Halloween Special in Latin #5 — Noises in The Night

Last Hal­loween, we told a ghost sto­ry from Swe­den, which took place in 1632. You can find last year’s spe­cial here. This year we will revis­it the mid-1600s but turn our atten­tion a bit fur­ther south as the sto­ry we will tell takes place in a haunt­ed cas­tle in France.

Which cas­tle we can­not know for sure, but it is said that it lay out­side Paris.

The hero­ine of the sto­ry, a poet­ess, is a his­tor­i­cal fig­ure. Her name was Madame Antoinette du Ligi­er de la Garde Deshoulières from Paris and she tru­ly was a famous poet­ess of 17th cen­tu­ry France. How­ev­er, if these events that you are about to be told real­ly took place or not, we will nev­er know.

Either way, it is a good story.

Below you will find the video in Latin and a tran­scrip­tion of the video.

Video in Latin

For more scary sto­ries in Latin, you can always take a look at last year’s spe­cial about the Swedish ghost sto­ry called the Rid­er, or the pre­vi­ous the Art of Shud­der­ing from the broth­ers Grimm, or our sec­ond spe­cial about two ghost sto­ries from Stock­holm. You can also watch our first Hal­loween Latin spe­cial that con­cerns ghosts and scary things in ancient Rome. Join the Newslet­ter because we send out tips, updates, and learn­ing material.

Audio only

Lis­ten to the audio in your pod­cast play­er or here on Latinitium.com

Transcription of the video

“Som­nia, ter­rores magi­cos, mirac­u­la, sagas, 
Noc­turnos lemures por­ten­taque Thes­sala rides?”

— Hor­atius, Epist. 2

Medio saecu­lo sep­ti­mo dec­i­mo, in Gallia.

Nōn longē ab urbe Lutētiā, comes quidam regius palātium habet quae noc­tū ā lārvīs inquiētā­tur atque īnfestā­tur. Nox fere nūl­la est quīn strepitūs strīdōrēsque ex cubiculō quō­dam exau­di­antur: hoc autem cubicu­lum fuit mātris comi­tis ante­quam ea diem obiit.

Quō­dam diē poē­tria quaedam illīs tem­po­ribus fāmā cele­bris ā comite invītā­ta est, ut in palātiō ali­quamdiū com­morārē­tur; rata hoc sibi ven­trem iam fer­en­tī prō­futūrum ad palātium pro­fec­ta est.

Quō cum per­vēnis­set, benignē excep­ta palātium mag­nifi­cum intrāvit.

Inclīnātō iam diē comes et uxor eius et poē­tria dis­cubuērunt ut cēnārent et tem­pus ser­mōnibus iūcundīs tererent.

Post aliquās hōrās poē­tria, dē viā fes­sā, sē cubi­tum īre velle dīx­it. “Hoc palātium,” inquit comes, “mul­ta cubic­u­la habet. Licet tibi quodli­bet ēligere—praeter ūnum quod nēminī intrāre licet.”

Poē­tria iam cupid­itāte eius cubiculī videndī incēn­sa “nōn pos­sum,” inquit, “nōn rogāre cūr ad istud cubicu­lum nēminī adi­tus pateat.” Comes prīmō dubi­tat, tum dēmis­sā vōce “Illud cubicu­lum, quod fuit mātris meae dōnec nōbīs ērep­ta est, iam diū ā lārvīs īnfestā­tur atque agitā­tur.” Poē­tria, simul atque hoc audīvit, sē in illō ipsō cubiculō dor­mīre velle affir­māvit. Tum comes: “Nōn com­mit­tam ut tē, fēmi­nam gravi­dam, tan­tō perīculō obi­ci­am!” Poē­tria autem īnstat neque cēdit. “Tē,” inquit comes, “ōrō atque obse­crō nē ēligās id cubiculum!”

Iam comes timet nē, cum noc­tis tene­brae sē intendis­sent, poētriā pretium prae­sen­tis audā­ci­ae fer­ret; timet mātrī timet īnfantī.

Poē­tria autem, fēmi­na for­tis­si­ma, precibus comi­tis nōn flec­ti­tur: in sen­ten­tiā per­stat. Uxor comi­tis, nōn minus quam marī­tus prō poētriā eiusque partū ānx­ia, eam mon­et ut sibi īnfan­tīque cōn­suleret neu tan­tīs perīculīs sē obiceret.

Neque hīs precibus poē­tria vinci­tur, immō iam magis īnflam­mā­tur cupid­itāte cubicu­lum lārvāsque videndī. Stat sententia.

Tan­dem comes, vīc­tus, “Quid istīc? Tē ad cubicu­lum illud nefan­dum dūcam.” Cubicu­lum erat amplum atque obscūrum fen­estrīs parvīs, pari­etibus lapi­deīs. Focus vetus speciem spēlun­cae obscūrae vel ōris dīduc­tī praebēbat.Angulī minācēs atque obscūrī undique pre­mere vidēbantur.

Iānuā clausā et can­dēla iux­tā lec­tum positā poē­tria dēcumbit ut lēgat. Gradā­tim, tene­brae obor­tae tōtum cubicu­lum obscūritāte involvunt. Nihil iam videt praeter ea quae prope can­dēlam sunt. Mox obdormīscit.

Vehe­men­tī sonitū iānu­ae ē som­nō subitō excu­ti­tur. Sēsē in lec­tō ērig­it et in iānu­am oculōs conic­it. Nihil autem videt. Omnia obscūriōra sunt quam ut quidquam videat. Inten­dit aurēs.

Soni­tum cubicu­lum intran­tis audit. “Heus, tūn’ es lār­va illa quam tan­topere timent? Sī forte putās mē strepitibus tuīs ter­rōre per­cul­sam esse, vehe­menter errās. Ēgredere ē tene­brīs ut videam quae lār­va ausa sit intem­pestā nocte cubicu­lum meum intrāre.”

Silen­tium est et tene­brīs tenen­tur omnia.

Tum vērō mēn­sā ēvertī; vēla dē ānulīs sus­pēn­sa fluitārī; ānulī ipsī strīdēre ut dīcerēs miserum quen­dam apud īnfer­ōs inaudītīs cru­ciātibus torquērī. Sed poē­tria, fēmi­na for­tis atque intre­p­i­da, nē dig­i­tum trānsver­sum qui­dem cēdit. “Quid, malum, tibi vīs? Quis es? Esne māter comi­tis? Cūr hoc cubicu­lum inquiētās atque ter­rōrem comitī ini­cis? Prō dī immortālēs, cūr intem­pestā nocte hoc cubicu­lum intrāstī?”

Silen­tium est et tene­brīs tenen­tur omnia.

Subitō can­dēlā ēver­sā mag­nō cum strepitō ad ter­ram cadit. Flam­mā extīnc­tā poē­tria cir­cum­spic­it sed nihil videt.

Silen­tium est et tene­brīs tenen­tur omnia.

In lec­tō diū sedet immō­ta, tum aliq­uid in extrēmō lec­tō vidē­tur vidēre. Omnī metū dēpositō brac­chia por­rig­it ad eum locum ubi lārvā sedēre vidē­tur et tene­brās cap­tāns aliq­uid pre­hen­dit. Sen­tit sē aliq­uid lēve atque molle manibus tenēre sed propter tene­brās quid esset non vidē­bat. Cōn­sti­tu­it id manibus fir­miter tenēre dum dīlūcēsceret. Multās hōrās cum eō quod manibus tenē­bat sēdit dum diēs tan­dem ven­it lūcemque sparg­ere coepit.

Comes uxorque eius strepitibus illīs hor­rendīs audītīs timōre per­cul­sī tōta nocte oculōs nōn clauser­ant. Nōn dubita­bant quin hos­pes iam mor­tua esset. Etsī ter­rōre plānē per­cul­sī, tan­dem tamen sēsē recip­i­unt et prīmā lūce cubicu­lum poē­tri­ae petunt.

Cum ad cubicu­lum veni­unt, iānu­am aper­tam inve­ni­unt. “Vīvīsne?” clā­mat comes pavidus. “Sānē!” inquit poē­tria. “Intrāte, et salūtāte lār­vam ves­tram quam vōbīs com­pre­hendī!” “Quid ais?” inquit comes, “com­pre­hendis­tīne mātrem meam mor­tu­am?” Ter­rōre pavēns cubicu­lum incertō pede intrat. Quod vīdit, numquam posteā oblī­tus est. In lec­tō mātris poē­tria lae­ta sedē­bat, cuius ad pedēs ingēns can­is albus quiēscēbat.

Tum poe­t­ria: “Hic can­is miser, cum frī­gus tam agre sit, forīs dor­mīre nōn vult ideōque in palātium ven­it. Iānua huius cubiculī facile aperī­tur: satis est eam leviter impellere. Cum autem noc­tū in cubiculō nihil vidēre pos­sit, var­iās rēs imprūdēns ēver­tit atque sic strepi­tum facit.”

Comes rubōre suf­fū­sus nesciē­bat rīdēretne an lacrimāret. Ūnum autem sciē­bat domum suam lārvīs nōn iam inquiētārī.

Ab illō diē can­is apud comitem noc­tū prope focum eius dormīvit