The Society for Ancient Languages
Week Six
English Translation |
PAULI DECONI LIBER II |
PAUL THE DEACON BOOK 2 |
| In eo proelio Alboin Cunimundum occidit, caputque illius sublatum, ad bibendum ex eo poculum fecit. Quod genus poculi apud eos "scala" dicitur, lingua vero Latina patera vocitatur. Cuius filiam nomine Rosimundam cum magna simul multitudine diversi sexus et aetatis duxit captivam; quam, quia Chlotsuinda obierat, in suam, ut post patuit, perniciem, duxit uxorem. | In this battle, Alboin killed Cunimond and from his severed head made a cup for drinking. (Among them, this kind of cup is called a "scala," but in the Latin language it is frequently referred to as a "patera.") Alboin led away Cunimond's daughter, Rosamund by name, as a captive, along with a great multitude of various sexes and ages; and, because Chlotsuinda had died, he also led her off as a wife--to his own peril, as was later revealed. |
| Qui rex postquam in Italia tres annos et sex menses regnavit, insidiis suae coniugis interemptus est. Causa autem interfectionis eius fuit. Cum in convivo ultra quam oportuerat aput Veronam laetus resederet, cum poculo quod de capite Cunimundi regis sui soceris fecerat reginae ad bibendum vinum dari praecepit atque eam ut cum patre suo laetanter biberet invitavit. Hoc ne cui videatur inpossibile, veritatem in Christo loquor: ego hoc poculum vidi in quodam die festo Ratchis principem ut illut convivis suis ostentaret manu tenentem. Igitur Rosemunda ubi rem animadvertit, altum concipiens in corde dolorem, quem conpescere non valens, mox in mariti necem patris funus vindicatura exarsit, consiliumque mox cum Helmechis, qui regis scilpor, hoc est armiger, et conlactaneus erat, ut regem interficeret, iniit. . . . | After this king had ruled in Italy for three years and six months, he was murdered by the treachery of his own wife. Now the cause of the slaying was: when he joyfully sat at a feast near Verona longer than he should have, Alboin commanded that the cup which he had made from the head of King Cunimond, his father-in-law, be given to the queen so that she could drink wine, and he invited her to drink joyfully with her father. (If this seems impossible to anyone, I speak the truth in Christ: I saw King Ratchis holding this cup in his hand on a certain feast day to show to his dinner guests.) Then Rosamund, as she dwelled on it, forming in her heart a great resentment, which she was not able to contain, immediately burned for the death of her husband, seeking to avenge the murder of her father; and she entered into a plot to kill the king with Helmechis, who was the king's "scilpor" (that is, his armor-bearer) as well as his foster-brother. . . . |
| Tunc Rosemunda, dum se Alboin in meridie sopori dedisset, magnum in palatio silentium fieri praecipiens, omnia alia arma subtrahens, spatham illius ad lectuli caput, ne tolli aut evaginari possit, fortiter conligavit, et iuxta consilium Peredeo Helmechis interfectorum omni bestia crudelior introduxit. Alboin subito de sopore experrectus, malum quod imminebat intellegens, manum citius ad spatham porrexit; quam strictius religatam abstrahere non valens, adprehenso tamen scabello subpedaneo, se cum eo per aliquod spatium defendit. Sed heu pro dolor! Vir bellicosissimus et summae audaciae nihil contra hostem praevalens, quasi unus de inertibus interfectus est, uniusque mulierculae consilio periit, qui per tot hostium strages bello famosissimus extitit. | Then Rosamund, when Alboin had given himself to an afternoon nap, ordering that there be a great silence in the palace, having taken away all other arms, tightly tied Alboin's sword to the head of the bed, so that it could not be removed or unsheathed; and following the advice of Peredeo, Rosamund, more cruel than any beast, let in Helmechis the murderer. Alboin, suddenly waking-up from his nap and sensing the evil that threatened, quickly directed his hand to the sword; unable to draw it because it was too tightly tied, he seized a footstool (a footstool!) and defended himself with it for a short time. (But, o, what anguish!) This very warlike and extremely brave man, prevailing not at all against the enemy, as if unskilled, was murdered and, by the treachery of one little woman, destroyed--he who was renowned, most famous for the slaughter of so many enemies. |