I have to translate this for someone. But I am inconfident with my translation. Please give me the right translation.
Hanc tibi, Fronto pater, genetrix Flaccilla, puellam
Oscula commendo deliciasque meas,
(To you, father Fronto, mother Flaccilla,
I entrust this little daughter, the object of my kisses and my favorite,) Parvula ne nigras horrescat Erotion umbras
Oraque Tartarei prodigiosa canis.
(lest this little darling fear the dark shadow
and the monstrous mouths of the Tartarean dog.) Impletura fuit sextae modo frigora brumae,
Vixisset totidem ni minus illa dies.
(She was about to experience the coldness of the sixth winter,
having lived this long except the day of her death.+1) Inter tam veteres ludat lasciva patronos
Et nomen blaeso garriat ore meum.
(This little tomboy would be playing between the ancient protectors [=Fronto and Flaccilla?],
and utter my name with her lisping mouth.) Mollia non rigidus caespes tegat ossa nec illi ;
Terra, gravis fueris : non fuit illa tibi.
(May solid mound of earth cover the girl’s fragile bones no other than for her!
oh earth, though you may have been hostile to her [=not eager to receive her], this little girl doesn’t seem to have been hostile to you [=not unwilling to return to the earth].+2)
Marcus Valerius Martialis
+1 At “Vixisset totidem ni minus illa dies” I am stuck with the use of double negation, with “ni” meaning “if not”, and “minus” meaning “less” or “not at all”.
An answerer at Yahoo Answer gave me this advice, that this part can be rephrased as “illa vixisset totidem annum ni illa vixisset minus totidem dies” (she has lived the same number (6) of winters though she lived less by the same number (6) of days.)
But I am not completely convinced by this advice. Because the meaning of “ni” (if not) is not translated.
+2 I don’t understand the colon and semi-colon. Please explain.
And an answerer at Yahoo Answer gave me this advice, that this part Mollia non rigidus caespes tegat ossa nec illi ;
Terra, gravis fueris : non fuit illa tibi.)
can be rephrased as “non rigidus caespes tegat mollia ossa; Terra, nec illi fueris gravis: illa non fuit tibi.” (May soft [=not solid] earth cover her fragile bones! Oh earth, be not heavy to her! the little girl has not been heavy to you.)
I think this is right. But I don’t understand the answerer’s treatment of “nec illi” traversing semi-colon. And the answerer’s translation of the last words “non fuit illa tibi” is not very well coherent with other parts. But maybe the reason the author says “the little girl has not been heavy to the earth” is because the girl was little and light in weight.
At Yahoo Answer you can’t re-question. So I couldn’t ask that answerer again about the obscure parts.
thank you for the charming poem! your latin is good so i have no grammatical corrections but i do have some comments on interpretation.
in line 4 ora is probably face (poetic plural) but also a pun on the fact that cerberus does in fact have plural mouths. in line 5 I would strongly recommend a possessive with brumae (i.e. she was almost 6 years old). in line 6 try ni uixisset totidem minus illa dies: if not … less = if … more “if she had lived that many (=6) days more”. ancient may be too strong a translation in line 7, since these are martial’s parents who presumably were not yet desiccated. i suggest a more literal translation for patronos as the child was in fact bound to martial’s parents.
the only thing that is far off is in the last two lines, the punctuation in your latin is misleading. nec illi is clearly meant to be taken with the sense of the next line, which will have an opposite meaning on account of the nec. nec is actually ne±que in this case introducing a prohibition.
Thank you Benissimus. I like old synthesizers like ones used in the 80’s movies. Last week I found at Amazon Clockwork Orange’s (your picture) composer Wendy Carlos’ albums of synthesizer Bach, which were published in the 70’s. I liked them listening to the samples. I might order one of them later. I’m sorry I’m talking things other than Latin.
Further question about the part “Mollia non rigidus caespes tegat ossa nec illi ;
Terra, gravis fueris : non fuit illa tibi.”
to tell the truth, I don’t even understand the meaning of the “English” colon and semi-colon. I skipped learning them in high school. Could you give me the idea of them? And, like “Mollia non rigidus caespes tegat ossa nec illi ;
Terra, gravis fueris : non fuit illa tibi.”
(this should be read as “Terra, nec illi gravis fueris”(oh earth, don’t be heavy on her) as you and the answerer at Yahoo Answer said.)
can you make a clause traversing the semi-colon? I mean, “nec illi” is traversing the semi-colon to the next line here. Is this a usual thing?
And, the person who asked me to translate this said, that this is an epitaph, or epitaph-like poem.
It’s absolutely not a usual thing; on the contrary, it is outright wrong, and that’s why Benissimus said it is misleading. The semicolon ( separates main clauses, and as such is grammatically equivalent to a full stop. The difference is that the semicolon generally binds the sentences more closely together.
I would put interpunctations into the text like this: “Mollia non rigidus caespes tegat ossa nec illi,
Terra, gravis fueris: non fuit illa tibi.”
Note that the commas are used before and after “Terra” to show that it is used vocatively.
The colon ( is used here in a similar way to a semicolon.
Yes, I would say so; or possibly, if the source of the text is printed, he wrote a comma which then accidentally read as a semicolon due to a small stain on the page.
separates main clauses, and as such is grammatically equivalent to a full stop. The difference is that the semicolon generally binds the sentences more closely together.
is used here in a similar way to a semicolon.