Bern Riddle 54: De insubulis
NEVILLEMOGFORD
Date: Fri 04 Dec 2020Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Bern Riddle 54: De insubulis
Original text:
Duo generantur multo sub numero fratres,
Nomine sub uno divisus quisque natura.
Pauper atque dives pari labore premuntur.
Pauper semper habet divesque saepe requiret.
Caput illis nullum, sed os cum corpore cingunt.
Nam stantes nihil, sed iacentes plurima portant.
Translation:
Two brothers are born under a great number,
and each is distinguished by nature under one name.
Rich and poor are pushed down by an equal effort.
The poor always has and the rich often needs.
They have no head, but rather their body surrounds their mouth.
Standing, they carry nothing, but lying down, they carry a great deal.
Loom beams (?)
Notes:
This edition is based on Karl Strecker, ed., Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Vol. 4.2 (Berlin, MGH/Weidmann, 1923), page 756.
Line 6 follows Fr. Glorie, ed., Variae collectiones aenigmatum Merovingicae aetatis, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 133A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1968), page 601. The title, De insubulis, is the plural form of Glorie's De insubulo.
Tags: latin Bern Riddles