Back in the innocent days when
I began this blog, I would sometimes post random files from the neglected
scrap heap that is my "My Documents" folder.
Older and wiser, but
still hoping for some good,-old-fashioned public humiliation, I will thus
try the experiment again.
[Clay picks the file. He purses his
lips.]
Hmm. The document seems to be from my sophomore year of
college. It's a translation from my second-year Latin
class. I have no idea if it's my translation or transcribed from somewhere.
It's from the Aeneid, I think. Or it could be from some Latin
workbook.
Whatever the case, it's full of multisyllabic, myth-laden
names. "Enjoy."
I.
Greece waged war against
Troy;
The tenth year they took Troy prisoner.
Many Trojans fled
from Asia,
After many labors they came into Italy:
Of these the
leader is Aeneas, son of Veneris.
There the Trojans disembarked,
And
plundered cattle from the fields.
Latinus, king of those lands, joined
battle with the Trojan troops:
By battle Aeneas is victorious, and
makes peace:
Then he gives his daughter Lavinium to Aeneas in
marriage.
The Trojans found a city:
Aeneas calls it after the name
of his wife, Lavinium.
II.
After the death
of Aeneas, Ascanius the son ruled.
This man relinquished to his mother
Lavinium, rich city;
This town was named Abla Longa.
After the death
of Ascanius, Silvius ruled.
After Silvium, many kings ruled.
At
great length, Procas was made king,
The father of Numitori and
Amulius.
Numitori, who was eldest, was chosen King by
Procas.
III.
Twin sons, it is said, were to
Reae Silvia and the god Mars.
Amulius, angry and alarmed, orders Silvia
to be bound,
And the infants to be thrown into the river.
By chance
the river flooded its banks:
And so men were not able to approach the
river.
They arranged to expose the infants in the nearest pool.
A
basket, in which the infants were exposed,
Floated hither and
thither.
Soon, nevertheless, the river receded within its banks,
And
the basket was left on the dry bank.
After that, a thirsty wolf
approached form the hills,
And heard the crying of the twins.
The
wolf approached and the infants suckled,
She licking them with her
tongue.
Faustulus, master of the royal stock,
Found the wolf with
the infants.
Faustulus brings them home
And gives them to his wife
Larentiae.
Thus the twins were raised by shepherds.