225. denudantur: cp. our idiom “to lose your shirt.”
226. vestiuntur: vestire, to clothe; i.e., they win their clothes, or the money to buy them.
227. saccis: saccus, sack.
induuntur: induere,to clothe, cover.
229. pro Baccho: to Bacchus, in the name of Bacchus.
sortem: sors,lot, fortune; with mittunt, they cast their lot (in life) or perhaps they gamble.
230. nummata: lit., furnished with money, rich; the meaning is somewhat obscure here (and cp. 261 below). perhaps expensive, with some f. noun like mensura (measure) or olla (jug) understood.
231. libertini: libertinus, originally freedman; here = carouser.
232. pro captivis: in this and the next three stanzas the nouns and adjs. seem to be chosen with complete abandon (except for the needs of meter and rhyme) to reflect the riotous nature of the scene.
233. ter…tredecies (243): three times, four times, etc.; numeral advs.
234. Christianis: the second i is treated as a consonant (SYNIZESIS), so the word is trisyllabic (“Christyanis,” and cp. our pronunciation of “Christian” as a disyllable).
235. defunctis: = mortuis.
236. vanis: empty, vain, false, silly.
239. monachis: monachus, monk.
241. discordantibus: discordare, to disagree.
244. papa: pope.
In Taberna
Carmina Burana 196. A lively drinking song, included in Orff’s cantata; the rhyme scheme of each stanza is AABBCCDD, and the meter is four trochees per line except in 229–39, where the number of syllables is humorously increased to 9, 10, and 11.
In taberna quando sumus,
215 Non curamus quid sit humus,
Sed ad ludum properamus,
Cui semper insudamus.
Quid agatur in taberna,
Ubi nummus est pincerna,
220 Hoc est opus ut quaeratur,
Si quid loquar, audiatur.
Quidam ludunt, quidam bibunt,
Quidam indiscrete vivunt.
Sed in ludo qui morantur,
225 Ex his quidam denudantur,
Quidam ibi vestiuntur,
Quidam saccis induuntur.
Ibi nullus timet mortem,
Sed pro Baccho mittunt sortem:
230 Primo pro nummata vini—
Ex hac bibunt libertini;
Semel bibunt pro captivis,
Post haec bibunt ter pro vivis,
Quater pro Christianis cunctis,
235 Quinquies pro fidelibus defunctis,
