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| Author | Message | | | Posted on Wed Oct 20, 2010 23:01:58 | |
| | Hi!
I see that I've made a mistake in the Danish translation:
I've taken Italorum with omne aevum, instead of with unus, oblivious as I've been of the fact that Cornelius Nepos in his time published the (now lost) Chronica, i.e. World History.
I'd like to correct that, if I may,
from:
allerede dengang da du som den eneste turde at
udrede hele Italiens historie i tre bind, der var
to:
allerede dengang da du som den eneste italer turde
at udrede hele verdenshistorien i tre bind, der var
Thank you
- August H. Thomsen | |  | August Holst Thomsen
M.A.-student in Latin and Spanish Language & Culture
University of Copenhagen
modo huc, modo illuc |
| | | Posted at Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:22:33 | Quote |
| | | Quote: | | | | | I've taken Italorum with omne aevum, instead of with unus, oblivious as I've been of the fact that Cornelius Nepos in his time published the (now lost) Chronica, i.e. World History. |
Well, you see, that's just the problem. We don't know if he wrote a whole history of Italy or if he wrote a whole history of the world. Many people have argued for the latter, not the former. If my memory serves me, D. F. S. Thomson argued in his edition (Toronto: 1998) that the rhythm naturally suggests to take unus italorum together (as they end together in the hendecasyllabic), which thus would show opposition to the beginning of the next line omne aevum.
Furthermore, Thomson notes that A. Gellius (17.21.3) states that Nepos dated the contest of Homer and Hesiod to 160 years before Rome's foundation, and that Archilochus lived during the reign of Tullius Hostilius. The comparison of Greek with Roman would further suggest that omne aevum indicates a history of the whole world rather than one limited of the Italians.
Finally, per my own little contribution, Catullus at times intends his readers to read the same word twice but differently, and perhaps he's playing with the fact that Nepos was an Italian (unus Italorum) and also wrote a history of the Italians (Italorum / omne aevum).
It's far from settled as you can see, but whether he wrote on the Italians or of the whole world is dependent thus far on how we understand Catullus.
Chris | |
| | | Posted at Mon Sep 05, 2011 18:16:56 | Quote |
| | | Quote: | | | | | I've taken Italorum with omne aevum, instead of with unus, oblivious as I've been of the fact that Cornelius Nepos in his time published the (now lost) Chronica, i.e. World History. |
| Quote: | | | | | Well, you see, that's just the problem. We don't know if he wrote a whole history of Italy or if he wrote a whole history of the world. |
Hello, Chris
Thank you for your most informative feedback!
Since it's been a while since I posted the first comment, I must admit that I've completely forgotten where I got the notion that Nepos was in fact the supposed author of a World History and not just an Italian History.
I think it came up somewhere when I was reading some material on Catullus for a Uni-assignment. Perhaps it was a comment by Nisbet. He was certainly in my bibliography somewhere.
Anyway, be that as it may. I'm just glad to know that I didn't exactly commit a grand error, but just swayed to one side of the two (or more) open possibilities of a final translation and - at least in this case - interpretation of this poem.
So thanks again!
best regards,
August | | | August Holst Thomsen
M.A.-student in Latin and Spanish Language & Culture
University of Copenhagen
modo huc, modo illuc |
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