In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Christian
Walter Hess <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
>This seems to be somebody's diseased, poetic conception
Rather harsh? Provided you read Dryden's rendering as a poem not a crib
it has considerable merits: as you very rightly say,
>the point was to write a poetic, artistic text which would freshly interpret
>and complement, not replace, the Latin. My best guess would be that "people
>of the sky" is meant to be an artistic rendering of the fates or gods
>dwelling in the heavens, thus emphasizing a divine origin for the prophecy.
Certainly it is the gods; as Simon recognized (even though, seeking it
in the Latin text, he naturally failed to find the passage), the phrase
is a calque on _caelicolae_. From whom else should Juno hear rumours
from her fellow skydwellers? It is the gods who report that the Fates
are so contriving (sic uoluere Parcas, accusative and infinitive.) What
is 'diseased' about that? It is what translators do all the time, make
explicit what is merely implicit in the original; of course, critics
then object either that in doing so they have lost a subtlety, or that
it isn't actually implicit after all, but is either objection in place
here? If there is fault to find, it is rather that the line adds nothing
but a rhyme; but it is virtually impossible to writea rhymed transaltion
without admitting some such verses.
A few years ago our listowner (I think) posted some interesting
comments about the strength and weaknesses of Dryden's version;
unfortunately I cannot find them now. I was struck by his rendering of
Aen. 6. 651-8:
Dulces exuuiae, dum fata deusque sinebat,
accipite hanc animam meque his exsoluite curis.
Vixi et quem dederat cursum Fortuna peregi,
et nunc magna mei sub terras ibit imago.
Urbem praeclaram statui, mea moenia uidi,
ulta uirum poenas inimico a fratre recepi;
felix, heu nimium felix, si litora tantum
numquam Dardaniae tetigissent nostra carinae.
Dear Pledges of my Love, while Heav'n so pleas'd,
Receive a Soul, of Mortal Anguish eas'd.
My fatal course is finish'd, and I go
A glorious Name, among the Ghosts below.
A lofty City by my Hands is rais'd,
_Pygmalion_ punish't, and my Lord appeas'd.
What cou'd my Fortune have afforded more,
Had the false _Trojan_ never touched my shore?
Long before Eduard Fraenkel pointed out that those short first-person
clauses in the perfect imitated the style of a Roman commander's
dispatches to the Senate, Dryden recognized what by no means all
commentators had done, that Dido is never more queenly than she speaks
these words; on the other hand, his Dido is far too self-possessed to
rouse the pity that Vergil's does here.
Leofranc Holford-Strevens
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Leofranc Holford-Strevens
67 St Bernard's Road usque adeone
Oxford scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter?
OX2 6EJ
tel. +44 (0)1865 552808(home)/267865(work) fax +44 (0)1865 512237
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (home) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (work)
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