CASE FILE 04 · CLASSICS · PLINY LETTERS 9.33

What the translation killed

Six words. Six decisions a translator made. A student who only reads the English will never know any of them existed.

Latin

constat Octavium Avitum, legatum proconsulis, in litus educto religione prava superfudisse unguentum, cuius illum novitatem odoremque in altum refugisse, nec nisi post multos dies visum languidum et maestum, mox redditis viribus priorem lasciviam et moram et ministeria repetisse.

confluebant omnes ad spectaculum magistratus, quorum adventu et mora modica res publica sumptibus atterebatur. postremo locus ipse quietem suam secretumque perdebat: placuit occultē interfici, ad quod coibatur. haec tu qua miseratione, qua copia deflēbis ornabis atollēs! vale.

A P Bartlett translation

It is agreed that Octavius Avitus, deputy of the proconsul, having brought (the dolphin) onto the shore, poured perfume over it, (and that) it fled from the strangeness and smell of this perfume back into deep water, and, not seen except many days later, was sluggish and sad, then, when its strength was restored, it resumed its former playfulness and accustomed functions.

All the magistrates flocked together to the sight, because of whose arrival and moderate stay the town began to be exhausted by new expenses. Finally, the place itself began to lose its peace and seclusion. It was resolved that the reason why people were flocking to the town should be secretly killed. With what compassion you will mourn these events, with what ability will you adorn and exalt them! Farewell!

Latin

constat Octavium Avitum, legatum proconsulis, in litus educto religione prava superfudisse unguentum, cuius illum novitatem odoremque in altum refugisse, nec nisi post multos dies visum languidum et maestum, mox redditis viribus priorem lasciviam et moram et ministeria repetisse.

A P Bartlett translation

It is agreed that Octavius Avitus, deputy of the proconsul, having brought (the dolphin) onto the shore, poured perfume over it, (and that) it fled from the strangeness and smell of this perfume back into deep water, and, not seen except many days later, was sluggish and sad, then, when its strength was restored, it resumed its former playfulness and accustomed functions.

01 / constat / agreed

constat comes from constare, to stand firm together. It marks something established. Pliny keeps distance: "everyone agrees this happened," without saying he saw it. The English "agreed" softens the force. The Latin is harder, more official, more ironic.

02 / ministeria / functions

ministeria carries duties, services, attendance. Human words. "Functions" mechanises the dolphin. A creature becomes a system. One English word removes the personality Pliny built.

03 / mora / accustomed

mora appears twice. First, the dolphin's lingering with the boy: joyful, natural. Then the magistrates' moderate stay: ruinous. Same word. Two kinds of staying. One ends the other. English hides the echo.

Latin

confluebant omnes ad spectaculum magistratus, quorum adventu et mora modica res publica sumptibus atterebatur. postremo locus ipse quietem suam secretumque perdebat: placuit occultē interfici, ad quod coibatur. haec tu qua miseratione, qua copia deflēbis ornabis atollēs! vale.

A P Bartlett translation

All the magistrates flocked together to the sight, because of whose arrival and moderate stay the town began to be exhausted by new expenses. Finally, the place itself began to lose its peace and seclusion. It was resolved that the reason why people were flocking to the town should be secretly killed. With what compassion you will mourn these events, with what ability will you adorn and exalt them! Farewell!

03 / mora modica / moderate stay

mora appears twice. First, the dolphin's lingering with the boy: joyful, natural. Then the magistrates' moderate stay: ruinous. Same word. Two kinds of staying. One ends the other. English hides the echo.

04 / confluebant / flocked

confluere is a water word: to flow together. The magistrates do not flock. They flood. The letter opens beside a stagnum, still water. Now human water floods in. "Flocked" is a bird word, sudden and collective. confluebant is imperfect: ongoing, continuous, hard to stop. The town is being drowned.

05 / modica / moderate

modica means brief, measured, non-excessive. That is Pliny's joke. Even a moderate official stay bankrupts a small town. English "moderate" sounds neutral. The Latin cuts.

06 / coibatur / flocking

coire means to go together. It is also the standard Latin word for sexual intercourse. Coitus descends from it. Pliny describes the crowd's obsessive gathering with a word of congress, union, coming-together in every sense. English "flocking" drops the register completely.

constat · confluebant · coibatur

Three words. One prefix. Con-, together. Pliny builds convergence into the Latin three times: knowledge stands together, water flows together, bodies come together. English gives three separate words. The pattern doing the work disappears.

WHAT THIS MEANS

A student who reads only the translation reads a dolphin story. A student who reads the Latin reads power, convergence, and institutional destruction built into the sound of the words. The translator made choices. Those choices vanish. In a classroom, in a courtroom, invisibility is the problem.

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