I’ve been in another time zone for several weeks getting myself hitched and consequently have been out of touch. But as we load our new place settings into the dishwasher and practice making different kinds of coffee with all the new gear our dear and generous friends and family have provided, as we pore through accumulated mail and blog posts in our RSS readers, as we catch up with the DVR and make plans for the Fall, I feel the tug of the Campvs.
I can say that my mind has been so occupied with other things, that the Classics seem a distant memory, though we did manage to work Homer, Horace, and Tibullus into the ceremony (among some moderns).
We chose a bit of Homer from Lomabardo’s rendering of the Odyssey (6. 180-5):
And for yourself, may the gods grant you
Your heart’s desire, a husband and a home,
And the blessing of a harmonius life.
For nothing is greater or finer than this,
When a man and a woman live together
With one heart and mind, bringing joy
To their friends and grief to their foes.
We translated Horace and Tibullus ourselves.
Horace, I. 13. 17-20:
Happy three times and more are they
whom an unbroken bond holds,
and whom a love rent by bitter quarrels
does not release before their final day.
Tibullus, 1. 43-9:
I don’t need much. It’s enough to rest in bed if I can,
to lighten my limbs on a familiar bed.
How good it is to listen to the rough winds as I lie,
and to have held my wife in a tender embrace,
or—when the wintry wind pours on its icy waters—
to seek sleep without a care as the rain does its part.
May this be my lot. …
Tibullus was a bit free here and a bit subtle there, but we included the original of each passage on the program.
But as normal life slowly comes back into focus, I’d like to pass on two things that caught my eye:
(1) GRBS (Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies) is going to a web-only format, freely accessible to all. I think this should be a goal for every serious, academic journal. Such accessibility and the removal of unnecessary publishing costs can only improve the state of knowledge.
(2) Prof. Tim Whitmarsh has reviewed George Economou’s Ananios, an interesting novel that looks at the use and abuse of classical scholarship on the work of a fictional, re-discovered poet. I was reminded in some small way of the critique of Nicander studies that would have formed the backbone of my MA thesis had it been completed.