Posted by brenda burke (beb252@hotmail.com) on January 25, 2001 at 08:10:46 AM MST:
In Reply to: Re: James Joyce - "Portait of the Artist" posted by Brenda Burke on January 25, 2001 at 08:07:54 AM MST:
: : What is the translation for the opening quote to "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" - "Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes"?
: : Thanks!
One translation of the Ovid is as follows-
[the carated line is the Et ignoats line]-
In tedious exile now too long detain'd,
Daedalus languish'd for his native land:
The sea foreclos'd his flight; yet thus he said:
Tho' Earth and water in subjection laid,
O cruel Minos, thy dominion be,
We'll go thro' air; for sure the air is free.
>Then to new arts his cunning thought applies,<
And to improve the work of Nature tries.
Though it might not be a literal translation, it
seems to suit the meaning that Joyce was trying
to get across.
(I've been after the meaning of that blasted line
for almost a year!)