RIDDLE POSTS BY CONTRIBUTOR: ALEXANDRAREIDER

Symphosius Riddle 31: Phoenix

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Vita mihi mors est; morior si coepero nasci.
Sed prius est fatum leti quam lucis origo.
Sic solus Manes ipsos mihi dico parentes.

Translation:

My life is death; if I die I begin to be born.
But before the fate of death is the beginning of light.
Thus I alone call the Manes themselves my parents.

Click to show riddle solution?
Phoenix


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.

If you're researching/studying this collection, you should also consult this excellent new edition: T. J. Leary, ed. Symphosius: The Aenigmata, An Introduction, Text and Commentary. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Textual differences in that edition include:

  • Ordering: Leary orders Riddles 29-31 as: phoenix, ericius, peduculus, while also acknowledging the possibility of the order here


Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 32: De membrano

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Antea per nos vox resonabat verba nequaquam.
Distincta sine nunc voce edere verba solemus.
Candida sed cum arva, lustramur milibus atris.
Viva nihil loquimur; responsum mortua famur.

Translation:

Formerly a voice did not utter words through us at all.
Now it is our custom to declare words without articulated voice.
Though white fields, we are traversed by innumerable black things.
Alive, we say nothing; dead, we speak our response.

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On parchment


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 32: De sagitta

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Armigeros inter Martis, me bella subire
Obvia fata iuvant et corpora sternere leto,
Insidiasque gregi cautas inferre ferino,
Nunc iuvenum laetos inter discurrere caetus.

Translation:

Among Mars’ soldiers, the fates are ready to help
Me to wage war and scatter bodies in death,
And to set prudent plots against the wild animal,
And now to run around among the cheerful groups of youths.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the arrow


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 32: Pugillares

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Melligeris apibus mea prima processit origo,
Sed pars exterior crescebat cetera silvis;
Calciamenta mihi tradebant tergora dura.
Nunc ferri stimulus faciem proscindit amoenam
Flexibus et sulcos obliquat adinstar aratri,
Sed semen segiti de caelo ducitur almum,
Quod largos generat millena fruge maniplos.
Heu! tam sancta seges diris extinguitur armis.

Translation:

My first origin came from honeybees, 
But my other, outer part grew in the forest;
Stiff skins gave me shoes.
Now the iron stylus cuts through my lovely face,
With its turnings and twists cuts grooves like a plough,
But the crop’s holy seed is brought from heaven, 
And it propagates bountiful bundles with its thousand-strong fruit.
Alas! Such a holy harvest is killed by fearful arms. 

Click to show riddle solution?
Writing Tablets


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 32: Taurus

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Moechus eram regis, sed lignea membra sequebar.
Et Cilicum mons sum, sed mons sum nomine solo.
Et vehor in caelis et in ipsis ambulo terris.

Translation:

I was an adulterer of royalty, but I followed wooden limbs.
And I am a Cilician mountain, but I am a mountain only in name.
And I ride in the heavens and walk on the earth itself.

Click to show riddle solution?
Bull


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.

If you're researching/studying this collection, you should also consult this excellent new edition: T. J. Leary, ed. Symphosius: The Aenigmata, An Introduction, Text and Commentary. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Textual differences in that edition include:

  • line 2: mons sum > non sum


Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 33: De scaetha

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

In me multigena sapientia constat habunde,
Nec tamen illud scire, quid est sapientia, possum.
Cum prudentia forte meo processerit ore,
Tunc quod ab internis venit intus habere nequibo.

Translation:

In me wisdom of many kinds stands plentifully,
And yet I cannot know what wisdom is.
If prudence will proceed from my mouth by chance,
I will then be unable to keep inside that which comes from within.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the book-satchel


Notes:

Note: The solution given is a rare Latin word (also spelled scetha), which may be translated as “bookcase, or “book-wallet.” The sense seems to be “container of books.”



Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 33: De igne

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Testatur simplex triplicem natura figuram
Esse meam, haut mortales qua sine vivere possunt.
Multiplici quibus, en, bona munere grata ministro,
Tristitia non numquam tamen; sum haut exorsus ab illis.

Translation:

My single condition is witness to my threefold 
Form, without which mortals are scarcely able to live.   
Indeed, through numerous gifts I provide them with pleasing goods,
Though not never sadness; I was by no means begun by mortals.

Click to show riddle solution?
On fire


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 33: Lorica

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Roscida me genuit gelido de viscere tellus;
Non sum setigero lanarum vellere facta,
Licia nulla trahunt nec garrula fila resultant
Nec crocea Seres texunt lanugine vermes
Nec radiis carpor duro nec pectine pulsor;
Et tamen en vestis vulgi sermone vocabor.
Spicula non vereor longis exempta faretris.

Translation:

The dewy earth birthed me from frozen innards;
I am not made from the bristly sheep’s wool,
No threads are drawn nor do noisy strings thrum, 
Nor do Chinese silk-worms weave me from golden plant-down, 
I am not plucked from the spinning wheel nor struck by the hard carding comb;
And yet, behold, I am called “clothing” in the vulgar tongue.
I do not fear sharp weapons taken out of long quivers. 

Click to show riddle solution?
Mail-coat (armour)


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 33: Lupus

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Dentibus insanis ego sum, qui vinco bidentes,
Sanguineas praedas quaerens victusque cruentos;
Multaque cum rabie vocem quoque tollere possum.

Translation:

With raving teeth, I am he who overcomes two-toothed lambs,
Seeking bloody prey and bloody provision;
And with great rage I am also able to destroy the voice.

Click to show riddle solution?
Wolf


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.

If you're researching/studying this collection, you should also consult this excellent new edition: T. J. Leary, ed. Symphosius: The Aenigmata, An Introduction, Text and Commentary. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Textual differences in that edition include:

  • line 1: vinco > trunco
  • line 3: rabie > rapiam


Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 34: De flumine

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Pergo per innumera flexis discursibus arva,
Sed locus et specialis habet me semper et unus.
Cum duo nomina praecedat mea syllaba eadem,
Incipit hoc una nomen qua syllaba et illud.
Nomine cur isto brevis est et longa per illud?
Littera subtrahitur; post haec fulgebo per orbem.

Translation:

I make my way through innumerable fields with winding streams,
But a special and single place always holds me.
Because the same syllable in me begins two nouns, (1) 
This and that noun begin with the one syllable.
Why is it short in this noun and long in that?
A letter is removed; afterwards I will shine throughout the world. (2)

Click to show riddle solution?
On the river


Notes:

(1) Referring to flumen and fluvius, both Latin words for “river.”
(2) Flumen, minus “f,” becomes lumen (light).
 



Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 34: De faretra

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Omnia enim dirae complent mea viscera flammae,
Nam me flamma ferox stimulis devastat acerbic,
Ut pacis pia mox truculenter foedera frangam.
Non tamen oblectat me sponte subire duellum.

Translation:

Fearful flames truly fill all my insides,
For with bitter stings a fierce fire devastates me,
So that soon I cruelly shatter the pious treaties of peace.
Yet I do not enjoy waging war of my own accord.

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On the quiver


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 34: Locusta

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Quamvis agricolis non sim laudabilis hospes,
Fructus agrorum viridi de cespite ruris
Carpo catervatim rodens de stipite libros,
lamdudum celebris spolians Nilotica regna,
Quando decem plagas spurca cum gente luebant.
Cor mihi sub genibus: nam constat carcere saeptum;
Pectora poplitibus subduntur more rubetae.

Translation:

Although to farmers I may not be a laudable guest, 
I pick the fruit of fields from green country’s turf, 
Gnawing in groups the bark from tree trunks.
I was celebrated long ago for despoiling kingdoms along the Nile
When they and their foul people suffered the ten plagues.
My heart is under my knees: for it stands enclosed in a prison;
Like a poisonous toad, my chest is set under my knees.

Click to show riddle solution?
Locust


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 34: Vulpes

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Exiguum corpus sed cor mihi corpore maius.
Sum versuta dolis, arguto callida sensu;
Et fera sum sapiens, sapiens fera si qua vocatur.

Translation:

My body is small, but my heart is bigger than my body.
I am crafty in tricks, cunning with an artful sense;
And I am a wise beast, insofar as a beast is called wise.

Click to show riddle solution?
Fox


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.



Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 35: De penna

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Natura simplex stans, non sapio undique quicquam,
Sed mea nunc sapiens vestigia quisque sequetur.
Nunc tellurem habitans; prius aethera celsa vagabar.
Candida conspicior, vestigia tetra relinquens.

Translation:

Simple in nature, I do not know anything at all,
But now every wise person will follow my tracks.
Now I live on earth; before I roamed the towering sky.
I am seen to be bright white, leaving dark tracks.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the pen


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 35: De pruna

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Rubricolor, flammor flagrat ceu spargine lumen,
Scintillans, flammae seu ridet gemma rubore.
Nominis intus apex medium si nonus haberet,
Gemma rubens iam non essem, sed grando nivalis.

Translation:

Red-coloured, I am lit as light blazes with a sprinkling, 
Glittering, or as a gem rejoices in the redness of fire.
If the ninth letter should receive the middle of my name,
I would then not be a red gem, but rather snowy hail.

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On the burning coal


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 35: Nycticorax

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Duplicat ars geminis mihi nomen rite figuris;
Nam partem tenebrae retinent partemque volucres.
Elaro me quisquam cernet sub luce serena,
Quin magis astriferas ego nocte fovebo latebras.
Raucisono medium crepitare per aethera suescens
Romuleis scribor biblis, sed voce Pelasga,
Nomine nocturnas dum semper servo tenebras.

Translation:

My power fittingly reproduces my name in two ways;
For the shadows hold part and the birds part. 
Rarely does someone see me in bright light, 
All the more so because at night I keep to starlit lairs. 
I am used to twittering in mid-air in a harsh-sounding way.
I am written in Latin books, though in the Greek language, 
While I always guard nocturnal shadows with my name.

Click to show riddle solution?
Night-raven


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 35: Capra

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Alma Iovis nutrix, longo vestita capillo,
Culmina difficili peragrans super ardua gressu,
Custodi pecoris tremula respondeo lingua.

Translation:

Jove’s nourishing mother, clad in long hair,
Wandering over the high peaks with difficult step,
I respond with tremulous voice to the guardian of the herd

Click to show riddle solution?
Female Goat


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.



Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 36: De gladio

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Sanguinis humani reus, et ferus en ero vindex.
Corpora nunc defendere, nunc cruciare vicissim
Curo, sed haec ago nonnisi cum me quinque coercent.
Partibus attingor tribus, et nece tot pene possum.

Translation:

Guilty of shedding human blood, behold, I will also be an avenger.
Now I desire to defend bodies, now to torture them 
In turn, but I do this only when five control me.
Touched by three parts, and I am hardly capable of that many deaths.

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On the sword


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 36: De ventilabro

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Quae me fata manent iuris testor rogitanti,
Nam, geminis captus manibus, persolvere cogor
Ius, sinuamine complexas et spargere sordes,
Semina quod vitae pululent in pectore solo.

Translation:

I affirm to him asking which fates await me by law,
For, seized by two hands, I am compelled to fulfill
My duty, and to scatter with a back-and-forth movement the bad bits that I grasped,
So that only the seeds of life sprout in the breast.

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On the winnowing fork


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 36: Scnifes

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Corpore sum gracilis, stimulis armatus acerbis;
Scando catervatim volitans super ardua pennis
Sanguineas sumens praedas mucrone cruento
Quadrupedi parcens nulli; sed spicula trudo
Setigeras pecudum stimulans per vulnera pulpas,
Olim famosus vexans Memphitica rura;
Namque toros terebrans taurorum sanguine vescor.

Translation:

I am small in body, armed with sharp stings;
I ascend in a crowd, flying high on wings,
Claiming bloody prey with a gory sword, 
Sparing no quadruped; rather, I thrust my stings,
Pricking the bristly flesh of beasts with wounds,
Once famous for vexing the Egyptian countryside;
And now, drilling through into muscle, I am nourished on the blood of bulls.

Click to show riddle solution?
Stinging Insect


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 36: Porcus

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Setigerae matris fecunda natus in alvo,
Desuper ex alto virides expecto saginas,
Nomine numen habens, si littera prima periret.

Translation:

Born from the fertile womb of a bristly mother,
I expect green feasts from above on high,
I have divinity in my name, if the first letter should disappear.

Click to show riddle solution?
Pig


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.



Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 37: De vitulo

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Post genetrix me quam peperit mea, saepe solesco
Inter ab uno fonte rivos bis vivere binos
Progredientes, et si vixero, rumpere colles
Incipiam; vivos, moriens, aut alligo multos.

Translation:

After my mother gives birth to me, I often become accustomed 
To living among twice-two streams arising from one 
Source, and if I live, I will begin to break 
Hills; otherwise, dying, I bind many living things.

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On the calf


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 37: De seminante

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Vera loquor, quamvis fatum dubitabile fingam:
Quod bona thesauri quae condere destino perdam,
Ut moriantur; quae vero perdenda reservo,
Ceu dulcissima sint auri sub monte metalla.

Translation:

I speak true things, though I make an utterance open to doubt:
That I will lose the goods of my treasury which I intend to store,
So that they die; truly, I keep the things that must be thrown away,
As if they are most pleasant mines of gold under the mountain.

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On the sower


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 37: Cancer

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Nepa mihi nomen veteres dixere Latini:
Humida spumiferi spatior per litora ponti;
Passibus oceanum retrograda transeo versis:
Et tamen aethereus per me decoratur Olimpus,
Dum ruber in caelo bisseno sidere scando;
Ostrea quem metuit duris perterrita saxis.

Translation:

The ancient Latins used to call me “nepa”:
I move along the damp shores of the foamy sea;
I cross the ocean backwards, with turned steps; 
And yet ethereal heaven is decorated with me
When I, red, climb into the sky with twice-six stars;
The oyster, frightened by hard stones, fears me.

Click to show riddle solution?
Crab


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 37: Mula

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Dissimilis matri, patri diversa figura,
Confusi generis, generi non apta propago,
Ex aliis nascor, nec quisquam nascitur ex me.

Translation:

Unlike my mother, of a different shape to my father,
Of mixed species, I am not able to further the breed,
I am born of others but nothing is born from me.

Click to show riddle solution?
Mule


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.



Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius