In the spring of 2000 Father Carolus Egger agreed to meet me in the office of Latinitas Magazine in Vatican City. I was 23 and he was a very old man—86 years old, if my math is right. (As a rule, I don’t do math in public.)
Egger was the great Latinist mentor of my great Latinist mentor, Reginald Foster, who had engineered the meeting, and I was scared as hell. Egger and I spoke entirely in Latin in that conversation, which is something I’d never done before and didn’t even really think was possible back then. When our time was up I left and realized I didn’t even know what his native language was–Italian, German, or something else? I never did find out then. (I know now that he was Karl Egger, raised in German-speaking Sterzing.)
As I left, he allowed me to choose a few free issues of Latinitas to take as a gift. (You can see them all stacked on the shelves behind him.) I grabbed the two or three newest, as well as one of the few remaining copies of the issue in which Reginald Foster had published his famous essay on the Apollo Moon Landing. I still have it today.
Long before selfies became a thing, I took a picture of Egger and me before we left. Here he is (with me cropped out). I later learned he died in 2003, so in a way my meeting with him was that kind of experience where you shake an old man’s hand only to discover he’d once shaken Napoleon’s hand as a boy. It was a last bridge to another distant world.
When I got back from my Dolomites trip this summer, I was stunned to discover that Egger had been a proud son of South Tyrol (Südtirol, Alto Adige). In fact, he even published an entire book of essays and poems devoted to his beloved homeland! And since one of my best memories was the day I spent hiking the Seiser Alm/Alpe di Siusi—a high mountain pasture with gorgeous views in every direction–I was delighted to discover that Egger had written an essay about making that same hike all the way back in 1953, when he would have been 39 years old.
The Latin is very clear and lively, and it gives him a chance to show how hiking boots, backpacks, skis, and ritzy hotels can all be readily described in Latin. It is also quite unexpectedly hilarious, conjuring up a vivid portrait of midcentury luxury tourists in the Alps. The footnotes are all his, but to make it more readily intelligible to those who don’t know the area I’ve added links, pictures, and some comments of my own throughout.
IN ROSETUM REGIS LAURINI ASCENSUS*
Source: Carolus Egger, “In Rosetum regis Laurini ascensus,” Latinitas 3 (1953): 195–199. Reprinted in Carolus Egger, Tirolensia Latina (Innsbruck, 1960), 27–33, from which the following text is drawn.
Quod ardore solis, sub meridie validissimi, torrebar, Bauzanum, Raetiae meae, quae est cis Brennerum, locum principem¹, petii, ut ex Urbis caloribus conquiescerem atque in nemorosis clivis scabrisque montium iugis animum corpusque relevarem.
1. Germanice Bozen, Italice Bolzano appellata, est praecipua urbs provinciae, quae Tiroler Etschland seu Südtirol, vel Alto Adige vulgo dicitur.
Ubi hamaxostichus² ibidem constitit, sacerdos quidam nomini christiano inter ethnicos propagando, coniunctus mecum longo familiaritatis usu, ex quo adolescentes ingenuis litteris Brixinae³ simul dederamus operam, paene me invasit: „Carus exspectatusque mihi venis, Carole; sed agedum, maturemus conscendere automatam Pullmanianam⁴, quo in pascuum montanum Siusense⁵ vehamur. Etenim tam sudo caelo non licet marcescere desidia, iuvat vero in montis verticem eniti. Profecto in tale evademus iugum, quod optatis vel studiosissimi Alpium lustratoris respondeat.“ Cui ego: „Pulchre, mi amice, nihil equidem repugno; fruamur igitur et tam illustri die et mutua necessitudine et natalis dulcedine soli.“
2. H. e. Zug, treno, train, tren.
3. Vulgo appellatur Brixen, Bressanone.
4. Ita reddidi Latine vulgare nomen Reiseomnibus, autopullman, omnibus; magna enim haec et elegantia vehicula e nomine Georgii Pullman, fabricatoris Americani, nuncupantur.
5. Hoc pascuum alpinum, Seiser Alm, Alpe di Siusi vulgo dictum, a pago Seis, Siusi nomen ducit; vox Siusi in vetere tabula, anno fere 985 conscripta, occurrit. Cf. Archivio per l’Alto Adige, XVIII, 1923, I, p. 188. Eius pascui altitudo est fere 2000 metr. supra maris libram.
Postquam sacciperium dorsuale⁶ et baculum alpicum expedivimus atque clavata induimus calceamenta⁷, ad forum Valtherianum⁸ properavimus, ubi publicum illud vehiculum, strepente iam interiore machinamento, novissimos viatores nos excepit. Praeter vineas, secundum Isarcum fluvium luxuriantes, ex quibus fragrans conficitur merum Magdalense ac molle Iustinianum⁹, incitato vecti cursu, collem subivimus, annosis densisque pinis amictum. Sacra turris, in acutum fastigata apicem, quae pone silvam eminebat, de rebus supernis nos monuit atque divinis. E nitida vero domo rustica, dianthis¹⁰ subter fenestras et in podio ornata, pupuli, subflavo capillo et versicolore Tirolensium vestitu admodum venusti, Dei salutem ex more nobis dixerunt¹¹.
6. Ita Latine interpretatus sum peram, qua Alpium lustratores utuntur et quae Rucksack, sacco da montagna, sac de touriste, rucksack, mochila, dicitur. Sacciperium scriptum legimus apud Plautum et Varronem; dorsualis, e, apud Apuleium et Ammianum. Dorsualia erant tegumenta, quae iumentis imponebantur.
7. Clavata dicuntur apud Festum calceamenta clavis confixa.
8. Praecipuum forum urbis Bauzani sic appellatur a poeta, cui nomen Walter von der Vogelweide fuit.
9. Ex uvis, quae apud pagum S. Magdalenae et S. Iustinae colliguntur, vinum comparatur bellissimum.
10. Dianthi (cf. Menge-Güthling, Enzyklopädisches Wörterbuch der lateinischen und deutschen Sprache, II, p. 433) vulgo appellantur Nelken, garofani, oeillets, carnations, claveles. [Note by Fontaine: Is Egger right? The flowers one usually sees are geraniums, not carnations…]
11. Usurpantur enim ea in regione saepe verba Grüss Gott, quibus salus detur et reddatur.
Pervenimus tandem in pascuum montanum Siusense, quod Dolomianorum montium¹² perpetuis est circumsaeptum culminibus. Prata amoenissimis lectissimisque depicta floribus alpinis, odorum halabant suavitates.
12. Cf. annot. 5, p. 26.
Qua in regione tempore hiemali coetus et frequentia eorum fieri solet, qui oblongis soleis¹³ per nives prolabuntur, et aestate eorum, qui ferias agunt. Ex quibus plurimi — o delirationem incredibilem! — in perelegantibus deversoriis, nostra aetate ibi exstructis, se continentes, alucinantur helluanturque aut, in sellis dormitoriis sub divo iacentes, tempus terunt, ut, hedychro¹⁴ peruncti, sole infuscentur.
13. Vulgo dicuntur Skier, sci, ski; cf. A. Bacci, Lexicon eorum vocabulorum, quae difficilius Latine redduntur, Romae 1955³.
14. Hedychrum, quod verbum apud Ciceronem scriptum est, est genus unguenti odorati, quod cuti illinitur, ut eam nitidam reddat.
„Odi profanum vulgus et arceo“, inquam: „pedibus iam sequamur avia montium, ubi discreti ab hoc enervium exsucorumque hominum grege, incorruptas admiremur locorum amoenitates.“
There’s something wonderfully cranky about this. The Alpe di Siusi was already becoming a fashionable resort in the 1950s, with handsome new hotels catering to skiers and summer vacationers. Egger wants none of it. Quoting Horace —“I hate the profane crowd and shun it”—he and his friend shoulder their packs and head for the mountains instead. I don’t mind a bit of luxury myself, but I’m with him 100%.
Sat longo itinere fatigatis patuit nobis alpicum deversoriolum¹⁵ seu domuncula ad pernoctandum apta; ubi, mox alto et gravi somno sopiti, stertuimus quod sufficeret ad indomitum despumandum stillaticium sucum vitigenum¹⁶, cuius aliquot pocilla ante sorbillaveramus.
15. Ita dixerim parvas domos, quae Schutzhütten, rifugi, refuges, paradores appellantur.
16. Stillaticius sucus vitigenus satis apte videtur significare validissimam potionem e vini suco elicitam, e cuius genere est ea, quam Branntwein, Schnaps, acquavite, eau-de-vie, brandy, aguardiente appellant. Verbum adiectivum stillaticius, a, um, apud Plinium scriptum legimus, vitigenus, a, um, apud Lucretium.
Egger never names the tiny refuge where they spent the night, but his itinerary leaves a strong clue. The most likely candidate is the Paul Preuss Hut beside the Vajolet, which in 1953 had just eight beds. The much larger neighboring Vajolet hut, by contrast, had around 140, so Egger’s domuncula (little hut) sounds very much like this place.
Summo mane, postquam de haud molli surreximus lectulo, iis rite dedimus operam, quae ad caelestis Numinis cultum pertinent; et, postquam laridum fumo duratum et frustula atri panis latrantem lenivissent stomachum, lapidosae nos iterum commisimus viae.
Iam in imo sudavimus clivo eius montis, quo intendebamus et quem Rosengarten¹⁷, hoc est Rosetum, Germanice, Catinaccio autem Italice appellant. Inter abscissas rupes arduus fuit salebrosa semita nobis euntibus escensus in inferius eiusdem montis iugum, quod ex veterum quadam fabula Hortulus¹⁸ vocatur, sed non est nisi sterilis area praeruptis circumvallata cautibus; hac enim imminet moles Roseti, in angustum dorsum cuneati, illac Turres Vaioletianae¹⁹, seu tres montes editi in altitudinem ingentem, sidera petunt. Nix iis in angustiis ne flagrante quidem canicula omnis solvitur. Dum sedemus aurae captantes refrigerationem, quinque iuvenes audacissimos videmus in propinquam Turrim Vaioletianam enitentes; quotiescumque dux funem, quo omnes in ordinem coniunguntur, apto fixit loco, ceteri manibus pedibusque repentes insequuntur. En penduli in aëre scandunt ad rupem superimpendentem! „Trahit sua quemque voluptas“²⁰.
17. Surgit in altitudinem 2981 metr.
18. Vernaculo sermone dicitur Gartl (h. e. hortulus).
19. Hisce Turribus, seu verticibus, nomen inditum est Vajolet.
20. Verg. Buc. II, 65.
We can now follow Egger and his friend almost step by step. From the Preuss hut the path climbs directly into the Gartl, the rocky basin beneath the Vajolet Towers. Egger has gone in one day from the deck chairs and suntan lotion of the Alpe di Siusi to watching roped climbers creep up bare Dolomite walls.
Pergentibus deinde nobis sub Roseti verticem ad iugum Santnerianum²¹, quod est ei continens, comes his me verbis est allocutus: „Quandoquidem paulum acclivis est callis, breviter, amabo te, perhibe quid sibi velint nomina Rosetum, Hortulus. Subit quidem animum suavis quaedam fabula, quam tamen, utpote diutius in Africa peregrinatus, haud probe commemini.“
21. Hoc iugum, cuius altitudo est 2741 m., a Ioanne Santner, cive Bauzanensi et audaci Alpium lustratore, appellatur.
Itaque morem gerens amico, carmen fictum de rege Laurino, quod maiorum aetas monumentis et litteris mandaverat, paucis verbis exposui:
Hic, ubi saxa invia nunc asperaeque cautes conspiciuntur, inaccessus olim colebatur regis Laurini hortus, rosarum varietate amoenissimus; cui continuabantur aedes omnium opinione lautiores. Quamquam erat ille, propter brevem staturam, homuncio, plurimum tamen pollebat, quippe qui pilleo quodam ad aliorum e conspectu subtrahendum apto ac balteo magico uteretur. Huiusce igitur terrae atque pumilionum obtinens imperium, Simildem, virginem forma conspicuam, non sine dolo in hoc amplissimum abduxerat domicilium.
Verum Theodoricus, heros Veronensis, cum sociis, qui omnes cupiditate ardebant magna et ardua audendi, constituit Laurinum, de cuius sede tam mira fuerant ad ipsum allata, bello temptare. Cum ad praeclarum illud rosetum adventassent, Vittegus, unus ex comitibus Theodorici, filum sericum, quo hortus cingebatur, impio ausu disrupit rosasque obtrivit. Cui statim rex Laurinus, armis instructus et albo vectus equulo, se obtulit, ut manus cum eo consereret. Ne deesset Vittego, in summum adducto discrimen, Theodoricus proelium subiit; sed et hunc rex pumilionum, cui balteus magicus robur addebat duodecim virorum, strenue decertans non semel gladio occupavit. Crudescente vero pugna, Laurinus capiti pilleum imposuit, quo factum est, ut cerni iam non posset, ideoque Veronensem infensius urgeret. Cui, auctore Hildebrando, fido armorum socio, contigit, ut hosti, quamquam non viso, balteum abriperet et ita vires eius extenuaret.
Tandem, Similde suffragante, pax convenit, quae tamen inter epulas opipare apparatas est dirempta. Proelio redintegrato, pumiliones devicti et profligati sunt, ipse rex Laurinus captivus deductus Veronam, ubi, quot affectus sit contumeliis, vix dici potest. Postquam autem incuria custodum e servitute se expedivit et in hosce rediit montes, rosetum, tot causam malorum, delevit; ex carmine enim exsecrabili, quod dixit, flores in saxa concreverunt²².
22. Hac in re praecipuus mihi auctor fuit K. F. Wolff, König Laurin und sein Rosengarten, Bozen 1947.
Repetita igitur memoria fabulosae antiquitatis, iugum Santnerianum ascendimus; unde despicientes valles silvestres sumus admirati et urbem Bauzanum, cuius princeps templum vidimus e longinquo. Summam vero spectandi voluptatem attulerunt plurimi circa montes, immensum editi perpetuaque obsiti glacie, imprimis Brenta, Presanella, Adamellus, Ortlerus. Tanta capti amoenitate, canticum iucundum cecinimus, ex alpinae gentis more vocem tremula modulatione intorquentes: cui repercussae valles responderunt.
One final detail makes this scene easier to imagine. There was no refuge at Santner Pass when Egger reached it. The little Santnerpasshütte was not built until 1956. So in 1953, when he and his friend stood here after sunset and watched the Dolomites turn rose-red, they had the pass itself—and the view.
Post occasum solis omnia saxa et culmina ad breve tempus quasi purpureo colore perfusa rutilavere; quod naturae miraculum Tirolenses sermone Germanico usi Alpenglühen, id est rutilum Alpium ardorem, vocant, Raeti vero Latini²³ enrosadüra. Hoc ideo fieri censent, ut qui commenticiis fabulis magnopere delectentur, quod rex Laurinus, cum, diris deprecationibus hortum suum defigens, ediceret, ut flores neque diu neque noctu sanguineo micarent fulgore, sed scrupulosae ibi horrerent cautes, crepusculi tempus sit oblitus; quapropter primis se intendentibus tenebris haec Dolomiana iuga fugaci adhuc rubore quasi rosarum exardescere.
23. Patrio sermone Ladins appellati, in quibusdam vallibus Tirolis, qua ad meridiem vergit, incolunt. Quorum sermo maiorem partem a lingua Latina derivatus est.
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–FINIS–
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