09-23-2012, 04:18 AM
I'm trying to create a suitable translation for a line from the Panegyrici Latini. I wonder if any Latinists could check my version against the original?
The line is from Panegyric VI - the orator praising Britain for being the first place to acclaim Constantine as emperor. After mentioning the bountiful crops and fecund cattle of the province, he says this:
Di boni, quid hoc est quod semper ex aliquo supremo fine mundi nova deum numina universo orbi colenda descendunt?
The full text is here, and a good translation of it here.
I actually prefer the version given by Patrick Ottaway in his Roman York, but it's not referenced. So I've tried to combine the two, and give some idea of the poetic language of the orator without straying too far from the original:
Gracious Gods! Why is it that new dieties, destined to be universally revered, always descend from the furthest edge of the world?
Does that seem about right, or is it too free an interpretation?
The line is from Panegyric VI - the orator praising Britain for being the first place to acclaim Constantine as emperor. After mentioning the bountiful crops and fecund cattle of the province, he says this:
Di boni, quid hoc est quod semper ex aliquo supremo fine mundi nova deum numina universo orbi colenda descendunt?
The full text is here, and a good translation of it here.
I actually prefer the version given by Patrick Ottaway in his Roman York, but it's not referenced. So I've tried to combine the two, and give some idea of the poetic language of the orator without straying too far from the original:
Gracious Gods! Why is it that new dieties, destined to be universally revered, always descend from the furthest edge of the world?
Does that seem about right, or is it too free an interpretation?
Nathan Ross
