Latin in Heidel's Gilgamesh (was: Anyone here read Latin?)
Fred Louder
Dear Darren:
A few days ago you posted a request for translations Alexander Heidel's
Latinizations in his translation of *Gilgamesh* (in The Gilgamesh Epic
and Old Testament Parallels).
Here are the three passages you e-mailed. There were a few typing
errors, which I've corrected in UPPER CASE. My tranlsations
are strictly utility versions--I have resisted the urge to (shall we
say) tart them up, though I think they could be made into quite nice
alliterative verses (and I, no doubt, into a target for potsherds,
brickbats and flames from the entire translation community).
As a matter of interest, I've included the wordings from N.K.
Sandars's Penguin Classics paraphrase (rev. 1972, hereinafter Sandars),
which is probably the version best known to present-day readers.
................
1. Tablet I, Col. III, l. 22:
[Deponat vestem] suam et [nudet VENUSTA]tem suam.
Let her put off her garment and let her bare her loveliness.
(SANDARS, p. 64) ...she will strip...
2. Tablet I, Col. IV, ll. 8-21.
Is est, meretrix, nuda sinum tuum;
Aperi gremium tuum ut succumbat venustati tuae.
Noli cunctari ei appropinquare;
Cum VIDET te, appropinquabit tibi.
Solve(?) vestem tuam, et sine EUM incumbere in te.
Incita in eo libidinem(?), opus feminae.
(Tum) animalia quae aluntur in CAMPO suo mutabunt habitum summ in eum,
(Cum) amorem suum tibi impertiat."
Meretrix nudabat sinum suum, aperiebat gremium suum, et is succumbuit
venustati eius.
Ea non cunctabatur ei appropinquare;
Ea solvit(?) vestem suam, et is incumbebat in eam;
Ea incitabat libidinem(?) in eo, opus feminae,
(Et) is impertiebat amorem suum ei.
Sex dies et septem noctes Enkidu coibat CUM meretrice.
There he is,* harlot, bare your breast;
open your bosom that he might surrender to your loveliness.
Do not hesitate to draw near to him;
when he sees you, he will draw near to you.
Undo your garment and allow him to lie upon you.
Arouse in him desire, a woman's business.***
(Then) the animals that are kept** in his field will turn+ against him,
(because) he shares his love with you.
The courtesan bared her breast, she opened her bosom, and he surrendered
to her loveliness.
She did not hesitate to draw near to him;
she undid her garment, and he lay upon her;
in him she aroused desire, a woman's business,
(and) he shared his love with her.
Six days and seven nights Enkidu copulated with the harlot.
*lit.: It is he
**or: fed, reared
***or: desire, woman's art
+lit.: change their bearing, alter their disposition
(SANDARS, p. 64) There he is. Now, woman, make your breasts bare, have
no shame, do not delay but welcome his love. Let him see you naked, let
him possess your body. When he comes near uncover yourself and lie with
him; teach him, the savage man, your woman's art, for when he murmurs
love to you the wild beasts that shared his life in the hills will
reject him. (ibid.)
3. Tablet II, Col. V, ll. 32-34:
Coit cum uxoribus destinatis.
Is (venit) prior,
Maritus posterior
He copulates with betrothed wives.
He (comes) first,
the husband after
(SANDARS, p. 68) ...he still demands to be first with the bride, the
king to be first and the husband to follow...
..............
There you have it. I must say I was out to lunch the other day, when I
told you (on 30 seconds' skim-reading, not having read the book for
years) that Sandars does not mention Heidel. In fact, GE&OTP was his
principal source (pp. 50, 59-60). Sandars, by the way, mentions a
translation by Campbell Thompson into English hexameters; so perhaps I
needn't be shy about versifying after all. Mind you, Thompson was the
big man in Gilgamesh studies--published the text and commentary to end
them all, apparently; as for me, I wouldn't know how to find the subway
in Sumerian, let alone pick up a girl at a watering hole.
Anyway, I hope this is useful--I see you had other offers to translate,
so you must be fairly wallowing in comparisons by now. Have fun!
With best wishes,
Fred Louder
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