Tuesday, November 30th, 2010...5:19 pmChris Francese
Always a Listener (Juvenal, Satire 1.1-21)
Semper ego auditor tantum? numquamne reponam
uexatus totiens rauci Theseide Cordi?
inpune ergo mihi recitaverit ille togatas,
hic elegos? inpune diem consumpserit ingens
Telephus aut summi plena iam margine libri
scriptus et in tergo necdum finitus Orestes?
nota magis nulli domus est sua quam mihi lucus
Martis et Aeoliis vicinum rupibus antrum
Vulcani; quid agant venti, quas torqueat umbras
Aeacus, unde alius furtivae devehat aurum
pelliculae, quantas iaculetur Monychus ornos,
Frontonis platani convolsaque marmora clamant
semper et adsiduo ruptae lectore columnae.
expectes eadem a summo minimoque poeta.
et nos ergo manum ferulae subduximus, et nos
consilium dedimus Sullae, privatus ut altum
dormiret. stulta est clementia, cum tot ubique
vatibus occurras, periturae parcere chartae.
cur tamen hoc potius libeat decurrere campo,
per quem magnus equos Auruncae flexit alumnus,
si vacat ac placidi rationem admittitis, edam.
The text I am using is that of Susanna Morton Braund (Juvenal: Satires Book I [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996]), who brackets line 14 as an interpolation. The image is “Orestes Pursued by the Furies,” by Bourgeureau (1862).
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3 Comments
December 1st, 2010 at 5:09 am
Hi Christopher
I really enjoyed this one – thanks. I think your newer approach where you give a line by line translation rather than an overview before reading the poem works well. I can concentrate on the poetry better if I’m not playing “catch up” translating while you are reading – not that I’m implying I could translate Juvenal unseen anyway!
Very good – it’s nice to listen to some good spoken Latin. All the best, M
December 7th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Thanks, Martin. I hope to be better about updating more frequently over the holidays!
February 19th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Erm… Maybe it’s just me? But on 2/19 the list of postings on iTunes did not include this; latest was the Elephant. So I am using your rss feed instead.
And while I’ve got you… Hadn’t you at one point decided to record all of Horace’s Odes? Whatever happened to that? (Btw, I’ve found this site very congenial for Horace readings: http://jamesrumford.blogspot.com/)
Hope all’s well. Best wishes for the new year.
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