Thursday, July 06, 2017
Memorial Plaque in Honor of A.E. Housman
A friend sent me the following photograph of the brass memorial plaque in honor of A.E. Housman in the Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Here is a transcription of the plaque:
HOC TITVLO COMMEMORATVR
ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN
PER XXV ANNOS LINGVAE LATINAE PROFESSOR KENNEDIANVS
ET HVIVS COLLEGII SOCIVS
QVI BENTLEII INSISTENS VESTIGIIS
TEXTVM TRADITVM POETARVM LATINARVM
TANTO INGENII ACVMINE TANTIS DOCTRINAE COPIIS
EDITORVM SOCORDIAM
TAM ACRI CAVILLATIONE CASTIGAVIT
VT HORVM STVDIORVM PAENE REFORMATOR EXSTITERIT
IDEM POETA
TENVI CARMINVM FASCICVLO
SEDEM SIBI TVTAM IN HELICONE NOSTRO VINDICAVIT
OBIIT PRID. KAL. MAI.
A.S. MDCCCCXXXVI AETATIS SVAE LXXVII
The transcription at the Chapel's web site (http://trinitycollegechapel.com/about/memorials/brasses/housman/) is incorrect in one letter. It transcribes Housman's name as HOVSMAN, but from the photograph it is clear that the name is spelled with a rounded U, not a V. Here is a translation, from the same web page:
I haven't seen Inscriptions from the Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge. Transcribed and Translated by James Clackson (Cambridge, 1990).
From Ian Jackson:
Newer› ‹Older
Here is a transcription of the plaque:
ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN
PER XXV ANNOS LINGVAE LATINAE PROFESSOR KENNEDIANVS
ET HVIVS COLLEGII SOCIVS
QVI BENTLEII INSISTENS VESTIGIIS
TEXTVM TRADITVM POETARVM LATINARVM
TANTO INGENII ACVMINE TANTIS DOCTRINAE COPIIS
EDITORVM SOCORDIAM
TAM ACRI CAVILLATIONE CASTIGAVIT
VT HORVM STVDIORVM PAENE REFORMATOR EXSTITERIT
IDEM POETA
TENVI CARMINVM FASCICVLO
SEDEM SIBI TVTAM IN HELICONE NOSTRO VINDICAVIT
OBIIT PRID. KAL. MAI.
A.S. MDCCCCXXXVI AETATIS SVAE LXXVII
The transcription at the Chapel's web site (http://trinitycollegechapel.com/about/memorials/brasses/housman/) is incorrect in one letter. It transcribes Housman's name as HOVSMAN, but from the photograph it is clear that the name is spelled with a rounded U, not a V. Here is a translation, from the same web page:
This inscription commemorates Alfred Edward Housman, who was for twenty-five years Kennedy Professor of Latin and Fellow of the College. Following in Bentley's footsteps he corrected the transmitted text of the Latin poets with so keen an intelligence and so ample a stock of learning, and chastised the sloth of editors so sharply and wittily, that he takes his place as the virtual second founder of textual studies. He was also a poet whose slim volumes of verse assured him of a secure place on the British Helicon. He died on 30th April 1936 at the age of seventy-six.The translation renders "A.S. MDCCCCXXXVI" as simply 1936. Presumably "A.S." stands for Anno Salvatoris or Anno Salutis, instead of the usual A.D. (Anno Domini). A.S.F. Gow composed the inscription.
I haven't seen Inscriptions from the Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge. Transcribed and Translated by James Clackson (Cambridge, 1990).
From Ian Jackson:
I have a copy of Clackson's book on the Trinity inscriptions. Your online source is simply a transcription of his 1990 text and translation, including the erroneous V (p. 98).
