A Log Cabin Out of Stone: - Dartmouth College

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I wanted to translate the epodes for an audience today. When we translate in Latin class, we often miss the essential elements of the poem because we are too focused on understanding the complex vocabulary and grammar. Only when we’ve translated the entire poem can we read it smoothly and work towards understanding the art of the poem. I wanted to offer translations that did not attempt to stand in for the originals, but ones that could stand on their own as poems and additionally offer a perspective on the originals. This project contains four major components. The first part explores the history of translation theory and the uses of translation theory. The next chapter focuses on translations of Catullus’s poetry as a way to explore how translation theory enters into the practice of translating. Then, there is a section defending my translation decisions on each of the epodes. These decisions have been guided by my work with the translation theories, my work with examining Catullus translations as well as literary criticism on Horace’s own epodes. The final part of this project is the translations of the epodes themselves. 3
Chapter 1 In a typical Latin class, the students and the teacher will work to put a particular Latin passage into a set of English words that the whole class can agree upon. The English can often sound choppy and inelegant. For example, an ablative absolute must be translated into English in a particular fashion to show that all students are aware of the construction: “the city, having been captured.” That is the right way to translate an ablative absolute. It is difficult enough for the one small class to decide upon a translation, so we forget that if we were to ask a totally different class how they were to translate the same passage, we would see conflicting responses. So, what is the right translation, if such a thing even exists? It is a myth that translation can be pure. What are the boundaries of translation? What are the rules? Why do we do it? For me, the purpose of translation is to give to give the original, inaccessible author a voice in an accessible language. However in this set up, the translator is charged with the power to shape the voice in the original author, and however the translator decides to direct that power is crucial to how the translation will turn out. That is to say that the role of the translator is mysterious. He or she is both completely present in the translation, and completely absent. In his book The Translator’s Turn, Douglas Robinson introduces a preconception about translation. He explains that some people think the translator is only the vehicle through which the SL [ source language] writer speaks, the cape through which the SL writer wields his power, or alternatively, that the translator gives the SL writer TL [target language] voice, that the translator speaks for the SL writer. One of has to be the speaker, the owner of the TL words, after all, and if the translator is not introverted enough to let the SL writer speak through him or her, then the TL words become the translator’s and cease (we believe) to be a translation. 1 1 Robinson, Douglas, The Translator’s Turn (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 1991), 237-238. 4
Page 1 and 2: A LOG CABIN OUT OF STONE: TRANSLATI
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Introduction…
Page 5: love, Roman politics unraveling, so
Page 9 and 10: characters in his poetry. I would c
Page 11 and 12: syntactical issues. The second way
Page 13 and 14: to which feels right. We roll words
Page 15 and 16: historical context, but we do not k
Page 17 and 18: identical. Then, how can a translat
Page 19 and 20: understanding of Spain is entirely
Page 21 and 22: that Spain is considered far away w
Page 23 and 24: If I could add to her diagram sligh
Page 25 and 26: Horace reproduces power struggle in
Page 27 and 28: “whoreson” but to someone a “
Page 29 and 30: clothes,” a somewhat anachronisti
Page 31 and 32: ecreate this aspect in his translat
Page 33 and 34: intending that my translations shou
Page 35 and 36: I am looking at some specific issue
Page 37 and 38: When Catullus writes “Quod tu cum
Page 39 and 40: limitations: he paints Catullus as
Page 41 and 42: We can compare this translation to
Page 43 and 44: into a specific modern idiom, the t
Page 45 and 46: Although several people commented t
Page 47 and 48: smooth English, the overall affect
Page 49 and 50: translator was forced to pick a dri
Page 51 and 52: Chapter 3 In this section, I have e
Page 53 and 54: Among the hardest decisions to make
Page 55 and 56: human nature. It is not an uncommon
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poetry. This is more than self-depr
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I did not completely eliminate the
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etween Horace and previous invectiv
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situation a little bit more than Ho
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today…” The rest of the poem, I
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epode is that the sexual roles are
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foretelling ruin in the near future
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Your adultery, and angrily, he woul
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Ubera nec magnos metuent armenta le
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Horace’s mockery much in the way
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Epode 2 Happy is he who lives far a
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Epode 3 Ughhhhh Maecenas Stomach, c
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Epode 5 Who are you lady? Your eyes
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Epode 6 Beware! You scavenging litt
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Epode 8 Repulsive. I’ll tell you,
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Epode 10 Stinky, smelly, rancid, ro
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Epode 11 Pettius, Pettius, Pettius,
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Epode 13 Grey ice and rain in sheet
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Epode 15 The night was dark, you an
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While the sheep take themselves to
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(I hope you realized that Phryne af
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quod aut avarus ut Chremes terra pr
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nec tantus umquam Siderum insedit v
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nardo perunctum, quale non perfecti
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hietque turpis inter aridas natis p
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Inachia furere, silvis honorem decu
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XV Nox erat et caelo fulgebat Luna
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ut inquinavit aere tempus aureum, a
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Bibliography Primary Sources Horace
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A Log Cabin Out of Stone: - Dartmouth College

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