Latin Translation Exercise: Carry On, Wayward Son by Kansas
A prog-rock staple, rendered into an ancient tongue.
I don’t typically like to translate songs that have already been done, but the example I found was a bit grammatically difficult to listen to. The channel’s been inactive for almost three years, so I won’t put them on blast; goodness knows I wouldn’t have had the courage to put myself out there at their age with my Latin to English translations, much less these little exercises. Anyway, this is my one wrestling related article for the quarter: The Elite made their return to AEW at Full Gear and replaced their old theme song with this one. This past Wednesday they brought their Best of 7 tournament for the Trios championships to a 3-2 record, successfully staying in the hunt. I’m a pretty big prog rock guy as is; I have this album on vinyl, so this translation was bound to happen eventually. I learned two things while translating this. First, the title omits the “my” from the chorus for some reason. Second, I thought the word “wayward” meant someone who had lost their way, i.e. like wanderlust but for depressed people, but it actually means persevering. You know who has a cognomen for the Latin word for persevering? Pertinax: first usurper in the Year of the Five Emperors. The first line of this could be read as “Carry on my wayward son” or “Carry on, my son Pertinax” depending on what era of Roman history you sang this in.
Oh, and Merry Christmas.
Prodi, pertinax mi fili,
Pax venit cum opus patrēs.1
Nunc tuum caput iace.
Flere desine.
Sic olim supra strepitum surrexi,
Ut ultra mendacium viderem;
Et altissimus volavi,
Sed nimis erat.
Quamquam videre possum, caecus mansi.
Quamquam putare possum, vecors mansi.
Cum somnio, voces audio.
Sic mihi dicunt:
Prodi, pertinax mi fili,
Pax venit cum opus patrēs.
Nunc tuum caput iace;
Flere desine.
Me acto2 ut virum rationalem,
Meus mimus ab turba celebratur
Si dico esse me ingenium,
Significat3 me non scire.
A fluctibus meorum affectuum
Iactor ut navis ab undis volvitur
Ventos felicitatis quaesam.
Iterum mihi dicunt:
Prodi, pertinax mi fili,
Pax venit cum opus patrēs.
Nunc tuum caput iace.
Flere desine.
Prodi, semper memineris nihil,
Prodi, cum splendore adaequare.
Non iam tua vita vacu(a) est;
Certe caelum te manet.
Prodi, pertinax mi fili,
Pax venit cum opus patrēs.
Nunc tuum caput iace.
Flere desine.
Once I start getting paid real money for this, I'll go back and add macrons everywhere they actually appear in these songs. This is a bit silly, but it's the 2nd person singular active subjunctive of patro, meaning to finish.
Ablative absolute
This is an uncommon verb, but the line is in indirect discourse.