Symphosius Riddle 78: Scalae
ALEXANDRAREIDER
Date: Sat 10 Sep 2022Original text:
Nos sumus, ad caelum quae scandimus, alta petentes,
Concordi fabrica quas unus continet ordo,
Ut simul haerentes per nos comitentur ad auras.
Translation:
We are they who ascend to heaven, seeking the heights,
Which one row contains in a harmonious structure,
Such that they, clinging together, are advanced to the sky.
Stairs
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 3: comitentur > comitemur
- Translation is different (see also the long note in his commentary): “I am what climbs to the sky, seeking the heavens, something which a single series holds in a unified structure so that clinging together I am accompanied to the heights by means of myself.”
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