translation

As Hadrian Lay Dying

by Andrew January 13, 2023May 2, 2023No Comments

My translation of the short poem Emperor Hadrian supposedly wrote on his deathbed, as recorded in the Historia Augusta: Animula vagula blandulahospes comesque corporis,quae nunc abibis in locapallidula rigida nudula?Nec ut soles dab[i]s iocos! Small, fleeting, fawning soul,you stranger and companionof the body—for whatnaked, pallid, unyieldingplace do you now depart,without the humor you used to …

Catullus 101

by Andrew March 8, 2022January 13, 2023No Comments

This well-known elegiac poem, in which the Roman poet Catullus mourns the death of his brother, has been translated by everyone from Aubrey Beardsley to Anne Carson. Catullus addresses his words directly to his brother’s ashes during a ceremony after the funeral. Before reading the poem itself, take a look at this eighteenth-century description of …