Symphosius Riddle 78: Scalae

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Sat 10 Sep 2022
Original text:

Nos sumus, ad caelum quae scandimus, alta petentes,
Concordi fabrica quas unus continet ordo,
Ut simul haerentes per nos comitentur  ad auras.

Translation:

We are they who ascend to heaven, seeking the heights,
Which one row contains in a harmonious structure,
Such that they, clinging together, are advanced to the sky.

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Stairs


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: comitentur > comitemur
  • Translation is different (see also the long note in his commentary): “I am what climbs to the sky, seeking the heavens, something which a single series holds in a unified structure so that clinging together I am accompanied to the heights by means of myself.”


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