From Donne’s Divine Meditations Sonnet 10

 

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,

For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me;

 

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest their bones, and souls’ delivery.

 

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war and sickness dwell,

And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,

And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?

 

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.

 

Latin paraphrase

 

Mors non superbum es, etsi aliqui te (uocauerunt)

Ingentem terribilemque uocauerunt (or ualidem dirumque )

Nam non talis es ( sis?)

Enim quos euertere cogitas

Non moiruntur pauper mors non dum me occidere potes

Ab quiete somnoque quibus sed pictures tui esse

Multam uoluptatem est ita tum a tui

Multo magis fluere necesse est

Et maturissimo nostri optimi cum te

Requiesti eorum osssium et animae liberationi eunt

Seruos fortunae occasioni regibus et desperati (periculo + mortales) es

Et cum ueneno bello morboque habitas

Et cum papauere aut carmineue etiam nos facere dormire possunt

Et melior quam tui ictus cur tum tumefacis

Unus brevis somnus tum semper (or perpetuo) expergefacimus (excitamus)

Et mors non diutius erit mors morieris

 

Greek translated and transliterated

 

Thanatos ou hubrizeis kaiper tines se ekalesanto (onomasanto)

Iskhuros kai deinos gar ou se einai toioutos

Gar autous oiei (nomizei) se nikan (kratein)

Ou apothneeiskousi(n) athlios thanatos ou de oupoo dunasai me kteinein

 

Apo anapaula kai hupnou alla monos sou eikonoon

Pollen heedoneen esti eita ek sou pleistos rein dei

Kai takhista heemoon aristoi (anthroopoi) meta sou iaasi

Teei anapaula autoon ostoun kai psukheeis apallageei (lusis)

 

(Gar) ei doulon moireei tukheei anaktesi kai kinduneutais

Kai sun (ios) pharmakooi polemooi te nosooi oikeis

Kai paparouna eee pharmaki isoos dunasi hupnooi poiein

Kai beltioon ee sou pleegees (dia) ti tote phusais ogkous

Eis oligos hupnos (pote) egeiromen aioonioos

Kai thanatos ouketi estai thanatos kteneis!

 

If anyone would like to use this for teaching purposes please let me know the results

Did your students or you choose different words? Why?

You are welcome to send corrections if you have there’s flaws in my Latin.

I generally tend to only do translations from English into Latin if I’m sick and convalescing and most of the translations I’m put up so far on the web site were done a few years back.

 

I would be particularly interested in seeing this in more metrical form if anyone wants to have a go at tidying it up?!