Clamores horrendos
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| + | [[Image:Laocoön Group, Clamores horrendos detail, photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2009).jpg|thumb|right|200px|This page '''{{PAGENAME}}''' is part of the [[medium specificity]] series. | ||
| + | <br> | ||
| + | <small>Illustration: ''[[Laocoön and His Sons]]'' ("[[Clamores horrendos]]" detail), photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen.</small>]] | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| - | "[[Clamores Horrendos ad sidera tollit]]" is a phrase by [[Virgil]] in his account of the [[Laocoon]], referenced by [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]] and commented upon by [[Charles Bell]] in his "[[Essay on Expression]]." | + | '''Clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit''' (''he lifted to heaven horrendous cries'') is a phrase from [[Virgil]]'s account of the death of [[Laocoön]] in the ''[[Aeneid]]''. |
| + | ==As depicted in the marble group== | ||
| + | The horrendous cries are usually identified as [[bellowing]] and are the object of speculation in [[Johann Joachim Winckelmann]]'s "[[Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture]]," [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]]'s "[[Laocoon: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry]]" and [[Charles Bell]]'s ''[[Essays on the Anatomy of Expression in Painting]].'' | ||
| - | :In his book The anatomy and philosophy of expression as connected with the fine arts, Bell argued that Laocoon as he is portrayed in the sculpture could not have roared like a wounded bull, not for the reasons proposed by Winckelmann or by Lessing but for anatomical reasons. The muscles needed to roar are those of the chest. But the chest is also the place where the muscles which have insertions in the arms, and which provide strength to the arms, have their fixed origin. When the arms are strenuously engaged, as Laocoon's certainly are, the ability of the chest to produce a roar, or any violent expiration, is compromised by the work which the chest is already doing for the arms. Hence, says Bell: | + | Both Winckelmann and Lessing contend that the marble statue does not "bellow" as described by Virgil, but rather [[groan]]s while Charles Bell contends that the statue is [[silent]]. |
| + | ==Laocoön's full death== | ||
| + | In ''[[Aeneid]]'' Virgil describes the circumstances of Laocoön's death: | ||
| - | ::"that most terrible silence in human conflict, when the outcry of terror or pain is stifled in exertion; for during the struggle with the arms, the chest must be expanded or in the act of rising; and therefore the voice, which consists of the expulsion of the breath by the falling or compression of the chest, is suppressed. The first sound of fear is in drawing, not expelling, the breath." | + | :From the ''[[Aeneid]]'' |
| - | :Therefore, Bell concludes, "Laocoon suffers in silence", not because to portray him otherwise would have robbed him of dignity, nor because what is permissible in a verbal representation was impermissible in a visual one, but because the sculptor's design was "to represent corporeal exertion, the attitude and struggles of the body and of the arms", an act which would have permitted nothing more than "a low or hollow groan". --[[William Schupbach]] | + | :''Ille simul manibus tendit divellere nodos'' |
| + | :''perfusus sanie vittas atroque veneno,'' | ||
| + | :''clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit:'' | ||
| + | :''qualis mugitus, fugit cum saucius aram'' | ||
| + | :''taurus et incertam excussit cervice securim.'' | ||
| + | :Literal English translation: | ||
| + | |||
| + | :''At the same time he stretched forth to tear the knots with his hands | ||
| + | :''his fillets soaked with saliva and black venom | ||
| + | :''at the same time he lifted to heaven horrendous cries: | ||
| + | :''like the bellowing when a wounded bull has fled from the altar | ||
| + | :''and has shaken the ill-aimed axe from its neck.'' | ||
| + | |||
| + | :[[John Dryden]]'s translation: | ||
| + | |||
| + | :''With both his hands he labors at the knots; | ||
| + | :''His holy fillets the blue venom blots; | ||
| + | :''His roaring fills the flitting air around. | ||
| + | :''Thus, when an ox receives a glancing wound, | ||
| + | :''He breaks his bands, the fatal altar flies, | ||
| + | :''And with loud bellowings breaks the yielding skies. | ||
| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | *[[Schopenhauer on the Clamores horrendos]] | ||
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Current revision
Illustration: Laocoön and His Sons ("Clamores horrendos" detail), photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen.
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Clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit (he lifted to heaven horrendous cries) is a phrase from Virgil's account of the death of Laocoön in the Aeneid.
[edit]
As depicted in the marble group
The horrendous cries are usually identified as bellowing and are the object of speculation in Johann Joachim Winckelmann's "Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture," Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's "Laocoon: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry" and Charles Bell's Essays on the Anatomy of Expression in Painting.
Both Winckelmann and Lessing contend that the marble statue does not "bellow" as described by Virgil, but rather groans while Charles Bell contends that the statue is silent.
[edit]
Laocoön's full death
In Aeneid Virgil describes the circumstances of Laocoön's death:
- From the Aeneid
- Ille simul manibus tendit divellere nodos
- perfusus sanie vittas atroque veneno,
- clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit:
- qualis mugitus, fugit cum saucius aram
- taurus et incertam excussit cervice securim.
- Literal English translation:
- At the same time he stretched forth to tear the knots with his hands
- his fillets soaked with saliva and black venom
- at the same time he lifted to heaven horrendous cries:
- like the bellowing when a wounded bull has fled from the altar
- and has shaken the ill-aimed axe from its neck.
- John Dryden's translation:
- With both his hands he labors at the knots;
- His holy fillets the blue venom blots;
- His roaring fills the flitting air around.
- Thus, when an ox receives a glancing wound,
- He breaks his bands, the fatal altar flies,
- And with loud bellowings breaks the yielding skies.
[edit]
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Clamores horrendos" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
