Martin > Recent Status Updates

Woe unto me today, for I say Seneca has written a better version of a tragedy than a Greek.

This play is shite.

This play is so bad.

This commentary is useless.

καμών μὲν οὐ τάχιστως δὲ ἀναγιγνώσκω, ἀλλὰ τὸ βίβλιον ἀρέσκεί μοι.

ἡ τέκνη ἀναγιγνώσκειν ἑλληνιστὶ μακρή, ἀλλὰ ὁ θέρος βραχύς ἔστι. τί ποιέω; πειράομαι ὀρθῶς ἀναγιγνώσκειν.

Μετά τοσαὺτην ἀρσενοκοιτίαν καὶ τοῦ ἔρωτος τῶν ποιητῶν, νῦν βύβλον ὑπὸ θεραπευτοῦ τοῦ Χρῑστοῦ ἀναγιγνώσκω. Ὄιμοι.

On the horizon I can see the brutish invaders bobbing in their ships chanting *syllabus, syllabus*; let me have one final repose of Americana before I'm thrust back into the Hellespont.

How tempting to put down.

I don't care for the Aeneid. I'll try to read the first 6 books this summer and see if I change my mind. (I have little interest in the 2nd half right now.) My aim will be to read as quickly as possible, undoing the idea of *translating*, and emphasising the Latin metre and word associations themselves. I'll read aloud and (hopefully) subsume my urge to turn Latin words into English as I read them.

It's boring. There's nothing to it. It's just there — like furniture.