Latin isn’t all Cicero’s speeches and Virgil’s pastoral poetry. Sometimes, it’s about telling someone to drop dead - elegantly. Ancient Romans took their curses seriously, inscribing them on lead tablets, muttering them in secret, and burying them near their enemies. Here’s a guide to the darker corners of Latin, where language was weaponised.
The Art of the Defixio: Curses on Lead
Defixiones (curse tablets) were the ancient equivalent of a strongly worded letter - if that letter was buried in a grave to invoke the dead. Romans scratched curses onto thin lead sheets, then folded or pierced them to 'activate' their power. A classic example from Britannia:
Charming, right? These weren’t just vague threats. Romans cursed rivals in business, love, and law - anyone who wronged them. The language was direct, often brutal, and always specific. For more on Latin’s poetic potential (the non-malignant kind), see our guide on The Aesthetics of Latin.
Binding Spells: When 'Please Go Away' Isn’t Enough
Binding spells (defixiones) didn’t just wish ill - they demanded it. A spell from Carthage targets a lawyer named Porcello:
Defixio
/dɛˈfɪk.si.oː/“Curse tablet”
Notice the precision? Romans didn’t mess around. These spells often invoked deities like Hecate or Pluto, asking them to enforce the curse. The language was performative - the words themselves were thought to enact the harm.
Hexes for the Heartbroken
Love spells blurred the line between curse and plea. A 4th-century CE Egyptian papyrus (written in Latin) tries to force a woman named Sophia to fall for the spell’s author:
- "Burn her insides with desire,
- Deprive her of sleep until she comes to me,
- Make her forget family, friends, even her own name."
Romantic, isn’t it? The language here is visceral, focusing on physical and mental torment. Compare this to the playful tone of Czech diminutives, and you’ll see Latin’s range - from sweet to savage.
Why Study Latin’s Dark Side?
Curses reveal the anxieties of everyday Romans - cheating partners, crooked lawyers, noisy neighbours. They’re also linguistic gold: informal, urgent, and packed with archaic or regional variants. Next time someone calls Latin a 'dead language', remind them it once wished very active deaths upon people.
