As a good friend of mine used to say: yo.

[montagnarde1793]

So I have a few fun translation related things to share with you. ^__^ No, of course I'm not procrastinating on writing the paper I have due tomorrow or the laundry I have to do before trf_chan  gets here. Why do you ask? >.>

The first is, I was in a translation symposium here at school on Tuesday, and I thought some of you might appreciate the poem I translated, as it's by Victor Hugo and has Revolutionary themes.

Je t'aime, avec ton œil candide et ton air mâle,
Ton fichu de siamoise et ton cou brun de hâle,
            Avec ton rire et ta gaîté,
Entre la Liberté, reine aux fières prunelles,
Et la Fraternité, doux ange ouvrant ses ailes,
            Ma paysanne Egalité.[1]

 

I love you, with your guileless eye and your mannish air,

Your fichu of common cotton and your neck tanned brown,

With your laugh and your gaiety,

Between Liberty, proud-pupilled queen,

And Fraternity, sweet angel opening her wings,

My peasant Equality.

                                               

Victor Hugo, Dernière gerbe

---

[1] Victor Hugo, Dernière gerbe, Calmann Lévy, ed., (Paris: C. Lévy, 1902), 119.

Gah, I have a feeling I'm going to have a problem with formatting with that. Try to ignore it if it's strange, will you?

Next, while looking for a decent analysis of how the Revolutionaries related to Antiquity (I'm sure I've seen some books on the topic--off the top of your head, do any of you know of any good ones?), I found this little gem in a footnote to a collection of Robespierre's speeches from the 1880s. It almost makes me understand what people see in Camille. Almost. XD;

"Ce discours prononcé aux Jacobins provoqua un vif enthousiasme : 'Qui pourrait ne pas partarger [sic] la sainte indignation que Robespierre fit éclater aux Jacobins dans un discours admirable ?' s'écrie Camille Desmoulins dans les Révolutions de France et de Brabant. Ce discours fut aussitôt publié en brochure, et voici en quels termes l'annonce le même Camille Desmoulins: 'Discours sur l'organisation des gardes nationales, par Maximilien Robespierre (et non pas Robertspierre, comme affectent de le nommer des journalistes qui trouvent apparemment ce dernier nom plus noble et plus moelleux, et qui ignorent que ce député, quand même il se nommerait la bête comme Brutus, ou pois chiche comme Cicéron, porterait toujours le plus beau nom de la France.'"

"This speech provoked a keen enthousiasm when pronounced at the Jacobins: 'Who could not share the sacred indignation that Robespierre made to burst forth at the Jacobins in an admirable speech?' cries Camille Desmoulins in the Revolutions of France and Brabant. This speech was immediately published in pamphlet form, and here are the terms in which the same Camille Desmoulins announces it: 'Discourse on the Organization of the National Guards, by Maximilien Robespierre (and not Robertspierre, as journalists affect to name him who apparently find this last name nobler and more smooth, and who are unaware that this deputy, were he even to call himself the dim-witted, like Brutus, or chickpea, like Cicero, would still bear the finest name in France.'"

...Well, it at least has the merit of amusing me greatly.

Lastly, whilst I wait to decide whether or not I can like the historical Romans, I can at least enjoy the 18th century conception of them. And now you can too! (:D?) Because I've decided to post my translations of Marie-Joseph Chénier's "Brutus et Cassius, ou les derniers Romains" ("Brutus and Cassius, or the Last Romans") here, scene by scene. Unfortunately, this was never performed, but it's still a primary source from the Revolution, and though I know in many, if not most, circles it's considered sacrilege to say such a thing, I personally think it's an improvement on Shakespeare's version of the same events.

A couple of notes, before I post the beginning of the play itself:

1. The original can be found here, page 183.
2. If I've mistranslated the Latin quote introducing the piece, someone please correct me. I've only been studying Latin since January, after all.
3. You'll notice I've largely omitted Marie-Joseph's message to André. Why? While I'm sure it's fascinating (and I'm not saying that facetiously), it's longer than the play itself. If anyone who can't read French is dying to know what it says, I'd be happy to translate it as well, but I figure it's the play that's most important.

 

BRUTUS AND CASSIUS

 

OR

 

THE LAST ROMANS,

 

TRAGEDY IN THREE ACTS.

 

Quae vero tam immemor posteritas, quae tam

Ingratae litterae reperientur, quae eorum gloriam

Non immortalitatis memoria prosequantur?

           

(Which posterity is in truth so negligent, which literature will be found so ungrateful,

That they will not honor their glory with the memory of immortality?)

CICERO

 

 

DEDICATORY EPISTLE

TO MY BROTHER

 

Here, my dear brother, is a tragedy that must interest, at least by its subject, all those who, like you, like history and politics. […]

 

 

BRUTUS AND CASSIUS.

 

 

CHARACTERS

 

BRUTUS.

CASSIUS.

PORCIUS-CATO.

MESSALA.

STATILIUS.

AGRIPPA.

PORCIA.

FULVIA.

A SLAVE.

ROMANS of the senatorial order.

SOLDIERS.

 

The setting is Philippi, in Brutus’s tent.

 

 

BRUTUS AND CASSIUS,

 

OR

 

THE LAST ROMANS,

 

TRAGEDY.

 

 

ACT ONE.

 

 

SCENE ONE.

 

BRUTUS.

Can it be? I! Who, me, the enemy of tyrants,

I walk surrounded by wandering phantoms?

I recognized his features, his livid wounds;

I recognized above all his parricidal designs.

You saw me in Sardis, you have just seen me again:

Liberty is no more. I’ve fulfilled my duty,

Caesar: the public good asked me for your head.

Gods! Calm the tempest in my troubled senses!

Did he just speak to me? Did I hear him then?

In Sardis, at Philippi, is he the one I saw?

Unwelcome fears, cease to surprise me:

It’s the cause of the Gods that we’re about to defend.

If justice is dear to their holy tribunal,

This day will be our tyrants’ fatal day.

Too long has the empire of their crimes lasted;

Too much virtuous blood, too many great victims

Have marked the furies of these triumvirs:

The moment has come to expiate so many horrors,

To avenge the heroes, avengers of our country,

And to return to the State its cherished liberty.