Fons Bandusiae

Anton von Werner, Phantasieportrait von Quintus Horatius Flaccus
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Quintus_Horatius_Flaccus.jpg)

O fons Bandusiae, this was the first Horatian line I ever heard. The verses were recited in Romanian: the great George Vraca was playing the role of Horace in a drama written by Vasile Alecsandri (I already told you about that in a previous post, several days ago).

The name of Bandusia came slightly altered in Romanian, thus the title of the drama is Fantana Blanduziei (The Fountain of Blandusia): a splendid story putting poet and spring in counterpoint; the poet, in his old ages, rejuvenated at the view of the spring, getting there the force of balancing love, wisdom and generosity - the spring getting from the poet the fame that would live throughout centuries.

O fons Bandusiae, splendidior uitro is the first line of Ode 3.13, whose creation was related to Fontinalia, the festival of springs, honoring the God of Pure Water of the ancient Roman religion: the God of life-giving water and immortal refreshment.

Where Bandusia actually is, that's an old argument among scholars. Is it some place near Venosa (the ancient Venusia), where Horace was born? Or is it rather in the surroundings of his Sabine Villa? Let's look at the Hachette edition of the Odes:

Au commencement du XIII-e siècle, une source des environs de Venouse portait le nom de Fons Bandusinus, et les noms d’origine grecque étaient, il est vrai, fréquents dans cette région. Mais on sait avec quelle légèreté de telles attributions se faisaient au moyen âge ; d’autre part, à deux reprises Horace parle d’une source qui coulait dans sa propriété de la Sabine, et le témoignage d’un contemporain confirme qu’il en serait question ici. Une hypothèse ingénieuse concile les deux opinions : le nom de Bandusie serait bien celui d’une fontaine située auprès de Venouse ; mais le poète, par un souvenir pieux de son enfance, l’aurait donné à la source Sabine. Strophe asclépiade. Date probable : 30 ou 29 BCE

(At the beginning of 13th century, a water source of the surroundings of Venosa bore the name of Fons Bandusinus, and the names of Greek origin were admittedly frequent in this area. But iy is known with which lightness such attributions were done throughout the Middle Ages; in addition, Horace speaks twice about a water source which ran in its property of the Sabine, and the testimony of a contemporary confirms that it would be actually here. A clever assumption councils the two opinions: the name of Bandusie would be well that of a fountain located at Venosa, while the poet, by a pious memory of his childhood, would have given it to the Sabine source. Asclepiad Stanza. Probable date: 30 or 29 BCE).

The original Latin:

O fons Bandusiae, splendidior uitro,
dulci digne mero non sine floribus,
cras donaberis haedo,
cui frons turgida cornibus

primis et uenerem et proelia destinat;
frustra: nam gelidos inficiet tibi
rubro sanguine riuos,
lasciui suboles gregis.

Te flagrantis atrox hora Caniculae
nescit tangere, tu frigus amabile
fessis uomere tauris
praebes et pecori uago.

Fies nobilium tu quoque fontium,
me dicente cauis impositam ilicem
saxis unde loquaces
lymphae desiliunt tuae.

(http://www.merriampark.com/horcarm313.htm)

Bachic Roman Puteal (wellhead), marble
Neo-Attic style, inspired by Hellenistic art
Relief shows figures in a Bacchic procession, like Hercules (at the image), who, inebriated, wears the skin of the Nemean Lion and carries his olive-wood club.
late 1st century CE
Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, Spain
Photo: Luis García
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Puteal_b%C3%A1quico_%28M.A.N._Madrid%29_01.jpg)

An English crib, by Michael Gilleland:

O Bandusian spring, clearer than glass,
worthy of sweet wine and flowers too,
tomorrow you'll receive the gift of a kid goat,
whose head, swollen with horns

newly grown, gives promise of love and battles;
in vain: for this offspring of a playful
flock will stain your ice-cold
waters with his crimson blood.

The harsh season of the blazing Dog Star
is powerless to affect you, you grant
welcome coolness to oxen weary of the
plow and to the wandering herd.

You too will become one of the famous
springs, when I sing of the oak tree perched
upon your hollow rocks, whence your
babbling waters leap forth.

(http://www.merriampark.com/horcarm313.htm)

Another English rendering, James Joyce:

Brighter than glass Bandusian spring
For mellow wine and flowers meet,
The morrow thee a kid shall bring
Boding of rivalry and sweet
Love in his swelling forms. In vain
He, wanton offspring, deep shall stain
Thy clear cold streams with crimson rain.

The raging dog star's season thou,
Still safe from in the heat of day,
When oxen weary of the plough
Yieldst thankful cool for herds that stray.
Be of the noble founts! I sing
The oak tree o'er thine echoing
Crags, thy waters murmuring.

(http://www.merriampark.com/horcarm313.htm)

Joyce in Trieste
statue on a bridge over Canal Grande
credit Chiara Goia for NYT
(http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/05/01/travel/20110501-trieste-slides-3.html)

A parody made by Franklin P. Adams: the Bandusian spring becomes a soda fountain.

Worthy of flowers and syrups sweet,
O fountain of Bandusian onyx,
To-morrow shall a goatling's bleat
Mix with the sizz of thy carbonics.

A kid whose budding horns portend
A life of love and war--but vainly!
For thee his sanguine life shall end--
He'll spill his blood, to put it plainly.

And never shalt thou feel the heat
That blazes in the days of Sirius,
But men shall quaff thy soda sweet,
And girls imbibe thy drinks delirious.

Fountain whose dulcet cool I sing,
Be thou immortal by this Ode (a
Not wholly metricious thing),
Bandusian fount of ice-cream soda!

(http://www.merriampark.com/horcarm313.htm)

More English renderings on the web page of Michael Gilleland.

And a French rendering, by Denys Eissart:

Ô source de Bandusie, plus limpide que le cristal le plus pur,
toi qui es digne de l'offrande du vin doux et des fleurs,
demain tu recevras en sacrifice un chevreau
que le front renflé de cornes

naissantes voue déjà à Vénus et aux combats.
Mais, pour lui, ce sont là de vaines ambitions, car ce rejeton
d'un troupeau plein d'ardeur va sous peu
rougir de son sang tes fraîches eaux.

Toi, même la pénible époque de la Canicule brûlante
ne saurait t'affecter et tu offres
une fraîcheur bienvenue aux taureaux
las des labours comme aux bêtes errantes.

Désormais, tu feras toi aussi partie des plus célèbres
fontaines, puisque j'aurai chanté l'yeuse qui s'élève
au-dessus du creux rocheux d'où se répandent
tes flots volubiles.

(http://www.espace-horace.org/chx/odes/III_13.htm)

(Horace)