This is a poem which spawned a veritable micro-genre of imitations and free translations into French, Spanish, Polish, Russian, English and other languages, including this sonnet by Quevedo as well as this one by Du Bellay. Though the poem has done quite well in its cross-linguistic journeys, the original does much that the imitators do not seek to capture. The implication of the use of the term Albula, for example (coupled with the nomen romanum which is the Tiber) is quite impossible to carry over into another language and in any case requires a knowledge of Roman lore to appreciate. (Albula is the mythical "original" name of the river, supposedly renamed Tiber after one of Rome's kings.)
This left me with a peculiar position as a translator. Do I attempt to further the tradition of imitative adaptation? I could do so. And maybe someday I will. But why not try to treat it like any other text, and see what shakes out in the process?
Ancient Rome
By Janus Vitalis Panormitanus (16th cent.)
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
O newcomer who seek Rome in rome's midst
yet find nothing of Rome amidst all rome,
See the heaped walls, tall sundered stones, vast empty
theaters with horrid ruin overrun.
All this is Rome. See how so great a City
breathes threats of empire even from its corpse,
The conqueror who conquered her own self
that nothing be unconquered by her force.
Now that Unconquerable Rome lies tombed
In conquered rome: the victor in the victim.
Only the Tiber's left of what is Roman
even as its fleet waters flee to sea.
Know Fortune's power: the immovable gives way.
Only what moves unceasingly remains.
The Original:
Roma Prisca
Qui Romam in media quaeris novus advena Roma,
Et Romae in Roma nil reperis media,
Aspice murorum moles, praeruptaque saxa,
Obrutaque horrenti vasta theatra situ:
Haec sunt Roma. Viden velut ipsa cadavera, tantae
Urbis adhuc spirent imperiosa minas.
Vicit ut haec mundum, nixa est se vincere; vicit,
A se non victum ne quid in orbe foret.
Nunc victa in Roma Roma illa invicta sepulta est,
Atque eadem victrix victaque Roma fuit.
Albula Romani restat nunc nominis index,
Quin etiam rapidis fertur in aequor aquis.
Disce hinc, quid possit fortuna; immota labascunt,
Et quae perpetuo sunt agitata manent.
This left me with a peculiar position as a translator. Do I attempt to further the tradition of imitative adaptation? I could do so. And maybe someday I will. But why not try to treat it like any other text, and see what shakes out in the process?
Ancient Rome
By Janus Vitalis Panormitanus (16th cent.)
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
O newcomer who seek Rome in rome's midst
yet find nothing of Rome amidst all rome,
See the heaped walls, tall sundered stones, vast empty
theaters with horrid ruin overrun.
All this is Rome. See how so great a City
breathes threats of empire even from its corpse,
The conqueror who conquered her own self
that nothing be unconquered by her force.
Now that Unconquerable Rome lies tombed
In conquered rome: the victor in the victim.
Only the Tiber's left of what is Roman
even as its fleet waters flee to sea.
Know Fortune's power: the immovable gives way.
Only what moves unceasingly remains.
The Original:
Roma Prisca
Qui Romam in media quaeris novus advena Roma,
Et Romae in Roma nil reperis media,
Aspice murorum moles, praeruptaque saxa,
Obrutaque horrenti vasta theatra situ:
Haec sunt Roma. Viden velut ipsa cadavera, tantae
Urbis adhuc spirent imperiosa minas.
Vicit ut haec mundum, nixa est se vincere; vicit,
A se non victum ne quid in orbe foret.
Nunc victa in Roma Roma illa invicta sepulta est,
Atque eadem victrix victaque Roma fuit.
Albula Romani restat nunc nominis index,
Quin etiam rapidis fertur in aequor aquis.
Disce hinc, quid possit fortuna; immota labascunt,
Et quae perpetuo sunt agitata manent.
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