Ben-Hur Translation Page 6: The Fall of the House of Hur

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Your corrections and comments are kindly requested. Many thanks!


Page 6

All of Ben-Hur’s efforts are in vain. Before his horrified eyes Tirzah and his mother are treated no better than common criminals…

Omnes conatus Benhur vani sunt. Ante cujus oculos horrescentis, Thersa et mater tamquam infimæ ac noxiæ patiuntur.

Πᾶσαι αἱ πεῖραι τοῦ Βενὼρ μάταιαί εἰσιν. Πρὸ δὲ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ ἐκπεπληγμένου,  ἡ Θερσὰ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ ὡς οἱ κατώτατοι κακοῦργοι πάσχουσιν.

God is just and will give you mercy if you spare my loved ones. Leave them here! I will bear the punishment you would press on them!

Deus justus et miserebitur vestri, si peperceritis caris meis. Relinquite eas hic! Ego enim dabo pœnam, qualemcumque eis irrogaveritis.

Ὁ Θεὸς δίκαιος ὢν ἐλεήσει ὑμᾶς, ἐὰν φείσησθε τῶν φίλων μου. Καταλίπετε αὐτὰς ἐνθάδε. Ἐγὼ γὰρ δώσω τὴν δίκην, ὁποίαν ἂν ἐπιθῆτε αὐταῖς.

Drag the women to the tower! Bind the young assassin and seal this infamous house!

Trahite mulieres in turrim! Vincite puerum percussorem et obsignate istam domum infamem!

Ἕλκετε τὰς γυναῖκας εἰς τὸν πύργον. Δήσατε τὸν νέον φονέα καὶ ἐπισφραγίσατε ταύτην τὴν ἄτιμον οἰκίαν.

Then in a few short minutes Ben-Hur’s happy youth had come to a most dreadful end. His mother and sister were gone, his home had been defiled and looted and his life was at the mercy of the Roman authorities!

In brevi igitur tempore beata juventus Benhur terribiliter desinit. Cujus matre sororeque abstractis, domu polluta ac rapta, vita in Romanorum potestate periclitabatur.

Ἐν οὖν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ ἡ μακαρία νεότης τοῦ Βενὼρ φοβερῶς ἀπεπαύσατο. Ἡ μὲν μήτηρ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ ἀδελφὴ ἀπεσπάσθησαν, ἡ δὲ οἰκία μιανθεῖσα ἡρπάσθη, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ ἐν τῇ τῶν Ῥωμαίων δυνάμει ἐκινδυνεύετο.

Everything is lost! Rome gives no mercy to her victims.

Omnia perierunt! Roma enim non ignoscit victis.

Πάντα ἀπόλωλεν. Ἡ γὰρ Ῥώμη οὐ συγγιγνώσκει τοῖς ἥσσοσιν.

Ben-Hur gave little thought to whether his fate would be torture, death or slavery. All his prayers were for his mother and sister as the legionnaires hurried him to the dungeon.

Behur paulum quidem cogitabat utrum incasurus esset in tormenta, an in mortem, an in servitutem. Omnes autem preces ejus erant pro matre sororeque, dum a militibus in carcerem festinabatur.

Ὁ μὲν Βενὼρ ὀλίγον προσεῖχε πότερον τευξομένῳ αὐτῷ βασάνου ἢ θανάτου ἢ δουλείας. Πάσαι δὲ αἱ εὐχαὶ αὐτοῦ ἦσαν ὑπὲρ τῆς μητρὸς καὶ τῆς ἀδελφῆς, τῶν στρατιωτῶν σπευδόντων αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον.

Though the falling tile had not killed the governor, his anger knew no bounds. After sentencing the prisoners secretly and without trial, he dispatched two soldiers to the house of Hur to post a warning.

Tametsi tegula jacta non interfecerat præsidem, ira ejus profunda erat. Qui, reis occulte sine judicio damnatis, misit duos milites ad domum Hur ut proponerent tabulam.

Εἰ καὶ  ὁ βληθεὶς κέραμος οὐκ ἀπεκτόνει τὸν ἡγεμόνα, ἡ ὀργὴ αὐτοῦ ἐσχάτη ἦν. Ὁ δὲ τῶν ἐνόχων κρύφα ἄνευ κρίσεως καταγνούς, ἔπεμψε στρατιῶτα πρὸς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Ὢρ ἵνα πίναξ ἐκκέοιτο.

This is property of the emperor

Bona publicata jussu imperatoris

Χρήματα δημευθέντα κελεύσει τοῦ βασιλέως

This should teach the Jews who have plotted to kill the governor!

Istud sit exemplo Judæis qui conjuraverunt in mortem præsidis!

Τοῦτο εἴη ἂν παράδειγμα τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις  τοῖς συνομόσασιν θάνατον τῷ ἡγεμόνι.

List of previous episodes.

[Interaxus]

All his prayers were for his mother and sister as the legionnaires hurried him to the dungeon.

Omnes autem preces ejus erant pro matre sororeque, quæ a militibus in carcerem festinabantur.

bedwere:

WHO was/were being hurried to the dungeon???

By the way, although I love and commend your idea of putting Latin and Greek into comics, I fear that without a real pro to censor and correct your every sentence there's a risk you'll produce a word-for-word non-idiomatic imitation of each language at best. Perhaps Textkit is the wrong forum for the intensive crowd sourcing you need. Even as a non-pro myself, I doubt the intransitive 'festinare' can be used in the way you've used it.

Surely one Hobbitus Ille is enough per generation!

Good luck anyway!

Ut valeas!
Int

[bedwere]

Thanks for catching that, Interaxus, and for the good wishes!

[bedwere]

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