In 1553 he went to Rome as one of the secretaries of
Cardinal
Jean du Bellay, his first cousin.
Du Bellay - The Ruins of Rome
Poetry in
Translation
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Joachim Du Bellay
The Ruins of Rome
(Les Antiquites de Rome)
Joachim du Bellay, French Renaissance poet 16th century
'Joachim du Bellay, French Renaissance poet 16th century'
The New York Public Library: Digital Collections
Home Download
Translated by A. S. Kline (C) Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved
This work may be freely reproduced, stored, and transmitted, electronically or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose.
Contents
Translator's note:
The Ruins Of Rome
Divine spirits, whose powdery ashes lie
The Babylonian praises his high wall,
Newcomer, who looks for Rome in Rome,
She, who with her head the stars surpassed,
He who would see the vast power of Nature,
As in her chariot the Phrygian goddess rode,
You sacred ruins, and you holy shores,
With arms and vassals Rome the world subdued,
You cruel stars, inhuman deities,
Much as brave Jason by the Colchian shore,
Mars, now ashamed to have granted power
As once we saw the children of the Earth
Not the raging fire's furious reign,
As we pass the summer stream without danger
You pallid ghost, and you, pale ashen spirit,
As we gaze from afar on the waves roar
So long as Jove's great eagle was in flight,
These great heaps of stone, these walls you see,
All perfection Heaven showers on us,
Exactly as the rain-filled cloud is seen
She whom both Pyrrhus and Libyan Mars
When this brave city, honouring the Latin name,
Oh how wise that man was, in his caution,
If that blind fury that engenders wars,
Would that I might possess the Thracian lyre,
Who would demonstrate Rome's true grandeur,
You, by Rome astonished, who gaze here
He who has seen a great oak dry and dead,
All that the Egyptians once devised,
As the sown field its fresh greenness shows,
That we see nothing but an empty waste
Do you have hopes that posterity
Translator's note:
The text used is from the 1588 edition of Les Antiquites de Rome. The rhyme-scheme follows Du Bellay, unlike Edmund Spenser's fine Elizabethan translation which offers a simpler scheme, more suited to the lack of rhymes in English! Joachim du Bellay, born around 1525 was poet, critic, and a member of the poetic circle led by Ronsard, named the Pleiade. In 1553 he went to Rome as one of the secretaries of Cardinal Jean du Bellay, his first cousin. The poems of The Ruins of Rome belong to the beginning of his four and a half year residence in Italy. He departed for Paris at the end of August 1557. He was plagued by increasing deafness, and weak health, and died on New Year's Day 1560. The sonnets of Les Antiquites provide a fascinating comment on the Classical Roman world as seen from the viewpoint of the French Renaissance.
The Ruins Of Rome
Ancient Rome
'Ancient Rome'
After Joseph Mallord William Turner: Arthur Willmore, 1814 - 1888, British
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
I
Divine spirits, whose powdery ashes lie
Under this weight of ruins, buried deep;
Yet not the fame, your living verse will keep
From Hades' halls; fame that will never die;
If we have power to make our human cry
Downwards, from here, to that region leap,
Let mine pierce the abyss, this dark steep,
That you might hear my voice from on high.
Three times circling beneath heaven's veil,
In devotion, round your tombs, I hail
You, with loud summons; thrice on you I call:
And, while your ancient fury I invoke,
Here, as though I in sacred terror spoke,
I'll sing your glory, beauteous above all.
II
The Babylonian praises his high wall,
And gardens high in air; Ephesian
Forms the Greek will praise again;
The people of the Nile their Pyramids tall;
And that same Greek still boasting will recall
Their statue of Jove the Olympian;
The Tomb of Mausolus, some Carian;
Cretans their long-lost labyrinthine hall.
The ancient Rhodian will praise the glory
Of that renowned Colossus, great in story:
And whatever noble work he can raise
To a like renown, some boaster thunders,
From on high; while I, above all, I praise
Rome's seven hills, the world's seven wonders.
In 1553 he went to Rome as one of the secretaries of Cardinal Jean du Bellay, his first cousin. The poems of The Ruins of Rome belong to the beginning of his four and a half year residence in Italy. He departed for Paris at the end of August 1557. He was plagued by increasing deafness, and weak health, and died on New Year's Day 1560. The sonnets of Les Antiquites provide a fascinating comment on the Classical Roman world as seen from the viewpoint of the French Renaissance.
The Ruins Of Rome
Ancient Rome
'Ancient Rome'
After Joseph Mallord William Turner: Arthur Willmore, 1814 - 1888, British
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
I
Divine spirits, whose powdery ashes lie
Under this weight of ruins, buried deep;
Yet not the fame, your living verse will keep
From Hades' halls; fame that will never die;
If we have power to make our human cry
Downwards, from here, to that region leap,
Let mine pierce the abyss, this dark steep,
That you might hear my voice from on high.
Three times circling beneath heaven's veil,
In devotion, round your tombs, I hail
You, with loud summons; thrice on you I call:
And, while your ancient fury I invoke,
Here, as though I in sacred terror spoke,
I'll sing your glory, beauteous above all.
II
The Babylonian praises his high wall,
And gardens high in air; Ephesian
Forms the Greek will praise again;
The people of the Nile their Pyramids tall;
And that same Greek still boasting will recall
Their statue of Jove the Olympian;
The Tomb of Mausolus, some Carian;
Cretans their long-lost labyrinthine hall.
The ancient Rhodian will praise the glory
Of that renowned Colossus, great in story:
And whatever noble work he can raise
To a like renown, some boaster thunders,
From on high; while I, above all, I praise
Rome's seven hills, the world's seven wonders.
III
Newcomer, who looks for Rome in Rome,
And little of Rome in Rome can perceive,
These old walls and palaces, yet believe,
These ancient archways; are what men call Rome.
What ruin and what pride, temple and dome!
Now she, of whom the whole world once asked leave,
Who tamed all others, tames herself: conceive,
She's prey to Time, a leaf from some old tome.
Rome now of Rome's the only monument,
And over Rome alone Rome wins ascent;
Only the Tiber, flowing to the sea,
Remains: of Rome. O, this world's transience!
That which stands firm, Time ruins silently,
While what flows, against Time shows resistance.
IV
She, who with her head the stars surpassed,
One foot on Dawn, the other on the Main,
One hand on Scythia, the other Spain,
Held the round of earth and sky encompassed:
Jupiter fearing, if higher she was classed,
That the old Giants' pride might rise again,
Piled these hills on her, these seven that soar,
Tombs of her greatness at the heavens cast.
Translation
HOME NEWS ABOUT LINKS CONTACT SEARCH
Joachim Du Bellay
The Ruins of Rome
(Les Antiquites de Rome)
Joachim du Bellay, French Renaissance poet 16th century
'Joachim du Bellay, French Renaissance poet 16th century'
The New York Public Library: Digital Collections
Home Download
Translated by A. S. Kline (C) Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved
This work may be freely reproduced, stored, and transmitted, electronically or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose.
Contents
Translator's note:
The Ruins Of Rome
Divine spirits, whose powdery ashes lie
The Babylonian praises his high wall,
Newcomer, who looks for Rome in Rome,
She, who with her head the stars surpassed,
He who would see the vast power of Nature,
As in her chariot the Phrygian goddess rode,
You sacred ruins, and you holy shores,
With arms and vassals Rome the world subdued,
You cruel stars, inhuman deities,
Much as brave Jason by the Colchian shore,
Mars, now ashamed to have granted power
As once we saw the children of the Earth
Not the raging fire's furious reign,
As we pass the summer stream without danger
You pallid ghost, and you, pale ashen spirit,
As we gaze from afar on the waves roar
So long as Jove's great eagle was in flight,
These great heaps of stone, these walls you see,
All perfection Heaven showers on us,
Exactly as the rain-filled cloud is seen
She whom both Pyrrhus and Libyan Mars
When this brave city, honouring the Latin name,
Oh how wise that man was, in his caution,
If that blind fury that engenders wars,
Would that I might possess the Thracian lyre,
Who would demonstrate Rome's true grandeur,
You, by Rome astonished, who gaze here
He who has seen a great oak dry and dead,
All that the Egyptians once devised,
As the sown field its fresh greenness shows,
That we see nothing but an empty waste
Do you have hopes that posterity
Translator's note:
The text used is from the 1588 edition of Les Antiquites de Rome. The rhyme-scheme follows Du Bellay, unlike Edmund Spenser's fine Elizabethan translation which offers a simpler scheme, more suited to the lack of rhymes in English! Joachim du Bellay, born around 1525 was poet, critic, and a member of the poetic circle led by Ronsard, named the Pleiade. In 1553 he went to Rome as one of the secretaries of Cardinal Jean du Bellay, his first cousin. The poems of The Ruins of Rome belong to the beginning of his four and a half year residence in Italy. He departed for Paris at the end of August 1557. He was plagued by increasing deafness, and weak health, and died on New Year's Day 1560. The sonnets of Les Antiquites provide a fascinating comment on the Classical Roman world as seen from the viewpoint of the French Renaissance.
The Ruins Of Rome
Ancient Rome
'Ancient Rome'
After Joseph Mallord William Turner: Arthur Willmore, 1814 - 1888, British
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
I
Divine spirits, whose powdery ashes lie
Under this weight of ruins, buried deep;
Yet not the fame, your living verse will keep
From Hades' halls; fame that will never die;
If we have power to make our human cry
Downwards, from here, to that region leap,
Let mine pierce the abyss, this dark steep,
That you might hear my voice from on high.
Three times circling beneath heaven's veil,
In devotion, round your tombs, I hail
You, with loud summons; thrice on you I call:
And, while your ancient fury I invoke,
Here, as though I in sacred terror spoke,
I'll sing your glory, beauteous above all.
II
The Babylonian praises his high wall,
And gardens high in air; Ephesian
Forms the Greek will praise again;
The people of the Nile their Pyramids tall;
And that same Greek still boasting will recall
Their statue of Jove the Olympian;
The Tomb of Mausolus, some Carian;
Cretans their long-lost labyrinthine hall.
The ancient Rhodian will praise the glory
Of that renowned Colossus, great in story:
And whatever noble work he can raise
To a like renown, some boaster thunders,
From on high; while I, above all, I praise
Rome's seven hills, the world's seven wonders.
In 1553 he went to Rome as one of the secretaries of Cardinal Jean du Bellay, his first cousin. The poems of The Ruins of Rome belong to the beginning of his four and a half year residence in Italy. He departed for Paris at the end of August 1557. He was plagued by increasing deafness, and weak health, and died on New Year's Day 1560. The sonnets of Les Antiquites provide a fascinating comment on the Classical Roman world as seen from the viewpoint of the French Renaissance.
The Ruins Of Rome
Ancient Rome
'Ancient Rome'
After Joseph Mallord William Turner: Arthur Willmore, 1814 - 1888, British
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
I
Divine spirits, whose powdery ashes lie
Under this weight of ruins, buried deep;
Yet not the fame, your living verse will keep
From Hades' halls; fame that will never die;
If we have power to make our human cry
Downwards, from here, to that region leap,
Let mine pierce the abyss, this dark steep,
That you might hear my voice from on high.
Three times circling beneath heaven's veil,
In devotion, round your tombs, I hail
You, with loud summons; thrice on you I call:
And, while your ancient fury I invoke,
Here, as though I in sacred terror spoke,
I'll sing your glory, beauteous above all.
II
The Babylonian praises his high wall,
And gardens high in air; Ephesian
Forms the Greek will praise again;
The people of the Nile their Pyramids tall;
And that same Greek still boasting will recall
Their statue of Jove the Olympian;
The Tomb of Mausolus, some Carian;
Cretans their long-lost labyrinthine hall.
The ancient Rhodian will praise the glory
Of that renowned Colossus, great in story:
And whatever noble work he can raise
To a like renown, some boaster thunders,
From on high; while I, above all, I praise
Rome's seven hills, the world's seven wonders.
III
Newcomer, who looks for Rome in Rome,
And little of Rome in Rome can perceive,
These old walls and palaces, yet believe,
These ancient archways; are what men call Rome.
What ruin and what pride, temple and dome!
Now she, of whom the whole world once asked leave,
Who tamed all others, tames herself: conceive,
She's prey to Time, a leaf from some old tome.
Rome now of Rome's the only monument,
And over Rome alone Rome wins ascent;
Only the Tiber, flowing to the sea,
Remains: of Rome. O, this world's transience!
That which stands firm, Time ruins silently,
While what flows, against Time shows resistance.
IV
She, who with her head the stars surpassed,
One foot on Dawn, the other on the Main,
One hand on Scythia, the other Spain,
Held the round of earth and sky encompassed:
Jupiter fearing, if higher she was classed,
That the old Giants' pride might rise again,
Piled these hills on her, these seven that soar,
Tombs of her greatness at the heavens cast.
