Man overboard! I heard one of my "learned" colleagues say today, "Man down!" as a young officer - we'll call him "Mr. Fryer" - was dishnourably discharged from the crew of the Bounty today, by Captain Bligh's superior officer. His offence? Being two minutes late reporting for duty on deck and insubordinate remarks made against a superior officer. Naturally, Mr Fryer was given the cat o' nine tails, and made to walk the plank. He tried to swim back to the ship (like the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that) but Captain Bligh ordered that no rope or lanyard be cast off the stern to the young sailor this time. He is cast adrift, on his own, no more a member of the Bounty's rapidly dwindling crew. Mr. Fryer is now in Davy Jones' Locker, so to speak: swimming with the sharks.
The poison dwarf remarked yesterday, that she would like to become an air-hostess. Today, I (perhaps unwisely) tried to explain, very delicately, most tactfully, that she ought to consider serving on board a cruise ship. Why? Because the poison dwarf has the nickname of "Ming the Merciless" among her friends at school. Why? One, because she is not the most attractive young lady (to put it mildly...) and two, because she has a complete lack of empathy. Becoming an air hostess is a little like becoming a receptionist or a secretary, only more classy. It is no coincidence that every flight I have ever been on has been with air-hostesses that are physically attractive. It is not just, it is not correct, it is not fair, but it is the way things actually are, in the real world. Men hire attractive female receptionists and secretaries, just as air lines employ attractive female air-hostesses. It is the law of nature. If thirty women are interviewed for the job, only a few (quite often the most comely) are hired to actually do the job as an air-hostess. I did not mean to shatter the young lady's dreams, only kindly suggest that she may have more success applying for a position on a cruise ship (which requires many more staff, and so employers are less fussy). Still, the young lady has not yet reached 18 years of age, and so, like her star sign, she is a maiden: not yet having been exposed to the harsh realities of life. Enough of the poison dwarf.
As for my own cause, I have been reading the rather excellent Hercules Oetaeus by Seneca. I was a bit too harsh on Miller's translations in my last post regarding it (it is easy to poke holes and find flaws - much like the poison dwarf: constantly nay-saying, fault finding and highlighting any fly in the ointment of others, most of all me). It is prosaic and old-fashioned, yes, but not a bad translation. Even so, I sometimes wonder how on earth Miller actually managed to render a particular sentence. One springs to mind (Seneca, Agamemnon 34). I fail to see how versa natura est retro can be justifiably translated as "nature has been confounded". With the exception of the regular noun natura 'nature', this is not actually a translation. I would render it (more precisely) as 'nature overturned is backwards'. In any case, my play, Boadicea: Queen of the Iceni is coming along nicely. I find it interesting how both R. Scott Smith's (semi-prosaic, semi-poetic) translation of Seneca's plays (Penguin) and Emily Wilson's superb translation of Seneca's plays (Oxford World Classics), neither translator chose either Agamemnon nor Hercules Oetaeus. Both these plays are absolutely excellent. To me, this looks like one thing only: an opportunity.
Max.
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