Thursday, November 02, 2006
Donec Gratus Eram: Franklin P. Adams
About ten years ago the following collections of English translations of Horace by various hands appeared:
Here are some translations of Horace's Donec gratus eram ode (3.9) by Franklin P. Adams.
HORACE
When I was your stiddy, my loveliest Lyddy,
And you my embraceable she,
In joys and diversions, the king of the Persians
Had nothing on me.
LYDIA
When I was the person you penned all that verse on,
Ere Chloe had caused you to sigh,
Not she whose cognomen is Ilia the Roman
Was happier than I.
HORACE
Ah, Chloe the Thracian -- whose sweet modulation
Of voice as she lilts to the lyre
Is sweeter and fairer? Would but the Fates spare her
I'd love to expire.
LYDIA
Tush! Calais claims me and wholly inflames me,
He pesters me never with rhymes;
If they should spare Cally, I'd perish totally
A couple of times.
HORACE
Suppose my affection in Lyddy's direction
Returned; that I gave the good-by
To Chloe the golden, and back to the olden? --
I pause for reply.
LYDIA
Cheer up, mine ensnarer! Be Calais fairer
Than stars, be you blustery and base,
I'll love you, adore you; in brief, I am for you
All over the place.
HORACE
What time I was your one best bet
And no one passed the wire before me,
Dear Lyddy, I cannot forget
How you would -- yes, you would -- adore me.
To others you would tie the can;
You thought of me with no aversion.
In those days I was happier than
A Persian.
LYDIA
Correct. As long as you were not
So nuts about this Chloe person,
Your flame for me burned pretty hot --
Mine was the door you pinned your verse on.
Your favourite name began with L,
While I thought you surpassed by no man --
Gladder than Ilia, the well-
Known Roman.
HORACE
On Chloe? Yes, I've got a case;
Her voice is such a sweet soprano;
Her people come from Northern Thrace;
You ought to hear her play piano.
If she would like my suicide --
If she'd want me a dead and dumb thing,
Me for a glass of cyanide,
Or something.
LYDIA
Now Calais, the handsome son
Of old Ornitus, has me going;
He says I am his honey bun,
He's mine, however winds are blowing;
I think that he is awful nice,
And, if the gods the signal gave him,
I'd just as lieve die once or twice
To save him.
HORACE
Suppose I'm gone on you again,
Suppose I've got ingrown affection
For you; I sort of wonder, then,
If you'd have any great objection.
Suppose I pass this Chloe up
And say: "Go roll your hoop, I'm rid o' ye!"
Would that drop sweetness in your cup?
Eh, Lydia?
LYDIA
Why, say -- though he's fair as a star,
And you are like a cork, erratic
And light -- and though I know you are
As blustery as the Adriatic,
I think I'd rather live with you
Or die with you, I swear to gracious.
So I will be your Mrs. Q.
Horatius.
HORACE
Lyddy, am I right or wrong?
Was I there? Did I belong?
Did you not -- you know you did --
Call me once the Headline Kid?
I had everybody stopped;
Persian potentates I topped;
Dun and Bradstreet, if you'd love me,
Wouldn't rate a king above me.
LYDIA
Friend Horatius, all that you
Say is absolutely true.
I was happy as a queen
When -- oh, you know what I mean.
When you gave no Chloe praise,
Them, ah, them was happy days!
When you used to coax and con me
Ilia's self had nothing on me.
HORACE
Thracian Chloe -- she's a bear --
Has Q.H. up in the air;
Her I lamp without fatigue;
Chloe leads the Flaccus League.
Listen, I'm a selfish guy,
But I'd really love to die
If I thought she'd get a giggle
At my mortuary wriggle.
LYDIA
Speaking, as you often do,
Of affection, I'm there, too.
Who is my idea of joy?
Calais -- and quantus boy.
Why, if I believed that he
Could elicit any glee
from the sentence Lydia non est,
I'd bichloride. I would, honest.
HORACE
Lyddy, listen, get me right:
Do you think that perhaps we might
Sort of start it up again
As 'twas in the glorious When?
If I tell this Chloe that
I am going to leave her, flat,
Do you think that you would let me
Write to you, and? -- well, you get me.
LYDIA
Listen, Horace, though you be
Roaring as the raging sea,
Though he be a Broadway sign,
I'm for you -- Q.H. for mine.
Whether you're the ocean's roar,
Angry and ferocious; or
Lighter than a cork, and giddy,
I am yours
Sincerely,
LYDDY
HORACE, PVT. --TH INFANTRY, A.E.F., WRITES:
While I was fussing you at home
You put the notion in my dome
That I was the Molasses Kid.
I batted strong. I'll say I did.
LYDIA, ANYBURG, U.S.A., WRITES:
While you were fussing me alone
To other boys my heart was stone.
When I was all that you could see
No girl had anything on me.
HORACE:
Well, say, I'm having some romance
With one Babette, of Northern France.
If that girl gave me the command
I'd dance a jig in No Man's Land.
LYDIA:
I, too, have got a young affair
With Charley -- say, that boy is there!
I'd just as soon go out and die
If I thought it'd please that guy.
HORACE:
Suppose I can this foreign wren
And start things up with you again?
Suppose I promise to be good?
I'd love you, Lyd. I'll say I would.
LYDIA:
Though Charley's good and handsome -- oh, boy!
And you're a stormy, fickle doughboy,
Go give the Hun his final whack,
And I'll marry you when you come back.
HORACE
In the happier years gone by me
In a well-remembered day,
Yours the custom was to eye me
In a not unflattering way.
When than I none was than-whicher,
When none other dared to fling
Arms about you, I was richer
Than the noted Persian king.
LYDIA
Those the days when sweet the savor
Of mine overbrimming cup,
When no Chloe found your favor,
When I was not runner-up.
As I scan my memorabilia,
I observe with girlish glee
That the famous Roman Ilia
Hadn't anything on me.
HORACE
Now the roomy heart Horatian,
Beating loudly in this breast,
By the sweetly singing Thracian
Chloe's utterly possessed.
If I thought that lovely lass'd
Like to see me dead, I'd take
Half a pint of prussic acid
Gladly for her shining sake.
LYDIA
What a fascinating game is
Love! My current cause for joy --
Thurian Calais his name is --
He is Ornytus's boy.
If I thought he'd like to view me
Moribund; that he would laugh
At my corse, I'd pour into me
All the poison I could quaff.
HORACE
If no longer I should find her
As I used to find her -- fair;
If I casually consigned her
To the celebrated air;
This affair -- if I could quit it;
If I gazed again on you;
Do you think that we could hit it
Off the way we used to do?
LYDIA
Yes. Though Calais is brighter
Than a coruscating star;
Madder than the sea, and lighter
Than a piece of cork you are,
Horace, you're the only guy for
Me. The others I resign.
You're the one I'd live for, die for --
And I'll be your Valentine.
Related post:
Newer› ‹Older
- D.S. Carne-Ross and Kenneth Haynes, edd. Horace in English(Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1996)
- Antony Lentin, edd. Horace: The Odes in English Translation (Ware: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1997)
Here are some translations of Horace's Donec gratus eram ode (3.9) by Franklin P. Adams.
HORACE
When I was your stiddy, my loveliest Lyddy,
And you my embraceable she,
In joys and diversions, the king of the Persians
Had nothing on me.
LYDIA
When I was the person you penned all that verse on,
Ere Chloe had caused you to sigh,
Not she whose cognomen is Ilia the Roman
Was happier than I.
HORACE
Ah, Chloe the Thracian -- whose sweet modulation
Of voice as she lilts to the lyre
Is sweeter and fairer? Would but the Fates spare her
I'd love to expire.
LYDIA
Tush! Calais claims me and wholly inflames me,
He pesters me never with rhymes;
If they should spare Cally, I'd perish totally
A couple of times.
HORACE
Suppose my affection in Lyddy's direction
Returned; that I gave the good-by
To Chloe the golden, and back to the olden? --
I pause for reply.
LYDIA
Cheer up, mine ensnarer! Be Calais fairer
Than stars, be you blustery and base,
I'll love you, adore you; in brief, I am for you
All over the place.
HORACE
What time I was your one best bet
And no one passed the wire before me,
Dear Lyddy, I cannot forget
How you would -- yes, you would -- adore me.
To others you would tie the can;
You thought of me with no aversion.
In those days I was happier than
A Persian.
LYDIA
Correct. As long as you were not
So nuts about this Chloe person,
Your flame for me burned pretty hot --
Mine was the door you pinned your verse on.
Your favourite name began with L,
While I thought you surpassed by no man --
Gladder than Ilia, the well-
Known Roman.
HORACE
On Chloe? Yes, I've got a case;
Her voice is such a sweet soprano;
Her people come from Northern Thrace;
You ought to hear her play piano.
If she would like my suicide --
If she'd want me a dead and dumb thing,
Me for a glass of cyanide,
Or something.
LYDIA
Now Calais, the handsome son
Of old Ornitus, has me going;
He says I am his honey bun,
He's mine, however winds are blowing;
I think that he is awful nice,
And, if the gods the signal gave him,
I'd just as lieve die once or twice
To save him.
HORACE
Suppose I'm gone on you again,
Suppose I've got ingrown affection
For you; I sort of wonder, then,
If you'd have any great objection.
Suppose I pass this Chloe up
And say: "Go roll your hoop, I'm rid o' ye!"
Would that drop sweetness in your cup?
Eh, Lydia?
LYDIA
Why, say -- though he's fair as a star,
And you are like a cork, erratic
And light -- and though I know you are
As blustery as the Adriatic,
I think I'd rather live with you
Or die with you, I swear to gracious.
So I will be your Mrs. Q.
Horatius.
HORACE
Lyddy, am I right or wrong?
Was I there? Did I belong?
Did you not -- you know you did --
Call me once the Headline Kid?
I had everybody stopped;
Persian potentates I topped;
Dun and Bradstreet, if you'd love me,
Wouldn't rate a king above me.
LYDIA
Friend Horatius, all that you
Say is absolutely true.
I was happy as a queen
When -- oh, you know what I mean.
When you gave no Chloe praise,
Them, ah, them was happy days!
When you used to coax and con me
Ilia's self had nothing on me.
HORACE
Thracian Chloe -- she's a bear --
Has Q.H. up in the air;
Her I lamp without fatigue;
Chloe leads the Flaccus League.
Listen, I'm a selfish guy,
But I'd really love to die
If I thought she'd get a giggle
At my mortuary wriggle.
LYDIA
Speaking, as you often do,
Of affection, I'm there, too.
Who is my idea of joy?
Calais -- and quantus boy.
Why, if I believed that he
Could elicit any glee
from the sentence Lydia non est,
I'd bichloride. I would, honest.
HORACE
Lyddy, listen, get me right:
Do you think that perhaps we might
Sort of start it up again
As 'twas in the glorious When?
If I tell this Chloe that
I am going to leave her, flat,
Do you think that you would let me
Write to you, and? -- well, you get me.
LYDIA
Listen, Horace, though you be
Roaring as the raging sea,
Though he be a Broadway sign,
I'm for you -- Q.H. for mine.
Whether you're the ocean's roar,
Angry and ferocious; or
Lighter than a cork, and giddy,
I am yours
Sincerely,
LYDDY
HORACE, PVT. --TH INFANTRY, A.E.F., WRITES:
While I was fussing you at home
You put the notion in my dome
That I was the Molasses Kid.
I batted strong. I'll say I did.
LYDIA, ANYBURG, U.S.A., WRITES:
While you were fussing me alone
To other boys my heart was stone.
When I was all that you could see
No girl had anything on me.
HORACE:
Well, say, I'm having some romance
With one Babette, of Northern France.
If that girl gave me the command
I'd dance a jig in No Man's Land.
LYDIA:
I, too, have got a young affair
With Charley -- say, that boy is there!
I'd just as soon go out and die
If I thought it'd please that guy.
HORACE:
Suppose I can this foreign wren
And start things up with you again?
Suppose I promise to be good?
I'd love you, Lyd. I'll say I would.
LYDIA:
Though Charley's good and handsome -- oh, boy!
And you're a stormy, fickle doughboy,
Go give the Hun his final whack,
And I'll marry you when you come back.
HORACE
In the happier years gone by me
In a well-remembered day,
Yours the custom was to eye me
In a not unflattering way.
When than I none was than-whicher,
When none other dared to fling
Arms about you, I was richer
Than the noted Persian king.
LYDIA
Those the days when sweet the savor
Of mine overbrimming cup,
When no Chloe found your favor,
When I was not runner-up.
As I scan my memorabilia,
I observe with girlish glee
That the famous Roman Ilia
Hadn't anything on me.
HORACE
Now the roomy heart Horatian,
Beating loudly in this breast,
By the sweetly singing Thracian
Chloe's utterly possessed.
If I thought that lovely lass'd
Like to see me dead, I'd take
Half a pint of prussic acid
Gladly for her shining sake.
LYDIA
What a fascinating game is
Love! My current cause for joy --
Thurian Calais his name is --
He is Ornytus's boy.
If I thought he'd like to view me
Moribund; that he would laugh
At my corse, I'd pour into me
All the poison I could quaff.
HORACE
If no longer I should find her
As I used to find her -- fair;
If I casually consigned her
To the celebrated air;
This affair -- if I could quit it;
If I gazed again on you;
Do you think that we could hit it
Off the way we used to do?
LYDIA
Yes. Though Calais is brighter
Than a coruscating star;
Madder than the sea, and lighter
Than a piece of cork you are,
Horace, you're the only guy for
Me. The others I resign.
You're the one I'd live for, die for --
And I'll be your Valentine.
Related post:
