A Miraculous Bird and Her Miraculous Zookeeper, Ausonius Epig. 45

A Miraculous Bird and Her Miraculous Zookeeper

Name:  Ausonius Date:  4th century CE Region:  Aquitania, Gaul [modern France] Citation: Epigram 76

It is important to note that the Romans did not necessarily differentiate between trans and intersex people; the term androgynus was used as an umbrella term.

 

At Valbone (an unusual occurrence

That would scarcely be believed from poets,

But which is alleged by a historian)

A male bird turned into a female bird;

A peacock became a peahen right before our eyes!

Everyone marveled at the omen,

But a girl, softer than a lamb, announced with her maiden’s voice:

“You goofballs, why are so amazed by this marvel?

 Haven’t you read the poems of Ovid[1]?

Saturn’s offspring Consus[2] changed Caeneus, 

And Tiresias was gender-fluid.

The Salmacis spring saw the intersex Hermaphroditus;

Pliny saw an intersex person get married,

And, more recently, in Beneventum,

One young man suddenly became a young woman!

But nevermind these old stories,

I myself am a woman, though born a boy.”

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[1] A reference to The Metamorphoses.

[2] Poseidon/Neptune, not Consus, is usually associated with the myth of Caeneus.

Latin Text: 

Vallebanae (nova res et vix credenda poetis,)

sed quae de vera promitur historia)

femineam in speciem convertit masculus ales

pavaque de pavo constitit ante oculos.

Cuncti admirantur monstrum, sed mollior agna...

[Talia virginea voce puella refert:]

“Quid stolidi ad speciem notae novitatis hebetis?

An vos Nasonis carmina non legitis?

Caenida convertit proles Saturnia Consus

ambignoque fuit corpore Tiresias.

Vidit semivirum fons Salmacis Hermaphroditum:

vidit nubentem Plinius Androgynum

nec satis antiquum, quod Campana in Benevento

unus epheborum virgo repente fuit.

Nolo tamen veteris documenta arcesse famae.

Ecce ego sum factus femina de puero.”  

Ausonius [Decimus Magnus Ausonius; 310 – 395 CE, modern France] was a Roman poet from Aquitania, Gaul who lived during the 4th century CE. He is best known for his epic poem Mosella, which describes the Moselle River, and his Epistles, a series of literary poems between himself and the Christian poet Paulinus.