(Reproduced here in the format of the original column from People Papers June 2024)
June is a time for the celebration of some of our greatest accomplishments. It is a time when we feel the most alive and the world is filled with sunshine and warmth. The living is easier in June and our sights are set on vacations, barbecues, rest and relaxation. I personally, never could rest much, it always seems like there is a little voice in the back of my mind telling me to get up and get back to work, or as Chaucer would say, “…that time and tide wait for no man.” That little voice was the inspiration for this month’s crumb, “Auriga.” Enjoy!
Auriga
In ancient Rome, leaders and war heroes were honored in large ceremonies, celebrations called triumphs, decreed by the senate. There, the crowds would cheer as Duces and Caesars paraded through the streets, greeting the throng. The leaders were driven in stately chariots, enrobed in bronze, faces and arms painted to meet the masses. Within the chariot, it was customary for the senate to appoint a slave to stand behind the hero; there to lift a crown of laurels above the victor’s head like a divine halo.
These men, these slaves, were curiously called auriga, a common name for a chariot driver in the races, and sometimes an everyday driver, a chauffeur to the elite. While in the throes of celebrity and fame, the auriga would whisper constantly in the ear of the celebrant, “memento mori [Remember you are mortal] – “Memento homo [Remember you are only a man],” over and over again. Some say it was the senate’s way of keeping the victors from losing themselves in the moment, the drink, and exaltation, while others chalk it up to maintaining modesty in the eyes of the gods, either way, it’s solid advice all around.
Perhaps their title was given on this occasion since they were driving the better angels of the Dux, reigning in their pride and worst impulses, moderating their ego and spurring on their humility. Even our own modern instincts are to get carried away with ourselves, so often letting our momentary victories go straight to our heads, resting on our laurels, awash in creature comforts of the lives we’ve won. In my mind, whenever I finish some great accomplishment or strike another mundane item from my to-do list, I hear whispers reminding me of the brevity of this life; the ongoing race of the chariots, the fleeing nature of time [tempus fugit]. Celebration is as essential as the grace in which we take part, the notion of a good sport, magnanimous in victory, and humble in acclaim. These seem somehow more important now, that the road has run longer, and the starting line, the origin, so very distant behind is lost in memory.
Wisdom often comes from the strangest places. Ancient gossip of pomp and circumstance is as good as any, I suppose. Incidentally the traditional title of the auriga, those chariot drivers I mentioned earlier, were tied to their reigns by the waist and often ripped from the wreckage, dragging behind two horses. They carried a curved dagger slipped into their waistbands to cut themselves loose from the doomed chariot. I’ll leave the reader here to wade through the rich symbolism and implications with a gentle whisper, “Yes, [carpe diem], seize the day, but [memento mori], remember you are mortal, remember that one day you will die.”
by D. Ryan Lafferty
Note. Originally published in the People Papers column, Literary Crumbs, June, 2024.
Literary Crumbs: Poems & Short Stories to Savor by D. Ryan Lafferty 
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