Pisces salsos et fetentes ...

Pisces salsos et fetentes… ( fish in salt and often already smelling… ) is the incipit of a poem that is in the 28th chapter of the second book of the Chronicle of Gallus Anonymus , written in Middle Latin . In terms of content, it is a glorification of youth and physical strength.

shape

The poem is referred to as cantilena ('song') in the 28th chapter . This term is also used by the author for a few other poems, e.g. B. Bolezlaue, Bolezlaue, dux gloriosissime ...

The poem comprises a total of six verses, each consisting of 15 syllables and having a caesura after the eighth syllable . Two verses are connected by a pair of rhymes .

content

The poem is used in the story as a song of the victorious soldiers of Bolesław III. Wrymouth placed in the mouth after the attack on Kołobrzeg 1005. Here the joy about the now possible access to the sea is expressed and the bravery of the warriors is praised.

Each pair of verses expresses an antithesis that expresses the differences between the previous and present generations. The fathers contented themselves with already caught and salted fish (v. 1), with war on land (v. 3) and with hunting in the forest (v. 5). In contrast, the sons demand fresh fish (v. 2), are ready to defy the dangers of the sea (v. 4), and hunt for sea monsters and treasures of the sea (v. 6).

expenditure

Kazimierz Liman (ed.): Antologia poezji łacińskiej w Polsce . Średniowiecze. Wydawnictwo UAM, Posen 2004, p. 250 .
Karol Maleczyński (Ed.): Galli Anonymi cronicae et gesta ducum sive principum Polonorum (= Monumenta Poloniae Historica. Nova Series . Volume II ). Polska Akademia Umiejętności, Krakau 1952, p. 97 .

literature

Ryszard Gansiniec : Liryka Galla Anonima . In: Pamiętnik Litearcki . Czasopismo kwartalne poświęcone historii i krytyce literatury polskiej. No. 49/4 , 1958, pp. 373 .
Teresa Michałowska: Średniowiecze (= Wielka Historia Literatury Polskiej . Volume 1 ). Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2002, ISBN 978-83-01-12851-7 , p. 128-129 (first edition: 1995).
Teresa Michałowska: Pisces salsos et fetentes…, Anonim Gall . In: Literatura Polskiego Średniowiecza . Leksykon. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2011, ISBN 978-83-01-16675-5 , p. 661 .

Individual evidence

↑ Josef Bujnoch (ed.): Poland's beginnings . Gallus Anonymus: Chronicles and Deeds of the Dukes and Princes of Poland. Verlag Styria, Graz et al. 1978, ISBN 3-222-10554-5 , p. 135 .
↑ Teresa Michałowska: Średniowiecze (= Wielka Historia Literatury Polskiej . Volume 1 ). Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2002, ISBN 978-83-01-12851-7 , p. 129 (first edition: 1995).

[1] Josef Bujnoch (ed.): Poland's beginnings . Gallus Anonymus: Chronicles and Deeds of the Dukes and Princes of Poland. Verlag Styria, Graz et al. 1978, ISBN 3-222-10554-5 , p. 135 .

[2] Teresa Michałowska: Średniowiecze (= Wielka Historia Literatury Polskiej . Volume 1 ). Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2002, ISBN 978-83-01-12851-7 , p. 129 (first edition: 1995).