Lugnasa Garlic Planting Moon
I’m within 5 verses of completing Philemon and Baucis. I will complete it before the Rembrandt exhibition leaves town with its painting of this story from Ovid. That was my goal though I’ve come up several weeks short because I wanted to circulate my transmission among the docents, but all public tours stopped last week.
When I finish it tonight or tomorrow, I’ll have translated three complete stories from the Metamorphoses: Diana and Actaeon (Titian exhibit), Philemon and Baucis (Rembrandt exhibit) and Pentheus, one I chose because the story is retold in the Bacchae. None of my translations are worth sharing much of, if any. I’m still clumsy and not always accurate, but I moved through 10 verses today, so my speed has improved.
Speed is a goal because the Metamorphoses is long and if I ever hope to translate it, I’ll have to go faster than I have. It’s divided into 15 books and at some point I’ll shift from a focus only on learning to a focus on translating and learning. The difference probably being that I’ll work on a long chunk, say a book, then hire Greg or somebody to go through my translation with me.
A commentary useful for advanced students is still a goal, too, and as I translate I plan to do so in a way that will facilitate a commentary. Pharr’s commentary on Virgil is a good model and one I will have in view the whole time. BTW I also did another 10 verses in the Aeneid, too. More practice. The more I read, the better I get.
