Beloved Cygnet: The Story of Cupavo
|
Name: Vergil Date: 70 – 19 BCE Region: Mantua [modern northern Italy] Citation: Aeneid 10.185-195 |
And
I won’t fail to mention you,
Brave
leader of the Ligures, Cynaris,
Or
you, Cupavo, with your small band of warriors.
Cupavo,
whose helmet crest had swan feathers
In defiance
of Love, and to honor his father.
For
they say his father Cygnus, out of love for his beloved Phaethon,
While singing in the leafy shade of his lover’s sisters [1]
And
consoling himself for his lost love with music,
His
gray hairs turned to soft feathers
And
leaving behind the earth as a singing swan,
He
sought the stars.
His
son Cupavo, accompanied by a troop of his peers
[1] According to myth, Phaethon's
sisters, the Heliades, grieved so much that they were transformed into poplar
trees, and their tears became amber.
Beloved
Cygnet: The Story of Cupavo
Non ego te, Ligurum
ductor fortissime bello,
transierim, Cynare,
et paucis comitate Cupavo,
cuius olorinae
surgunt de vertice pennae
(crimen, Amor,
vestrum) formaeque insigne paternae.
Namque ferunt luctu
Cycnum Phaethontis amati,
populeas inter
frondes umbramque sororum
dum canit et maestum
Musa solatur amorem,
canentem molli pluma
duxisse senectam
linquentem terras et
sidera voce sequentem.
Filius aequalis comitatus classe catervas
ingentem remis Centaurum promovet...
Vergil, also known as Virgil, [Publius Vergilius Maro; 70
– 19 BCE, modern Italy] was born in Mantua, Cisalpine Gaul, and lived during
the tumultuous transition of Roman government from republic to monarchy. His
writing talent earned him a place of honor among Maecenas’ fellow authors under
Augustan rule. He was friends with numerous famous authors of the time period,
including Horace and Asinius Pollio. His former slave Alexander was the most
influential romantic partner in his life, and the poet memorialized his love
for him under the pseudonym “Alexis” in Eclogue 2. His masterpiece, the Aeneid,
tells the story of Aeneas’ migration from Troy to Italy; it was used for
centuries as the pinnacle of Roman literature.
