Seated at the airport gate not far from us early Monday was a young woman with a sweatshirt obviously from a well thought of university. On the back were Aeneas's words "haec olim meminisse iuvabit", from Book I of the Aeneid, line 203. Theodore C. Williams translates the full sentence, "forsan et haec meminisse juvabit",
.... It well may be
some happier hour will find this memory fair
My first thought was that this made the university experience sound a bit dire: the memory of which Aeneas speaks includes near shipwreck, certain loss of one ship of his fleet, and apparent loss of others. One could argue that the omission of the first two words of the sentence "forsan et"--perhaps even--turns the sentence from a tentative encouragement to a positive statement. But in the years when all students arrived at the university knowing their Latin, wouldn't they have at once thought of the context? Perhaps I underrate their sense of irony, though.
My second, somewhat later thought, was that No, I would not relate with pleasure the annoyance of a four-hour delay. It is less than Roman virtue to say so. But we were not out to found a city, only to take a vacation.
I like your second interpretation & I think your vivid recall of that scene suggests that somehow - even if only because you are looking back on it in the knowledge that you did eventually enjoy the relief of escaping from it - the memory has become fairer than the experience was.
ReplyDeleteOffered the chance, I'd have traded four hours of early afternoon in London for the four hours of late night at Dulles. It is certainly more comfortable here at home to think of sitting at the gate than it was to sit there. I don't know I'd call it fair.
DeleteThat was me Zoë, by the way
ReplyDeleteRight, good to hear from you.
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