Us, and Them.
And after all, we’re only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows, it’s not what we would choose to do.
ἡμεῖς καί αὐτοί.
οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἀγαθοί ἐσμέν γε.
ἐγὼ καί σύγε.
Θεὸς οἷδεν ὅτι οὐ θέλομεν μάχεσθαι.
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
“Forward!” he cried, from the rear, and the front rank died.
And the General sat, as the lines on the map moved from side to side.
ἡγοῦ πάροιθε, φησίν, ὀπισθοφυλακῶν.
θανόντων δὲ τῶν πρόσθεν, μένει οὖτος, ὡς στρατηγός.
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
ὠς → ὡς
Ἔρρωσο 
Black and blue
And who knows which is which and who is who.
Up and down.
But in the end it’s only round and round.
τίς ὁ Ἕλλην? τίς δ’ ὁ βάρβαρος?
πῶς δὲ διαφέρονται?
ὁ μὲν γὰρ νικᾷ, ὁ δὲ νικᾶται.
ἀλλὰ οὐκ ὑπερνικᾷ οὐδείς.
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
Οὗτος ὁ βάρβαρος οὐ δύναται λέγειν τὸ ρ.
Thanks. If you ever have some spare time, you should go back to the beginning and check for mistakes/improvements. I found several today and changed them, but I’m sure there are a lot still out there.
“Haven’t you heard, it’s a battle of words,”
the poster bearer cried.
“Listen son,” said the man with the gun,
“there’s room for you inside.”Down (down, down, down, down)
And out (out, out, out, out)
It can’t be helped that there’s a lot of it about
With (with, with, with), without
And who’ll deny it’s what the fighting’s all about?
ζητεῖ οὖτος τὸν πόλεμον λῦσαι.
«μαχόμεθα» φήσιν «ὑπὲρ λόγων»
ὁ δὲ «νῦν ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀγών»
ὁ μὲν ἔχει, ὁ δ΄οὔ.
ἐντεῦθεν δὴ πόλεμοι ἐν ἡμῖν καὶ μάχαι.
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
μαχόμεθά» φησιν
Out of the way.
It’s a busy day.
I’ve got things on my mind.
For the want of the price
of tea and a slice,
the old man died.
μὴ σχολάζων, οὐδὲ βλέπω τὸν ἀρτοζήτην, γηράσκοντα, δέοντα, θανόντα.
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
Ἐπειδὴ τὸ “φησιν” ἐγκλιτικόν ἐστι, δεῖ γράφειν οὕτω·
«μαχόμεθά» φησιν «ὑπὲρ λόγων»
Οἶμαί γε.
The lunatic is on the grass.
The lunatic is on the grass,
remembering games and daisy chains and laughs.
Got to keep the loonies on the path.
ἐκ ὁδοῦ πλανᾷ ὁ σεληνιαζόμενος, παίζων ὡς παιδίον, φρονῶν ὡς νήπιος.
ποιήσωμεν οὖν ἀπλανὴ τὸν σεληνιαζόμενον.
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor.
And every day the paper boy brings more.
ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις φοιτῶσιν οἱ σεληνιαζόμενοι.
ἐν δ’ οἰκίᾳ μου αὐτοὺς ὁρῶ.
τὰς γὰρ τῶν σεληνιαζόμενων εἰκόνας βλέπω ἐπὶ τῶν νομισμάτων.
καὶ καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀλλάσσεται τὰ νομίσματα.
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
I understand it’s a free interpretation, but why did you render paper with νόμισμα and not with ἐφημερίς ?
The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor.
And every day the paper boy brings more.ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις φοιτῶσιν οἱ σεληνιαζόμενοι.
ἐν δ’ οἰκίᾳ μου αὐτοὺς ὁρῶ.
τὰς γὰρ τῶν σεληνιαζόμενων εἰκόνας βλέπω ἐπὶ τῶν νομισμάτων.
καὶ καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀλλάσσεται τὰ νομίσματα.
That’s a good question. These were the hardest lines for me to translate so far. If I understand correctly (and I may not) the image behind the original, the guy is in an insane asylum surrounded by other “loonies.” But everyday he sees the newspapers brought in with pictures of people like Nixon and Pol Pot and Patty Hearst, a different type of lunatic, with their faces folded down. They are at once famous and trivialized, as every day new newspapers are brought in and thrown out, with the new faces of the (in)famous.
How to capture that image with images from the Ancient world? I don’t think anything like the daily newspaper existed, nor anything like Warhol’s “15 minutes of fame.” Fame was not as trivial. So I thought maybe a similar idea could be triggered by seeing ancient coins with images of rulers whose power, at least, comes and goes. It does not really work as coins were not as disposable as newspaper; the faces did not change as fast.
Your ἐφημερίς has potential. These changed everyday, but they were not made public, were they?
If nothing else works, I’m not opposed to simply recreating the image using Modern Greek words, but I prefer to reboot the images.
If you or anyone else has other ideas on how to capture the image I would welcome it.
Again, once I finish (I’m getting close) I am going to edit/rewrite the whole thing.
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon,
and if there is no room upon the hill,
and if your head explodes with dark forebodings too,
I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.
χῶμα ἔστιν ἐν κεφαλῇ σου, μανιόφρακτες.
καταπέπτωκε δὲ τοῦτο, σου ἔτι νεοῦ ὄντος.
ἤδη δὲ ἐπὶ παντὸς βουνοῦ μωρὸς ἔστιν. (cf. the Beatles, the Fool on the Hill, 1967)
νῦν οὖν Κασσάνδρα τις εἶ συγε,
ὥστε ὀπίσω σελήνης συμβαλοῦμεν.
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
The lunatic is in my head.
The lunatic is in my head.
You raise the blade, you make the change.
You re-arrange me 'till I’m sane.
You lock the door
and throw away the key.
There’s someone in my head but it’s not me.
φρένας νοσῶ.
λοβοτέμνεις με ὥστε ἐγκλειόμενος νῦν εὐ φρονῶ.
ἄλλος δέ τις ἐν φρεσί μου.
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear.
Υou shout and no one seems to hear.
Αnd if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes,
i’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.
σκηπτοῦ 'πιόντος, βροντὴν ἀκούεις.
κράζεις δὲ τοῖς μὴ ἀκούουσι.
ἄλλως οἱ φίλοι ὑμνοῦσι.
εὑρήσω δέ σέ, ὀπίσω σελήνης.
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIC5MtVVzos
All that you touch,
and all that you see,
all that you taste,
all you feel…
πάντα μὲν ὧν ψηλαφᾷς,
πάντα δ’ ἃ βλέπεις,
καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ γεύσεις σου,
καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ σαὶ αἰσθήσεις…
Comments/corrections are welcome.
To be continued…
ὃ ἀκηκόαμεν,
ὃ ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν,
ὃ ἐθεασάμεθα καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν,
Ha! That works perfect, but what is the antecedent of ο?
This thread has reminded me of this amazing album, which I haven’t listened to in years. Thank you.