(Up to the half moon, signs of the half tell up to mid month,
and in turn from mid month
To the waning half. Next comes the fourth day from the end of the month
Followed by the third of the succeeding month.)
Aratus,Phaen. 807 10A Vergilian acrostic, which follows a pattern identifiable elsewhere in
Latin poetry of employing the first two letters of verses some distance
apart, seems to be a signature of sorts: PUblius VErgilius MAro.
53
luna revertentis cum primum colligit ignis,
si nigrum obscuro comprenderit aera cornu,
MAximus agricolis pelagoque parabitur imber;
at si virgineum suffuderit ore ruborem,
VEntus erit: vento semper rubet aurea Phoebe.
sin ortu quarto (namque is certissimus auctor)
PUra neque obtunsis per caelum cornibus ibit,
totus et ille dies et qui nascentur ab illo
exactum ad mensem pluvia ventisque carebunt.(The moon, when first she gathers her recovering lights,
If she embraces the dark sky obscurely with her crescent,
An enormous rainstorm will come to pass for farmers and those at sea.
But if a maiden blush suffuses her face,
Wind will there be: golden Phoebe always reddens in face of the wind.
And if in the fourth quarter (for this is a most reliable indicator)
Unblemished she passes through the heavens,
That day and all that follow until the end of the month,
Will not be troubled by rain or wind.)
Verg.G. 1.427 35It seems unlikely that the Latin quasi-acrostic is accidental,
because it appears in a passage of theGeorgicsthat deals with comparable
subject matter as the locus of the Aratean acrostics (i.e., the phases
of the moon). The phrase certissimus auctor (either ‘‘most reliable
indicator’’ or ‘‘most assured author’’) points the reader to the authorial
self-reference, and languagedescribing the reddening of the moon(ruborem,
G. 1.430;rubet,G. 1.431) could reinforce the rubrication of key letters.^54
Vergil would have had precedent for some sort of authorial acrostic within
the Latin tradition, if we trust Cicero’s indication that the early Latin poet
- Brown 1963, Haslam 1992.
- The acrostic, mesostich, and telestich found atAnthologia Latina214 Riese (205
Shackleton Bailey) are rubricated or reddened in a late seventh or early eighth century
manuscript. On rubrication see also Courtney 1990.
Situating Literacy at Rome 131