Hobbitus Ille The Latin Hobbit - Latin for everyone!

etter in rhythmic (and rhyming) form. When Gollum and
Bilbo set each other riddles, these naturally take
quantitative shape – this is, after all, an ancient game
played since time immemorial – but when the goblins of
the Misty Mountains sing to a marching beat, an ominous
trochaic pulse best captures the rhythmic stamp of their
feet. By contrast, the facetious elves of Rivendell express
themselves in lilting iambics.
When I considered that many readers (unless they are
musically inclined) will not previously have encountered
rhythmic and rhyming Latin verse, I felt certain that this
diversity of versification would impart a pleasing extra
dimension to the book. Perhaps, after reading the Latin
songs of dwarves and goblins here, you may be tempted to
investigate some of the medieval verses that inspired
them, the magisterial Dies Irae, for example, or the
rumbunctious songs of the Carmina Burana. And if they
inspire you to sing some Latin, so much the better.
Translating The Hobbit has been quite an adventure:
exciting, fascinating, daunting, terrifying. All those, and
more besides. When I began this project I shared the
trepidation Bilbo felt on setting out; as the work
progressed – seemingly with no end in sight – I had my
own moments of despair in the darkness; but at last I
rejoiced, as did Bilbo, in the satisfaction of bringing my
own (literary) adventure to a conclusion: forsan et haec
olim meminisse iuuabit.