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Litterae
Multilingual literary magazine

Guido Monte

                                  Babbeln                         

Vergilii  puer novus et  mea incerta vox
 

(English translation of Liliana Lo Giudice)

                                                                                “ …babae, babae!”

                                                                Petronius Arbiter, Satyricon

  1. afturkoma, the return  (Bucolica  IV, 4-5)

                 ultima  Cumaei venit iam

                            carminis aetas,

              magnus ab integro saeculorum

nascitur ordo - iam redit et Virgo      redeunt Saturnia regna

(einu sinni enn sólin skín, afturkoma)

here is the last era

                  of human prophecy

here is the great order,

the cycle of ages -

here are the Virgin and the reign of Saturn

                                                     appearing

 (the sun shines over again)

2.  liuhatha, the light (Buc. IV, 8-10)

tu      modo nascenti puero quo    ferrea primum desinet ac toto

                                     surget gens aurea  mundo,

casta fave Lucina

(et la lumière       luit dans the darkness)

be clement, pure Light,

to the child

      now coming into the world -

now is the iron age ceasing

now is the golden age enveloping the world.

 (the Light shines over the darkness again)

3. armonia, the armony (Buc. IV, 18-22)

   at tibi prima, puer nullo munuscula

                                 cultu,

           errantes hederas passim    cum bacchare     tellus

         mixtaque ridenti          colocasia                   fundet

                        acanto- ipsae  lacte domum referent

distenta capellae

ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta

                    leones

(khob, no ké resid bé bâzâr kohné shavad delâzâr)

   child, for you

the earth spontaneously generates

small delicate gifts:

clinging ivy, helicrysum, lotus and

                          smiling acanthus…

turgid milky dugs

the goats bring back to the fold

and no feared the big lions are to be any more

(when the new is in, the old is out)

4. warna, the recovery  (Buc. IV, 24-25)

   occidet et serpens

et  fallax herba veneni occidet

 (la luz, no pueden sofocarla)

 the snake disappears and

no reason for existence has

the deceitful poisonous grass.

(the Light, indeed, that can’t be off)

5. spontanea messe, the harvest  (Buc. IV, 37-39)

 hinc, ubi iam firmata   virum te  fecerit aetas,

cedet et ipse mari  vector,

nec nautica pinus mutabit merces -

(«róba, pródajeteli ?» «né,dósta»)

   omnis feret omnia tellus

when the time has made you a man,

the helmsman, withdrawn from the sea

his pinewood ship,

leaves the trade routes,

each land capable to produce the necessities

                                                           by itself

 (“do you sell goods?”  “no, that’s enough!”)

6. camjar, the change  (Buc. IV, 46-47)

 talia saecla  suis    dixerunt  currite      fusis    concordes

stabili fatorum

nomine                 Parcae

(dixerunt saeculo: mahlip)

  speed up these times

whispered the Parcae

in step with the firm will of fate

(the new age was asked a change)

7. smieren, the contemplation  (Buc. IV, 50-52)

 aspice convexo nutantem  pondere mundum,

            terrasque tractusque maris coelumque profundum -

aspice venturo laetantur ut omnia  saeclo

(iau, atti, attunu, mamma,      mala bašû)

look at the world,

the earth, the sea, the deep sky,

everything relieved by the newborn time

(everybody… everything …you…I…

                                              all that exists)

                               Petronius

                              Fragments                   

 Petronius’ verses, fractured and translated by Guido Monte                                                

legenda

Petronii saturarum libri = sat.

night

 sat.41

dies...nihil est –

                        dum versas te,

         nox fit

the day... is the slightest thing –

              just one little move

   and the night has fallen

contingency

  sat.42

nos non pluris sumus

             quam bullae

human beings

            are only bubbles

labyrinth

 sat. 58

Qui de nobis?

       longe venio, late venio –

solve me

which of us?

I’m going far and wide

     solve me

mysteries

 sat. 48

dicam tibi

               qui de nobis currit

                         et de loco non movetur,

      qui de nobis crescit et minor fit

I’ll tell you which of us running

stays at his own place,

which of us getting smaller grows taller

temptation

 sat.72

cum sciamus nos morituros esse,

                     quare non vivamus ?

we know the end;

why don’t we really live?

echoes sat. 79

haesimus calentes

  et transfudimus hinc et hinc labellis

                    errantes animas

anxiously we embraced each other,

some life breathes to infuse

     into our mouths, everywhere

stars

sat. 89

Iam plena Phoebe candidum extulerat

                                           iubar

                    minora ducens

                        astra    radianti face

a full moon was carrying a pure light,

hand in hand with her sparkling stars

impossible memory

 sat.128

           animus    quod perdidit optat

            atque in praeterita

 se totus             immagine

         versat

we love only what is lost

gathering our thoughts only

               on the lost imagery

the end

sat. 80

grex agit in scena mimum:

pater ille vocatur,

filius hic, nomen divitis ille tenet -

mox ubi ridendas  inclusit pagina

               partes,    vera redit facies,

                             adsimulata perit

here is the life comedy:

someone is called the father,

someone else the son, or the rich man –

but after the funny acts,

here is finally the real performance face,

 fiction is finished forever

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