After having to deal with these... people, yet again, I am afforded my one day off this week. Naturally, I am sat relaxing at home with the very finest wine available (in this country, at least - for having lived in Italy and France, one understands that these countries keep the best for themselves). Today I have been reading the most excellent translation of Dionysius of Halicarnassus' Roman Antiquities by Earnest Cary (Loeb vol.1). I know enough Ancient Greek to understand well that much is hidden beneath the surface, and my Greek is not as good as my Latin is (yet...).
It is such a joy to read such a magnificent work. I remember reading an assignment that simply cited 'Dionysius of Halicarnassus' as though his Roman Antiquities were the only thing he wrote. Yet Dionysius wrote another, excellent work, a commentary on Thucydides' Peloponnesian War and an analysis of ancient orators, which is also superb (it is a rare work). Yet, along with the likes of Livy and Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus' Roman Antiquities is an excellent source for early Roman historical mythology. It does contain something of a Greek bias, Dionysius writing in Greek, but it is still an excellent work. I confess, it has influenced my play, Boadicea: Queen of the Iceni, but not as much as some other writers (notably Cassius Dio and Tacitus - our two sources for the rebellion). I have been inspired by dozens of ancient authors, everyone from Seneca (the Younger) to Silius Italicus, Virgil, Ovid, Plutarch, Lucan and many others.
After reading a small section to some friends at New Year, there was the issue that not many people would understand what is written (much like many English Literature graduates end up switching to Classical Studies because they wish to understand the likes of Shakespeare, Marlowe and Milton). Therefore I may have to put in several superfluous footnotes, to elucidate what things mean. Not everyone is well read, and very few have really read Classical Studies (i.e. in Latin and Ancient Greek). I would not normally put in such trifling and frivolous details, but if people wish to understand what is written, then it is necessary to inform the reader. (I have not yet written these notes, but only put in serious scholarship, primary sources, where cited - and I certainly haven't quoted Shakespeare, Marlowe, or Milton where I have been inspired by them, nor even Lord Michael Dobbs' House of Cards - the readership should be familiar enough with these household words in the Queen's English).
I have restricted the commentary to the classical world. Here is a small section of the play (the opening of Act 1, Scene 2):
Across Oceanus who encircles the globe,
beyond his boundless swirling sea is home.
Home, in golden valleys dappled with trees,
home, to folk hewn of old Albion’s oak,
to the good people of the Iceni.
In spring the near still waters of the Nene
meander as elegant blue damsels
flit from leaf to flower, red admirals
flutter in couples, spiralling like torques,
Dryads’ leafed-limbs arch up to heaven’s vault,
and wild Naiads play in the river,
as two young lovers, embracing for sport,
such was their love, in awe of each other.
For he, that Jove himself was not brighter,
nor are Apollo’s rays more resplendent.
She, fairer than Venus, truly even
than Aurora, whose shafts illuminate
young men, who rose as daughter of the sun
and moon, her that gave birth to the five winds,
who weeps so much for king Memnon that dawn
bedecks morning grasses with tears of dew.
Once loved by stars that shine like glistening gems,
that are so many, yet in truth, so few.
She that is joined between Earth and heaven,
her warmth gives hope to weary wanderers,
and has golden flowers facing her way,
she, that delicate light brings renewal,
all men welcome her morning darts each day.
Darkness flees, as though she were a lone tree,
and he, her rising sap, inside her core.
There is no place that man would rather be,
than in her bright light. What man could want more?
Here the gods crafted a second Eden,
a place as though the sun shines on both sides.
Here lies the blessēd heart of Albion.
Here is where queen Boadicea resides.
Max.
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