Reading (UK)
Spent many quiet afternoons walking or cycling along the Kennet Canal.
(acrylic on canvas)
new work !
Latest creation. I called it “the flames of love”. My love burns …
Have a great weekend !
Horace, Ode 2-14
| Latin | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume,
labuntur anni, nec pietas moram rugis et instanti senectae adferet indomitaeque morti, |
Alas, Postumus, Postumus, the fleeting
years are slipping by, and devotion will not delay wrinkles, the onslaught of old age, and unconquered death, |
|
| 5 | non si trecenis quotquot eunt dies,
amice, places inlacrimabilem Plutona tauris, qui ter amplum Geryonen Tityonque tristi |
not even, [my] friend, if you try each
day to please dry-eyed Pluto with three hundred [slaughtered] bulls. He keeps Geryon and Tityos in check |
| 10 | compescit unda, scilicet omnibus,
quicumque terrae munere uescimur, enauiganda, siue reges siue inopes erimus coloni. |
behind the gloomy stream, which must be crossed
in very truth by all of us who feed on the bounty of the earth, whether we are kings or penniless sharecroppers. |
| 15 | Frustra cruento Marte carebimus
fractisque rauci fluctibus Hadriae, frustra per autumnos nocentem corporibus metuemus Austrum. |
In vain will we flee bloody Mars
and the broken waves of the hoarse Adriatic sea, in vain each autumn will we avoid the south wind which harms [our] bodies. |
| 20 | Visendus ater flumine languido
Cocytus errans et Danai genus infame damnatusque longi Sisyphus Aeolides laboris. |
You must face the dark Cocytus river,
which meanders with sluggish flow, and Danaus’ accursed race and Aeolus’ son Sisyphus, condemned to endless toil. |
| Linquenda tellus et domus et placens
uxor, neque harum quas colis arborum te praeter inuisas cupressos ulla breuem dominum sequetur. |
You must leave earth, home, and affectionate
wife. None of those trees which you’re tending will accompany you (their short-lived master), except for the hated cypresses. |
|
| 25 | Absumet heres Caecuba dignior
seruata centum clauibus et mero tinguet pauimentum superbo, pontificum potiore cenis. |
Your heir, more worthy [than you], will use up
your Caecuban wines, kept under a hundred locks; he will spill on the floor the proud wine, better than [that served] at high priests’ feasts. |