This has caught me in a rare moment of minimal brain fog,
Dominic, and though my last year of Latin was 1956, just a little
Virgil is still with me, and the line in your subject heading almost clicks for me,
as I know I’m letting him down largely.
Your lines are witty, even where I know they fly past me.
Perhaps if I looked up Chilcot?
‘frazzles nuance’ is a brilliant phrase.
Fancy a machine set to translate any Latin! let alone Virgil…
Max
On Jul 20, 2016, at 16:49, Dominic Fox <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Pretense at knowing Latin - ave atque -
> little-befitting valet, overrated
> big-data-groomer pitching for attention.
> Sic algorithmic whizz on Chilcot; sift
> for sentiment, accumulate small mercies:
> a buried empire’s gift for elegy
> in parcelled phrases, morsels of conceit.
> Machine-translated Virgil frazzles nuance,
> makes hash of syntax, say high classicists,
> pall-bearers of uncalled-for expertise.
> Find half-life on the far side of depletion -
> supposing we are pre-known by such clauses,
> discovered so at grievance - at regina -
> so carpet-bombed by an unseeing fire.
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