RIDDLE POSTS BY CONTRIBUTOR: ALEXANDRAREIDER

Eusebius Riddle 13: De vacca

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Sunt pecudes multae mihi quas nutrire solebam,
Meque premente fame non lacteque carneve vescor
Cumque cibis aliis et pascor aquis alienis.
Ex me multi vivunt ex me et flumina currunt.

Translation:

I have many herds which I used to feed,
And when hunger presses me, I do not eat either milk or meat
Because I graze on other foods and another’s waters.
From me many live and from me streams flow.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the cow


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 13: De acu pictili

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Reginae cupiunt animis me cernere necnon
Reges mulcet adesse mei quoque corporis usus,
Nam multos vario possum captare decore.
Quippe, meam gracilis faciem iugulaverat hospes,
Nobilior tamen adcrescit decor inde genarum.

Translation:

Queens desire to see me in their hearts and also
It pleases kings to be present at the use of my body as well,
For I am able to attract many with my varied beauty. 
Indeed, a slender guest cuts my face,
Yet the charm of my cheeks grows more noble.

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On the embroidery needle


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 13: Barbita

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Sat 12 Mar 2022
Original text:

Quamvis aere cavo salpictae classica clangant
Et citharae crepitent strepituque tubae modulentur,
Centenos tamen eructant mea viscera cantus;
Me praesente stupet mox musica chorda fibrarum.

Translation:

Although trumpeters may blow trumpets made of hollow bronze
And harps may sound and pipes perform with their din,
My insides nevertheless belch out a hundred songs;
With me present, the stringed musical instrument is soon become powerless.

Click to show riddle solution?
Organ


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 13: Navis

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Longa feror velox formosae filia silvae,
Innumera pariter comitum stipante caterva,
Curro vias multas, vestigia nulla relinquens.

Translation:

Long, swift daughter of the beautiful forest, I am borne,
With an innumerable crowd of fellows equally compressed,
I run along many roads, leaving no trace.

Click to show riddle solution?
Ship


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 2: Innumera > innumeris and stipante caterva > stipata catervis


Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 14: De X littera

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Post alias reliquas augustus (1) me creat auctor.
Utor in alterius, nam non specialis imago
Concessa est mihi, cum pro denis sola videbor,
Unaque sum forma sed vim retinebo duarum.

Translation:

The venerable creator makes me after the others.
I am used in the place of something different, for no special idea
Is given to me, though I am seen on my own for ten,
And I am single in form but retain the power of two.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the letter “X”


Notes:

(1) There is scholarly debate over whether this may be the name of or an epithet for a Roman emperor. 



Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 14: De caritate

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Haud tristis, gemino sub nexu vincula gesto.
Vincta resolvo ligata iterumque soluta ligabo.
Est mirum dictu ardent quod mea viscera flammis.
Nemo, tamen, sentit fera vinctus dampna cremandi:
Sed mulcent ea plus vinctum quam dulcia mella.

Translation:

Not sad, I bear fetters under a twin bond.
I free those bound and tied and in turn I will bind the free. 
It is miraculous to say how my insides burn with flames.
No one who is bound, however, feels the cruel injuries of burning: 
Rather, they appease the bound more than sweet honey.

Click to show riddle solution?
On charity


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 14: Pavo

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Sat 12 Mar 2022
Original text:

Sum namque excellens specie, mirandus in orbe,
Ossibus ac nervis ac rubro sanguine cretus.
Cum mihi vita comes fuerit, nihil aurea forma
Plus rubet et moriens mea numquam pulpa putrescit.

Translation:

I am certainly excellent in appearance, to be wondered at around the world,
And yet grown from bones and muscles and red blood.
While life will be my companion, no golden form
Glows more red, and, dying, my flesh never rots. 

Click to show riddle solution?
Peacock


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 14: Pullus in ovo

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Mira tibi referam nostrae primordia vitae:
Nondum natus eram, nec eram iam matris in alvo;
Iam posito partu natum me nemo videbat.

Translation:

I will tell you the wondrous beginning of our life:
I was not yet born, nor was I then in my mother’s womb;
And then, after I was born, no one saw me.

Click to show riddle solution?
Chicken in an egg


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.



Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 15: De igne et aqua

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Proelia nos gerimus cum iungimur ambo rebelles,
Sed tamen ut multis bene prosint bella peracta.
Non facie ad faciem conflictu belligeramur;
Murus inest medius ne statim corruat unus.

Translation:

Opposed, we enter battle when we are both joined,
Yet in such a way that the finished battles benefit many.
We do not fight face-to-face;
A wall is in the middle lest one fall down immediately.

Click to show riddle solution?
On fire and water


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 15: De nive, grandine, et glacie

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Aethereus ternas genitor nos iam peperit hoc
Sub miserae fato legis de matre sorores,
Invida namque patris cogit sors frangere fatum.
Una tamen spes est tali sub lege retentis:
Quod mox regalem matris remeamus in alvum.

Translation:

An ethereal father begot us three sisters now
From our mother under this fate of a wretched law,
For envious destiny forces father’s fate to diminish.
Held under such a law, there is nevertheless one hope:
That soon we may return to our mother’s royal womb.

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On snow, hail, and ice


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 15: Salamandra

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Sat 12 Mar 2022
Original text:

Ignibus in mediis vivens non sentio flammas,
Sed detrimenta rogi penitus ludibria faxo.
Nec crepitante foco nec scintillante favilla
Ardeo, sed flammae flagranti torre tepescunt.

Translation:

Living among fires, I do not feel flames,
But I will make utter trifles of the fire’s damages.
Neither in the crackling fire nor in the glowing embers
Do I burn; rather, the flames of the blazing fire grow weaker.

Click to show riddle solution?
Salamander


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 15: Vipera

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Non possum nasci, si non occidero matrem.
Occidi matrem, sed me manet exitus idem:
Id mea mors patitur quod iam mea fecit origo.

Translation:

I cannot be born if I do not kill my mother.
I killed my mother, but the same exit remains for me:
My death suffers that which my birth did then.

Click to show riddle solution?
Viper


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.



Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 16: De flasca

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Me terrent proprii, quos vobis refero, mores.
Vinum, laetificans homines, non laeta bibebam,
Osque reducit de ventre quae suscipit ore.
Claudendi oris vel reserandi est vis mihi numquam.

Translation:

My own ways, which I announce to you, frighten me.
While I delight men, I tend not to be joyful drinking wine,
And my mouth leads out from my stomach what the stomach receives by mouth.
The power to close or open my mouth is never mine.

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On the flask


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 16: De praepositione utriusque casus

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Emerita gemina sortis sub lege tenemur,
Nam tollenti nos, stabiles, servire necesse est.
Causanti, contra, cursus comitamur eundo,
Sicque vicissim bis binae coniungimur ambis
Quippe sorores decreta stat legibus urna.

Translation:

We are held under tried-and-tested, two-fold law of fate,
For it is necessary that we, stationary, serve that which removes. 
Moving, on the contrary, we join that which advances a cause,
And thus we twice-two sisters are joined to both in turn;
Indeed, our decreed lot stands subject to these laws.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the preposition governing two cases


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 16: Luligo

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Sat 12 Mar 2022
Original text:

Nunc cernenda placent nostrae spectacula vitae:
Cum grege piscoso scrutor maris aequora squamis,
Cum volucrum turma quoque scando per aethera pennis
Et tamen aethereo non possum vivere flatu.

Translation:

Now the spectacles of my life are pleasing to behold:
With a school of scaly fish, I search the waters of the sea,
With a flock of winged birds, I also ascend through the aether,
And yet I cannot live with a breath of air.

Click to show riddle solution?
Squid


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 16: Tinea

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Littera me pavit, nec quid sit littera novi.
In libris vixi, nec sum studiosior inde.
Exedi Musas, nec adhuc tamen ipsa profeci.

Translation:

Letters nourish me, but I do not know what letters are.
I have lived in books, but I am not more studious for it.
I have consumed the Muses, yet have not thus far made progress.

Click to show riddle solution?
Bookworm


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.



Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 17: De cruce

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Per me mors adquiritur et bona vita tenetur.
Me multi fugiunt, multique frequenter adorant,
Sumque timenda malis, non sum tamen horrida iustis,
Dampnavique virum: sic multos carcere solvi.

Translation:

Through me death is won and the good life reached.
Many flee me, and many frequently adore me,
And I am to be feared by the wicked, yet I am not frightful to the just,
And I condemned a man: thus I freed many from bondage.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the cross


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 17: De scyrra

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Celsicolae nascor foecunda matris in alvo,
Quae superas penitus sedes habitare solescit.
Sum petulans agilisque fera, insons, corporis astu.
Ardua, ceu pennis, convecta cacumina scando,
Veloci vitans passu discrimina Martis.

Translation:

I am born from the fecund womb of a mother who dwells on high,
Who tends to live inside the upper settlements.
I am an insolent and agile creature, innocent of bodily guile.
I climb, as if on wings, the lofty vaulted peaks,
Avoiding by speed in step the dangers of Mars.

Click to show riddle solution?
On the squirrel


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 17: Perna

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Sat 12 Mar 2022
Original text:

E geminis nascor per ponti caerula concis
Vellera setigero producens corpore fulva;
En clamidem pepli necnon et pabula pulpae
Confero: sic duplex fati persolvo tributum.

Translation:

From twin shells I am born in the blue waters of the sea,
Producing golden pelts from my bristly body.
See, I confer cloaks from my fabric and also food 
From my flesh: thus I pay my two-fold debt to fate.

Click to show riddle solution?
Mussel


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 17: Aranea

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Pallas me docuit texendi nosse laborem.
Nec pepli radios poscunt nec licia telae;
Nulla mihi manus est, pedibus tantum omnia fiunt.

Translation:

Pallas taught me to know the work of weaving:
My garments do not require shuttles, nor my threads a loom;
I do not have hands, by my feet alone is everything done.

Click to show riddle solution?
Spider


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 2: pepli > telae


Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 18: De iniquitate et iustitia

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Tempore quo factae fuimus, pugnare solemus.
Querimus armatos post nosque venire rogamus,
Seque sequentibus una solet sub melle venenum
Largiri; altera dat sub tristi tegmine vinum.

Translation:

From the time we were made, we have been accustomed to fight.
We seek armed men and ask that they come after us,
And one makes a practice of bestowing poison under honey
Unto her followers; the other gives wine under bitter covering.

Click to show riddle solution?
On iniquity and justice


Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius 

Tatwine Riddle 18: De oculis

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Wed 05 Jan 2022
Original text:

Discernens totum iuris, natura locavit
Nos pariter, geminos, una de matre creatos,
Divisi haud magno parvi discrimen collis,
Ut numquam vidi illum, nec me viderat ipse,
Sed cernit sine me nihil, illo nec sine cerno.

Translation:

Separating us completely by her laws, nature placed
Us, twins, created equally from one mother,
Divided by the not-at-all big division of a little hill,
So that I have never seen that one, nor has that one seen me,
But he sees nothing without me, nor do I see without him.

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On the eyes


Tags: riddles  latin  Tatwine 

Aldhelm Riddle 18: Myrmicoleon

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Sat 12 Mar 2022
Original text:

Dudum compositis ego nomen gesto figuris:
Ut leo, sic formica vocor sermone Pelasgo
Tropica nominibus signans praesagia duplis,
Cum rostris avium nequeam resistere rostro.
Scrutetur sapiens, gemino cur nomine fungar!

Translation:

Long have I had a name of composed form:
As “lion,” so “ant” am I called in the Greek language,
Signifying figurative indications with my two names,
Though I am unable to defend against birds’ beaks with a beak.
May a wise man seek why I am called this twin-name!

Click to show riddle solution?
Ant-lion


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



Tags: riddles  latin  Aldhelm 

Symphosius Riddle 18: Coclea

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Fri 01 Jul 2022
Original text:

Porto domum mecum, semper migrare parata,
Mutatoque solo non sum miserabilis exul,
Sed mihi concilium de caelo nascitur ipso.

Translation:

I carry my house with me, always ready to move,
And after I have moved ground I am not a miserable exile,
But rather my company is given from heaven itself.

Click to show riddle solution?
Snail


Notes:

This edition is based on Raymond T. Ohl, ed. The Enigmas of Symphosius. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1928.



Tags: riddles  solutions  latin  symphosius 

Eusebius Riddle 19: De V littera

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Mon 27 Dec 2021
Original text:

Quinta vocor princeps vocum; est mihi trina potestas.
Nam nunc sola sonans loquor; aut nunc consono verbis;
Nunc medium pactum retinens nil dicor haberi.
Me malus Arrius expellit de iure fidei.

Translation:

The fifth, I am called the first of speech; my power is threefold. 
For now, sounding alone, I speak; or now, I harmonise with words;
Now, keeping to the middle way, I am said to be nothing.
Wicked Arius expelled me from the law of faith. (1)

Click to show riddle solution?
On the letter “V”


Notes:

(1) “Fifth” here in the first line could refer either to the fact that “V” is the Roman numeral for five or that the letter “u” (interchangeable with “v” in early Latin) is the fifth vowel. The three “powers” of “v” are as vowel (meaning “u”), consonant, and its “nothing” role following “q” in “qu-.”



Tags: riddles  latin  Eusebius