Gettysburg Address
Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:36 pm
Since the board is kind of slow today, I present this for your edification and diversion. I wrote it as a Prose Comp assignment last year - it probably still has mistakes in it, but I only had time to do a brief revision. For those unfamiliar with American history, this was the speech given by President Abraham Lincoln after the Battle of Gettysburg (1863), during the US Civil War. My translation is first, followed by Lincoln's actual speech. As usual, comments and critiques are welcome!
ἡ μὲν πολιτεία αὕτη, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀμερικήσιοι, ἐν γῇ νέᾳ συλληφθεῖσα, ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ δὲ τεχθεῖσα, εἰς πρόθεσιν δὲ προτεθεῖσα – τὸ πάντας ἰσοτίμως ἰσονομίας ἀξίους πεφυκέναι – ἡβῶσά τε καὶ τεθαλυῖα ἐκ κεφαλῆς τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν ἐξεπήδησε· τούτων δὲ γενομένων ἤδη ἔτος ὀγδοηκοστὸν καὶ ἕβδομον τόδε. νῦν δὲ πόλεμος μέγιστος καὶ κατακλυσμὸς ἔχθιστος στάσεως αἱματοέσσης ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἐκκέχυται· ἐξ οὗ δηλωθήσεται καὶ οὐ κρυβήσεται πότερον ἡ πολιτεία αὕτη εἴτε δὴ καὶ ἄλλη ἡτισοῦν οὕτω γεγεννημένη δὴν μένειν δυνήσεται. ἐν δὲ τῷ πεδίῳ τούτῳ ἐκεῖνοι μὲν μαχησόμενοι ἡμεῖς δὲ μνησόμενοι συνήλθομεν, ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἐν παντὶ τῷ πεδίῳ ἀποθνῄσκοντες ἵνα ζῇ διὰ παντὸς ἡ πολιτεία, ἡμεῖς δὲ μόριον τοῦ πεδίου τεμενίζοντες ἵνα ἀναπαύσωνται διὰ παντὸς οἱ ἀποθανόντες. οὐ μὴν οὐδ᾽ ἀπρεπὲς ἀλλὰ μάλ᾽ εὐπρεπές ἐστιν ἡμῖν τοῦτο ποιῆσαι.
ἀλλὰ δικαιότερον ἂν φαίην ἡμᾶς οὐ δύνασθαι τεμενίζειν οὐδὲ ἁγνίζειν οὐδὲ ἁγιάζειν τὸ πεδίον τοῦτο· ὃ γὰρ ἄνδρες ἀνδρεῖοι ἀγωνίζοντες ἡγίασαν, ἡμεῖς μόγις ἂν ἐγκωμιάζοντες εὐκλεέστερον ποιήσαιμεν, ἧττον δ᾽ αὖ ψέγοντες δυσκλεέστερον. καὶ μὴν ὁ κόσμος οὔτε πολὺ νοήσεται οὔτε δὴν μνησθήσεται τῶν ἡμετέρων λόγων, τῶν δὲ ἐκείνων ἔργων οὔποτ᾽ ἐπιλαθήσεται. τί οὖν χρὴ ἡμᾶς ποιεῖν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀμερικήσιοι; πρέπει ἡμῖν, φημί, τοῖς ζῶσιν, ἔργον ἐπιτελέσαι τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐνθάδε μαχεσαμένων, καίπερ γενναίως ἀγωνισάντων, ἀτελὲς ἡμῖν ἐπιλειφθέν· τὸν νοῦν πᾶσι πρέπει προθύμως προσέχειν τῇ προκειμένῃ προθέσει· ἵνα τούτων τῶν τιμίων φίλων φιλοτιμῶμεθα ἀξίως τε ζῆν ἀξίως τε ἀποθνῄσκειν· ἵνα ἀξιώσωμεν τὸν τούτων θάνατον οὐ μάτην οὐδ᾽ ἀνωφέλιμον ἀλλὰ προὔργου καὶ χρήσιμον γενήσεσθαι τῇ πολιτείᾳ· ἵνα ἡ νέα πολιτεία αὕτη, θεῶν βοηθούντων, ἐν νέᾳ ἐλευθερίᾳ νέον γεννηθῇ· ἵνα ἐκ τοῦ δήμου, διὰ τοῦ δήμου, εἰς τὸν δῆμον μείνῃ ἡ δημοκρατία· ἵνα μὴ ἀφανισθῇ ἐκ τῆς γῆς μήθ᾽ ἡ πολιτεία αὕτη μήτε τὸ ἐμὸν παίγνιον.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate...we can not consecrate...we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.