Michael O'Brien
(SPECIAL PRIZE FOR LATIN)
Wellington College
Translation (My Dear Comrade) from Latin into English of Angustam Amice by Horace
Wellington College
Translation (My Dear Comrade) from Latin into English of Angustam Amice by Horace
My Dear Comrade
My dear comrade, to withstand hardships so restricting The tested youth should learn by combat so bitter He, atop horseback, should send barbaric Parthians routing And he, armed with spear, should send Parthian pups fleeing to their litter. He should live, the Roman soldier, under Jupiter’s blessing! Moreover, he should live in Mars’ glorious halls So sigh, the wife and marriageable daughter of some tyrant warring Upon seeing the Roman soldier approach your hostile walls. Sigh, dear maiden, “No! Let not the promised prince provoke the Roman lion, Who would kill him with the cause of nought but the merest touch For the Roman lion is possessed by a bloodlust that fears not oblivion Nor fears he fighting straight through the slaughter created by his march.” It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country: Death will catch up even with the traitor who abandons the line Death spares not the knees of a coward’s effrontery Nor does it the back of a man who has no spine. Truly virtuous courage exudes honour and purity, Forever unstained by either sordid defeats or the coward’s minions Never will she take up nor put down her divine axes of authority That she may suck up to the fluttering breezes of popular opinions. True virtue opens heaven to those of quality She makes her way by the path most challenging and in turn, Both crowds most vulgar and the earth oh so foggy Her soaring plume does always spurn. Not only courage but secrecy too can be virtuous and rewarding: For I condemn the man whose lips impart Ceres’ secret Eleusinian rite, That traitor shall never be welcome within my dwelling, Nor shall he be welcome either at sea, or anywhere, with his blasphemy’s blight. Jupiter, in his negligence, may often confuse the treacherous with the virtuous May it not be forgotten though, that Justice, with her lame foot, Rarely gives up on the wicked man whose flight may be impetuous For despite cowardice’s head start, the traitor, in his proper place, by justice is always put. |
Angustam
Amice
– Horace
Angustam amice pauperiem pati robustus acri militia puer condiscat et Parthos ferocis uexet eques metuendus hasta uitamque sub diuo et trepidis agat in rebus. Illum ex moenibus hosticis matrona bellantis tyranni prospiciens et adulta uirgo suspiret, eheu, ne rudis agminum sponsus lacessat regius asperum tactu leonem, quem cruenta per medias rapit ira caedes. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori: mors et fugacem persequitur uirum nec parcit inbellis iuuentae poplitibus timidoue tergo. Virtus, repulsae nescia sordidae, intaminatis fulget honoribus nec sumit aut ponit securis arbitrio popularis aurae. Virtus, recludens inmeritis mori caelum, negata temptat iter uia coetusque uolgaris et udam spernit humum fugiente pinna. Est et fideli tuta silentio merces: uetabo, qui Cereris sacrum uolgarit arcanae, sub isdem sit trabibus fragilemque mecum soluat phaselon; saepe Diespiter neglectus incesto addidit integrum, raro antecedentem scelestum deseruit pede Poena claudo. |