I won't lie; I think Ovid is annoying as hell sometimes and also a bit paranoid about women cheating. All the same, this poem, which should be (and is) rather irritating, still manages to make me enjoy it despite myself. I do love his lighter writing - it's very pleasant and almost sweet in a way.
Because you're beautiful, I don't protest that you shouldn't sin,
but that it should not be inevitable for me to know about, miserable;
and my criticism doesn't order you to become chaste,
but, however, it asks that you try to conceal it.
She does not sin, whoever can deny she sinned,
and the fault professed alone makes her infamous.
Who is angry that you confess in daylight that which lies hidden by the night
and you mention them openly as having been made these things which you may do secretly?
A courtesan, about to join her body to an unknown citizen
moves people away by the door-bar set in the way beforehand;
you'll set up for all to see your sins for vicious rumour
and you'll completely go through the evidence of your offence?
Let the mind be better for you, or at least copy the chaste,
let me think you're honest, though you won't be.
Do these, which you do; only deny you've done them,
I spoke modest words, and let it not shame you before me!
There's the sort of place that demands badness; fill it with
all types of delights, let modesty stand far away then!
Once you've left this place, straightaway let all immoral behaviour
be absent, and lay aside your crimes on your bed.
Nor let laying aside your tunic in that place be for shame for you
nor supporting a thigh laid onto a thigh;
There let your tongue be buried in crimson lips,
and let love shape Venus in a thousand ways;
and there let neither voices nor delighting words cease work,
and let the bed's frame shake with playful agility!
Put on a face dreading accusations with your tunic,
and let a sense of shame deny indecent business;
give to the people, deceive me; please let me be mistaken, not knowing,
and let enjoying my foolish trustfulness be allowed!
Why do I so often see letters sent and received?
Why has the first of and inner of the bed been pressed down?
Why do I catch sight of hair being disturbed more than it would have been by
sleep and her neck has love bites?
You only don't lead down your crime to my eyes themselves;
if you hesitate to have consideration for your reputation, have consideration for me!
My mind goes away and I die as often as you confess to having sinned,
and the blood runs cold through my body.
Then I love, then I hate in vain because it is inescapable to love;
then I want to be dead, but with you!
I for my part will investigate nothing, and I won't follow what you'll be planning to
conceal, and being deceived by you will be the equal of a kindness.
If, however, you'll be caught, taken by surprise in the middle of a misdeed,
and if disgraces will have been seen for my eyes,
deny what will have been seen really for me to have been really seen -
my eyes will give way to your words.
The palm of victory is favourably inclined for you to conquer a man desiring to be conquered,
merely let your tongue be mindful to say "I didn't do it!".
Since to overpower with two words falls to you,
if not by your case, win by your judge!
Wednesday 29 February 2012
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Nox erat...
"It was night, and sleep lowered weary little eyes;
these visions terrified my spirit:
A wood was standing most numerous with the oak tree at the foot of a sunny hill,
and many a bird was lying hidden in the boughs.
A very green open space with a grassy meadow, moist drops of water gently
sounding from down, was at the foot.
I myself was avoiding the seething heat with the leaves of a tree -
but, however, the seething heat was under the foliage of the tree -
look! A white cow stood before my eyes, seeking grass mixed into the
many-coloured flowers,
whiter than the snows, they fell recently at that time,
which time did not yet turn into flowing water;
whiter than milk, which is white with still hissing foam
and has just left the ewe made dry.
A bull was her companion, happily that husbans,
and he pressed the tender ground with his mate.
While he lies and slowly chews the called-back cud
and feeds again on the food fed before,
he had seemed to put down his horned head on the ground
while sleep took away his strength of bearing.
A crow, having glided down with slight wings though the breezes, came here
and sat chattering on the blooming ground,
and dug the chest of the snow-white cow three times, impudent with her beak,
and carried away the white mane with its mouth.
She, having lingered for a long time, left the place and the bull -
but there was a black bruise on the cow's chest;
and when she saw the bulls gathering food far away -
the bulls were gathering the fertile fodder far away -
she took herself off to that place and mixed herself into that herd
and searched the ground for more fertile grass.
Speak, come now, augur, whoever you are, of the night-vision,
if they have anything of truth, what do these visions bring?"
Thus I said; thus the augur spoke of the night-vision,
weighing up the spoken one by one in his mind:
"You were wanting to avoid what with changeable leaves
but you were badly avoiding the seething head that was of love.
The cow is your girl - that complexion is fitted for the girl;
you are the man and you were the bull in the case of the equal cow.
As to the fact that the crow was digging at the breast with her sharp beak,
an aged madam was trying to move the character of your lady.
Because, having delayed for a long time, her cow left the bull,
you'll be abandoned cold on the destitute couch.
The bruise and black blemishes at the foot of the breast at the front
say that they do not lack the stain of adultery."
The messenger had stopped. My blood fled cold from my face,
and deep night stood before my eyes.
Monday 27 February 2012
Dure vir
Harsh husband, with a guard placed upon your tender girl
you do nothing; each one should be regarded as her own character.
If any woman is chaste even with her fear taken away, she's chaste in the end;
anyone who doesn't do it because she's not allowed, she's doing it!
As much as you watch over your body well, your mind is an adulteress;
and none can be guarded that she might not wish.
And you can't watch over the body, even if you were to shut up everything;
even with everyone shut out, there'll be an adulterer within.
Anyone who is allowed to sin, sins less; the opportunity itself
makes weaker seeds of worthlessness.
Believe me, cease to aggravate vices by forbidding;
by your compliance you'll defeat those more suitably.
Recently I saw a stubborn horse going against its bonds with resisting mouth
like a thunderbolt;
it halted as soon as its reins yielded
and the reins lay loose, poured out on its mane!
We always struggle towards the forbidden and desire the denied;
in just the same way a sick man is bent upon the forbidden waters.
Argus wore a hundred eyes on his brow, a hundred on his neck -
and Love alone often deceived them;
Danae, who had been a virgin handed over into a room long-lasting by iron and
rock, was a mother;
Penelope remained pure, although she was lacking a guard,
among so many young suitors.
Whatever is watched over we desire more, and the care itself
calls the thief; what the other permits few love.
And that girl doesn't please with her face, but with the love of her husband;
they think what has got you in its grip is really something.
A man looks after she who does not become good, but a dear adulteress;
fear itself has a greater value than her body.
It's allowed that you're offended, it's the forbidden pleasure that delights;
any woman who can say "I'm afraid!" she alone pleases.
But to watch over a free-born girl isn't right -
let this fear worry the bodies of a foreign race!
I suppose it's so that her guard may be able to say "I did it";
is it for the credit of your slave that she's to be chaste?
A wife who takes lovers hurts he who is rustic greatly,
and does not sufficiently appreciate the customs known of Rome
in which Romulus son of Ilia and Remus son of Ilia were not born of Mars without
crime.
Why choose for yourself a beautiful girl only if that chaste girl didn't please you?
These things cannot go together in any ways.
If you are wise, be kind to your lady and
put aside your severe expression, and don't regard the laws of stern men,
and your wife shall have given you what she gives many friends you cultivate.
Thus great benefit comes your way with very little work;
thus you'll always be able to go into the feasts of young men
and you'll see much at home which you shall not have given.
you do nothing; each one should be regarded as her own character.
If any woman is chaste even with her fear taken away, she's chaste in the end;
anyone who doesn't do it because she's not allowed, she's doing it!
As much as you watch over your body well, your mind is an adulteress;
and none can be guarded that she might not wish.
And you can't watch over the body, even if you were to shut up everything;
even with everyone shut out, there'll be an adulterer within.
Anyone who is allowed to sin, sins less; the opportunity itself
makes weaker seeds of worthlessness.
Believe me, cease to aggravate vices by forbidding;
by your compliance you'll defeat those more suitably.
Recently I saw a stubborn horse going against its bonds with resisting mouth
like a thunderbolt;
it halted as soon as its reins yielded
and the reins lay loose, poured out on its mane!
We always struggle towards the forbidden and desire the denied;
in just the same way a sick man is bent upon the forbidden waters.
Argus wore a hundred eyes on his brow, a hundred on his neck -
and Love alone often deceived them;
Danae, who had been a virgin handed over into a room long-lasting by iron and
rock, was a mother;
Penelope remained pure, although she was lacking a guard,
among so many young suitors.
Whatever is watched over we desire more, and the care itself
calls the thief; what the other permits few love.
And that girl doesn't please with her face, but with the love of her husband;
they think what has got you in its grip is really something.
A man looks after she who does not become good, but a dear adulteress;
fear itself has a greater value than her body.
It's allowed that you're offended, it's the forbidden pleasure that delights;
any woman who can say "I'm afraid!" she alone pleases.
But to watch over a free-born girl isn't right -
let this fear worry the bodies of a foreign race!
I suppose it's so that her guard may be able to say "I did it";
is it for the credit of your slave that she's to be chaste?
A wife who takes lovers hurts he who is rustic greatly,
and does not sufficiently appreciate the customs known of Rome
in which Romulus son of Ilia and Remus son of Ilia were not born of Mars without
crime.
Why choose for yourself a beautiful girl only if that chaste girl didn't please you?
These things cannot go together in any ways.
If you are wise, be kind to your lady and
put aside your severe expression, and don't regard the laws of stern men,
and your wife shall have given you what she gives many friends you cultivate.
Thus great benefit comes your way with very little work;
thus you'll always be able to go into the feasts of young men
and you'll see much at home which you shall not have given.
Sunday 26 February 2012
Non Ego Nobilium
Yeah, it's that poem - Amores 3.2 and Ovid going to the races. Though Ovid does seem a bit like he'd be insufferable in person, the poem's still quite light and funny. It's essentially the story of a man going to the races (comparable in popularity to football today) not because he really likes sport but to impress a pretty girl, and consequently daydreaming for about 84 lines. Latin poetry is very vivid because of the Latin language's reliance on participles and ability to move words around almost anywhere in a clause; even without understanding all of Ovid's techniques, such as using religious and military diction for the connotations (and believe me, on first translation I completely skipped over most of the diction), I still got the feeling of sitting under the Italian sun, daydreaming about a pretty girl. Oh, and did I mention this poem's valuable for telling us about Roman attitudes to the races?
'Non ego nobilium sedeo studiosus equorum;
cui tamen ipsa faves, vincat ut ille, precor.
ut loquerer tecum veni, tecumque sederem,
ne tibi non notus, quem facis, esset amor.
tu cursus spectas, ego te; spectemus uterque
quod iuvat, atque oculos pascat uterque suos.
O, cuicumque faves, felix agitator equorum!
ergo illi curae contigit esse tuae?
hoc mihi contingat, sacro de carcere missis
insistam forti mente vehendus equis,
et modo lora dabo, modo verbere terga notabo,
nunc stringam metas interiore rota.
si mihi currenti fueris conspecta, morabor,
deque meis manibus lora remissa fluent.
at quam paene Pelops Pisaea concidit hasta,
dum spectat vultus, Hippodamia, tuos!
nempe favore suae vicit tamen ille puellae.
vincamus dominae quisque favore suae!
Quid frustra refugis? cogit nos linea iungi.
haec in lege loci commoda circus habet--
tu tamen a dextra, quicumque es, parce puellae;
contactu lateris laeditur ista tui.
tu quoque, qui spectas post nos, tua contrahe crura,
si pudor est, rigido nec preme terga genu!
Sed nimium demissa iacent tibi pallia terra.
collige--vel digitis en ego tollo meis!
invida vestis eras, quae tam bona crura tegebas;
quoque magis spectes--invida vestis eras!
talia Milanion Atalantes crura fugacis
optavit manibus sustinuisse suis.
talia pinguntur succinctae crura Dianae
cum sequitur fortes, fortior ipsa, feras.
his ego non visis arsi; quid fiet ab ipsis?
in flammam flammas, in mare fundis aquas.
suspicor ex istis et cetera posse placere,
quae bene sub tenui condita veste latent.
Vis tamen interea faciles arcessere ventos?
quos faciet nostra mota tabella manu.
an magis hic meus est animi, non aeris aestus,
captaque femineus pectora torret amor?
dum loquor, alba levi sparsa est tibi pulvere vestis.
sordide de niveo corpore pulvis abi!
Sed iam pompa venit--linguis animisque favete!
tempus adest plausus--aurea pompa venit.
prima loco fertur passis Victoria pinnis--
huc ades et meus hic fac, dea, vincat amor!
plaudite Neptuno, nimium qui creditis undis!
nil mihi cum pelago; me mea terra capit.
plaude tuo Marti, miles! nos odimus arma;
pax iuvat et media pace repertus amor.
auguribus Phoebus, Phoebe venantibus adsit!
artifices in te verte, Minerva, manus!
ruricolae, Cereri teneroque adsurgite Baccho!
Pollucem pugiles, Castora placet eques!
nos tibi, blanda Venus, puerisque potentibus arcu
plaudimus; inceptis adnue, diva, meis
daque novae mentem dominae! patiatur amari!
adnuit et motu signa secunda dedit.
quod dea promisit, promittas ipsa, rogamus;
pace loquar Veneris, tu dea maior eris.
per tibi tot iuro testes pompamque deorum,
te dominam nobis tempus in omne peti!
Sed pendent tibi crura. potes, si forte iuvabit,
cancellis primos inseruisse pedes.
maxima iam vacuo praetor spectacula circo
quadriiugos aequo carcere misit equos.
cui studeas, video. vincet, cuicumque favebis.
quid cupias, ipsi scire videntur equi.
me miserum, metam spatioso circuit orbe!
quid facis? admoto proxumus axe subit.
quid facis, infelix? perdis bona vota puellae.
tende, precor, valida lora sinistra manu!
favimus ignavo--sed enim revocate, Quirites,
et date iactatis undique signa togis!
en, revocant!--ac ne turbet toga mota capillos,
in nostros abdas te licet usque sinus.
Iamque patent iterum reserato carcere postes;
evolat admissis discolor agmen equis.
nunc saltem supera spatioque insurge patenti!
sint mea, sint dominae fac rata vota meae!
Sunt dominae rata vota meae, mea vota supersunt.
ille tenet palmam; palma petenda mea est.'
Risit, et argutis quiddam promisit ocellis.
'Hoc satis est, alio cetera redde loco!'
I don't sit here as a fan of thoroughbred horses;
But I pray that he whom you favour may win.
I came to talk with you and to sit with you,
so that the love which you cause not be known to you.
You watch the races, I watch you; let us each watch
what pleases us, and let each feast their eyes.
O lucky is the driver of horses whom you yourself favour!
So how has he happened to be an object of your care?
If this were to happen to me, I'd stand over the horses sent from the
sacred starting-gate, about to be carried along with a brave spirit,
and now I'll loosen their reins, now I'll mark their backs with a whip,
now I'll graze the turning post with my innermost wheel.
If I were to catch sight of you while I was racing, I'll delay,
and the slackened reins will flow down from my hands.
How nearly did Pelops die by a Pisaean spear,
while he looked at your face, Hippodamia!
But of course, however, he won with the favour of his girl.
Let each win with the favour of his mistress!
Why do you take to flight in vain? The marker rope drives us to be joined.
The race-course has these advantages of the place in agreement;
but you from the right, whoever you are, be sparing with the girl;
she's injured by the contact of your side.
You also, who watches behind us, draw your shins together,
if you have any decency, neither press her back with your hard knee!
But your mantle, let loose, lies too much on the ground.
Collect it - or look, I'm lifting it with my toes!
You always were jealous, clothes, who were always protecting such good legs;
and by which the more you might look - you were jealous, clothes!
Milanion desired to hold up such legs of fleet-footed Atalanta
with his hands.
That's how they paint such legs of Diana tucked up
when she, more fierce, pursues the fierce beasts.
I burned with these not seen; what will happen from the legs themselves?
You pour blazes into the blaze, water into the sea.
I suspect that from those the rest can also please,
which lie well-hidden under thin clothes.
But do you want, meanwhile, to summon gentle breezes,
which a fan will make, waved by my hand?
Or perhaps this my seething heat is more of my spirit, not of the atmosphere,
and feminine love burns my captured heart?
While I speak, your white cloak is sprinkled with light dust.
Filthy dust, get away from her snow-white body!
But now comes the procession - give good omens with words and minds!
The time for clapping is here - the golden procession comes.
First in position is carried Victory with wings outstretched -
be favourable to me, goddess, and grant that this my love may conquer!
Give a cheer for Neptune, you who trust the seas too much!
I have nothing to do with the open sea; my land charms me.
Give a cheer for your Mars, soldiers! I hate arms;
peace delights and the finding of love in the middle of peace.
Phoebus, may you be favourable to the augurs, Phoebe, may you be favourable to those hunting!
Turn the hands of craftsmen towards yourself, Minerva!
Rustic ones, rise up for Ceres and tender Bacchus!
Let the boxers please Pollux, the horseman Castor!
We give a cheer for you, and with the boy powerful with his bow, sweet Venus; goddess,
be favourable to my plans
and give me the right mind for a new mistress! Let her endure being loved!
She nodded to me and gave favourable signs by her movement.
I ask you yourself promise what the goddess promised;
with all due respect to Venus, I'll say, you'll be the greater goddess.
I swear to you through so many witnesses and the procession of the gods that you'll be
sought as mistress to me for all time!
But your legs are dangling. You can, if by chance it will be pleasing,
put the tips of your feet into the lattices.
The praetor has released the horses from the even box in chariot teams of four horses
with the circus now being empty.
I see who you favour. He will win, whoever you'll favour.
The horses themselves seem to know what you want.
Wretched me, he's going around the turning point in a spacious circle!
What are you doing? The next one comes up behind with his wheel moved close.
What are you doing, unlucky one? You're losing the girl's good hopes.
Stretch, I pray, the left-hand reins with a strong hand!
We backed an idiot - but hold on, call him back, citizens,
and give signs with tossed-about togas on all sides!
See, they're calling him back! - and the moved toga, so that it should not disturb
hair, it is permitted that you may hide yourself deep into the folds of my toga.
And now the door-posts lie open with the starting-box unbolted a second time;
after the horses were released, a procession of different colours rushes out.
Now at least, overcome and rise up over the wide track ahead!
Grant that my hopes and my mistress's hopes may come true!
My mistress's hopes are granted, my hopes are left over.
He holds a palm-tree frond; my palm-tree frond needs to be sought.
He laughed, and he promised something with his piercing eyes.
"This is enough, hand over the rest in another place!"
'Non ego nobilium sedeo studiosus equorum;
cui tamen ipsa faves, vincat ut ille, precor.
ut loquerer tecum veni, tecumque sederem,
ne tibi non notus, quem facis, esset amor.
tu cursus spectas, ego te; spectemus uterque
quod iuvat, atque oculos pascat uterque suos.
O, cuicumque faves, felix agitator equorum!
ergo illi curae contigit esse tuae?
hoc mihi contingat, sacro de carcere missis
insistam forti mente vehendus equis,
et modo lora dabo, modo verbere terga notabo,
nunc stringam metas interiore rota.
si mihi currenti fueris conspecta, morabor,
deque meis manibus lora remissa fluent.
at quam paene Pelops Pisaea concidit hasta,
dum spectat vultus, Hippodamia, tuos!
nempe favore suae vicit tamen ille puellae.
vincamus dominae quisque favore suae!
Quid frustra refugis? cogit nos linea iungi.
haec in lege loci commoda circus habet--
tu tamen a dextra, quicumque es, parce puellae;
contactu lateris laeditur ista tui.
tu quoque, qui spectas post nos, tua contrahe crura,
si pudor est, rigido nec preme terga genu!
Sed nimium demissa iacent tibi pallia terra.
collige--vel digitis en ego tollo meis!
invida vestis eras, quae tam bona crura tegebas;
quoque magis spectes--invida vestis eras!
talia Milanion Atalantes crura fugacis
optavit manibus sustinuisse suis.
talia pinguntur succinctae crura Dianae
cum sequitur fortes, fortior ipsa, feras.
his ego non visis arsi; quid fiet ab ipsis?
in flammam flammas, in mare fundis aquas.
suspicor ex istis et cetera posse placere,
quae bene sub tenui condita veste latent.
Vis tamen interea faciles arcessere ventos?
quos faciet nostra mota tabella manu.
an magis hic meus est animi, non aeris aestus,
captaque femineus pectora torret amor?
dum loquor, alba levi sparsa est tibi pulvere vestis.
sordide de niveo corpore pulvis abi!
Sed iam pompa venit--linguis animisque favete!
tempus adest plausus--aurea pompa venit.
prima loco fertur passis Victoria pinnis--
huc ades et meus hic fac, dea, vincat amor!
plaudite Neptuno, nimium qui creditis undis!
nil mihi cum pelago; me mea terra capit.
plaude tuo Marti, miles! nos odimus arma;
pax iuvat et media pace repertus amor.
auguribus Phoebus, Phoebe venantibus adsit!
artifices in te verte, Minerva, manus!
ruricolae, Cereri teneroque adsurgite Baccho!
Pollucem pugiles, Castora placet eques!
nos tibi, blanda Venus, puerisque potentibus arcu
plaudimus; inceptis adnue, diva, meis
daque novae mentem dominae! patiatur amari!
adnuit et motu signa secunda dedit.
quod dea promisit, promittas ipsa, rogamus;
pace loquar Veneris, tu dea maior eris.
per tibi tot iuro testes pompamque deorum,
te dominam nobis tempus in omne peti!
Sed pendent tibi crura. potes, si forte iuvabit,
cancellis primos inseruisse pedes.
maxima iam vacuo praetor spectacula circo
quadriiugos aequo carcere misit equos.
cui studeas, video. vincet, cuicumque favebis.
quid cupias, ipsi scire videntur equi.
me miserum, metam spatioso circuit orbe!
quid facis? admoto proxumus axe subit.
quid facis, infelix? perdis bona vota puellae.
tende, precor, valida lora sinistra manu!
favimus ignavo--sed enim revocate, Quirites,
et date iactatis undique signa togis!
en, revocant!--ac ne turbet toga mota capillos,
in nostros abdas te licet usque sinus.
Iamque patent iterum reserato carcere postes;
evolat admissis discolor agmen equis.
nunc saltem supera spatioque insurge patenti!
sint mea, sint dominae fac rata vota meae!
Sunt dominae rata vota meae, mea vota supersunt.
ille tenet palmam; palma petenda mea est.'
Risit, et argutis quiddam promisit ocellis.
'Hoc satis est, alio cetera redde loco!'
I don't sit here as a fan of thoroughbred horses;
But I pray that he whom you favour may win.
I came to talk with you and to sit with you,
so that the love which you cause not be known to you.
You watch the races, I watch you; let us each watch
what pleases us, and let each feast their eyes.
O lucky is the driver of horses whom you yourself favour!
So how has he happened to be an object of your care?
If this were to happen to me, I'd stand over the horses sent from the
sacred starting-gate, about to be carried along with a brave spirit,
and now I'll loosen their reins, now I'll mark their backs with a whip,
now I'll graze the turning post with my innermost wheel.
If I were to catch sight of you while I was racing, I'll delay,
and the slackened reins will flow down from my hands.
How nearly did Pelops die by a Pisaean spear,
while he looked at your face, Hippodamia!
But of course, however, he won with the favour of his girl.
Let each win with the favour of his mistress!
Why do you take to flight in vain? The marker rope drives us to be joined.
The race-course has these advantages of the place in agreement;
but you from the right, whoever you are, be sparing with the girl;
she's injured by the contact of your side.
You also, who watches behind us, draw your shins together,
if you have any decency, neither press her back with your hard knee!
But your mantle, let loose, lies too much on the ground.
Collect it - or look, I'm lifting it with my toes!
You always were jealous, clothes, who were always protecting such good legs;
and by which the more you might look - you were jealous, clothes!
Milanion desired to hold up such legs of fleet-footed Atalanta
with his hands.
That's how they paint such legs of Diana tucked up
when she, more fierce, pursues the fierce beasts.
I burned with these not seen; what will happen from the legs themselves?
You pour blazes into the blaze, water into the sea.
I suspect that from those the rest can also please,
which lie well-hidden under thin clothes.
But do you want, meanwhile, to summon gentle breezes,
which a fan will make, waved by my hand?
Or perhaps this my seething heat is more of my spirit, not of the atmosphere,
and feminine love burns my captured heart?
While I speak, your white cloak is sprinkled with light dust.
Filthy dust, get away from her snow-white body!
But now comes the procession - give good omens with words and minds!
The time for clapping is here - the golden procession comes.
First in position is carried Victory with wings outstretched -
be favourable to me, goddess, and grant that this my love may conquer!
Give a cheer for Neptune, you who trust the seas too much!
I have nothing to do with the open sea; my land charms me.
Give a cheer for your Mars, soldiers! I hate arms;
peace delights and the finding of love in the middle of peace.
Phoebus, may you be favourable to the augurs, Phoebe, may you be favourable to those hunting!
Turn the hands of craftsmen towards yourself, Minerva!
Rustic ones, rise up for Ceres and tender Bacchus!
Let the boxers please Pollux, the horseman Castor!
We give a cheer for you, and with the boy powerful with his bow, sweet Venus; goddess,
be favourable to my plans
and give me the right mind for a new mistress! Let her endure being loved!
She nodded to me and gave favourable signs by her movement.
I ask you yourself promise what the goddess promised;
with all due respect to Venus, I'll say, you'll be the greater goddess.
I swear to you through so many witnesses and the procession of the gods that you'll be
sought as mistress to me for all time!
But your legs are dangling. You can, if by chance it will be pleasing,
put the tips of your feet into the lattices.
The praetor has released the horses from the even box in chariot teams of four horses
with the circus now being empty.
I see who you favour. He will win, whoever you'll favour.
The horses themselves seem to know what you want.
Wretched me, he's going around the turning point in a spacious circle!
What are you doing? The next one comes up behind with his wheel moved close.
What are you doing, unlucky one? You're losing the girl's good hopes.
Stretch, I pray, the left-hand reins with a strong hand!
We backed an idiot - but hold on, call him back, citizens,
and give signs with tossed-about togas on all sides!
See, they're calling him back! - and the moved toga, so that it should not disturb
hair, it is permitted that you may hide yourself deep into the folds of my toga.
And now the door-posts lie open with the starting-box unbolted a second time;
after the horses were released, a procession of different colours rushes out.
Now at least, overcome and rise up over the wide track ahead!
Grant that my hopes and my mistress's hopes may come true!
My mistress's hopes are granted, my hopes are left over.
He holds a palm-tree frond; my palm-tree frond needs to be sought.
He laughed, and he promised something with his piercing eyes.
"This is enough, hand over the rest in another place!"
Saturday 25 February 2012
Aww.
Just a little teaser for a poem (and something to bring my post count up...).
Collige - vel digitis en ego tollo meis!
Collect it - or look, I'm lifting it with my toes!
Collige - vel digitis en ego tollo meis!
Collect it - or look, I'm lifting it with my toes!
Tea with Cicero
I will write and translate more. Honest. Just tired.
Doing my AS level in Latin (and having pretty much finished off the Cicero! YAY! Though I am admittedly nervous as fuck about my exams), one of my set texts is part of In Verrem. This being an AS level, me having very little if any guidance on just how much studying I need to do at AS level, and me being a geek, I've been reading up on all things Cicero for background. And though I'm only really looking at translations of his work and people commenting on various sources, a picture of the man starts to emerge - a picture of the man pieced together from fragments of fragments, that's true, but a picture nonetheless.
Sometimes when reading about Cicero, or when reading his speeches, and most especially his letters (they are by far the best guide we have to the man), I feel like I'm in his presence. I don't really understand him - it's difficult enough to understand the people around one, let alone understand someone who died thousands of years ago - but I can try my best. There are times when I feel like he's there with me - with us. He would have slotted perfectly into our society; he'd have probably been a Tory and a bit of a self-righteous fuck (perhaps quite a lot of a self-righteous fuck, come to think of that) who might just be perfectly fine with ignoring due process if he thought there were threats to the government from not doing so. Given that right now the dangers to freedom in political systems seem to be a lack of due process, he might not have been very much help; all the same, it would be nice to have someone who could actually speak, as opposed to the crap that passes for rhetoric these days. To be fair, I'd probably despise the man, but he'd at least have some substance to him.
Doing my AS level in Latin (and having pretty much finished off the Cicero! YAY! Though I am admittedly nervous as fuck about my exams), one of my set texts is part of In Verrem. This being an AS level, me having very little if any guidance on just how much studying I need to do at AS level, and me being a geek, I've been reading up on all things Cicero for background. And though I'm only really looking at translations of his work and people commenting on various sources, a picture of the man starts to emerge - a picture of the man pieced together from fragments of fragments, that's true, but a picture nonetheless.
Sometimes when reading about Cicero, or when reading his speeches, and most especially his letters (they are by far the best guide we have to the man), I feel like I'm in his presence. I don't really understand him - it's difficult enough to understand the people around one, let alone understand someone who died thousands of years ago - but I can try my best. There are times when I feel like he's there with me - with us. He would have slotted perfectly into our society; he'd have probably been a Tory and a bit of a self-righteous fuck (perhaps quite a lot of a self-righteous fuck, come to think of that) who might just be perfectly fine with ignoring due process if he thought there were threats to the government from not doing so. Given that right now the dangers to freedom in political systems seem to be a lack of due process, he might not have been very much help; all the same, it would be nice to have someone who could actually speak, as opposed to the crap that passes for rhetoric these days. To be fair, I'd probably despise the man, but he'd at least have some substance to him.
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