since how you rage tends to be typical of a Swabian
You think about our poem in the fashion of your people.
What praise is, what poetry is, what the sweet solace of life is
What peace is, what piety is, what virtue is, or what honour is,
This you do not know, barbarian, therefore, you swell with envy.
Be silent, therefore Cymber, lest my torrent bury you
If you do not desist, not only with these lines
But with many books will I proclaim the battle of Cymber
And all your people will suffer with you for these impious crimes.
homo bestia: Bernard of Morlaix: LLT-A, liber: 2, versus: 843 (pag.: 66) “Est homo bestia, ventris et hostia, bestianempè, / Ventre que turgida, dente que vivida, mortua mente.”
vitae dulce levamen: Euripides? Medea? Or Catullus, Carmina Maiora 68 (line 61): reference to a river. But also possibly to Horace’s dulce lenimenof Odes 1.32.15. where, in this ode to his lyre, he calls the lyre a o laborum / … dulce lenimen. Horace draws on Catullan poetry. See Thomas K Hubbard, “Horace and Catullus: the Case of the Suppressed Precursor in Odes1.22 and 1.32”, The Classical World94.1 (2000), 25-37, here p. 29-30. He states, "In this poem, Horace envokes the lyre to assist him in a latin carmen. The word used by Horace for lyre is a Grecism voc. barbite.As noted “The lyre is invoked and enjoined by the poet to assist him in a Latinum carmen; the paradox of the undertaking is underlined by the blad juxtaposition of Latinumwith the strong Grecism, barbitos. Having stated his prayer, the poet goes on to adduce Alcaeus as his prime lyric model …. Thus the lyre which in its youth had sung classical Greek lyrics is asked, in its maturity, to join Horace in singing Italian ones.” The poem is superficially about Alceaus warrior and storm tossed sailor using song to escape the travails of everyday life. The poem furthermore is about how Horace shows that he uses classical Greek models and that an aesthetic debt is owed to Alexandria. See Emily A. McDermott, Greek and Roman Elements in Horace’s Lyric Program, Aufstieg Und Niedergang Der Romischen Welt, Geschichte Und Kultur Roms Im Spiegel Der Neueren Forschung Berlin – New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1981), p. 1647-49.