venuti

56 The Translator’s Invisibilityrendered by most of the other translators (“shore,” “sea side,”“strand”). Denham’s translation not only allows the death to be shiftedinland, but throughout he makes a noticeable effort to domesticatearchitectural terms, likening the Trojan structures to the royal buildingsin England. Consider this passage where the Greeks are forcing theirway into Priam’s palace:AutomedonAnd Periphas who drove the winged steeds,Enter the Court; whom all the youth succeedsOf Scyros Isle, who flaming firebrands flungUp to the roof, Pyrrhus himself amongThe foremost with an Axe an entrance hewsThrough beams of solid Oak, then freely viewsThe Chambers, Galleries, and Rooms of State,Where Priam and the ancient Monarchs sate.At the first Gate an Armed Guard appears;But th’Inner Court with horror, noise and tearsConfus’dly fill’d, the womens shrieks and criesThe Arched Vaults re-echo to the skies;Sad Matrons wandring through the spacious RoomsEmbrace and kiss the Posts: Then Pyrrhus comesFull of his Father, neither Men nor WallsHis force sustain, the torn Port-cullis falls,Then from the hinge, their strokes the Gates divorce:[…]Then they the secret Cabinets invade,(Denham 1656:ll. 453–480, 491)Denham’s “Chambers, Galleries, and Rooms of State,” “Inner Court,”“Arched Vaults,” “secret Cabinets” render various Latin terms, but theLatin is much less defined, and it noticeably refers to a differentarchitecture: “domus intus,” “domus interior” (“the house within”),“atria longa” (“long halls”), “penetralia” (“interior”), “cauae” (“hollowplaces”), “thalami” (“the women’s bed-rooms”) (ibid.:ll. 484–7, 503).Although the renderings used by Denham’s predecessors display adegree of domestication as well, they do not match the extremity of his:“the house, the court, and secret chambers eke,” “the palace within,”“the hollow halles” (Howard 1557:ci v ); “the roomes, and all that waswithin,” “the spacious pallace” (Wroth 1620:E r ); “the rooms within,great halls and parlours faire,” “the rooms within” (Vicars 1632:45);