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Exegi Monument (Ad Melpomenem)


Exegi Monument, originally uploaded by loscuadernosdejulia.

My parents and I went recently to Kuskovo, a Moscow residence of the famous noble family of the Sheremetievs. The father, Pyotr, and his son, Boris, had played sometimes pivotal roles in the Russian history in the 18th century. Kuskovo was their summer residence; located in the east of Moscow, it was used exclusively for entertainment. The houses had never had any electricity or central heating, and even though the palace and small houses are open to the public throughout the year, as soon as the autumn comes and until spring the palatial complex is only open until dusk.

We wanted to take a photo of me, and this empty pedestal was too good not to be used. And it became an obvious interpretation of the famous poem Ad Melpomenem by the Roman poet, Horace. As a matter of fact, it was one of the poems on the same subject we as first-year History students had to learn for our exam in Latin in 1998; another was an extract from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Under the cut is the Latin text and a Russian poetic translation. The video, however, was produced by a group of American students, and offers a rather good example of a marriage between a dead language and a very popular music style. This made me wonder what could happen if we adapted, say, a tragedy by Sophocles in the original ancient Greek to a punk or Goth tune. Any drama/music students who want to give it a go?

Exegi monument(um) aere perennius
Regalique situ pyramid(um) altius
Quod non imber edax, non Aquil(o) impotens
Possit diruer(e) aut innumerabilis
Annorum series et fuga temporum.
Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei
Vitabit Libitin(am): usqu(e) ego posreta
Creascam laude recens, dum Capitolium
Scandet cum tacita virgane pontifex.
Dicar, qua violens obstrepit Aufidus
Et qua pauper aquae Daunus agrestium
Regnavit populor(um), ex humili potens
Princeps Aeoleum carmen ad Italos
Deduxisse modos. Sume superbiam
Quasitam meritis et mihi Delphica
Lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam.

Воздвиг я памятник вечнее меди прочной
И зданий царственных превыше пирамид:
Его ни едкий дождь, ни Аквилон полночный,
Ни ряд бесчисленных годов не истребит.
Нет, я весь не умру, и жизни лучшей долей
Избегну похорон, и славный мой венец
Все будет зеленеть, доколе в Капитолий
С безмолвной девою верховный входит жрец.
И скажут, что рожден, где Ауфид говорливый
Стремительно бежит, где средь безводных стран
С престола Давн судил народ трудолюбивый,
Что из ничтожества был славой я избран.
За то, что первый я на голос эолийский
Свел песнь Италии. О, Мельпомена, свей
Заслуге гордой в честь сама венец дельфиский
И лавром увенчай руно моих кудрей.

А.А.Фет

(more Russian translations)

error: Sorry, no copying !!