José-Maria de Heredia - 4 Villula

The Romans, especially Romans of the Republic, do not give the impression of being sentimental or given to fancy. Yet they did have one ideal – that of rustic simplicity – which sounded well in poetry but was not so popular in real life. Few Romans elected to be another Cincinnatus. Virgil and Horace wrote pastoral poems, which José-Maria de Heredia certainly read, but only Horace loved his ‘Sabine farm’, living in a villa there. Did this inspire Villula?

Heredia’s Gallus lived in a little villa (villula) on his small ancestral holding. Heredia is particular to set it on a Cisalpine hill. Cisalpine, “the hither side of the Alps”, designated the region across northern Italy in which the Gauls (Galli) settled after much opposition. Having settled, they began to adopt Roman ways of living. Finally, as always happens, they were accepted as ‘Romans’ or at least as ‘Roman citizens’. Gallus went from being a noun, the singular of Galli, to becoming a personal name, regardless of the ethnic origin of the owner. All this is by the way, in order to make the sonnet better appreciated. Heredia was intelligent and could be subtle, as we shall see at the end of this series of commentaries.

Villula belongs in the section of Les Trophées titled Rome and the Barbarians. In the case of Villula the category is appropriate for an account of one who is probably a Romanised barbarian – else why the mention of the Cisalpine hill? Heredia suggests Gallus’ transformation by giving him a diet of favoured Roman food, and in other ways indicating that he chose to live the Roman ideal of simplicitas. He could have titled his sonnet in French, but Petite Villa sounds rather feeble beside the robust Latin – so I think! At first glance, one might think that this sonnet is one of those whose rhyme scheme is not Heredia’s usual. But in conformity with the rules of French versification (Oh those rules!) passage and sage are not akin to héritage, étage etc. The consonne d’appui – the consonant preceding the vowel - is different.

First the original, followed by the prose translation, my version and then E. R. Taylor’s from the 1906 revision. I have retained the original title in Latin.

Villula

Oui, c'est au vieux Gallus qu'appartient l'héritage
Que tu vois au penchant du coteau cisalpin;
La maison tout entière est à l'abri d'un pin
Et le chaume du toit couvre à peine un étage.

Il suffit pour qu'un hôte avec lui le partage.
Il a sa vigne, un four à cuire plus d'un pain,
Et dans son potager foisonne le lupin.
C'est peu? Gallus n'a pas désiré davantage.

Son bois donne un fagot ou deux tous les hivers,
Et de l'ombre, l'été, sous les feuillages verts;
À l'automne on y prend quelque grive au passage.

C'est là que, satisfait de son destin borné,
Gallus finit de vivre où jadis il est né.
Va, tu sais à présent que Gallus est un sage.


Prose translation (literal):
LITTLE VILLA
Yes, it is to old Gallus that the inheritance belongs which you see on the slope of that little Cisalpine hill; the whole house fits under the shade of a pine and the thatched roof covers at most one floor/ storey.
It suffices to host one guest. He has a vineyard, an oven to bake more than one loaf, and in his kitchen garden harvests lupins. [The Romans enjoyed eating the legume seeds of the lupin, called lupin beans.] It is little? Gallus does not wish for more.
His woods supply a bundle or two every winter, and shade in summer under the green foliage; in autumn one can catch some journeying thrush there. [Romans also prized thrushes for eating.]
It is there that, satisfied with his limited lot, Gallus is finishing his life where once he was born. Go, you know now that Gallus is a wise man.

VILLULA (©2016 by Ruth Heredia)

Yes, that’s old Gallus’ inheritance you see
Perched on the slope of the Cisalpine hill. Small
It certainly is – fits in the shade of a single pine tree,
And what the thatched roof covers, that is all.

But it suffices. He can give one guest a bed,
His kitchen garden yields lupins for his store,
There’s a vineyard, his oven bakes enough bread -
You find it little? But Gallus wants no more.

In winter his woods yield a bundle or two,
Under green shade summer days he can spend,
In autumn he catches a thrush passing through;

It’s here, where he was born, Gallus means to end,
Satisfied with his destiny’s narrow span.
Go, now you know that Gallus is a wise man.


A LITTLE VILLA (Tr. by Edward R. Taylor, 1906)

Yes, that's the heritage of Gallus hoar
Thou dost on yon cisalpine hill descry;
A pine his humble house is sheltered by,
Whose lowly roof the thatch scarce covers o'er.

And yet for guest he has sufficing store:
His oven is large, his vines make glad the eye,
And in his garden lupines multiply.
'Tis little? Gallus ne'er has longed for more.

His grove yields fagots through the winter hours,
And shade in summer under leafy bowers,
While autumn brings some passing thrush for prize.

'Tis there, contented with his narrow round,
He ends his days upon his natal ground.
Go, now thou knowest why Gallus is so wise.

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