[Editor: This is a chapter from The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni. A glossary has been provided to explain various words and phrases that may be unfamiliar to modern readers.]
LII.
Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.
The excitement was of Satan. It was reported, the whole of the Melbourne road was swarming with fresh reinforcements. The military would soon attack the stockade, but Vern would lead the diggers to death or glory.
I went out to get positive information, and I did see some two hundred red-coats stationed under arms at the foot of Black hill. The general impression spread like wild-fire that the diggers would now all be slaughtered. I returned, and was anxious to communicate with Lalor. The council room was guarded by Californian faces, perfect strangers to me. The “pass-word” had been changed, and I was refused admittance.
Old colonial-looking fellows rode to and fro from all parts: some brought canisters of gunpowder and bags of shot; others, fire-arms and boxes of caps. They had been pressing stores.
All at once burst out a clamorous shouting. Captain Ross was entering the stockade in triumph with some old fire-arms and a splendid horse. They had been sticking up some three or four tents, called the Eureka government Camp. Great Works! that could have been done long before, without so much fuss about it; and, forsooth, what a benefit to mankind in general, that Commissioner Amos, ever since, was so frightened as to get his large eyes involuntary squinting after his mare!!
Sly-grog sellers got also a little profit out of the Eureka Stockade. A fellow was selling nobblers out of a keg of brandy hanging from his neck. It required Peter Lalor in person to order this devil-send out of the stockade.
“Press for,” was the order of the hour. Two men on horseback were crossing the gully below. Young Black — the identical one with a red shirt and blue cap, who took down the names round Lalor’s stump, on Bakery-hill on Thursday morning, and who to the best of my knowledge never had yet been within the stockade — came out of the committee-room, and hastened up to me with the order to pick out some men and press those two horses in.
I gave him a violent look, and made him understand that “I won’t do the bushranger yet.” The order was however executed by fresh hands entirely unknown to me, who rushed towards the horsemen, shouted to both of them to stop, and with the threat of the revolver compelled them to ride their horses within the stockade. I felt disgusted at the violence.
The reign of terror will not strike root among Britons because the Austrian rule does not thrive under the British flag; and so here is a Crab-hole that Brave Lalor alone can properly log up.
I asked in German from Vern the “pass-word,” and on whispering “Vinegar-hill” to the sentinels, I was allowed to get out of the Stockade.
———
“Nein, sagte ich mirselbst, nein, eine solche eckliche Wirthschaft habe ich noch nie geseh’n.
“Nom d’un nom! c’est affreux. Ces malheureuf sont-ils donc possedes?
“Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.
“Por vida deDios! por supuesto jo fuera el Duke de Alba, esos Gavachos, carajo, yo los pegaria de bueno.
“Che casa del diavolo, per Dio! Che ti pare! niente meno si spalanca l’inferno. Alla larga! Sor Fattorone: Pronti denari, Fan patti chiari. Minca coglione!”
Such were more or less the expressions to give vent to my feelings on my way to the Prince Albert Hotel, Bakery-hill, to meet there a friend or two, especially my old mate, Adolphus Lessman, Lieutenant of the Riflemen.
Source:
Raffaello Carboni. The Eureka Stockade: The Consequence of Some Pirates Wanting on Quarter-Deck a Rebellion, Public Library of South Australia, Adelaide, 1962 [facsimile of the 1855 edition], pages 65-67
Editor’s notes:
*Che casa del diavolo, per Dio! Che ti pare! niente meno si spalanca l’inferno. Alla larga! Sor Fattorone: Pronti denari, Fan patti chiari. Minca coglione = (Italian) “That the house of the devil, for God! What do you think! anything less opens hell. Stay away! Sor Fattorone: Ready money, Fan clear agreements. Minca jerk” (*rough translation)
*Nein, sagte ich mirselbst, nein, eine solche eckliche Wirthschaft habe ich noch nie geseh’n = (German) “No, I told myself, no, such a nasty business, I have seen a never” [Nein, sagte ich mir selbst, nein, eine solche eklige Wirtschaft habe ich noch nie geseh’n] (*rough translation)
*Nom d’un nom! c’est affreux. Ces malheureuf sont-ils donc possedes = (French) “Name of a name! It’s awful. This is unfortunate, are they possessed” (*rough translation)
odi profanum vulgus et arceo = (Latin) “I hate the profane masses and keep them at a distance”, or “I hate the unholy rabble and keep them away”; from Odes, Book 3, section I (line 1), by Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65 BC – 8 BC)
*Por vida deDios! por supuesto jo fuera el Duke de Alba, esos Gavachos, carajo, yo los pegaria de bueno = (Spanish) “For God’s life! jo course was the Duke of Alba, these foreigners, damn, I would stick to good” (*rough translation) [“carajo” is an expletive that has several translations; “Gavachos” or “Gabacho” is a negative term regarding foreigners]
quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum = (Latin) “Then struck the hoofs of the steeds on the ground with a four-footed trampling”, or “The horses’ hooves with four-fold beat did shake the crumbling plain”; from Aeneid, book 8 (line 596), by Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro, 70 BC – 19 BC)
References:
“Gabacho”, Wikipedia (accessed 9 January 2013)
odi profanum vulgus et arceo:
Jon R. Stone. The Routledge Dictionary of Latin Quotations: The Illiterati’s Guide to Latin Maxims, Mottoes, Proverbs, and Sayings, Routledge, New York, 2005, page 295 (accessed 29 December 2012)
“Odi Profanvm Vvlgvs Et Arceo”, LatinR (accessed 29 December 2012)
“Q. Horati Flacci Carminvm Liber Tertivs”, The Latin Library [“Odi profanum uolgus et arceo”] (accessed 29 December 2012)
quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum:
Proverbial expressions, Internet Sacred Text Archive (accessed 10 January 2013)
“Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum”, Brendan Patrick Hughes (accessed 10 January 2013)
“P. Vergili Maronis Aeneidos Liber Octavvs”, The Latin Library [“quadripedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum”] (accessed 10 January 2013)
The Institute of Australian Culture
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