A carmen (carmina in plural) in ancient Roman religion can be anything from a hymn, to a verse, to a spell, to a prayer, or expiation. They could be used for a variety of purposes, including harming another’s crops, imploring the gods to make one’s crops grow, for protection purposes…
They would typically be chanted instead of sung, and they each had a certain rhythm to them; parts of the carmen would be repeated, always three times.
The two carmina that survive today are the Carmen Saliare and the Carmen Arvale. And, unfortunately, though I say “survive”, I don’t mean that they survive in their entirety. Rather, what we have are fragments of a much larger picture, and sometimes what we do have isn’t even translatable.
Hell, they weren’t even translatable to the Romans of the mid-and-late Republic.
The Carmen Arvale
This carmen was chanted by the Fratres Arvales, or the Arval priests. These were the priests of the Dea Dia, goddess of growth, and were primarily concerned with the growth of crops. This carmen would be chanted during the Ambarvalia, a festival taking place on May 29th. The opening words are very famous:
e nos, Lases, iuuate
e nos Lases, iuuate
e nos Lases, iuuate
neue lue rue Marmar sins incurrere in pleores
neue lue rue Marmar sins incurrere in pleores
neue lue rue Marmar sins incurrere in pleores
satur fu, fere Mars, limen stali, sta berber
satur fu, fere Mars, limen stali, sta berber
satur fu, fere Mars, limen stali, sta berber
semunis alternei aduo capit conctos
semunis alternei aduo capit conctos
semunis alternei aduo capit conctos
enos Marmor iuuato
enos Marmor iuuato
enos Marmor iuuato
triumpe triumpe triumpe triumpe triumpe
What that basically is, is a plea for the Lares (called Lases here, evidence of its archaic nature) and for Mars (called Marmar, Mars, and Marmor) to aid the chanters. It is asking for mars to not let plagues or disasters destroy the crops, and is asking him to be satiated in dance. ”Semunis” are the Semones, possibly sowing deities.
The “limen stali, sta berber” is quite possibly a non-chanted portion, serving as directions for the priests to “jump over the barrier, stand!”
The Carmen Saliare
This carmen is far more fragmented and indecipherable than the Carmen Arvale. It was chanted by the Salii, the “leaping priests” of Mars, and was performed at several times during March and October.
What we do have of the carmen is as follows, preserved by Varro in de Lingua Latina and Terentius Scaurus in de Orthographia:
divum empta cante, divum deo supplicate
cume tonas, Leucesie, prae tet tremonti
quot ibet etinei de is cum tonarem (or) quom tibi cunei decstumum tonaront
cozeulodorieso (?)
omnia vero adpatula coemisse
Ian cusianes duonus ceruses dunus Ianusve
vet pom melios eum recum.
It translates roughly to:
Sing of him, the father of the gods! Appeal to the God of gods!
When you thunder, O God of Light, they tremble before you!
All gods beneath you have heard your thunder!
…?
But to have acquired all that is spread out
Now the good … of Ceres … or Ianus …
The weird cozeulodorieso has been proposed to be osculo dolori ero, meaning “I shall be as a kiss to grief”, but we really don’t know.
So these are the only carmen we know? That’s too bad. I love chanting and it would of been awesome to of seen old chants from Rome. What do you think of creating personal carmen for our modern needs?
Well, I suppose we have one more – though it’s in a vastly different style, and is more of a song than a chant, so I didn’t include it. Plus it’s super long! It’s the Carmen Saeculare, written by Horace, and would only have been performed once every saeculum.
There’s a link here if you’d like the translation: http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/HoraceEpodesAndCarmenSaeculare.htm#_Toc98670048
I think it’s a wonderful idea to create personal carmina! I’ve been toying around with this idea for a while, now. I’m a huge fan of chanting as well.