Bern Riddle 11: De nave
NEVILLEMOGFORD
Date: Fri 27 Nov 2020Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Bern Riddle 11: De nave
Original text:
Mortua maiorem vivens quam porto laborem.
Dum iaceo, multos servo; si stetero, paucos.
Viscera si mihi foris detracta patescant,
Vitam fero cunctis victumque confero multis.
Bestia defunctam avisque nulla me mordet,
Et onusta currens viam nec planta depingo.
Translation:
Dead, I carry a greater burden than alive.
When I lay down, I store many; if I am upright, few.
If my insides are removed and revealed,
I bring food to everyone and nourishment to many.
When dead, no beast or bird bites me,
and when laden and moving, I leave no footprint on the road.
Ship
Notes:
This edition is based on Karl Strecker, ed., Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Vol. 4.2 (Berlin, MGH/Weidmann, 1923), page 741.
Line 5 follows the preferred reading in Fr. Glorie, ed., Variae collectiones aenigmatum Merovingicae aetatis, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 133A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1968), page 557.
Tags: latin Bern Riddles