Thanks to Hendrik Desmet

Cum tua non edas, carpis mea carmina, Laeli.
Carpere vel noli nostra, vel ede tua.

It's quotation from Martial [M. Valerius Martialis], Epigrammata, I, 91

"As you don't publish your works, you criticize my poems, Laelius.
Either don't criticize ours, or publish yours."

Cf. Martial, Epigrammes, tome I (livres I-VII), texte etabli et traduit par
H. J. IZAAC (Paris, Les Belles Lettres 1969), p. 44 :
"Tu ne publies pas tes vers, Lelius, mais tu critiques les miens. Mets fin a
tes critiques, ou publie les tiens ."

carpo, carpere : "to pick" ; but also rarely "to criticize"
edo, edidi, editum, edere : "to put out, to publish"
>< edo, edi, esum, edere : "to eat"

Metrics : elegiac distich :
cUm tua nOn edAs, carpIs mea cArmina, lAEli.
cArpere vEl nolI nOstra, vel Ede tuA.

Why only the second verse ?
What that has got to do with the dead brothers or with the sundial ?


Alain BURGEON
Carnieres, Belgium
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

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