With this entry, I resume a series that I began last spring, and which was interrupted by (in my opinion) more urgent postings. The most recent one was posted on March 6, 2010. In this series, I compare and contrast thoughts from Carmina Burana (Carl Orff) and the Bible, to reach some conclusions that are quite different from fundamentalist Christianity. Please look back at the earlier five entries if you missed them.
In the previous entry in the Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi series, we saw that the writer of Ecclesiastes, whom many assume to be Solomon, reached the conclusion, at least temporarily, that we should stop worrying about the ups and downs of life, and whether it makes sense, and just enjoy what we have. Earlier in this series we also examined pieces of music, especially Orff’s Carmina Burana, which expressed some of the same ideas as Ecclesiastes.
There is also a fair amount of medieval poetry, used in Carmina Burana, which celebrates the enjoyment of life.
One kind of enjoyment is drinking. While the Bible has little to say about the enjoyment of drinking, the Persian poet Omar Khayyam had a lot. I wanted to share with you some of the medieval poetry of Carmina Burana with you. An unknown minstrel wrote what appear to be the words to a drinking game. Read the Latin words aloud and appreciate their beauty:
Semet bibunt pro captivis
Post hec bibunt ter pro vivis,
Quater pro Christianis cunctis,
Quinquies pro fidelibus defunctis,
Sexies pro sororibus vanis,
Septies pro militibus silvanis,
Octies pro fratribus perversis,
Nonies pro monarchis dispersis,
Decies pro navigantibus,
Undecies pro discordantibus,
Duodecies pro penitentibus,
Tredecies pro iter agentibus.
It translates roughly:
Once they drink for those in jail;
After that, three times for the living,
Four times for all Christians,
Five times for those who died faithful,
Six times for the weak sisters,
Seven times for the forest rangers,
Eight times for erring brothers,
Nine times for wandering monks,
Ten times for the sailors,
Eleven times for those who quarrel,
Twelve times for those who repent,
Thirteen times for travelers.
Then the unknown musician wrote about how everybody drinks, so you might as well too:
Tam pro papa quam pro rege
Bibunt omnes sine lege.
Bibi hera, bibit herus,
Bibit miles, bibit cierus,
Bibit ille, bibit illa,
Bibit servus cum ancilla,
Bibit velox, bibit piger,
Bibit albus, bibit niger,
Bibit constans, bibit vagus,
Bibit rudis, bibit magus,
Bibit pauper et egrotus,
Bibit exul et ignotus,
Bibit puer, bibit canus,
Bibit presul et decanus,
Bibit soror, bibit frater,
Bibit anus, bibit mater,
Bibit iste, bibit ille,
Bibunt centum, bibunt mille.
It translates roughly:
The pope the same as a king,
Everyone drinks without restraint.
The mistress drinks, the master drinks,
The soldier drinks, the cleric drinks,
The man drinks, the woman drinks,
The servant drinks with the maid,
The quick man drinks, the lazy man drinks,
The white man drinks, the black man drinks,
The regular drinks, the wanderer drinks,
The beginner drinks, the wise man drinks,
The poor man drinks and the invalid,
The exile drinks and the stranger,
The boy drinks, the greybeard drinks,
The president drinks and the deacon,
The sister drinks, the brother drinks,
The old man drinks, the mother drinks,
That woman drinks, this man drinks,
A hundred drink, a thousand drink.
I am certainly not one to encourage drunkenness. It’s fun to joke about, of course; the 1960s singer Shep Woolley (this could not have been his real name; and he doubled as the drunk Ben Colder) sang, “And we danced, and we danced, at least I thought it was dancing until somebody stepped on my hand.” But actually getting drunk is dangerous and extremely unhealthy, and I don’t do it. And, as my wife, who also does not get drunk, says, it’s no fun: if you pass out under the table, you miss all the fun. Passed out drunk, the operatic character Hoffman slept through his dream-come-true. But hey, when St. Patty’s day comes around, or at the end of a thirsty summer—at such a time (and most any other time) remember that a little mild drinking is a universal and timeless pleasure. As Henry Purcell wrote centuries ago, “If all be true that I should think, there are five reasons we should drink: Good friends; good wine; being dry, or the threat of being so by and by; and any other reason.”
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