PART
5 –
Ch.XXXIII.19
The
Pelasgians or proto – Latins (Arimii)
(The
Pelasgians from the northern parts of the
XXXIII.
19. Romanian folk traditions about the Latinii from Istru.
Some traditions
about the prehistoric Latini still
exist today with the Romanian people, especially in the regions near the
These Latini, from
the eastern parts of
This is in fact the
same name, which we also find in the ancient Italic traditions under the form “Prisci Latini” (Paulus ex Festo, p.
226).
Another folk tradition
which we find in the district Teleorman of Romania, tells us that the ancient Latinii had dwelt in these regions
prior to the coming of the Romanians (Densusianu,
Cest. Ist. Respunsuri, P. II).
In Mehedinti
district, in the western parts of
In the lower parts
of the Danube, in Dobrogea proper, it is also told that prior to the Romanians,
had dwelt in those lands the Latinii,
or Letinii, a strong people, and
that all the ancient citadels in those regions had been built by the Latini (Densusianu, Cest. Ist. Respunsuri, P.
I), but that it is not known what sort of people they were [1].
[1. Some localities on the territory
of Romania bear even today the names: Lateni
(Ialomita), Latai (Botosani), Latin (Braila), Liteni (Suceava), Letesci
(Nemtu), Liteni (Bucovina), Letenita (Banat – Pesty, A Szor. Bans. II. 295), Leton
or
We arrive now to
one of the most important Romanian folk traditions about the Latinii from the
lower
Iancul Voda from
The entire content
of this folk poem presents an astonishing similarity with the Italic legend
about the wedding of Eneas with the
daughter of king Latinus.
In Virgil’s Aeneid, the entire war of
Aeneas with king Latinus is in fact a simple wedding affair.
Latinus, as this
national epic poem of the Romans tells us, had only one marriageable daughter,
who was wooed by many, from the “great
Exactly as in the
Romanian rhapsody Iancul Voda is subjected to three tough trials of bravery,
Aeneas has to sustain three battles, until finally he succeeds to conquer the
citadel of Latinus and to wed his daughter, young Lavinia.
In the Romanian
poem Iancul Voda grows sad and shocked, when the rich Letin shouts from the
tower of his courts to choose one from his wedding guests, wedding guests or
cavalry, to jump over the walls and to open the gates. And similarly, the poem
of Virgil shows Aeneas saddened, frightened and in despair, when he sees the
war standard flying on the citadel of king Latinus (Aen. VIII. v. 1, 18-19) [2].
[2. TN – There is a footnote at this
point, in which Densusianu affirms that the verses of Virgil are only a simple
paraphrase of the text found in the Romanian folk rhapsodies. In order to prove
this he compares two groups of verses from the Romanian versions, with two very
similar ones, written in Latin, from the Aeneid: VIII, v. 19 seqq. and VII, v.
107 seqq].
Iancul Voda is
encouraged by his godfather, Michnea Voda, while Aeneas is heartened by the
majestic figure of Tiberinus, an ancient deified king of
Iancul Voda, with
his army of cavalry and infantry, comes close to the courts of the rich Letin,
then himself, or Michnea Voda, urges his horse, jumps over the walls and opens
the gates.
The same is the
course of action in the poem of Virgil.
Aeneas goes with his cavalry and infantry troupes against the citadel of king
Latinus. The Trojans, with Aeneas leading them, assault the gates. Aeneas
himself is the first to climb on top of the walls. Finally the citadel is
conquered and Aeneas marries the daughter of king Latinus (Aen. XI. 17. 304,
381, 621; XII, 577, 597, 698).
In the Romanian
nuptial poem, the father-in-law of Iancul Voda is constantly called “The rich
Letin” (TN – Letinul bogat), or
“holy rich” (TN – de blaga bogat).
In Virgil’s Aeneid (XI. v. 213) king Latinus has the same characteristic
epithet, in the form of “praedives”.
In the Romanian
poem, the rich Letin is also called
In Virgil’s
poem Sabinus (Aen. VII. v. 178), or Sabus at Silius Italicus, is one of the ancestors of king Latinus.
In Romanian songs,
the rich Letin is called “who had abandoned the law”” (TN – de lege lepadat). Virgil gives the same epithet, under the form “contemptor deom”, to Mezentius, the Etruscan king, allied with the
Rutulii and the Latinii against Aeneas (Aen. VIII. v. 7).
As we see, the
tradition presented in the Romanian epic songs, and the tradition presented in
the heroic poem of Virgil, have the same common foundation. Even the names of
the principal heroes, Aeneas and Latinus praedives, Iancul Voda and the rich
Letin, are the same.
Virgil had used, as
we know, various legends and traditions in composing his national epic.
The conquest of
In regard to the
second part of his poem though, the disembarking of Aeneas in
In his national
poem though, Virgil had changed the primitive traditional character of the
legend of Latinus praedives. From an
ancient nuptial rite, from a simple simulacrum of heroic battles, which once
took place at the lower
The rich Letin,
according to Romanian folk traditions, had been a ruler of an ancient Romanian country, situated
south of the mouths of the
[3. Densusianu, Cest. Ist. P. II. Respunsuri: Romanati district,
Margaritesci village “the Romanian countries, about which the old men talk, are
Tera – Romanesca, Moldovenesca and Dobrogenesca, over which reigned “Letin bogat, de lege lepadat”;
Hasdeu
(Etym. Magn.
He appears here
identical with king Telephus Latinus,
who, as the cyclical poets and Dios Chrysostomos said, had ruled over ancient
We also find in the
epic poem of Virgil an influence of the legends of Telephus.
Telephus, writes
the grammarian Apollodorus, had been
exposed on a mountain, after his birth, and there, by grace of divine
providence, he had been nursed by a deer (elaphos), so the shepherds, upon
finding him, had named him Telephos (Bibl. lib. II, 7. 4; III.
9, 1).
In book VII of the
Aeneid, Virgil mentions in the herds
of king Latinus a stag of great beauty. Young Ascanius (Iulus), going one day
to hunt, shoots an arrow on the gentle animal, which grazed along the banks of
the Tiber, and wounds it. The shepherds of king Latinus get angry, arm
themselves with gnarled clubs and bludgeons seared in fire, and give the attack
signal against the Trojans. This, says Virgil, had been the first cause of the
calamities which devastated