RIDDLE POSTS BY CONTRIBUTOR: ALEXANDRAREIDER

Eusebius Riddle 45: De cameleone

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Muneror orbiculis ut pardus discolor albis.
Lucror equo collum par forte pedesque buballo
Et cephal aptatum tuberosi more cameli,
Respectaeque rei cuiusque resumo colorem.

Translation:

I am graced with little bright spots like the particolored pard.
By chance I acquired a neck like a horse and feet like an ox
And a head suitable for a hump-back camel,
And I take on the color of everything I see.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the chameleon and camelopard, or giraffe


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Aldhelm Riddle 45: Fusum

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

In saltu nascor ramosa fronde virescens,
Sed fortuna meum mutaverat ordine fatum,
Dum veho per collum teretem vertigine molam:
Tam longa nullus zona praecingitur heros.
Per me fata virum dicunt decernere Parcas;
Ex quo conficitur regalis stragula pepli.
Frigora dura viros sternant, ni forte resistam.

Translation:

In a forest was I born, verdant on a branching bough, 
But fortune changed my fate as is the way,
Because I transport thread, spinning with my rounded neck:
For no hero is girded with as long a belt.
Through me, they say, the Parcae determine the fates of men;
From this is prepared the royal covering of a cloak.
Harsh cold would cast men down if I did not remain strong.

Click to show riddle solution?
Spindle


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 45: Rosa

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Purpura sum terrae, pulcro perfusa colore;
Saeptaque, ne violer, telis defendor acutis.
O felix, longo si possim vivere fato!

Translation:

I am crimson in the earth, imbued with a beautiful colour;
And enclosed, so that I may not be violated, I am defended by sharp points.
O happy, if I were able to live out a long fate!

Click to show riddle solution?
Rose


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: colore > rubore


Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 46: De leopardo

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Saeva mihi genitrix atroxque est leaena decreta
Crudelisque pater pardus, pardaeque maritus.
Hinc velox, ferus; hinc trux atque robustus et audax.
Nascitur ex ipsis coniunctum nomen habendo.

Translation:

To me was decreed a raging mother, a fierce and lewd lioness, (1) 
And a cruel panther father, mate of the pantheress.
From one am I swift and wild; from one am I harsh, strong, and bold.
My name arises from conjoining them.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the leopard


Notes:

(1) I use multiple adjectives here to render the pun inherent in the Latin lena: lena is slang for a lascivious woman, and the very similar leaena means “lioness.” To preserve the joke, I was going to translate it as “cougar,” but the riddle hinges on the idea that the name of a “leo-pard” derives from both its parents, so it was crucial to keep the element of “lion.”



Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Aldhelm Riddle 46: Urtica

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Torqueo torquentes, sed nullum torqueo sponte
Laedere nec quemquam volo, ni prius ipse reatum
Contrahat et viridem studeat decerpere caulem.
Fervida mox hominis turgescunt membra nocentis:
Vindico sic noxam stimulisque ulciscor acutis.

Translation:

I torture my torturers, but I torture no one happily,
Nor do I wish to hurt anyone, unless he commit offence
First and desire to pluck my green stem. 
The limbs of the harm-doing man immediately grow hot and swollen:
Thus I avenge my injury and take revenge with my sharp stings.

Click to show riddle solution?
Nettle


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 46: Viola

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Magna quidem non sum, sed inest mihi maxima virtus:
Spiritus est magnus, quamvis sim corpore parvo;
Nec mihi germen habet noxam nec culpa ruborem.

Translation:

I am certainly not big, but there is the greatest strength in me:
My aroma is great, although I am small in body;
My sprout does not cause harm and guilt does not make me blush.

Click to show riddle solution?
Violet


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 47: De scitali serpente

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Aspera orbiculis tergo scutalibus hirtis
Dorsa stupescentes trucidare solesco venenis.
Quos celeres cursu non coepi, capto colore.
Fervida natura, pressis hiemeque pruinis
Exuvias positura meas, brumalia calcans
Frigora. Continuis lucrabor nomina notis.

Translation:

I am accustomed to slaying with poisons those astonished 
At my uneven back, with its rough, shield-shaped disks at the rear.
Those fast ones I could not lay hold of in their passage, I catch with colour.
In winter, when frost closes in, I—hot by nature—
Will molt my skin, trampling on the wintry
Cold. I get my names from my continuous markings.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the scytale serpent


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Aldhelm Riddle 47: Hirundo

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Absque cibo plures degebam marcida menses,
Sed sopor et somnus ieiunia longa tulerunt;
Pallida purpureo dum glescunt gramine rura,
Garrula mox crepitat rubicundum carmina guttur.
Post teneros fetus et prolem gentis adultam
Sponte mea fugiens umbrosas quaero latebras;
Si vero quisquam pullorum lumina laedat,
Affero compertum medicans cataplasma salutis
Quaerens campestrem proprio de nomine florem.

Translation:

I was living without food for several months, wasting away, 
But slumber and sleep supported the long fasts;
When the pale countryside blazes with radiant plants,
My ruddy throat immediately twitters away in chattering songs.
After my young offspring and my kind’s offspring are grown,
I flee of my own will and seek shady refuges;
But if indeed someone should injure my chicks’ eyes,
I, as the doctor, provide a proven poultice for health,
Seeking a flower of the field of my own name. 

Click to show riddle solution?
Swallow


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 47: Tus

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Dulcis odor nemoris flamma fumoque fatigor,
Et placet hoc superis, medios quod mittor in ignes,
Cum mihi peccandi meritum natura negavit.

Translation:

The sweet scent of the grove, I am fatigued by flame and smoke,
And it is pleasing to the gods that I am sent into the middle of the flames,
Because nature denied me the reward of sinning.

Click to show riddle solution?
Incense


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 3 is from a different manuscript family: Nec mihi poena datur, sed habetur gratia dandi


Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 48: De die et nocte

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Non sumus aequales, quamvis ambaeque sorores.
Tetrica nam facie est una stans, altera pulchra.
Horrida sed requiem confert, et grata laborem.
Non simul et semper sumus at secernimur ipsi.

Translation:

We are not equals, although we are both sisters.
For one stands gloomy of face, the other, beautiful.
But the dreadful one brings rest, and the pleasant one, labour.
Always are we not together but are separated.

Click to show riddle solution?
On day and night


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Aldhelm Riddle 48: Vertico poli

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Sic me formavit naturae conditor almus:
Lustro teres tota spatiosis saecula ciclis;
Latas in gremio portans cum pondere terras
Sic maris undantes cumulos et caerula cludo.
Nam nihil in rerum natura tam celer esset,
Quod pedibus pergat, quod pennis aethera tranet,
Accola neu ponti volitans per caerula squamis
Nec rota, per girum quam trudit machina limphae,
Currere sic posset, ni septem sidera tricent.

Translation:

Thus did the holy creator of nature form me: 
Round, I roam all of space in long cycles;
Carrying the wide world with its weight on my lap,
Thus do I enclose the swelling masses and waves of the sea.
For there is nothing in the nature of things that would be as quick—
Nothing which goes on foot, which goes through the airs on wing, 
Or which, scaly resident of the sea, flies through the ocean blue,
Nor the wheel which a water-mill pushes in its turning—
Nothing could run thus if the seven planets did not slow me.

Click to show riddle solution?
Revolution of the Heavens


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 48: Murra

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

De lacrimis et pro lacrimis mea coepit origo.
Ex oculis fluxi, sed nunc ex arbore nascor,
Laetus honor frondis, tristis sed imago doloris.

Translation:

From tears and for tears my beginning began.
I flowed from the eyes, but now I am born from a tree,
A happy honour to a leaf, but a sad image of sorrow.

Click to show riddle solution?
Myrrh


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 3: frondis > frondi


Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 49: De amphisbaena serpente

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Flexosis geminum contractibus in caput errans
Curro, caput nam trux aliud mea cauda retentat.
Flammigeros gestans animos ex more lucernae,
Viperei generis solam, me confero brumae.

Translation:

Toing and froing in sinuous contractions, on a double head
I move, for my tail contains another fierce head.
Bearing spirits fiery like a lamp,
I bring myself, alone among viper-kind, into the cold.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the two-headed snake


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Aldhelm Riddle 49: Lebes

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Horrida, curva, capax, patulis fabricata metallis
Pendeo nec caelum tangens terramve profundam,
Ignibus ardescens necnon et gurgite fervens;
Sic geminas vario patior discrimine pugnas,
Dum latices limphae tolero flammasque feroces.

Translation:

Horrid, curved, capacious, made from beaten metals
I hang, touching neither the sky nor the vast earth,
Heated by fire and also boiling with swirling water;
Thus I endure twin battles with their various risks,
For as long as I tolerate the water’s liquid and the fierce flames. 

Click to show riddle solution?
Cauldron


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 49: Ebur

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Dens ego sum magnus populis cognatus Eois;
Nunc ego per partes in corpora multa recessi;
Nec remanent vires, sed formae gratia mansit.

Translation:

I am a great tooth, related to the people of the East;
Now I have receded into many bodies throughout the regions;
Strength does not remain, but the grace of the form abides.

Click to show riddle solution?
Ivory


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: cognatus > prognatus


Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 50: De saura lacerto

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Porro, senectutis fugiens discrimina ferre,
Lumina fuscantur mihi, sicque foramina tecti
Illa parte domus quae solis spectat in ortum
Intro, ac Titanis radiis inluminor ipsis.

Translation:

Furthermore, fleeing tolerance of old age’s ravages, 
My eyes are deprived of light, and thus into openings in the roof
On that side of the house which looks toward the sunrise
I enter, and I am illuminated by the rays of Titan themselves.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the lizard


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Aldhelm Riddle 50: Myrifyllon

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Prorsus Achivorum lingua pariterque Latina
Mille vocor viridi folium de cespite natum.
Idcirco decies centenum nomen habebo,
Cauliculis florens quoniam sic nulla frutescit
Herba per innumeros telluris limite sulcos.

Translation:

In the language of the Greeks and likewise in Latin 
I am straightforwardly called “thousand-leaf,” born from the green field. 
For this reason I shall have my hundred-fold name ten times,
Since, blooming on its stalk, no plant shoots up on a path thus
Among the innumerable furrows of the earth.

Click to show riddle solution?
Milfoil


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 50: Fenum

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Herba fui quondam viridi de gramine terrae;
Sed chalybis duro mollis praecisa metallo
Mole premor propria, tecto conclusa sub alto.

Translation:

I was once grass, from the herb of the green earth;
But, tender when I was cut short by the steel’s hard metal,
I am pressed down by my own mass, enclosed under a high roof.

Click to show riddle solution?
Hay


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:

  • Title: Fenum > faenum


Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 51: De scorpione

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Vermibus ascriptus nec non serpentibus atris,
Quislibet utrorum sociatus, ab ore solesco
Armari bino; quod vulnere corpore caudae
Inficiens, virum diffundo. (1) Hinc Grece vocabor,
Et, reliquos mordens artus, non vulnero palmas.

Translation:

Ascribed the status of worms and also of deadly serpents,
Allied with either of them, I am typically armed
With a second mouth; because, poisoning the body with a wound
From my tail, I pour out into the man. From this I get my name in Greek,
And, biting other limbs, I do not wound the palms.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the scorpion


Notes:

(1) Other editions read virus (poison), but virum (man) is the reading in both manuscripts and makes a kind of sense.



Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Aldhelm Riddle 51: Eliotropus

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Sponte mea nascor fecundo cespite vernans;
Fulgida de croceo flavescunt culmina flore.
Occiduo claudor, sic orto sole patesco:
Unde prudentes posuerunt nomina Graeci.

Translation:

I am born in a fertile field, flourishing of my own accord;
The shining peaks grow yellow with golden blossom.
When the sun is in the west I am closed, and by the same token I open at sunrise:
Whence the wise Greeks set my name. 

Click to show riddle solution?
Heliotrope


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 51: Mola

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 09 Sep 2022
Original text:

Ambo sumus lapides, una sumus, ambo iacemus.
Quam piger est unus, tantum non est piger alter:
Hic manet inmotus, non desinit ille moveri.

Translation:

We are both rocks, we are one, we both lie together.
One is as lazy as the other is not lazy:
This one stays unmoving, that one does not stop being moved.

Click to show riddle solution?
Millstone


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 52: De cymera

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Porro, triforme ferum vel monstrum fingor inorme.
Setiger aptavit leo rictibus ora nefandis;
Postremas partes draco diras indidit atrox;
Cetera formae membra dedit fera caprea velox,
Cum filologi me dicunt considere montem
Nunc Cilicum, capreasque leones atque chelidros
Gignentem. Studio virtuteque Bellerofontis
Sic velut occisus dicor, cum nunc habitari
Illius ingenio possum fortique labore.

Translation:

Next, I am represented as a tri-form or an enormous monster. 
A hairy lion fitted out my face with wicked jaws;
A fierce dragon equipped me with my fearful posterior parts;
A swift wild doe gave the other parts of my figure,
Though scholars now say that I am considered a Cilician
Mountain, begetting goats and lions
And snakes. By the zeal and bravery of Bellerephon
I am thus said to have been slain, so to speak, for now I can be
Inhabited through his skill and great labour.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the chimera


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Aldhelm Riddle 52: Candela

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Original text:

Materia duplici palmis plasmabar apertis.
Interiora mihi candescunt: viscera lino
Seu certe gracili iunco spoliata nitescunt;
Sed nunc exterius flavescunt corpora flore,
Quae flammasque focosque laremque vomentia fundunt,
Et crebro lacrimae stillant de frontibus udae.
Sic tamen horrendas noctis repello latebras;
Reliquias cinerum mox viscera tosta relinquunt.

Translation:

I was molded from two-fold material by open hands.
My interior gleams: my innards, stripped
From flax or indeed the slender rush, shine;
But now my body shines golden, like a flower, on the outside,
Which—giving off fire and flames and light—melts down,
And wet teardrops drip frequently from my brow.
Nevertheless, thus do I repel night’s horrible refuges;
My toasted innards soon leave the remains of ash. 

Click to show riddle solution?
Candle


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 52: Farina

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 09 Sep 2022
Original text:

Inter saxa fui quae me contrita premebant,    
Vix tamen effugi totis conlisa medullis;
Et iam forma mihi minor est, sed copia maior.

Translation:

I was between the stones, which pressed me, crushed,
And yet I, shattered, hardly escaped with all my marrow;
And now my shape is small, but my supply is bigger.

Click to show riddle solution?
Flour


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 53: De ypotoma pisce

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Nomen imago dedit servandum voce Pelasga.
Narratur mihi quod dorsum, iuba, hinnitus aeque
Assimilatus equo, sed rostrum vertit aduncum
Ad frontem versus, mordens ceu dentibus apri.
Rorifluo cunctos degens in gurgite phoebos, 
Rura per umbriferas depascor florida noctes.

Translation:

My appearance gave me my name preserved in the Pelasgian tongue.
It is said that my back, mane, and neighing too
Are compared to a horse, but my hooked snout turns
Toward my forehead, biting with teeth as would befit a wild boar.
I spend all my days in the flowing river, 
And through the shadowy nights I feed on flowery fields.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the hippo-potama fish


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius