Bern Riddle 19: De cera/De pice
NEVILLEMOGFORD
Date: Fri 27 Nov 2020Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Bern Riddle 19: De cera/De pice
Original text:
Dissimilem sibi me mater concipit infra
Et nullo virili creta de semine fundor.
Dum nascor sponte, gladio divellor a ventre.
Caesa vivit mater, ego nam flammis aduror.
Nullum clara manens possum concedere quaestum;
Plurem fero lucrum, nigro si corpore mutor.
Translation:
My mother—I am unlike her—conceives me within,
and I am born and made from no manly seed.
While I am born willingly, I am ripped from the womb with a sword.
Cut, my mother lives on, for I am burnt by flames.
Retaining my shine, I can give no profit;
I carry more value if my body is turned dark.
Wax or pitch
Notes:
This edition is based on Karl Strecker, ed., Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Vol. 4.2 (Berlin, MGH/Weidmann, 1923), page 744.
A list of variant readings can be found in Fr. Glorie, ed., Variae collectiones aenigmatum Merovingicae aetatis, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 133A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1968), page 565.
Tags: latin Bern Riddles