|
|
Article: A double solution to the Latin Riddle in MS. Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum M16.2.
- Article from:
- ANQ
- Article date:
- March 22, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
In the eleventh-century manuscript Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum M16.2, a Latin riddle in two double hexameter lines is added on an originally blank flyleaf:(2)
Bis bine fiale caritatis nos vocitamur Nosque
due natu maiores dicimur esse. Si vos
maiores nobis modo vultis adesse, Non nos
pelores similes tamen esse videmur.
The poem is difficult to translate because it contains a number of double entendres, but it is just these ambiguous words that hide the answer to the riddle. One possible rendering would be
We are called twice two cups of "caritas." And we two are said to be