I thought this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's saying about Cupid. Yesterday, the emphasis was on what a dangerous advisor Cupid is, urging people to reckless deeds. Today's saying simply tells us that Cupid is a powerful force, but it does not say whether it is for good or for ill. In either case, Cupid is not to be trifled with!
The saying comes from a play by Plautus, the Mercator, and it is uttered by the character Charinus, the young lover who is at the center of the play's plot. Although he faces many obstacles in his love for Pasicompsa (not least of which is that his father is also in love with her!), the power of love emboldens him, convincing him that he will succeed in his quest for love:
egomet mihi comes, calator, equos, agaso, armiger,Cupid is a god, and like any superhuman power, Cupid has his ups and downs, much like the goddess Fortune, who with her wheel can lift people up or send them down into the depths.
egomet sum mihi imperator, idem egomet mihi oboedio,
egomet mihi fero quod usust. o Cupido, quantus es.
nam tu quemvis confidentem facile tuis factis facis,
eundem ex confidente actutum diffidentem denuo.
I myself am my own companion, footman, horse, driver, and arms-bearer, I myself am my own commander, yes, I am my own boss, I myself am equipped with whatever I need. O Cupid, how great thou art! For with your actions you easily embolden whomever you want, and then again that same person you can immediately plunge from confidence into despair.
I chose the words "how great thou art!" for the English translation on purpose, thinking of that hymn to a very different god from Cupid. The Christian hymn "How Great Thou Art" is one of the most popular hymns of the modern age. You can read a history of the original Swedish hymn, along with the English lyrics, at this informative webpage by Matthias Prospero. You can read there about how it started out as a Swedish hymn composed in the late nineteenth century, then migrated to Germany, where it was then translated from German into Russian; then, an English missionary in the Ukraine heard the song, brought it back to England, and another English missionary took it to India, whereupon an American missionary heard the song sung there and brought it back to the United States where it became a big hit with the Billy Graham revival meetings of the 1950s. That's definitely the long way from Sweden to the U.S.!
Meanwhile, hoping you are on the great god Cupid's good side these days, here is the Roman saying read out loud:
953. O Cupido, quantus es!
The number here is the number for this proverb in Latin Via Proverbs: 4000 Proverbs, Mottoes and Sayings for Students of Latin.
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