Translation, Literal and Free, of the Dying Hadrian's Address to His Soul |
Common terms and phrases
animula Augustan History Aurelius Victor BISHOP OF BATH BISHOP OF EDINBURGH body body's friend body's guest body's mate Catullus CHARLES cheerless CHRISTINA G CLERICETTI cold College darling soul Dear soul diminutives DYING HADRIAN'S ADDRESS E. S. PEARSON Fettes College fluttering fond frame friend and guest gentle Guest and companion guest and comrade Guest and partner Hadrian Hadrian's lines humour ISAAC CASAUBON jests JOHNSTON Literal and Free little soul lone long hast LORD mate and guest mortal clay naked ospite e compagna pale Pallid PEARSON playful Prebendary PROFESSOR GEDDES Rector regions wilt thou RIGHT REV rigid SALTREN shivering Spartianus sprite stark stiff Sweet soul thee thing thou flit thou go thou roam thou wing thy thou'lt thy flight thy rest Thy wit Trajan translation travagliato trembling University of Aberdeen Vicar wanderer wayward whither art thou Whither wilt thou wilt thou fly winsome δὲ νῦν ποῖ
Popular passages
Page 31 - Poor little, pretty, fluttering thing, Must we no longer live together, And dost thou prune thy trembling wing, To take thy flight thou know'st not whither. Thy humorous vein, thy pleasing folly, Lies all neglected, all forgot; And pensive, wavering, melancholy, Thou dread'st and hop'st thou know'st not what.
Page 4 - ... scarce reasonable he should think otherwise; not to mention that here is a plain confession included of his belief in its immortality. The diminutive epithets of vagula, blandula, and the rest, appear not to me as expressions of levity, but rather of endearment and concern : such as we find in Catullus, and the authors of Hendecasyllabi after him, where they are used to express the utmost love and tenderness for their mistresses.
Page 3 - All trembling, fearful, and pensive ! what now is become of thy former wit and humour ? Thou shalt jest and be gay no more.
Page 3 - ... departure ; in which sense I naturally took the verses at my first reading them, when I was very young, and before I knew what interpretation the world generally put upon them.
Page 6 - ... that great Emperor had for him. And perhaps I should myself be much better pleased, if I were told you called me your little friend, than if you complimented me with the title of a great genius, or an eminent hand, as Jacob does all his authors.
Page 3 - I WAS the other day in company with five or six men of some learning; where, chancing to mention the famous verses which the emperor Adrian spoke on his death-bed, they were all agreed that it was a piece of gaiety unworthy that prince in those circumstances.
Page 18 - Seneca, we find a great and harsh allay entered into the style of the Augustan age. After Trajan and Adrian had subdued many German and Scythian nations on both sides of the Danube, the commerce of those barbarous people grew very frequent with the Romans ; and I am apt to think, that the little verses ascribed to Adrian were in imitation of the Runic poetry.
Page 3 - I confess I cannot apprehend where lies the trifling in all this ; 'tis the most natural and obvious reflection imaginable to a dying man ; and if we consider the emperor was a heathen, that doubt concerning the future...
Page 19 - It is probable, the old spirit of poetry being lost or frighted away by those long and bloody wars with such barbarous enemies, this new ghost began to appear in its room even about that age ; or else that Adrian, who affected that piece of learning as well as others, and was not able to reach the old vein, turned to a new one, which his expeditions into those countries made more allowable in an emperor ; and his example recommended it to others.
Page 4 - Ah, fleeting spirit ! wandering fire, That long hast warm'd my tender breast, Must thou no more this frame inspire ? No more a pleasing cheerful guest ? Whither, ah whither art thou flying ! To what dark, undiscover'd shore ? Thou seem'st all trembling, shivering, dying, And wit and humour are no more ! LETTER VIL PROM MR.