In my first year at Oxford, I had to study Virgil, Book IV of The Aeneid, in Latin.
Much as I appreciated the poetry, I used to hate the weekly tutorials (before the examinations known as "Prelims") when my turn came to translate a passage, often sight unseen. Talk about being put on the spot!
I still remember tackling this beautiful passage, which comes after Dido and Aeneas have 'taken shelter' in the cave (Book IV, verse 353):
Nox erat, et placidum carpebant fessa soporem
corpora per terras, silvaeque et saeva quierant
aequora: cum medio volvuntur sidera lapsu,
cum tacet omnis ager, pecudes pictaeque volucres,
quaeque lacus late liquidos, quaeque aspera dumis
rura tenent, somno positae sub nocte silenti
lenibant curas, et corda oblita laborum.
"It was night...", I started, not very confidently.
Later I checked out the translation by another Wadham College alumnus, Cecil Day Lewis:
"Was night. All over the earth, creatures were plucking the flower
Of soothing sleep, the woods and the wild seas fallen quiet-
A time when constellations have reached their mid-career,
When the countryside is all still, the beasts and the brilliant birds
That haunt the lakes' wide waters or the tangled undergrowth
Of the champain, stilled in sleep under the quiet night-
Cares are lulled and hearts can forget for a while their travails".
I think my halting effort was nearer to an 1826 prose translation:
"It was night, and weary bodies over the earth were enjoying a peaceful repose; the woods and raging seas were still; when the stars roll in the middle of their gliding course; when every field is hushed...."
I still prefer "It was night", to the abrupt Day Lewis rendition- "Was night".
But I have always enjoyed re-reading his vivid and poetic translation of The Aeneid. I have to admit I prefer the epic in English.
I hope the Government isn't serious about sending us back to University or for retraining. I couldn't stand another set of examinations such as "Finals", or even "Prelims". Leave us in peace and let us cultivate our gardens or write our blogs! On second thoughts, I would be happy to brush up my film-making skills, using the latest digital technology, or to follow a course on song-writing or blues guitar playing.
hello
ReplyDeletethere I was, or should I say 'was there', awaiting a breakfast take out order. sated with 11 TVs showing ESPN I sought to otherwise amuse myself and began to jot down these lines from memory. I got most of them right if out of order and slightly mangled .... but clearly Latin. More or less. Years ago I had had to memorize them in high school and found them so beautiful that I have never forgotten them- in their entirety. I keep a cheat sheet in my desk just in case I go blank some day.
now where is that dative of agent with the future passive participle? Mislaid it again.