Читать книгу The Latin Dual and Poetic Diction: Studies in Numbers and Figures - Andrew J. Bell - Страница 19

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Homer uses οἰκία and μέγαρα, neuters plural, for a single house and a single hall. As in Greek we have οἶκος ὁ and οἰκία τά for a single house, so in Sanskrit we have gṛham, a neuter singular, and gṛhās, masculine plural, for a house; and Boehtlingk-Roth explain this use of gṛhās as of a house consisting of several structures or rooms. So in Greek we have δῶμα and δώματα for a house; in Latin aedes in the singular is the temple, a single room with its hearth or altar (cf. αἴθω ‘I burn’), but in the plural a house, which consisted of several rooms. In Horace’s: te ... Glycerae decoram transfer in aedem (Od. 1. 30. 3-4), with aedem we should supply futuram, as when Venus arrives, the house will have become a temple. In poetry sedes is often used like aedes for a single dwelling, as in: ipsius at sedes ... fulgenti splendent auro (Catull. 64. 43-4); such a use of domus is rare, but there seems an example of it in: ubi ... perventum ad limina sedis antiquasque domos (Aen. 2. 634-5).

In Greek names of places are commonly singular, e.g. Ὀρχομενός, Δυφνοῦς (=δαφνόεις ‘abounding in laurel’), Σικυών ‘the cucumber bed’, Μαραθών ‘abounding in fennel’; many of them being clearly epithets of τόπος. But some, like Ἀθῆναι and Θῆβαι, are plurals. For both of these we have the names of the older town or citadel, the Cecropia and the Cadmeia, to which later additions were made, constituting the new cities of Athens and Thebes; so that we have reason for regarding them, too, as plurals of parts. In Italy most towns were primitive hill forts; and the names Arpinum, Nomentum, Privernum, Tusculum, Ferentinum, seem epithets of oppidum or castellum. Some like Velitrae, Fidenae, Faesulae, may be plurals of parts like Mycenae, or Thebae. But just as Mycenae becomes Mycena in Virgil, so we find Fidena for Fidenae (Aen. 6. 773), following the tendency to make names of cities epithets of urbs or civitas, like Nola, Aricia, Bola, Cora, Norba. The Greek use of Μυκήνη for Μυκήναι probably represents the same tendency. Masculine plurals like Falerii, Corioli, Gabii, Arpi seem primarily names of peoples, which is clearly the case with Veii; for we read in Livy: Romani Veiique in armis erant (5.1.1). Veientes like Falisci is evidently a later formation. And in Greek we read of Delphi in Herodotus: Κροῖσος ... τέμφας αὖτις ἐς Πυθώ, Δελφοὺς δωρέεται (1.54).

Turning to common names of places, we have λιμήν or λιμένες for the harbour in Greek, ὄχθη or ὄχθαι for the river bank, δυσμή the sunset but δυσμαί the west, ἀκτή the promontory but ἀκταί the coast-line. In Latin castra is the camp, angustiae and fauces the mountain pass, hortus the garden but horti the park, finis the boundary but fines the territory. Rostra is plainly the tribunal adorned by the rostra brought from Antium. Πύλαι, θύραι, and fores are old duals, but perhaps they are rather to be regarded as instruments, with which we proceed to deal in our next paragraph.

The use of τόξα rather than τόξον for the bow (Il. 1. 45) is likely to puzzle the student. It used to be explained as a plural of excellence; but then why should it be τόξα, a plural, while still hanging on the shoulders, but βιός, a singular (v.49), when in Apollo’s hands, wreaking destruction on the Greeks? In the Odyssey the bow of Ulysses is τόξα (21. 349), but τόξον (v.352) without any apparent change of meaning. Arcus in Latin is singular not plural for a single bow. And we have for pincers forceps and forcipes, forfex and forfices for scissors, volsella and volsellae for tweezers. In Greek λαβίς and πυράγρα are singulars. So tabellae the memorandum book is at times tabella, and codicilli is a short note, but codicillus is at times used for the note appended to the will. Bracca as well as braccae is used for the breeches, as is brax as well as braces. Clitellae is usual for the saddle, but the singular forms cletella, cretella, cratella occur in the glosses. Molae is the mill, and mola the upper millstone, but there are examples of mola the mill, like the Greek μύλη, which is either mill or nether millstone, the upper being ὄνος and the union at times αἱ μύλαι. You will see that in all these cases the instrument consists of two parts, giving naturally a dual for the union, which may pass to the singular as well as to the plural. Fides in the singular is ‘the string’, in the plural ‘the lyre’; but the singular is often used with the latter meaning. Virgil has currus and currūs for the chariot, as Homer has ἅρμα and ἅρματα. Scala is a step, and scalae a collection of steps, a ladder; but I read of Jacob in the Vulgate: vidit in somnis scalam stantem super terram (Gen. 28. 12). And it may be that the habit of instruments of twofold structure has passed by analogy to those of more complex nature.

Both Greek and Latin use plurals to designate a single day. Kalendae is used for the first day of the month, Idus for the middle, and Nonae for the fifth or seventh intervening. Delbrück seems right in his belief that this plural, too, is a plural of parts. For ‘night and day’ Homer uses: νύκτας τε καὶ ἦμαρ (Il. 5. 490), and the Greek for midnight is μέσαι νύκτες. The division of the night into three watches must have been very old; it gives rise to the phrase: trir aktun for ‘night’ in the Vedic Hymns, and in Homer we read:

παρῴχωκεν δὲ πλέων νὺξ

τῶν δύο μοιράων, τριτάτη δ’ ἔτι μοῖρα λέλειπται (Il. 10. 252-3).

From this use of the plural for the night arises by analogy a habit of indicating feasts or special holidays by the plural, though they last but a day. Weihnachten ‘holy nights’ is the German for Christmas, and feriae the Latin for a holiday, of which word nundinae the market day, nuptiae the wedding, and exsequiae the funeral seem to be epithets. By analogy we get epulae the banquet, funera the funeral, tenebrae darkness, and somnia sleep.

We have already spoken of the use of the plural for single parts of the body, e.g. colla for the neck, and fauces for the throat. Many of the human organs occur in pairs, e.g. βλέφαρα, ὦτα, ῥῖνες, oculi, genae, tempora; and hence arises a tendency to use the plural for parts, too, that are not paired, e.g. γενειάδες the chin, σπλάγχνα, viscera, exta. In return we note a tendency to use the singular for organs that occur in pairs, as in: dexter adi pede sacra secundo (Aen. 8. 302). Fauces the jaws is usually plural, but the abl. sing. fauce is common, and the nom. faux is attested. We have here a further example of a dual finding expression by the singular as well as by the plural. In: linguis micat ore trisulcis (Aen. 2. 475) the plural seems used to give variety to the phrase, and at the same time to indicate the triple division of the lingua, following the analogy of the plural of parts.

Very common both in Greek and Latin is the Plural of Modesty, e.g. the use by an orator of nos for ego in speaking of himself and his acts. So often Cicero, as in: Moloni ... dedimus operam (Brut. 307. 89), and he often joins nos with a following singular, as in: dissuasimus nos; sed nihil de me (Lael. 96. 25). In the primary use of this figure the speaker sinks his individual personality, and identifies himself with the people, class, or craft to which he belongs; whence the name. Of this we have a fine example in the speech of the physician Eryximachus: ἄρξομαι δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἰατρικῆς λέγων, ἵνα καὶ πρεσβεύωμεν τὴν τέχνην (Plat. Symp. 186B). Very usual and appropriate to orators is the speaker’s identification of himself with his audience, as seen in the familiar phrases: ὡς ἀκούομεν, or: ὥσπερ πυνθανόμεθα. The poets, too, pass without an effort from the first plural to the first singular, as in:

ἥλιον μαρτυρόμεσθα δρῶσ’ ἃ δρᾶν οὐ βούλομαι (Eurip. H. F. 858),

or in:

deus nobis haec otia fecit.

Namque erit ille mihi semper deus. (Buc. 1. 6-7.)

The Plural of Majesty seems to arise from the principle of collegiality in office so usual in Greece and Rome. We read: τά τε Συρακοσίων ἔφη ὅμως ἔτι ἥσσω τῶν σφετέρων εἶναι (Thuc. 7. 48.5), where σφετέρων is oblique for ἡμετέρων, the speaker who uses the plural being one of the associated generals. In the days of the Augusti and Caesares there developed from this a form of court speech in which phrases like nostra maiestas or nostra serenitas appeared and were with the Roman Empire perpetuated to our own times.

Plurals of Modesty and Majesty are usually of the first person, or of the third in oblique narration. But when the speaker uses nos for himself, it is only natural that he should use vos in addressing a representative of the opposite party. In the beginning of his tenth epistle, Horace uses the singular for his friend Fuscus, but the plural for himself in:

Urbis amatorem Fuscum salvere iubemus

Ruris amatores;

but when in v. 9 he addresses his friend as vos in:

Quae vos ad caelum effertis rumore secundo,

we feel that he is performing what is due to courtesy in putting Fuscus, the leader of the opposing party, on a level with himself; while in:

Quo iste voster expolitior dens est (Catull. 39. 20),

voster seems to mean ‘a man of your nation’; but in:

Furi, villula vostra non ad Austri

Flatus opposita est, neque ad Favoni (Catull. 26. 1-2),

or in:

tenet ille immania saxa,

Vestras, Eure, domos (Aen. 1. 140-1),

the plural pronoun is used virtually as it is with us. The use is not common before the fourth century, but is evidently fully developed then.

Just as we have vos for tu, and nos for ego, primarily for the class of men to which tu or ego belongs, so we find proper names pluralized, especially the names of persons of some marked excellence or defect, to denote men of like excellence or defect. This is very clear in: τῇδε γὰρ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ μυρίους ὄψονται ἀνθ’ ἑνὸς Κλεάρχους (Anab. 3. 2. 31), and in: οὐκ ἔφη νοῦν ἔχειν αὐτοὺς εἰ μὴ πολλοὺς ἐν τῷ παιδὶ τούτῳ Μαρίους ἐνορῶσι (Plut. Caes.1). So, too, in:

Extulit haec Decios Marios magnosque Camillos (Geo. 2. 169),

and in:

Nenia . . . et maribus Curiis et decantata Camillis (Hor. Ep. 1. 1. 63-4),

and:

caedunt Lepidos, caeduntque Metellos

Corvinosque simul (Lucan 7. 584-5),

and: interfectos Romae Varrones, Egnatios, Iulos (Ann. 1. 10.3). And we have the transference clearly set forth in:

Lys. Unus tibi hic dum propitius sit Iupiter,

Tu istos minulos cave deos flocci feceris.

Ol. Nugae sunt istae magnae; quasi tu nescias

Repente ut emoriantur humani Ioves (Pl. Cas. 331-3),

and inverted in:

Non mihi isti placent Parmenones, Syri,

Qui duas aut tres minas auferunt eris.

Nequius nil est quam egens consili servos. (Bacch. 649-51)

We have a like transition from an individual singular to a general plural for common nouns in:

Cyl. An opsono amplius

Tibi et parasito et mulieri? Men. Quas mulieres,

Quos tu parasites loquere? (Pl. Men. 320-2),

and in:

Lyco. Lusco liberto tuo:

Is Summanum se vocari dixit: ei reddidi,

Qui has tabellas obsignatas attulit. Ther. Quas tu mihi tabellas,

Quos tu mihi luscos libertos, quos Summanos somnias? (Curc. 543-5),

and in:

Aesch. Verum hoc mihi moraest,

Tibicina et hymenaeum qui cantent. . . . Dem. Missa haec face,

Hymenaeum turbas lampades tibicinas. (Ter. Ad. 904-7.)

So in Virgil: clipeum efferri iussit, Didymaonis artes (Aen. 5. 359), ‘one of the masterpieces of Didymaon’. With this compare:

Mucius, imposuit qui sua membra focis (Mart. 10. 25. 2),

and: exsulibusne datur ducenda Lavinia Teucris (Aen. 7. 359). So in Lucan’s verses:

Hoc animi nox illa dedit quae prima cubili

Miscuit incestam ducibus Ptolemaida nostris (10. 68-9),

where it is plain from nox illa that it is Caesar, and not Caesar and Antony, to whom the poet refers in ducibus. So Horace in:

quod male barbaras

Regum est ulta libidines (Od. 4. 12. 8),

uses regum for Terei. And in Claudian’s verses:

Pauper erat Curius, reges cum vinceret armis (In IV Cons. Hon. 413),

and:

contentus honesto

Fabricius parvo spernebat munera regum (In Ruf. 1. 200-1),

reges is plainly for Pyrrhus. We read in Virgil:

superos Arruns sic voce precatur:

Summe deum, sancti custos Soractis Apollo (Aen. 11. 784-5),

where superos is explained as Apollo, and in:

Perque deos oro, quos hosti nuper ademi (Ov. Met. 13. 376),

deos is clearly for Minervam (cf. v. 380).

Servius tells us (ad Aen. 1. 139): bonum antiqui dicebant manum; and Festus that cerus manus in the Saliaric hymn is for creator bonus. Manes seems the old plural of manus, though it is treated as a plurale tantum as a rule; being used as a general plural for the spirit of the deceased, as in:

Nec patris Anchisae cinerem manesve revelli (Aen. 4. 427),

or for the spirits of the dead generally as in:

Nocturnosque movet manes. (Aen. 4. 490.)

It is used for inferi ‘the lower world’ in:

Haec manes veniet mihi fama sub imos (Aen. 4. 387),

and for: supplicia quae sunt apud manes (= inferos) according to Servius in: quisque suos patimur manes (Aen. 6. 743).

We find in Greek ὠδῖνες, and in Latin minae, nugae, inimicitiae, pluralia tantum as involving the idea of indefinite repetition. With these Delbrück joins preces, found in the sing. dat. preci, acc. precem, abl. prece, and we may add vices, found in the sing. gen. vicis, acc. vicem, abl. vice. It seems to me that here, too, is the natural place for such plurals as Alpes and Pyrenaei.

Delbrück notices that while ὁ ἥλιος is the only object of its kind known to the ancients, it formed the plural οἱ ἥλιοι for ‘sunny days’ or ‘rays of sunshine’; and the Latin sol was parallel in its use of soles. When we turn to:

Soles occidere et redire possunt (Catull. 5. 4),

we see the reason at once in the naïve conceptions of primitive astronomy; even Lucretius favoured the view that a new sun was formed every morning. In Greek ὁμήν, primarily the moon, has come to mean the month, and there is formed from it a secondary ἡμήνη for the moon, not often used; for the usual term for moon is ἡσελήνη, old *σελασνα, ‘the shining one’. In Latin *men has been lengthened to mensis, just as *aus (=οὖς), still plain in ausculto, has been lengthened to auris, old *ausis; and from it is formed mena the moon goddess, though luna, old *loucsna, ‘the shining one’, is the usual term. With this plural of repetition we might associate nomina in: tua sectus orbis nomina ducet (Hor. Od. 3. 27. 75-6) and: vitreo daturus nomina ponto (4.2. 3-4), where we shall have no longer one, but two names through the repetition consequent on the transfer.