Aldhelm Riddle 48: Vertico poli
ALEXANDRAREIDER
Date: Tue 15 Mar 2022Sic me formavit naturae conditor almus:
Lustro teres tota spatiosis saecula ciclis;
Latas in gremio portans cum pondere terras
Sic maris undantes cumulos et caerula cludo.
Nam nihil in rerum natura tam celer esset,
Quod pedibus pergat, quod pennis aethera tranet,
Accola neu ponti volitans per caerula squamis
Nec rota, per girum quam trudit machina limphae,
Currere sic posset, ni septem sidera tricent.
Thus did the holy creator of nature form me:
Round, I roam all of space in long cycles;
Carrying the wide world with its weight on my lap,
Thus do I enclose the swelling masses and waves of the sea.
For there is nothing in the nature of things that would be as quick—
Nothing which goes on foot, which goes through the airs on wing,
Or which, scaly resident of the sea, flies through the ocean blue,
Nor the wheel which a water-mill pushes in its turning—
Nothing could run thus if the seven planets did not slow me.
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