Friday, November 13, 2015

Arma feminamque cano

Marginal Revolution gave an enthusiastic account of  the Margaret Thatcher biography,Vol 2, by Charles Moore, quoting a "rave review from Bruce Anderson".

Mr Anderson's review contains this paragraph:
"Our author is distilling a vast amount of intellectually complex material into a compelling narrative. This is a double exploration: the relationship of a fascinating and complex personality with embattled events. Mr Moore would be entitled to paraphrase Virgil: “Arma feminamque cano“."
Anderson, expecting a cultured readership, does not provide a translation. And Google isn't that helpful. So what did Virgil really write in the Aeneid? Here's the Wikipedia article:
"Virgil begins his poem with a statement of his theme (Arma virumque cano ..., "I sing of arms and of a man ...")"
So Charles Moore: "I sing of arms and of a woman ..."


And then there's this blog ...