Yoda et Lucius Caelumpedes (colloquium)

Composition and Communication Composition Board
1

Here’s an attempt to translate some dialogue from The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Corrections and/or improvements are welcome, I’m still a beginner. :slight_smile:

Yoda:
Yes, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side.
Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they
flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path,
forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s
apprentice.

Luke:
Vader… Is the dark side stronger?

Yoda:
No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.

Luke:
But how am I to know the good side from the bad?

Yoda:
You will know… when you are calm, at peace, passive. A Jedi uses the Force
for knowledge and defense, never for attack.

Yoda:
Ita, fortitudo Iedis a vi fluit. Sed cave partem atram. Ira, timor, pugnacitas;
vis partes atras sunt. Facile fluunt, cito tibi se iungunt in pugna. Si semel
viam atram ire inceperis, aeterne fatum tuum dominabit, te vorabit, sicut
discipulum Obi-Wanis.

Lucius:
Vader… Num pars atra fortior est?

Yoda:
Non, non, non. Celerior, facilior, illecebrosior.

Lucius:
Sed quomodo bonam partem a malam cernabo?

Yoda:
Scies… Cum tranquillus es, pacatus, patiens. Iedi vi utitur scientiae defensionique,
numquam oppugnationi.

2

Some non-exhaustive comments:

  • The genitive of vis is normally supplied by rōbur, but in any case it should be pars atra, since it is the predicative nominal in the singular


  • dominabitur


  • malā


  • cernam


  • Rather than a dative of the noun, I’d use the gerund of the verb, e.g. ad defendendum etc.
3

Thank you very much. I see now that I was a bit sloppy here and there. But still, it was a fun exercise. :slight_smile: It was also interesting to learn that roboris is preferred to vis.