On display before the first section is Hadrian's famous "little" poem, with odd unending ellipsis "…". I wonder how many readers realize when they finish the penultimate page of the Memoirs (page 295) that the poem has been translated and the ellipsis supplied, with Yourcenar's own thematic continuation. This poem "animula vagula blandula" is too good and too famous to be passed over so silently. I refer readers to William Fitzgerald's How to Read a Latin Poem If You Can't Read Latin Yet (or even if you can!). You can see what he has to say by clicking on the link above, next clicking on the "Look Inside" and then "Search[ing] Inside This Book" on "Epilogue", and finally clicking the second result. (Phew, I know!) But you will be able to read the entire Epilogue which is entirely about the famous "little" poem.
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This is enormously helpful, Tim; thanks! I had figured out the gist of Hadrian's meaning, but my version (based largely on guesswork) was entirely prosaic, not poetic.
Cheers, Steve
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