A short poem I wrote

Ὦ λεῦχ’ ὑδατοσύδνε Μαιονεῖσε

βάθη δώματ’ ἔχον πατρὸς παρ’ οἴκῳ,

ὑφ’ ὕδωρ νεφέλη, βάθους δαΐς τε,

ποῦ νῦν δώματ’ ἔχεις; ῥοῶν τίν’ οἰκεῖς;

νῷν γε τοὺς ἀβάτους, βίου τε νόσφιν;

ἰχθῦ, ποῖ σὺ πέφευκας, ὦ τάχιστε;

οὔπω, σ’ ἤρπασε μοῖρα, μοῖρα νήλης·

τὴν δᾷδ’ ἔσβεσε νῷν σκοτεινὰ κήδη.

Μὴ φίλ’ ἄρπασον αἰέν, εὔχομαί σοι.

Translation:

Oh white water-dwelling Maionese,

you who had deep dwellings at my father's house,

a cloud under the water, a torch of the depth,

where is now your dwelling? In which of the streams do you live?

In those us two cannot access, far away from life?

O fastest fish, where did you run away to?

You didn't: death, ruthless death snatched you away:

It extinguished the torch, to us a dark grief.

I beg you, don't always take away what's dear.

Sorry if the translation sounds crude or unidiomatic, English isn't my first language.

For context: Maionese (meaning indeed Mayonnaise) was a goldfish my dad kept in his pond. It turned white after a while, making it easy to spot: hence why I called it a cloud and a torch.

The poem was inspired by a verse from Aratus, when he wrote, referring to frogs, δείλαιαι γενεαὶ, πατέρες γυρίνων (quoting from memory, it's missing some words). The poem starts as if it was a cletic hymn, where I invoke the goldfish as if it was a god. The adjective ὑδατοσύδνoς is just the name of a Nymph declined as a masculine adjective; because of this I used it as if it was a title of the goldfish.

Are there any big mistakes in the grammar and / or syntax? The meter is Phalaecian hendecasyllable.

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u/poor-man1914 — 7 days ago

Il cattivo rapporto degli studenti con l'inglese è legato al fatto che non sanno l'italiano?

Da molto tempo do ripetizioni a studenti delle superiori; uno di questi sembra che in nove anni di scuola non abbia aperto una singola volta il libro di grammatica, non ha idea di cosa sia un condizionale, di cosa sia un gerundio, e non sa di sapere forme verbali perché ignora quale sia il nome che gli dà il libro di grammatica.

Da qui la mia riflessione: il fatto che l'inglese sia conosciuto molto male (almeno, nella mia esperienza, molti dei miei compagni di classe non lo biascicavano neppure) è almeno in parte legato al fatto che i termini grammaticali spesso non sono noti agli alunni?

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u/poor-man1914 — 11 days ago

Two nice late Roman bronzes

The first one is of emperor Gratianus; in the obverse you can see the chi-rho in the soldier's banner.

The second is of emperor Arcadius. The obverse is really nice, and the legend is completely readable despite the weirdly shaped flan.

u/poor-man1914 — 12 days ago
▲ 94 r/CoinsFromEurope+1 crossposts

Reichsthaler from Hamburg, 1619

Reverse legend: MONETA NOVA CIVITATI(S) HAMBURGENSIS, "new coinage of the city of Hamburg".

Obverse legend: MATTHIAS D(EI) G(RATIA) ROMA(NUS) IMP(ERATOR) SEM(PER) AUGU(STUS), "Matthias, by the grace of God, Roman emperor, forever augustus".

I paid 140€ for this; was it a good price?

u/poor-man1914 — 12 days ago

Two antoniniani with a pretty interesting provenance

The first one is a Trajanus Decius with two Pannoniae standing in the reverse; the second is a Philippus Arabus with a rather nice reverse showing Aequitas.

The seller I bought them from also gave me two old paper receipts; the previous owner had bought them from Italian action house Bolaffi at the latest in the nineties.

Got both for 45€.

u/poor-man1914 — 1 month ago

An aspron trachy

I bought this today for ~30$ / 27€. I'm not an expert on Byzantine coins. Whom was this coin minted under? The standing figures are holding a cross, but it's kinda hard to see. The obverse (?) is a mangled mess which should be repressing Christ if I remember correctly.

u/poor-man1914 — 1 month ago

Bought tese yesterday

First one: a nummus, with the personification of the Roman people on the obverse and a bridge (possibly the milvian bridge) on the reverse.

Second one: an antoninianus of emperor Valerianus I, with restitutor orbis on the reverse.

Third one: a badly pitted didrachm from Gela, I think. There seems to be no legible legend, or maybe it always was anepigraphous. I bought it for 10€ in the end.

u/poor-man1914 — 2 months ago
▲ 43 r/AncientCoins+1 crossposts

My most expensive purchase yet

The first coin is an "eyes to heaven" siliqua of emperor Constantine I, Siscia mint.

In the second photo, a denarius of emperor Vitellius, XV vir sacris faciundis, with a dolphin over the tripod, and a tiny half quadrans of emperor Trajan, minted for circulation in Syria.

Sorry for the bad photos, my phone's camera isn't great.

u/Then_Marionberry_259 — 2 months ago
▲ 8 r/Silverbugs+1 crossposts

Today's finds at the antiques market

The Italian coin weighs 9g with 83,5% purity; paid 8€. I was lucky enough to see that there was a 1964 half amongst the 40% silver ones, and got it for 17€; I bought both the dimes for 5€.

In total I bought 23,265g of fine silver for 35$/30€.

u/Then_Marionberry_259 — 3 months ago

Where can I find the number of known specimens of a certain coin?

I was browsing VCoins yesterday and I came across an antoninianus of Gallienus. The seller in the description wrote that in MIR only six such coins were known. I've not been able to find that information anywhere.

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u/poor-man1914 — 3 months ago
▲ 7 r/coins+1 crossposts

Is this bronze disease?

Bought this 5 kopek coin this morning for very cheap. Once I got home I noticed some green spots on it, a very big one being near the eagle's head. It wasn't very powdery though.

It's worth mentioning that as far as I know the coin spent a long time in a PVC flip, and the region I live in is very humid.

u/Then_Marionberry_259 — 3 months ago

Latest addition to my collection. Really high grade with a nice patina.

There is a small lamination on the obverse, which is why I was able to get it for somewhat cheap I think.

u/poor-man1914 — 4 months ago