Sedulius Scottus

Vescor, poto libens, rithmizans invoco Musas,
dormisco stertens oro Deum vigilans.

I eat and freely drink, with rhymes invoke the muse,
Snoring I sleep, or stay awake and pray.

Sedulius Scottus (fl. 840–860) was an Irish monk, teacher, Latin grammarian, and scriptural commentator who lived in the 9th century. During the reign of the Emperor Lothair (840–855), he was one of a colony of Irish teachers at Liège. Sedulius is sometimes called Sedulius the Younger, to distinguish him from Coelius Sedulius (a 5th-century poet).

Quotes

• Aut lego vel scribo, doceo scrutorve sophiam,
  obsecro celsithronum nocte dieque meum,
  vescor, poto libens, rithmizans invoco Musas,
  dormisco stertens oro Deum vigilans.
  Conscia mens scelerum deflet peccamina vitae:
  parcite vos misero, Christe Maria, viro.
  • I read and write and teach, philosophy peruse,
    I eat and freely drink, with rhymes invoke the muse,
    I call on heaven's throne both night and day,
    Snoring I sleep, or stay awake and pray.
    While sin and fault inform each act I plan—
    Ah! Christ and Mary pity this miserable man.
  • Translated by James Carney, in Robert McNally (ed.) Old Ireland (New York: Fordham University Press, 1965) p. 250. Other translations: Helen Waddell, Medieval Latin Lyrics (London: Constable & Co, 1929) p. 123 · George F. Whicher, The Golliard Poets: Medieval Latin Songs and Satires (New York: New Directions, 1949) p. 16. See also: Ludwig Traube (ed.) Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini, vol. 3 (Berlin, 1896) p. 225

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Sedulius Scottus on Wikipedia