"In taberna quando sumus" (English: "When we are in the tavern") is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem, part of the collection known as the Carmina Burana, written between the 12th and early 13th centuries.[1] It was set to music in 1935/36 by German composer Carl Orff as part of his Carmina Burana which premiered at Frankfurt Opera on 8 June 1937. Within Orff's Carmina Burana, this drinking song is the 14th movement in section 2, In Taberna. The poem is largely in trochaic tetrameter.
Quidam ludunt, quidam bibunt,quidam indiscrete vivunt.Sed in ludo qui morantur,ex his quidam denudanturquidam ibi vestiuntur,quidam saccis induuntur.Ibi nullus timet mortemsed pro Baccho mittunt sortem:
Primo pro nummata vini,ex hac bibunt libertini;semel bibunt pro captivis,post hec bibunt ter pro vivis,quater pro Christianis cunctisquinquies pro fidelibus defunctis,sexies pro sororibus vanis,septies pro militibus silvanis.
Octies pro fratribus perversis,nonies pro monachis dispersis,decies pro navigantibusundecies pro discordantibus,duodecies pro penitentibus,tredecies pro iter agentibus.Tam pro papa quam pro regebibunt omnes sine lege.
Bibit hera, bibit herus,bibit miles, bibit clerus,bibit ille, bibit illa,bibit servus cum ancilla,bibit velox, bibit piger,bibit albus, bibit niger,bibit constans, bibit vagus,bibit rudis, bibit magus.
Bibit pauper et egrotus,bibit exul et ignotus,bibit puer, bibit canus,bibit presul et decanus,bibit soror, bibit frater,bibit anus, bibit mater,bibit ista, bibit ille,bibunt centum, bibunt mille.
Parum sexcente nummatedurant, cum immoderatebibunt omnes sine meta.Quamvis bibant mente leta,sic nos rodunt omnes genteset sic erimus egentes.Qui nos rodunt confundanturet cum iustis non scribantur.[2] Io! (9×)
Some gamble, some drink,some behave loosely.But of those who gamble,some are stripped bare,some win their clothes here,some are dressed in sacks.Here no-one fears death,but they throw the dice in the name of Bacchus.
First of all it is to the wine-merchantthe libertines drink,one for the prisoners,three for the living,four for all Christians,five for the faithful dead,six for the loose sisters,seven for the footpads in the wood,
Eight for the errant brethren,nine for the dispersed monks,ten for the seamen,eleven for the squabblers,twelve for the penitent,thirteen for the wayfarers.To the Pope as to the kingthey all drink without restraint.
The mistress drinks, the master drinks,the soldier drinks, the priest drinks,the man drinks, the woman drinks,the servant drinks with the maid,the swift man drinks, the lazy man drinks,the white man drinks, the black man drinks,the settled man drinks, the wanderer drinks,the stupid man drinks, the wise man drinks,
The poor man drinks, the sick man drinks,the exile drinks, and the stranger,the boy drinks, the old man drinks,the bishop drinks, and the deacon,the sister drinks, the brother drinks,the old lady drinks, the mother drinks,that woman drinks, that man drinks,a hundred drink, a thousand drink.
Six hundred pennies would hardlysuffice, if everyonedrinks immoderately and immeasurably.However much they cheerfully drinkwe are the ones whom everyone scolds,and thus we are destitute.May those who slander us be cursedand may their names not be written in the book of the righteous.Io! (9×)
The lyrics used by Orff show a change in the last stanza where the original Latin: parum durant centum sex nummate / ubi ipsi immoderate is changed to Latin: parum sexcente nummate / durant, cum immoderate. The musical arrangement also adds the exclamation io! at the end, repeated nine times.[3]
In taberna quando sumus is used in the original soundtrack of the game Crusader Kings 2. The usage of this poem is symbolic, as the game gives the player the control of a lord of the middle ages, that can interact and risk his own treasury through intrigues and plots.