Griphus ternarii numeri

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Griphus ternarii numeri is a 90 hexameter poem that Decimus Magnus Ausonius wrote in Latin at the end of the 4th century AD . It forms an ingenious game with references to the number three in numerous fields of knowledge, myths and poetry. A dedication letter to Quintus Aurelius Symmachus is preceded by this .

Content and meaning

Griphus ternarii numeri is translated as a riddle about the number three or network of the three number , where griphus (gr. Γριφος ) means "everything artificially woven, ... artificially intertwined speech".

dedication

In his dedication to Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, with whom Ausonius was in correspondence, he uses modesty phrases to disparage his work as a little book thrown out in a short time. At the same time he emphasizes his knowledge of Latin literature by quoting Catullus and Horace . The ecloga Flacci of Horace with its invitation to drink three times inspired him to do this network around the number three. Through the interspersed άμουσότερον (= amusic) and the mention of Plato , he emphasizes that he is also at home in the Greek world. Ausonius sarcastically mentions the licentia militaris (= military exuberance, licentiousness - also with Cicero and Caesar ) at a banquet during a maneuver in which he had participated as a member of the imperial court. There the poem was recited.

The poem

One focus is mythology, which is discussed in verses 7-10, 18-23 and 26b-29. Roman god names such as Ops and Ceres mix with Greek themes such as the deeds of Hercules and themes from the Odyssey . Echoes of the poetry of Catullus and Virgil show the author's erudition. Ausonius can look back on several centuries of ancient mythology and literature. For example, the “three books of the Sybilles” mentioned in verse 85 can be found in Latin literature by Marcus Terentius Varro ( Liber IV de quindecim viris sacrorum 56c) and in Greek by Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( Antiquitates Romanae 4 , 62.) In the 1st century BC And about a century later with Pliny the Elder ( Naturalis historia XIII, 88.).

In addition, Ausonius wants to offer an overview of the knowledge of his time. Philosophy, meteorology, physics, mathematics, law, rhetoric, medicine, music and religion are briefly touched. But these are only brief, poorly founded highlights. Regarding mathematics (verses 50-60) he mentions the perfect number , but does not define it, but only describes its smallest expression (6 = 1 + 2 + 3 and thus the sum of its divisors) with the dark words:

“... ut idem / congrege ter terno per ter tria dissolvatur”

"... so that the same / after amalgamation of three times three is dissolved by three times three"

- Translation by Paul Dräger

Apparently he was intrigued by the mention of the number three and the three factors.

In one of the last half verses he commemorates the Trinity , an essential dogma of Christianity , to which Ausonius dedicated an emotional prayer in his poem Ephemeris (3) with “tris deus unus” (= “three are one God”) .

Lore

The work of Ausonius has been preserved in numerous manuscripts. Griphus ternarri numeri is contained in each of the three main lines of transmission and was included in the complete editions. Yet the poem received little attention. Only in F. Sylvius is there a comment that was printed in Paris in 1516.

Editions and translations

literature

  • RPH Green: Introduction. In: Derselbe (Ed.): The works of Ausonius. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-198-14463-6 .
  • WL Liebermann: D. Magnus Ausonius. In: Reinhart Herzog (Hrsg.): Handbook of the Latin literature of antiquity. Volume 5: Restoration and Renewal. The Latin literature from AD 284 to 374. CH Beck, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-31863-0 , pp. 268-308.
  • Manfred Joachim Lossau (Ed.): Ausonius (= ways of research . Volume 652). Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1991, ISBN 3-534-03157-1 .
  • Sextus Prete: Praefatio. In: Derselbe (Ed.): Decimi Magni Ausonii Burdigalensis opuscula ( Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana ). Teubner, Leipzig 1978.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ WL Liebermann: D. Magnus Ausonius. In: Reinhart Herzog (Hrsg.): Handbook of the Latin literature of antiquity. Volume 5: Restoration and Renewal. The Latin literature from 284 to 374 AD. CH Beck, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-31863-0 , pp. 268-308, here p. 296
  2. ^ Wilhelm Pape : Greek-German concise dictionary.
  3. ^ Karl Ernst Georges : Comprehensive Latin-German concise dictionary.
  4. ^ Pierre Langlois: The Christian Poems and Christianity of Ausonius. In: Manfred Joachim Lossau (Ed.): Ausonius (= ways of research . Volume 652). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1991, ISBN 3-534-03157-1 , pp. 59-79.
  5. ^ Sextus Prete: Praefatio. In: Derselbe (Ed.): Decimi Magni Ausonii Burdigalensis opuscula ( Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana ). Teubner, Leipzig 1978, SX
  6. ^ RPH Green: The works of Ausonius In: Derselbe (ed.): The works of Ausonius. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-198-14463-6 , pp. XXXII-XXXVII.