Certamen Scribendi Winner + New Prompt
This week, competitors were asked to translate the following passage from Kristen Lavransdatter into Latin:
The river was small and low, and it flowed so quietly; it was nothing more than tiny currents trickling between the sandbars and the heavy shoals of white stones worn smooth. No streams rushed down the slopes; it had been such a dry autumn. There were glints of moisture all over the fields, but it was only the dampness that always seeped up from the earth in the fall, no matter how hot the day or how clear the sky.
The passage was tricky, especially the opening sentence and demanded that the translator pay close attention to the meaning of the period rather than the words themselves.
Winner: Adam Cooper
flumen angustum et breve, et tam quietum labitur ut nihil magis videatur quam rivuli manantes inter aggeres harenae et lapides congestos, albos aquaque politos. nulli de collibus ruunt rivi, adeo arente autumno. ubique agri umore scintillant, sed eo umore tantum qui semper autumno e terra emergit, quantumvis sol caleat aut serenum appareat caelum.
New Prompt
Compose a witty two-line Latin epigram.
Submissions will be judged on their adherence to classical Latinity and their wit. Please send your poems to certamen@thelatinteacher.com no later than 11:59 p.m. central time on Tuesday, April 19th. Best of luck.
– Rogerius
Image Credit: School of Hans Holbein the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons