Bern Riddle 27: De papiro
NEVILLEMOGFORD
Date: Sat 28 Nov 2020Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Bern Riddle 27: De papiro
Original text:
Amnibus delector molli sub cespite cretus
Et producta levi natus columna viresco.
Vestibus sub meis non queo cernere solem;
Aliena tectus possum producere lumen.
Filius profundi dum fior lucis amicus,
Sic quae vitam dedit mater, et lumina tollit.
Translation:
Grown up in soft grasses, streams make me happy,
And once born, I grow as a fast, verdant stem.
Under my clothing, I cannot see the sun;
covered by another, I can give out a light.
When I, a son of the depths, am turned into a friend of light,
my mother, who gave life, takes away the light.
Papyrus plant
Notes:
This edition is based on Karl Strecker, ed., Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Vol. 4.2 (Berlin, MGH/Weidmann, 1923), page 746.
Line 1 follows the preferred reading in Fr. Glorie, ed., Variae collectiones aenigmatum Merovingicae aetatis, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 133A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1968), page 573.
Tags: latin Bern Riddles