Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc'd by fate,
And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate,
Expell'd and exil'd, left the Trojan shore.
Long labors, both by sea and land, he bore,
And in the doubtful war, before he won
The Latian realm, and built the destin'd town;
His banish'd gods restor'd to rites divine,
And settled sure succession in his line,
From whence the race of Alban fathers come,
And the long glories of majestic Rome.

I wonder why no one has used the line "...in the doubtful war..." as a title yet? I have decided to make the latest translation of The Aeneid, by Robert Fagles, my next book. It's a perfect book to try and read while I am stuck here at a Holiday Inn Express in Tucson. I think I will be more likely to stick with it without so many other distractions. I vaguely remember reading it previously but the details escape so it was probably while I was in the Army or in college. I have copies of Fagles' renditions of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey but have not read them in their entirety, just the occasional perusing or looking up an allusion. They are nice to have nearby on the shelf. One day I will read all the books I have acquired. There is also this bridge in Brooklyn I think I can pick up for a song.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

UPDATE: Speaking of arms and the man. I was doing some work in the room last night when the first episode of Band of Brothers came on HBO. It's like on the Simpsons when Homer is on the couch and you hear the TV announce..."We interrupt this political discussion to bring you....A FOOTBALL GAME!!!"

I guess in honor of the upcoming Veteran's Day holiday they are running the the whole series at 9pm on whatever HBO channel they show here. Tonight (Thu.) is the D-Day episode... THe best part about this show is the real vets of the 101st introducing each show talking about their experiences. If you have yet to watch grab the DVD's. I must have seen each episode a dozen times and it never gets old.