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		<title>Catullus -- Carmina #   3 &#8220;Death of the Sparrow,&#8221; ll. 11-12 [tr. Wright (1926), st. 4]</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Apr 2024 17:18:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Catullus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[death]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[But now in the shadows It goes to the bourne Of Orcus remorseless Whence none may return. [Qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum Illuc unde negant redire quemquam.] Referring to the fate of his beloved Lesbia&#8217;s beloved sparrow. See also Shakepeare, Hamlet, Art 3, ll. 86-88. Death, That undiscover&#8217;d country, from whose bourn No traveler [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>But now in the shadows<br />
It goes to the bourne<br />
Of Orcus remorseless<br />
Whence none may return.</p>
<p><em>[Qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum<br />
Illuc unde negant redire quemquam.]</em></p>
<br><b>Catullus</b> (c. 84 BC – c. 54 BC) Latin poet [Gaius Valerius Catullus]<br>Carmina #   3 &#8220;Death of the Sparrow,&#8221; ll. 11-12 [tr. Wright (1926), st. 4] 
						<br><br><span class="cite">
						

Referring to the fate of his beloved Lesbia's beloved sparrow.<br><br>

See also <a href="https://wist.info/shakespeare-william/8101/">Shakepeare</a>, <em>Hamlet</em>, Art 3, ll. 86-88. <br><br>

<blockquote><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab">Death,<br>
That undiscover'd country, from whose bourn<br>
No traveler returns.</blockquote><br>

There is no particular evidence that Shakespeare ever read Catullus, but other ancients (e.g., Seneca) quoted these lines from this Carmina.  At the same time, post-Shakespearean translators may have been themselves influenced by the Bard's lines in their translations.<br><br>

(<a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0003%3Apoem%3D3#:~:text=qui%20nunc%20it%20per%20iter%20tenebricosum%0Ailluc%20unde%20negant%20redire%20quemquam.">Source (Latin)</a>). Other translations:<br><br>

<blockquote>Poor bird! who now that darksome bourn<br>
Hast pass'd, whence none can e'er return.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t6154g976&seq=49&q1=%22darksome+bourn%22">Nott</a> (1795), ll. 13-14]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>He now that gloomy path must trace,<br>
<span class="tab">Whence Fate permits return to none.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_poems_of_Caius_Valerius_Catullus_tr/j10UAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22gloomy%20path%22">Lamb</a> (1821), st. 3]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now he treads that gloomy track,<br>
Whence none ever may come back.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175007358511&seq=39&q1=%22gloomy+track%22">T. Martin</a> (1861)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote><span class="tab">Now to that dreary bourn<br>
<span class="tab">Whence none can e'er return,<br>
Poor little sparrow wings his weary flight.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t1hh7rq7f&seq=45&q1=%22dreary+bourn%22">Cranstoun</a> (1867)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now he wendeth along the mirky pathway,<br>
Whence, they tell us, is hopeless all returning.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18867/pg18867-images.html#:~:text=Now%20he%20wendeth,hopeless%20all%20returning.">Ellis</a> (1871)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now he has gone to that dark place,<br>
Whose dismal pathway none retrace.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=aeu.ark:/13960/t7cr6906m&seq=10&q1=%22that+dark+place%22">Bliss</a> (1872)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now must he wander o'er the darkling way<br>
Thither, whence life-return the Fates denay.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0005%3Apoem%3D3#:~:text=Now%20must%20he%20wander%20o%27er%20the%20darkling%20way%0AThither%2C%20whence%20life%2Dreturn%20the%20Fates%20denay.">Burton</a> (1893)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now it fares along that path of shadows from where nothing may ever return.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0006%3Apoem%3D3#:~:text=Now%20it%20fares%20along%20that%20path%20of%20shadows%20from%20where%20nothing%20may%20ever%20return.">Smithers</a> (1894)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab">Now, hs pretty doings o'er,<br>
His little soul goes darkling whither all<br>
<span class="tab">Must go, and, going, may return no more.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t6h132d4q&seq=89&q1=%22pretty+doings%22">Harman</a> (1897)] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now he goes along the dark road, thither whence they say no one returns.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_poems_of_Gaius_Valerius_Catullus_(Cornish)/Carmina_I-XXX#:~:text=Now%20he%20goes%20along%20the%20dark%20road%2C%20thither%20whence%20they%20say%20no%20one%20returns.">Warre Cornish</a> (1904)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>The wee thing’s gane the shadowy road<br>
That’s never traveled back by ony:<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet-books/2007/09/miss-her-catullus#:~:text=The%20wee%20thing%E2%80%99s%20gane%20the%20shadowy%20road%0AThat%E2%80%99s%20never%20traveled%20back%20by%20ony%3A">Davies</a> (1912)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now he travels the path of shadows, to that place, whence all men agree there is no return.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t4hm54w4w&seq=41&q1=%22path+of+shadows%22">Stuttaford</a> (1912)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now does it seek the darksome way,<br>
Whence none return nor message bring.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t4pk0h310&seq=41&q1=%22darksome+way%22">Stewart</a> (1915), st. 4]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now he's journeying through the eternal <br>
<span class="tab">Darkness, to the relentless shades.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b311029&seq=42&q1=%22journeying+through%22">Symons-Jeune</a> (1923), st. 4]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>And now he journeys whence they say<br>
No steps retrace the darkling way.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b267122&seq=19&q1=%22journeys+whence%22">MacNaghten</a> (1925)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now he is gone; poor creature,<br>
lost in darkness,<br>
to a sad place<br>
from which no one returns.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106001542577&seq=29&q1=%22now+he+is+gone%22">Gregory</a> (1931), st. 3]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Who now? It's hard to walk through tenebrous flume<br>
down there, where it is granted not one comes back.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=94&issue=3&page=9">Zukofsky</a> (1959)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>It now flits off on its way, goes, gloom-laden<br>
down to where -- word is -- there is no returning.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Poems_of_Catullus/y_HafujaJM4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22flits%20off%20on%22">C. Martin</a> (1979)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Who now goes through that gloomy journey<br>
from whence they denied anyone returns.<br>
[tr. <a href="http://rudy.negenborn.net/catullus/text2/e3.htm#:~:text=who%20now%20goes%20through%20that%20gloomy%20journey%0Afrom%20whence%20they%20denied%20anyone%20returns">Sullivan</a> (1997)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now he goes down the shadowy road<br>
from which they say no one returns.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Catullus.php#:~:text=Now%20he%20goes,no%20one%20returns.">Kline</a> (2001)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now he's traveling on that dark-shroud journey whence, they tell us, none of the departed ever returns.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Poems_of_Catullus/4qsYinaVXQ8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Now%20he%27s%20travelling%22">Green</a> (2005)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>It now goes through the dark journey<br>
to that place from where they deny that anyone returns.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/The_Poetry_of_Gaius_Valerius_Catullus/3#:~:text=it%20now%20goes%20through%20the%20dark%20journey">Wikibooks</a> (2017)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>He who now goes through the shadowy journey<br>
thither, whence they deny that anyone returns.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Catullus_3#:~:text=he%20who%20now%20goes%20through%20the%20shadowy%20journey%0Athither%2C%20whence%20they%20deny%20that%20anyone%20returns.">Wikisource</a> (2018)]</blockquote><br>
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