The Iliad in Latin
Johannes Patruus
heavily abridged, and the other apparently unabridged but with only
Book 1 currently accessible.
Firstly, the "Ilias Latina" is an epitome, in 1070 hexameters, of the
Iliad, attributed to Baebius Italicus (fl. 60 A.D.) The edition by
George Kennedy, including Latin text, English translation and notes,
which is fully described and reviewed here:
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1999/1999-01-06.html
is now available from the Campanian Society (the first item on this
page):
http://www.campanian.org/edumats-spr00.html
with an open-flat "comb" binding of the type illustrated thus:
http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~wwwprint/bind-comb.jpg
and with prairie-wide page-margins to satisfy the most profligate
notes-scribbler.
(In order to save constantly turning over the pages when comparing the
Latin and English texts, I found it convenient to slip the English
pages out of the comb and thread them onto a key ring or treasury
tag.)
Online Latin-only texts:
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ilias.html
http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0237/$1.htm
Image of manuscript (click on it for full-window image):
http://www.ubs.sbg.ac.at/sosa/Fragmente/M_I_494.htm
The only students' reader I know of which includes annotated extracts
from the Ilias Latina is M P O Morford's long-out-of-print "New Latin
Reader" (Longman, 1952) which has about 145 lines of it:
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/BookSearchPL?ph=2&an=morford&tn=reader
Secondly, according this page:
http://www.hic.hr/books/latinists/01latin.htm
"Croatian Latinists also translated works from other languages,
especially classical Greek, into Latin. Thus Rajmund Kunic (1719-1794)
of Dubrovnik, for many years professor of rhetoric and Greek at Rome,
translated the Iliad (1776), a work which is considered the best Latin
translation of Homer's epic."
The planet is scarcely awash with print copies of this book (meaning,
I couldn't locate any), but the Liber Primus is available online in
PDF and HTML formats:
http://digilander.iol.it/Marziale/Grex/biblio/varia/cunich01.pdf
http://digilander.libero.it/Marziale/Grex/biblio/varia/cunichius.html
Contrast its 732 hexameters with Ilias Latina's corresponding 110, at
one point of which, remarks Kennedy, "Italicus has compressed over two
hundred lines of the Iliad into four lines...omitting the spirited
invectives of Agamemnon and Achilles, important for their
characterization, including Agamemnon's threat to take Briseis in
recompense, and also the long speech of Nestor intended to preserve
the peace."
Oh well, an epitome is an epitome is an epitome! (But heck, what IS an
epitome?)
Johannes
Johannes Patruus
> Johannis scripsit:
>> "Oh well, an epitome is an epitome is an epitome!
>> (But heck, what IS an epitome?)"
> [...]
> Here's an epitome of an epitome (How do my macrons check with the Campanian
> Society edition, Johannes?):
>
> Īram pande mihi Pźlīdae, Dīua, superbī
> Trīstia quae miserīs iniźcit fūnera Graīs
> Atque animās fortźs hźrōum trādidit Orcō
> Latrantumque dedit rostrīs uolucrumque trahendōs
> Illōrum exsanguźs, inhumātīs ossibus, artūs. ...5
> Cōnfiźbat enim summī sententia rźgis,
> prōtulerant* ex quō discordia pectora pugnās,
> Sceptriger Ātrīdes et bellō clārus Achilles.
> Quis deus hōs īra trīstī contendere iussit?
> Latōnae et magnī prōlźs Iouis. Ille Pelasgum...10
> īnfestam rźgī pestem in praecordia mīsit
> implicuitque grauī Danaōrum corpora morbō.
> Nam quondam Chrysźs, sollemnī tempora uittā
> implicitus, raptae flźuit sōlācia nātae
> inuīsōsque diźs inuīsaque tempora noctis.......15
> źgit et assiduīs implźuit questibus aurās.
> Postquam nūlla diźs animum maerōre leuābat
> nūllaque lźnībant patriōs sōlācia flźtūs,
> castra petit Danaūm genibusque affūsus Atrīdae
> per superōs rźgnīque decus miserābilis ōrat,...20
> ut sibi causā suae reddātur nāta salūtis.
> Dōna simul praefert. Vincuntur flźtibus eius
> Myrmidonźs reddīque patrī Chrysźida cźnsent.
> Sed negat Atrīdes Chrysenque excźdere castrīs
> dźspectā pietāte iubet: ferus ossibus īmīs.....25
> haeret amor spernitque precźs damnōsa libīdō.
> Contemptus repetit Phoebźia templa sacerdōs
> squālidaque īnfestīs maerźns secat unguibus ōra
> dilaceratque comas annōsaque tempora plangit.
> Mox ubi dźpositī gemitūs lacrimaeque quiźrunt,.30
> Fātidicī hīs sacrās compellat uōcibus aurźs:
> "Quid coluisse mihi tua nūmina, Delphice, prōdest
> aut castam uītam multōs dūxisse per annōs?
> Quidue iuuat sacrōs posuisse altāribus ignźs,
> sī tuus externō iam spernor ab hoste sacerdōs?.35
> En, haec dźsertae redduntur dōna senectae?
> Sī grātus tibi sum, sim tź sub uindice tūtus.
> Aut sī qua, ut luerem sub acerbō crīmine poenās,
> īnscius admīsī, cūr o tua dextera cessat?
> Posce sacrōs arcūs, in mź tua dźrige tźla:.....40
> auctor mortis erit certź deus. Ecce, merentem
> fīge patrem; cūr nāta luit peccāta parentis
> atque hostis dūrī patitur miseranda cubīle?"
The Campanian Society edition is devoid of diacritics. However, I've
practised reading this passage a few times (though being undesirably
dependent on the translation to understand it - it's not half as easy
as the Bryn Mawr reviewer pretended), so I'll chance my own assessment
(infra). In reading aloud, I've been surprised how often the
requirements of the meter help with getting the syllable quantities
right (though your marked text has made me aware of some mistakes I'd
been making), and this recalls a thought I expressed not long ago
about the potential didactic utility of poetry.
I would propose additional macrons/circumflexes at the following
places:
line 1: the second "i" of "mihi"
line 2: the "a" of "Grais"
line 6: the "i" of "confiebat"
line 9: the "a" of "ira" (ablative - "in anger")
line 10: the first "a" of "Latonae"
line 24: the "A" of "Atrides"
line 29: the "i" of "dilaceratque" and the "a" of "comas"
line 32: the second "i" of "mihi"
line 38: the "a" of "qua" (elision notwithstanding)
line 39: the interjection "o"
I'm also wondering about the "e" of "Atrides" in lines 8 and 24, which
I think needs to be long, though it's unmarked in L&S.
And I'm having a little problem with line 21 which I can't get to
scan:
ut sibi causā suae reddātur nāta salūtis
("[he begs] his child be given back for her safety's sake")
where I'd been thoughtlessly reading the final "a" of "causa" short,
but I think it must be an ablative ā as you've indicated, and that
disrupts the meter.
Now, while I think of it, there's an interesting point about the
ITALICUS acrostic referred to in the Bryn Mawr review. For this to be
complete, the seventh line of the poem would have to start with a "U",
which, in the online texts, it does not. This, says Kennedy, "is
because it had been obscured in the archetype of our manuscripts,
whether by a blot, a worm hole, tear, or other accident in antiquity".
His reconstructs line 7 to read:
"Unde et pertulerant discordia pectora pugnas".
> What do you think the market is for the Baebius' with
> a Latin-Latin glossary?
Well I'd buy it, but don't expect it to top the charts given that in
modern times the Ilias Latina is itself so lamentably
underappreciated, as remarked in the Bryn Mawr review. There is,
however, an interesting implementation of this concept in "Cicero
Select Orations":
http://www.textkit.com/details.php?ID=55&author_id=13
where, on pages 1-42, Professor D'Ooge provides glosses in Latin by
way of footnotes. Commenting on this in his preface (page ii), he
writes, "A feature new to text-books in Cicero are the foot-notes to
the Manilian Law, which, in the form of glosses, definitions, and
words of opposite meaning aim to give a clew [sic] to the meaning of
unusual or difficult words in the text. In this way students are
helped to rely on their own knowledge, and are taught to get the
thought as far as possible from the Latin, before seeking assistance
from the vocabulary. The words in the foot-notes are not to be
understood as exact synonyms nor as interchangeable with the words in
the text."
Talking of charts (and we are having a particularly silly fad with
them on this side of the Briny), the London Evening Standard today
published (not online) a chart of its literary editor's 100 "greatest"
books. Tacitus' Annals came in at no. 35, and the Iliad & Odyssey at
no. 24. And at no. 16 ...... wait for it ...... Horace's Odes (!),
though whether he reads them in English or in Latin or in the bath, is
not vouchsafed to us. (Number One was the yawningly inevitable
Quinqueliteral.)
> A while back someone in the NG wrote asking about using the tape recorder in
> learning Latin pronunciation. This is a very good idea. A few weeks after
> making the tape you could listen to it and probably decide you could improve
> on it. A sample of something almost worth memorizing is below. Better yet
> listen to and try to imitate the pronunciations in many of the Latin
> selections that professors have made .wav and realaudio files of. (ending
> preposition)
In its current embodiment, RealPlayer (rechristened RealOne) includes
a looping facility ("Continuous Play" in the PLAY menu), which is
useful with Latin web audios provided they're short, though I have yet
to do any serious experimentation.
Also there is (or, at least, there was) something called XPLAYER:
http://www.exerscape.com/html/xplayer.html
which allows looping of a user-delineated segment, but after
registering for the free version, I never received the promised
download URL (thrice did I try), so maybe the thing's gone the way of
the woolly mammoth.
> I like the Baebius one better.
I'd be interested to know why. What's your assessment of Kunic?
Incidentally, since reporting the unavailability of print copies of
Kunic's translation, I've discovered that his text appears to be
included in a remarkable polyglot Iliad in the inventory of bookseller
in Lyon, France. Here's the entry:
HOMERE.
L'Iliade. Testo greco arrichito della traduzione letterale in latino
dell' Heyne della versione metrica del Cunich parimente in latino e
delle pił accreditate nelle cinque principali lingue d'Europa.
Firenze, Passigli, 1830-1832. 2 volumes in-4 de 1060 pp., demi basane
époque.
Exemplaire incomplet ; le texte s'interromp ą la fin du chant XV.
Edition avec le texte grec, le texte latin, le texte latin en vers
métriques, le texte italien par Monti, allemand par Voss, anglais par
Pope, franēais par Aignan et espagnol par Garcia Malo (4 textes par
page). Avec 12 gravures ą l'eau-forte par Viviani et Ferreri d'aprčs
Nenci. Edition publiée par livraisons, sans page de titre ; 2
couvertures de livraison sont ici conservées et en tiennent lieu.
Ex-libris et cachet d'une bibliothčque russe. Quelques rousseurs.
Reliure un peu frottée, coiffes usées.
http://www.livre-rare-book.com/Matieres/fd/1681.html
Wow! I mean, CRIKEY !!!!!
Johannes
Edward Casey
"Johannes Patruus" <JPat...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:720d82eb.02121...@posting.google.com...
here and the dictionaries show "confIo" but not "confIerI"
> line 9: the "a" of "ira" (ablative - "in anger")
> line 10: the first "a" of "Latonae"
> line 24: the "A" of "Atrides"
> line 29: the "i" of "dilaceratque" and the "a" of "comas"
> line 32: the second "i" of "mihi"
a form of quae (neuter accusative rather than ablative)
> line 39: the interjection "o"
The rest I agree with unconditionally. Also we missed the word "En" (long
e).
>
> I'm also wondering about the "e" of "Atrides" in lines 8 and 24, which
> I think needs to be long, though it's unmarked in L&S.
I can't help here as I suffer from an idee fixe that the third declension
nominative singular ending in -es has a short vowel and that all the
dictionaries are wrong. :)
>
> And I'm having a little problem with line 21 which I can't get to
> scan:
> ut sibi causā suae reddātur nāta salūtis
> ("[he begs] his child be given back for her safety's sake")
> where I'd been thoughtlessly reading the final "a" of "causa" short,
> but I think it must be an ablative ā as you've indicated, and that
> disrupts the meter.
but two longs LL substitute for long short short Lss. Since I don't
understand caesura that may not apply here.
>
>
> Now, while I think of it, there's an interesting point about the
> ITALICUS acrostic referred to in the Bryn Mawr review. For this to be
> complete, the seventh line of the poem would have to start with a "U",
> which, in the online texts, it does not. This, says Kennedy, "is
> because it had been obscured in the archetype of our manuscripts,
> whether by a blot, a worm hole, tear, or other accident in antiquity".
> His reconstructs line 7 to read:
> "Unde et pertulerant discordia pectora pugnas".
I saw the asterisk but I didn't even notice the (almost) acrostic.
I don't know. I didn't spend much time looking at Kunic because I understood
Baebius better. Also Baebius has fewer commas. This is usually a fairly good
indication of superior versification.
>
> Incidentally, since reporting the unavailability of print copies of
> Kunic's translation, I've discovered that his text appears to be
> included in a remarkable polyglot Iliad in the inventory of bookseller
> in Lyon, France. Here's the entry:
>
> HOMERE.
> L'Iliade. Testo greco arrichito della traduzione letterale in latino
> dell' Heyne della versione metrica del Cunich parimente in latino e
> delle pił accreditate nelle cinque principali lingue d'Europa.
> Firenze, Passigli, 1830-1832. 2 volumes in-4 de 1060 pp., demi basane
> époque.
> Exemplaire incomplet ; le texte s'interromp ą la fin du chant XV.
> Edition avec le texte grec, le texte latin, le texte latin en vers
> métriques, le texte italien par Monti, allemand par Voss, anglais par
> Pope, franēais par Aignan et espagnol par Garcia Malo (4 textes par
> page). Avec 12 gravures ą l'eau-forte par Viviani et Ferreri d'aprčs
> Nenci. Edition publiée par livraisons, sans page de titre ; 2
> couvertures de livraison sont ici conservées et en tiennent lieu.
> Ex-libris et cachet d'une bibliothčque russe. Quelques rousseurs.
> Reliure un peu frottée, coiffes usées.
>
> http://www.livre-rare-book.com/Matieres/fd/1681.html
>
Thanks. A little too pricey for me. Too bad this is incomplete, otherwise I
might have considered blowing my milk money on it. Also there was a book
there of "carmina" and "reliquiae" (scraps?) in Greek and Latin for about
$90 and this:
"LEXICON - VOCABULORUM OMNIUM, QUAE IN ILIADE HOMERI, NEC NON POTISSIMå
(Norwegian?) ODYSSAEAE (sic) PARTE CONTINENTUR. Rotterdam, Arnold Leers,
1662. 470 + 84 pp in-12 . Reliure d'époque en plein parchemin. Nom sur page
de garde. "
for about $192.
>
> Wow! I mean, CRIKEY !!!!!
A 1542 edition of a work by Erasmus in tooled leather, sewn on cords, and
good, fairly flexible condition went on Ebay the other day for $510. I wish
I knew if that was a good deal or not.
Eduardus