Little Grebe

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis, 小鸊鷉).

Common through much of the old world, little grebes are year-round residents in Changsha: always to be found in the river, especially in the early mornings, and throughout the lakes and canals. In those rare moments when there is not much other noise, one hears their trilled 'wheat-wheat-wheat' call echoing across the water.

The first photo was taken 11 October 2022 early in the morning at the Xiang River (湘江). The second, showing the grebe in its breeding plumage was taken in the afternoon 2 April 2022.

Poetry and Gout

Ennius, Ennianae poesis reliquiae, ed. by Johannes Vahlen, 2nd edn (Leipzig: Teubner, 1903), p. 210 [Enn. Sat. Lib. Inc.V.64]:

numquam poetor nisi si podager
 
I never write poetry unless my feet are swollen with gout.

My translation.

A Good Night’s Sleep

Bene dormit, qui non sentit quam male dormiat.
 
He who does not perceive how poorly he sleeps, sleeps well.

Notes:
Publilius Syrus, Sententiae, ed. by R.A.H. Bickford-Smith (London: C.J. Clay and Sons, 1895), p.5 [77]. My translation.

Chinese Blue-tailed Skink

Chinese Blue-tailed Skink (Plestiodon chinensis, 中国石龙子).

Warm weather brings out reptiles, though so far this season I have only caught furtive glances of local snakes: movement and scales deep in the tall grasses and mulch. But during these vacillating days of wet grey and warm sun, I sometimes see these lizards enjoying the sun.

White Wagtail

White wagtail (Motacilla alba, 白鹡鸰). 
They often frequent the ponds, lakes, rivers and wet farmlands of Hunan, and it is easy to miss that ther eare two subspecies residents in Changsha.

The White Siberian wagtail (Motacilla alba ocularis), spotted in the afternoon 20 Jan 2023, has a grey back and black eyestripe. They can be seen here over the colder months, but presumably summer in the far northern climes.

On the other hand, the Amur wagtail (Motacilla alba leucopsis) can be found all year round. This wagtail has a more black feathers on its back but has no eyestripe.

St Jerome on Translation

St Jerome, Prologus in Pentateucho:

Aliud est enim vatem, aliud esse interpretem: ibi spiritus ventura praedicit, hic eruditio et verborum copia ea quae intellegit transfert; nisi forte putandus est Tullius Oeconomicum Xenofontis et Platonis Protagoram et Demosthenis Pro Ctesifonte afflatus rethorico spiritu transtulisse, aut aliter de hisdem libris per Septuaginta interpretes, aliter per Apostolos Spiritus Sanctus testimonia texuit, ut quod illi tacuerunt, hii scriptum esse mentiti sint. Quid igitur? Damnamus veteres? Minime; sed post priorum studia in domo Domini quod possumus laboramus. Illi interpretati sunt ante adventum Christi et quod nesciebant dubiis protulere sententiis, nos post passionem et resurrectionem eius non tam prophetiam quam historiam scribimus; aliter enim audita, aliter visa narrantur: quod melius intellegimus, melius et proferimus. Audi igitur, aemule, obtrectator ausculta: non damno, non reprehendo Septuaginta, sed confidenter cunctis illis Apostolos praefero. Per istorum os mihi Christus sonat, quos ante prophetas inter spiritalia charismata positos lego, in quibus ultimum paene gradum interpretes tenent.
 
Indeed, it is one thing to be a prophet and another to be a translator: in the case of the first, the Spirit foretells things to come, in the case of the later, learning and power of expression translates what it understands. Unless perhaps Cicero ought to be understood to have translated the Oeconomicus of Xenophon, the Protagorus of Plato and the Oratio pro corona of Demosthenes under the inspiration of the rhetorical spirit, or that the Holy Spirit carefully build up evidence through the Seventy translators in one way, and through the Apostles in another way, so that the Seventy passed over in silence what the Apostles feign to have been written. What now then? Do we condemn the old? Not at all, but after we labour over the works of those who came before us, we do what we can in the house of the Lord. The Seventy translated before the coming of Christ and when faced with what they did not understand they rendered it into dubious translations. But after His Passion and Resurrection we write not so much prophecy as history; for what we have heard we tell one way and what he have seen we tell another way: what we understand better we translate better. Now listen, envious one. Hear me, critic. I do not blame the Seventy, but I dare to place the Apostles before them all. Christ speaks to me through the mouths of those whom I read [in 1 Cor. 12:28] are placed before the prophets on account of their spiritual gifts, in which the translators hold almost the highest place.

Biblia sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem, ed. by B Fischer, I. Gribomont, et al., 5th edn (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006), pp. 3-4. My translation.

The Fortunes of Books

Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli.
 
The fortunes of books rest on the reader’s power of comprehension.

Terentianus Maurus, De litteris, syllabis, pedibus et metris, 1286. My translation.

Mating Pair of Plains Cupid Butterflies

Plains cupid butterfly (Luthrodes pandava, 蘇鐵綺灰蝶).

I saw many of these plains cupids a month ago and now see fewer and fewer each day. Sometimes their undersides appear lighter, sometimes more brown. When together it is easier to notice the larger patch of orange on the male (right).

Sacred Lotus

Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera, 莲).  

A plant rich in religious symbolism. In summer, local lotus ponds are popular with herons and moorhens, and people often come to collect the seed heads (for eating) with long hooks. There is still time to admire their broad green leaves and pink flowers but soon they will shrivel and brown. Summer is almost ended.

Classical Philology

‘Classical philology leads to all the rest, provided one gets out of it’.

Attributed to Neo-Latinist Jozef IJsewijn (1932-1998). Luc Devoldere, ‘A Great Neo-Latin Scholar: Jozef IJsewijn and his Life's Work’, trans. by Yvette Mead, The Low Countries, 6 (1998), pp. 288-89 (p. 288).

Male Greater Blue Skimmer

Greater Blue Skimmer (Orthetrum melania, 异色灰蜻). Male.

I see them throughout the summer and autumn by the lakes and in the forest, but never (yet) by the river. There are other powder blue dragonflies about which bear a casual resemblance, but these greater blue skimmers are noticeable, even at a distance, for their size and in particular the great thickness of their tails.

The Endurance of Ideas

Seu bona seu mala sint, durant concepta per usum.
Quam flectis virgam, ventis invicta fit arbor.    

Good or bad, thought habits endure through practice.  
You bend a branch which becomes a tree, impervious to the winds.

Notes:
Sextus Amarcius (Fl. 11th c.), Sermonum libri IV, ed. by Maximilianus Manitius (Leipzig: Teubner, 1888), p.46 [Sermo III.36-37]. My translation.

Common Kingfisher

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis, 普通翠鸟).

I often sit with this particular bird in Wangling Park (王陵公园). The first picture is from December 1 last year: I took it to mark the first day of meteorological winter; and he was sitting on one of his usual perches by the pond, about 10 or 12 feet from where I eat. The second picture was from earlier still: last November, as the kingfisher was enjoying his own luncheon. Even now, so many months later, I sometimes see him fishing from perches are obscured by summer lily-pads. We have been observers of each other for two years already, and though every winter is a challenge for his kind, I, at least, hope to see him for many more.

Word For Word

Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560), from the second preface to L’Olive (1550):

Et puis je me vante d’avoir inventé ce que j’ai mot à mot traduit les aultres.

I pride myself on having invented what I have translated word for word from others.

Joachim du Bellay, Œuvres poétiques, 8 vols, ed. by Henri Chamard & Geneviève Demerson (Paris: E. Cornély, 1908-1985), I (1908), p.19. My translation.