Translation of Thomas Campion's
Hymn in Praise of Neptune
in Latin Alcaics.

"Used to determine the Merton, New, Magdalen, Corpus, and Worcester College scholarships at Oxford in 1891" (Califf 2002: 140); no paraphrase was used as an aid in composing this piece; to be completed in installments.

Petrus Lichoas:

Neptūne, regnum caeruleum tuum,
cuius timendīs agmina fluctuum
obtemperant sceptrīs, canāmus,
flūmina quem celebrant cadūca

altissimīs dē montibus, aequora
laudant gregēs ob lūcida squāmeī
- sēdēs suās - sollemnem et omnis
nauta tuae lapidem corōnae

ūmentibus dat dē loculīs suīs.
Trītōnum et aulae prae foribus chorī


Thomas Campion:

Of Neptune's empire let us sing,
at whose command the waves obey;
to whom the rivers tribute pay,
Down the mountains sliding:
To whom the scaly nation yields
Homage for the crystal fields
Wherein they dwell:
And every sea-dog pays a gem
yearly out of his wat'ry cell
To deck great Neptune's diadem.

The Tritons dancing in a ring
Before his palace gates do make...

egens puellā quō fugiam meā
"Without her, where should I take refuge?"
In Horatian Alcaics

egens puellā quō fugiam meā?
Montēs adeptus num viridēs vager
lūnae velut qui lūminōsae
vōce lupus minitante cantat

explens sonō lustra et nemora invia
saevō, comantēs quī movet īlicēs?
Sīc spīritus spīrante Mūsā
interiōre sonō movētur.

Without her
Where should I take refuge?
Should I reach the verdant mountain
ranges, and there, wander
like a wolf
who sings to the luminous moon
with threatening howls

filling his haunts and glades
with the savage sound,
which moves the leafy
holm-oaks ?

This is how my heart moves,
when inspired,
stirred by a sound from within.

(1) First line of an Alcaic "Soon to Graduate":

doctam ērudītīs praepositam artibus
arcem

O Citadel of Learning;
Seat of the Fine Arts

(2) Stanza for an Alcaic poem for work in progress:

egens puellae quō fugiam meae?
Montēs adeptus num Viridēs vager
lūnae velut qui lūminōsae
vōce lupus minitante cantat

explens sonō lustra et nemora invia
saevō...

Where should I flee
Now that I'm without my girl?
Having arrived at the Green Mountains
Should I there wander,
like a wolf who sings
to the luminous moon
with menacing voice

Filling his haunts and glades
with the savage sound?

Another Stanza For A.A. Bondy Latin Version
(Opus prōcēdit; nec iam perfectum est)




altīs procul sum moenibus; urbis et
frēnīs solūtus per iuga nunc vagor
lūnae velut baubans lupus, iam
reddet et ipse animum quietum

explens sonō lustra et nemora invia
saevō...


Far am I from the towering city
and, free from its restraints,
I now wander over the mountain ridges
like a wolf, howling gently at the moon
soon to restore peace to its soul

by filling the haunts and glades
with that savage sound...

"Salus Populī Lex Summa Estō"
Elegiac Meter





mē retinēre credis quīn scrībam carmina acerba?
(sēsē - ut vēra dīcam - quis retinēre potest?)
cūria nunc partim - populī quae tōta salūtem
dēliberat variī - consulit ipsa suae.
rīdet iam tōtus - nisi nōn terrae stupet orbis -
"Illīc* optima lex estne salus populī?"
______
cf. Prop. 1.19.11: illīc, quicquid erō, semper tua dīcar imāgō

Do you think that I can keep from writing bitter songs
(Who - to tell that truth - can hold back?)
Part of the senate - which, in its entire
deliberates over the health of a diverse people -
now looks to its health alone.
Now the entire world - if it isn't in shock -
snickers: "is that really the place where they say
"The Health of the People
Shall be the highest Law -
"Salus Populī Lex Summa Estō"?

Alcaic Stanza for work in progress:
"I can see the pines are dancing"


fērā poēta in silvā ululam velut
lūnae lupus cēdentibus asperae
signīs suō caecīs nitōre
rursus Amor volitans relīquit

quem nunc canentem barbitos adiuvat
maestus poētam; hoc et mihi sit melos
ignī furantī; quō involūtus
mox fuerō renovanda ut āles


Let me howl like a wolf
in the wild wood;
night's standard-bearers
to the jagged moon
give way, unseen
for its bright gleaming.

Quick-moving love again has left again.

Let this song be
as a raging fire
and I the Phoenix,
consumed by it.

Stanzas for
"I can see the pines are dancing"






Fērā poēta in silvā ululam velut
lūnae lupus cēdentibus asperae
signīs suō caecīs nitōre
rursus Amor volitans relīquit

mē; quem canentem barbitos adiuvat -


Let me howl in the wild wood,
like a wolf, as the sky's bright signs,
now unseen from its refulgence,
give way to the jagged moon.

Again quick-moving love has left
me, now the lyre encourages

Dēsiste, cor
In Alcaic Meter
Inspired by A.A. Bondy "I can see the pines are dancing"
In memory of Summer 2009




Dēsiste, cor, iam tundere pectora:
nōn tē cicādae cantus in arduō
saltū relaxat? - (1) quī serēnā
nocte facit saliant comētae

saltū relaxat? - (2) quī comētās
nocte trahit mediā fugācēs .

Translation

Heart, stop pounding 'gainst my chest:
Doesn't the cicada's sweet song
filling the steep mountain ravine
soothe you?

(1)
And it makes the comets dance
across the serene night sky.
(2)
and it lures the comets out
streaking 'cross the midnight sky