{"slug":"tmp1363.tmp1363.opp-lat1","id":"latin:ogl-pl:tmp1363.tmp1363.opp-lat1","title":"Fortunati Versus Ad Bertichramnum","title_source":"Fortunati Versus Ad Bertichramnum","author":"Bertichramnus Cenomanensis Episcopus","genre":"other","date":"","tradition":"latin","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","generated":"2026-11-15T05:58:28Z","cost_usd":0.001387},"source":{"registry_id":"latin:ogl-pl:tmp1363.tmp1363.opp-lat1","work_id":"tmp1363.tmp1363.opp-lat1","edition":"ogl-pl","language":"","license":"Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/tmp1363/tmp1363/tmp1363.tmp1363.opp-lat1.xml"},"stats":{"passages":2,"english_words":346,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":1302,"commentary_units":11,"commentary_kinds":7,"derived_notes":0,"ambiguities":3,"work_notes":4,"external_links":2,"timeline":5},"summary":{"work":"tmp1363.tmp1363.opp-lat1","abstract":"The Versus ad Bertichramnum is a verse epistle by Venantius Fortunatus addressed to Bertichramnus, bishop of Le Mans. It belongs to the genre of occasional poetry common in Merovingian Gaul. The poem survives in a single manuscript tradition, likely copied in the Carolingian period, with no independent early medieval witness. The text is divided into two distinct poems: the first describes Bertichramnus lifting Fortunatus into a chariot; the second praises Bertichramnus’s literary works while noting borrowings from older poetry. The edition follows a single base manuscript without critical apparatus or stemma.","historical_context":"Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530–c. 600/609) was a Latin poet and hagiographer, later bishop of Poitiers. His poems, collected in eleven books, often address Merovingian bishops and nobles, blending classical and Christian themes. Bertichramnus was bishop of Le Mans ca. 586–623. The poem was probably composed in the late 6th century, during Fortunatus’s later years in Gaul. The text survives in a single manuscript tradition, likely copied in the Carolingian period, with no independent early medieval witness. The poem reflects the literary culture of Merovingian Gaul, where bishops were patrons of learning and poetry served as a medium for social and political exchange.","significance":"The poem is significant for its insight into the literary and social networks of Merovingian Gaul. It illustrates how Fortunatus used classical and Christian tropes to praise a bishop’s patronage and learning. The reference to Trajan’s Forum as a venue for reciting poetry shows awareness of Roman imperial literary culture. The poem’s survival in a single manuscript highlights the fragility of early medieval textual transmission.","timeline":[{"date":"c. 530","event":"Birth of Venantius Fortunatus"},{"date":"c. 586–623","event":"Bertichramnus serves as bishop of Le Mans"},{"date":"late 6th c.","event":"Probable composition of the Versus ad Bertichramnum"},{"date":"c. 600/609","event":"Death of Venantius Fortunatus"},{"date":"Carolingian period","event":"Likely copying of the sole surviving manuscript"}],"relations":[{"work":"Venantius Fortunatus, Carmina","relation":"Part of Fortunatus’s collected poems, book 11","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Virgil, Georgics","relation":"Echoed in the simile of the mother swallow","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Ambrose, Hexaemeron","relation":"Parallel to the swallow simile","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Pliny the Younger, Epistulae","relation":"Possible allusion to recitationes at Trajan’s Forum","key":"","label":null,"url":null}],"external_links":[{"key":"wikipedia:Venantius Fortunatus","label":"Venantius Fortunatus","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venantius_Fortunatus","reason":"Biographical context for the poet"},{"key":"wikipedia:Merovingian art and architecture","label":"Merovingian Gaul","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian_art_and_architecture","reason":"Historical and cultural background"}],"cautions":["The date of composition is uncertain; only a late 6th-century range can be inferred from the lives of Fortunatus and Bertichramnus.","The text survives in a single manuscript tradition, with no independent early medieval witness; variant readings are not recorded.","The edition does not provide a critical apparatus or stemma, limiting textual criticism."],"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","cost_usd":0.000375,"generated":"2026-11-15T05:58:28Z"},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Open Greek and Latin Patrologia Latina","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/tmp1363/tmp1363/tmp1363.tmp1363.opp-lat1.xml"}],"checks":{"work":"tmp1363.tmp1363.opp-lat1","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":2,"translated":2,"commentary_passages":2,"commentary_units":11,"english_words":346,"source_letters":1302,"commentary_kinds":7},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The poem is a verse epistle addressed to Bertichramnus, bishop of Le Mans, by the poet Fortunatus. It belongs to the genre of occasional poetry common in Merovingian Gaul.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The text survives in a single manuscript tradition, likely copied in the Carolingian period. No independent early medieval witness is known.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"dating","kind":"chronology","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Fortunatus died ca. 600/609; Bertichramnus was bishop ca. 586–623. The poem was probably composed in the late 6th century, during Fortunatus’s later years in Gaul.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"This edition does not provide a critical apparatus or stemma. Variant readings from other manuscripts are not recorded, and the text follows a single base manuscript.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: other in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 2 narrative."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: ogl-pl — Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":2},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"FORTUNATI VERSUS AD BERTICHRAMNUM.\n\n(Carminum lib. III, n. 22, 23.)\n\nAd Bertichramnum episcopum, cum elevaretur in currum.\n\nCurriculi gemis est, memorat quod Gallia rhedam, Molliter incedens orbita sulcat humum. Exsiliens duplici bijugo volat axe citato, Atque movet rapidas juncta quadriga rotas. Huc ego dum famulans comitatu jungor eodem, Et mea membra cito dum veherentur equo, Pontificisque sacri Bertichramni actus honore, Comprehendente manu raptus in axe levor. Qualiter implumes fetus pia mater hirundo Confovet, et placide pennula tensa regit; Sic bonitate poteus, affectu dives opimo, In proprium pastor molle sedile locat.\n\nNec solum amplectens pia mens, sed diligit omnes, Unde magis populis unicus exstet amor.\n\nII.\n\nAd eumdem de opusculis suis (ejus).\n\nArdua suscepi missis epigrammata chartis, Atque cothurnato verba rotata Sapho. Percurrens tumido spumantia carmina versu, Credidi in undoso me dare vela freto. Plana procellosos ructavit pagina fluctus, Et velut Oceanus (Oceanas) fonte refudit aquas. Vix modo tam nitido pomposa poemata cultu, Audit Trajano Roma verenda foro. Quid si tale decus recitasset in aure senatus? Stravissent blandis aurea fila tuis. Per loca, per populos, per compita cuncta videres Currere versiculos, plebe favente, tuos. Sed tamen in vestro quaedam sermone notavi, Carmine de veteri furta novella loqui.","english":"Verses of Fortunatus to Bertichramnus.\n\n(From Book III of the Poems, nos. 22, 23.)\n\nTo Bishop Bertichramnus, when he was lifted into a chariot.\n\nYou groan at the little chariot, recalling that Gaul used a carriage; the wheel-track, moving softly, furrows the ground. Leaping with a double yoke, it flies with a swift axle, and the joined quadriga moves the rapid wheels. While I, serving, am joined to the same retinue, and while my limbs are swiftly carried by the horse, and by the honor of the sacred bishop Bertichramnus, I am seized by a grasping hand and lifted onto the axle. As a dutiful mother swallow warms her unfeathered young and gently guides them with outstretched wing, so, rich in goodness, abounding in generous affection, the pastor places me on a soft seat as his own.\n\nNor does his pious mind only embrace me, but he loves all; hence a unique love stands forth among the people.\n\nII.\n\nTo the same, concerning his own works.\n\nI have undertaken difficult epigrams on dispatched pages, and words whirled in the manner of Sappho’s buskin. Running through swelling verses foaming with pride, I believed I was giving my sails to a billowy sea. The flat page belched forth stormy waves, and like the Ocean, it poured back waters from its source. Scarcely now with such polished elegance do pompous poems, heard in the Forum of Trajan, awe Rome. What if such splendor had been recited in the ear of the Senate? They would have strewn golden threads before your pleasing words. Through places, through peoples, through all crossroads, you would see your verses running, with the common folk applauding. Yet I have noted in your speech certain things, speaking new thefts from old poetry.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Fortunati Versus Ad Bertichramnum","severity":"info","text":"Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530–c. 600/609) was a Latin poet and hagiographer, later bishop of Poitiers. His poems, collected in eleven books, often address Merovingian bishops and nobles, blending classical and Christian themes.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"I. / II.","severity":"info","text":"The passage is divided into two distinct poems: the first describes Bertichramnus lifting Fortunatus into a chariot; the second praises Bertichramnus’s literary works while noting borrowings from older poetry. The division is marked by Roman numerals in the edition.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"cothurnato","severity":"info","text":"Cothurnato (from cothurnus, a high boot worn by tragic actors) metaphorically denotes a lofty, tragic style. Here it modifies Sappho’s manner, suggesting a grand, elevated poetic register.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"implumes fetus pia mater hirundo","severity":"info","text":"The simile of a mother swallow warming her unfeathered young echoes classical and patristic commonplaces of maternal care, e.g., Virgil, Georgics 4.17, and Ambrose, Hexaemeron 5.13. Fortunatus adapts it to depict episcopal protection.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Trajano Roma verenda foro","severity":"info","text":"The reference to Trajan’s Forum (inaugurated 112 CE) as a venue for reciting poetry reflects Fortunatus’s awareness of Roman imperial literary culture. It may also allude to the recitationes of Pliny the Younger or Statius, though no direct source is cited.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"Carmine de veteri furta novella loqui","severity":"caution","text":"The phrase 'new thefts from old poetry' is ambiguous: it may be a self-deprecating admission of borrowing (a common topos) or a genuine critique of Bertichramnus’s style. The Latin furta (thefts) is a standard term for literary imitation (cf. Seneca, Epistulae 79).","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The identity of the 'curriculi gemis' (you groan at the little chariot) is unclear: it may address Bertichramnus or a third party. The phrase 'Carmine de veteri furta novella loqui' could refer to Fortunatus’s own borrowings or to Bertichramnus’s; the syntax is ambiguous."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":2,"ref":"p2","source":"Ex quibus in paucis superaddita syllaba fregit, Et pede laesa suo musica clauda jacet. Nunc, venerande Pater, prece, volo, voce saluto. Commendans animum supplice corde meum. Sit tua vita diu, cujus modulante camaena, Cogimur optatis reddere verba jocis.","english":"From these few things, an added syllable has broken the measure, and its foot wounded, the music lies lame. Now, venerable Father, with prayer, will, and voice I greet you, commending my soul with a suppliant heart. May your life be long, you whose modulating muse compels us to render words in desired jests.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"superaddita syllaba fregit","severity":"info","text":"The poet complains that an added syllable has broken the meter, a technical reference to quantitative verse where an extra syllable disrupts the foot pattern.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"musica clauda","severity":"info","text":"Musica clauda: 'lame music' personifies the meter as injured, a common trope in late Latin poetic self-reference to metrical imperfection.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Nunc, venerande Pater, prece, volo, voce saluto","severity":"info","text":"The line shifts from metrical complaint to direct address, using a tricolon (prece, volo, voce) to emphasize the speaker's humility and devotion.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"modulante camaena","severity":"info","text":"Camaena (Camena) is an archaic Latin term for a muse or song, used here to attribute the bishop's eloquence to divine or poetic inspiration.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Cogimur optatis reddere verba jocis","severity":"info","text":"The phrase suggests that the bishop's muse compels the poet to produce desired jests, reflecting the occasional and patronal nature of Fortunatus' verse.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The identity of the 'added syllable' is not specified; it may refer to a textual corruption or a deliberate metrical choice by the poet.","The phrase 'optatis ... jocis' could mean either 'desired jests' (the bishop's playful words) or 'desired joys' (a more general wish), though the draft favors 'jests'."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]}]}