Today is St. Patrick’s Day, the saint day for the Welsh boy who was made a slave but worked his way up to being the first bishop of Armagh. For my sins I had to translate his confessions when I was doing a B.A. in Latin. I was not a good Latin student, and perhaps did not fit the stereotype of the Classical scholar. It was, therefore, unfortunate that I got the following line from The Confessions to translate. It is from the moment that Patrick (not yet Saint obviously) was trying to find a lift home from some sailors, and he says:
“Et in illa die itaque reppuli sugere mammellas eorum propter timorem Dei, quia gentes erant.”
What?? Well, in most translations it is understood as something along the lines of:
‘On that day I refused to make friendship with them, because they were heathens.”
But I gave the literal translation which is:
“And so on that day I refused to suck their breasts, on account of the fear of
God; because they were heathens.”
A man of principle then. It is unlikely that this was some homoerotic barter for a free passage but still there was an uncomfortable silence in the classroom. I did ask the lecturer whether he thought it was a way of showing tribal affiliation and trust but you could see he really wanted to move on.
Tribal affiliation is beginning to reveal itself in Baltimore, as it is at this time of year that the holiday home owners begin to return. There is a particular distant but enquiring gaze that you get from them as they chat in groups. It is I think, because they are constantly looking out vaguely for friends that they have not seen since they were last down here in this happy place; a place of course from which people were taken, like Patrick himself was, to be slaves. But tonight we can see no Algerian pirate ships or worryingly bare-chested sailors advancing meaningfully, on this St Patrick’s Day we can just be happy. Enjoy!