Reverse Translation Project

Due by 5pm on Friday, November 19.

In this assignment, you will compare this translation of Shelton 2 (Pliny 1.6) against the original Latin and answer the questions that follow. You’ll need to draw not only on your Latin skills to identify from where different elements of the English come but also on your comprehension skills and context clues to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the passage.

Here’s the English translation:

Shelton 2 (Pliny 1.6), translated by J.B. Firth (1900)

You will laugh, and I give you leave to. You know what sort of sportsman I am, but I, even I, have bagged three boars, each one of them a perfect beauty. “What!” you will say, “YOU!” Yes, I, and that too without any violent departure from my usual lazy ways. I was sitting by the nets; I had by my side not a hunting spear and a dart, but my pen and writing tablets. I was engaged in some composition and jotting down notes, so that I might have full tablets to take home with me, even though my hands were empty. You need not shrug your shoulders at study under such conditions. It is really surprising how the mind is stimulated by bodily movement and exercise. I find the most powerful incentive to thought in having the woods all about me, in the solitude and the silence which is observed in hunting. So when next you go hunting, take my advice and carry your writing tablets with you as well as your luncheon basket and your flask. You will find that Minerva loves to wander on the mountains quite as much as Diana. Farewell.

Here is the original Latin:

Ridebis, et licet rideas. Ego, ille quem nosti, apros tres et quidem pulcherrimos cepi. ‘Ipse?’ inquis. Ipse; non tamen ut omnino ab inertia mea et quiete discederem. Ad retia sedebam; erat in proximo non venabulum aut lancea, sed stilus et pugillares; meditabar aliquid enotabamque, ut si manus vacuas, plenas tamen ceras reportarem.

Non est quod contemnas hoc studendi genus; mirum est ut animus agitatione motuque corporis excitetur; iam undique silvae et solitudo ipsumque illud silentium quod venationi datur, magna cogitationis incitamenta sunt.

Proinde cum venabere, licebit auctore me ut panarium et lagunculam sic etiam pugillares feras: experieris non Dianam magis montibus quam Minervam inerrare. Vale.

Answer the following questions, and then send me your answers in .doc(x) or .pdf format preferably via the Canvas upload portal here.

1. Are there any words, phrases, or sentences in this translation that you cannot find a source for in the Latin? If so, list them.
2. Are there any words, phrases, or sentences in this translation that you can find a source for in the Latin, but the translator takes some liberties with their rendering? (i.e., they’re not translating “literally”?) If so, list them and the Latin that you have determined that the English comes from.
3. Are there any words, phrasings, or sentences in the English translation that you do not understand? Based on the Latin, how would you rephrase them in a way that makes sense in modern, colloquial English?
4. How would you characterize Pliny’s tone? Serious? Light-hearted? Does this translator capture Pliny’s tone well?

Suggestions:

• Use the Ugarit Translation Aligner for a visual understanding of how this translation maps onto the Latin. See my video on how to use Ugarit.
• Make sure that you’re accounting for every word in the translation. Remember that one word in Latin often needs multiple words in English to convey its meaning (for example, ut can mean “in order to” or “so as to”)! It’s better to be too specific in your analysis than too broad.