Channelling... Pushkin!

[alexpgp]

I decided to take a 15-minute break after translating 2500 words of the other item on my plate, and was drawn to translating stanza 6 of canto 1 of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin.

Bad move on my part, in spades and diamonds, as it's not an easy thing to put down; the 15 minutes has turned into an hour.

It's the stanza that starts:

Латынь из моды вышла ныне:
Так, если правду вам сказать,
Он знал довольно по-латыни,
Чтоб эпиграфы разбирать,
Потолковать об Ювенале,
В конце письма поставить vale,
Да помнил, хоть не без греха,
Из Энеиды два стиха.

In this stanza, having noted Onegin's ability to elicit smiles from women with unexpected wit, the narrator segues to a description of Onegin's skill in Latin.

My translation of the above fragment:

Now, Latin has from favor fallen,
And if I were the truth to tell,
He had sufficient stock of Latin
To translate witty sayings well;
To speak at length of Juvenal
And sign his messages with vale;
And though not perfectly, recall
Aenid verses - two in all.

I hope this post gets whatever it is out of my system. I need to "turn to" on the next "slug" of the large project for today, of about 3000 words!

Cheers...