William Shakespeare

Amleti Oratio

Latine vertit Christianus Alfredus Fahlcrantz

Stephanus Holmiensis omnibus salutem.

Versionem inveni quae mihi valde placet orationis illius Hamleti celeberrimae. Interpres fuit sueticus Christianus Alfredus Fahlcrantz, natus Holmiae anno MDCCCXXXV, mortuus MCMXI:

 

Sis anne non sis melius, illud quaeritur:
generosioris esse pectoris putem
tolerare amarae tela fortunae fera
an arma capere turbinum contra globos,
virtute finem ponere aerumnis? - Mori,
dormire, scire dormiendo pectoris
aestus domari milleque ista gentibus
iniuncta fato mala, profecto fervidis
petendus ille est precibus exitis. - Mori,
dormire, forsan somniare - hic nodus est.
Hac nam levatis mole vitae turbidae
quae somnus ille sit daturus somnia,
hic haesitandum. Nulla cura certior
angore cumulat longa vitae tempora.
Quis saeva ferret seculi ludibria
procerumque fastus, os potestatum minax
morasque legum, vim tyrannorum feram
spretique amoris vulnera aut inurias,
mali bonorum quîs premunt modestiam,
si posset ipse debitum rescribere
mucrone adacto? Quis per aevi tam graves
portaret annos onera sudans ac fremens,
nisi anxium, post fata quid foret super,
regionis horror irrepertae, unde haud licet
redire, corde turbulento vinceret,
ut sustineret sueta iam potius mala,
quam peteret alia, nota quae nondum forent?
Sic corda frangit cuncta conscientia,
colorque sanus fortia audentis viri
in ponderantis morbidum pallorem abit,
et celsa virtus quidquid ausa est roboris
sucique plenum, scrupulo hoc deflectitur
in pravum inertiaeque nomen iure habet.

 

Nonne hos iambos Fahlcrantz mira varietate modulatus est, nonne versus naturaliter fluuunt eadem quasi indoli quam apud Quatilanceum (Shakespeare) sentimus? Conferte:

 

To be or not to be, that is the question:
whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
and by opposing end them? To die, to sleep -
no more - and by a sleep to say we end
the heartache and the thousand natural shocks
that flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep:
to sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub;
for in that sleep of death what dreams may come -
when we have shuffled off this mortal coil -
must give us pause. There's the respect
that makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
the oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
the pangs of disprized love, the law's delay,
the insolence of office, and the spurns
that patient merit of the unworthy takes,
when he himself might his quietus make
with a bare bodkin? Who would these fardels bear,
to grunt and sweat under a weary life,
but that the dread of something after death,
the undiscovered country, from whose bourn
no traveller returns, puzzles the will,
and makes us rather bear those ills we have
than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
and thus the native hue of resolution
is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
and enterprises of great pith and moment
with this regard their currents turn away
and lose the name of action.

 

Quid censetis, sodales?

Precor caelum ut valeatis.

Upsalae, die XIVmo mens. Iunii anno MM p.Chr.n.

 

* * *

 

Stephanus Holmiensis Dionysio Silvano omnique gregi salutem.

Ultimos versus (de the cloud-capped towers) istius orationis Prosperi ita traduxit C. A. Fahlcrantz:

 

Superba rerum tecta, turres arduae,
augusta templa, magnus hic terrae globus
mortaliumque tota gens in aëra
solventur, ut si vana sint ludibria,
nec ulla tanti signa erunt operis super.
Creamur ex quo procreantur somnia,
ambitque vitam longus hanc brevem sopor.

 

Modo vidi Fahlcrantz eosdem versus in elegis quoque reddidisse:

 

Aëriae turres, regum sublimia tecta,
      templa sacrata deûm, magnus hic ipse globus
terricolaeque velut species solventur inanes,
      nec vestigia erunt ulla relicta super.
Nos ex materie, qua somnia, fingimur ipsi,
      tamque brevem vitam claudit utrimque sopor.

 

Vale, valete.

Upsalae, die XIXo mens. Iunii anno MM p.Chr.n.