Renaissance Poet Andrea Navagero

[kmp]

Can some one with a better grasp of Latin help me out with this poem by the Renaissance poet Andrea Navagero?

The poet is addressing Sleep which he is thanking for bringing him (in dreams) his otherwise unforthcoming girlfriend.

The poem begins

Beate Somne, nocte qui hesterna mihi
tot attulisti gaudia,
utinam deorum rector ille caelitum
te e coetu eorum miserit,
quae saepius mortalibus vera assolent
mitti futuri nuntia.

I translate this as :

Blessed Sleep, who yesterday night brought me so many joys, if only the ruler of the heavenly gods sent you out of their assembly, true messages of the future which are accustomed to be sent more often to mortals.

But this doen't really make sense. The latter part of the sentence doesn't fit with the first.

I think the poet is hoping that this vision came from the crowd of gods who reliably forecast the future, and the meaning is something like:

Blessed Sleep, who yesterday night brought me so many joys, if only the ruler of the heavenly gods sent you out of the assembly of those true messages of the future which are accustomed to be sent very often to mortals

However, this doesn't seem to fit grammatically. Wouldn't "vera nuntia" have to be genitive to agree with eorum?

Can "quae" mean "from whom"? That would really fit, but shouldn't it be quibus in that case?

Can anyone sort out my puzzlement?

- Ken

 

[QMF]

As far as I can see everything is shipshape up to the "quae", although I'm a bit doubtful about caelitum referring to deorum (the dropping of the "or" is common, but it seems odd for that word.) You should also provide some indication that you recognize the presence of the word "ille". It's hard to translate here, but it's more than just "the".
The last two lines are almost a poem of their own, seeming to have little to do with the rest. I translated them individually the same way as you did (true messages of the future which are accustomed to be sent more often to mortals.) The comparative, when not seeming to compare with anything, I believe is occasionally used (esp. with adverbs) to indicate "very" in a sense less forceful than that of the superlative. I'm not sure about that though.
This would make more sense with context. If this was simply assigned as is, it's a bit odd. Edited: this sounds remotely Vergilian.
Ah yes, google is a joy. Context found:
Beate somne, nocte qui hesterna mihi
Tot attulisti gaudia,
Utinam deorum rector ille caelitum
Te e coetu eorum miserit,
Quae saepius mortalibus vera assolent
Mitti futuri nuntia.
Tu, quae furenti surdior freto meas
Superba contemnit preces,
Facilem Neaeram praebuisti: quin mihi
Mille obtulit sponte oscula,
Oscula, quae Hymetti dulciora sint favis,
Quae suaviora nectare.
Vere beate somne, quod si saepius
His, dive, me afficias bonis,
Felicior caelestibus deis ero,
Summo nec inferior Iove.
At tu, proterva, quolibet fuge, eripe
Complexibus te te meis:
Si somnus iste me frequens reviserit,
Tenebo te, invitam licet.
Quin dura sis, sis quamlibet ferox: eris
Et mitis, et facilis tamen.

 

[QMF]

Wow...this person is...egotistical, to say the least. I mean..."ero summo nec inferior Iove"...jeez.

 

[kmp]

Many thanks for your help.

<<<As far as I can see everything is shipshape up to the "quae">>>

That's how I see it as well. Apart from these two lines the poem is pretty easy.

The more I think about it, the more I'm certain that the correct translation is as I said:

Blessed Sleep, who yesterday night brought me so many joys, if only the ruler of the heavenly gods sent you out of the assembly of those true messages of the future which are accustomed to be sent very often to mortals.

But I'm not sure about how the grammar works - can you connect eorum with vera nuntia that way in Latin? I would have thought they needed to agree in case.

As for "ero summo nec inferior Iove" - I don't see this as egotistical ar all - it's just a "you will make me feel like a king" sort of thing.

And as for "ille" - I noted it but I don't have to provide any indication of anything - I'm not doing this as an exam.

Thanks for your help, though - it's great to have someone to talk to about this. I find it not uncommon (and rather frustrating) when I'm reading Latin to feel I know exactly what is being said, but I can't quite see how the grammar fits together to say it.

Regards

- Ken

 

[QMF]

Well the way I said it vera nuntia had nothing to do with the eorum (and in fact, nothing to do with any of it really). The quae...nuntia part really does seem kind of like a little couplet, and if you took the quae out it then it would be a logical short poem.

 

[kmp]

You're obviously correct as far as the grammar goes and perhaps I should just accept that the grammar cannot lie.
Thanks again. At least I feel more confident now that I haven't completely misread the lines.