Monday, August 07, 2017

 

Despair at the Current Political Scene

Catullus 52 (tr. Peter Green):
What's left, Catullus? Why not die right here and now?
That pustule Nonius occupies a curule chair,
Vatinius falsely swears by his own consulship.
What's left, Catullus? Why not die right here and now?

Quid est, Catulle? quid moraris emori?
sella in curuli struma Nonius sedet,
per consulatum peierat Vatinius:
quid est, Catulle? quid moraris emori?
Johannes Vahlen, Opuscula Academica, Pars I (Leipzig: B.G Teubner, 1908), p. 216, compares Euripides, fragment 293 (tr. Christopher Collard and Martin Cropp):
I'd gladly die; for it's not worth people's living when they see bad men unjustly privileged.

θνῄσκοιμ᾿ ἄν· οὐ γὰρ ἄξιον λεύσσειν φάος
κακοὺς ὁρῶντας ἐκδίκως τιμωμένους.
I.e. unjustly honored, unjustly holding office.


William Gropper, Politician on the Floor



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