The Roman orator was speaking
as citizens started to fight:
УI rose late, and while I was walking
was chased and captured by RomeТs nightФ.
So be it! But making your farewells, you saw
in grandeur and with awe,
RomeТs bloody star go down.
Blessed is he who visits this life
at its fateful moments of strife:
the all-wise sent him an invitation
to speak with them at their celebrations.
HeТs the witness of high affairs,
knows their councils, sits on them,
and a living god while there,
has drunk immortality with them.
Оратор римский говорил
Средь бурь гражданских и тревоги:
«Я поздно встал — и на дороге
Застигнут ночью Рима был!»
Так!.. Но, прощаясь с римской славой,
С Капитолийской высоты
Во всем величье видел ты
Закат звезды ее кровавый!..
Счастлив, кто посетил сей мир
В его минуты роковые!
Его призвали всеблагие[6]
Как собеседника на пир.
Он их высоких зрелищ зритель,
Он в их совет допущен был —
И заживо, как небожитель,
Из чаши их бессмертье пил!
«He did not lie to us, that spirit, mournfully severe, / Whose name was borrowed from the morning star, / When he said: "Don't fear requital from above; / Taste the fruit, and you will be as gods." For youths all roads were opened, / For elders — all forbidden works, / For girls — ambe...»
«He did not lie — the ghost, so sad and thoughtful, / That from a star took his name by a chance, / When he had said, “Don’t fear the Lord”, to us, / “Just try the fruit and be like Him immortal”. All routs for youths were opened in glow, / And all forbidden works – for older ...»
«That sad-strict spirit then did not dissemble – / The one who called himself the morning star – / When uttered he: “Fear not the highest’s bar, / Just eat the fruit, and you’ll the gods resemble.” To young men then all highways stretched before them, / And old men were relieved ...»
«He didn’t deceive us, that sad, somber spirit / Who wears the morning star as pseudonym / And said: “Shun not the highest gain, nor fear it: / Taste of the fruit and you will equal Him.” Instantly, for the youth, all roads lay open, / And for old men, all mysteries to know, / And to...»