![[Header#^header-embed]] > [!SUMMARY] Ode to Thrale > On 6 September 1775 [[Dr. Samuel Johnson]] wrote a Latin Ode to Thrale whilst on a tour of the Scottish Shetlands. Published in [[0 - Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson|Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson]] by Hester Thrale, and also in [[Thraliana]] on December 1777. > > The poem is a beautiful expression of Johnson's deep affection for Hester Thrale. He imagines himself wandering through remote and unfamiliar lands, but his thoughts are always with her. He asks himself what she is doing, and he pictures her as a devoted wife to [[Henry Thrale]], a loving mother, and a diligent learner. He ends the poem by expressing his hope that she will remember him and that her faith in him will remain steadfast. | Latin | English | | -------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | Permeo terras, ubi nuda rupes | Through lands I travel, where the naked cliff-top | | Saxeas miscet nebulis ruinas, | Merges in cloud its stark and craggy ruins, | | Torva ubi rident steriles coloni | Where the stern landscape ridicules the crofter's | | Rura labores. | Profitless labours. | |   | | | Pervagor gentes, hominum ferorum | Through tribes I wander where barbarian clansmen | | Vita ubi nullo decorata culto, | Live a rude life, unbeautified by culture, | | Squallet informis, tigurique fumis | Squalid, distorted, by but-and-ben's[^1]  thick vapours[^2] | | Faeda latest. | Eclipsed and filthy. | |   | | | Inter erroris salebrosa long, | Through all the joltings of a lengthy journey | | Inter ignotae strepitus loquelae, | Through all the babel of an unknown language | | Quot modis mecum, quid agat requiro, | In countless ways I ask myself the question: | | Thralia dulcet? | "How's my sweet Thralia?" | |   | | | Seu viri curas pia nupta multe, | Whether, as good wife, she soothes her husband's worries, | | Seu fovet mater sobolem benigna, | Whether, as mother, gently tends her offspring, | | Sive cum libris novitate pascit | Whether, as scholar, feasts her mind on reading | | Sedula mentem: | Gaining new knowledge: | |   | | | Sit memor nostri, fideique merce, | May she remember me! Be her faith rewarded! | | Stet fides constans, meritoque blandum | Her faith stand firm; and deservedly enchanting | | Thraliae discant resonare nomen | The name of Thralia, learn, Skye, to re-echo | | Littora Skiae. | Through all your headlands[^3]! | > [!ACKNOWLEDGMENT] > Thanks to [Jonathan B.P.J. Hadfield](mailto:[email protected]), whose generous translation from Latin to English helped to bring this information to you. > > Jonathan wrote: > > > I am not a Thrale, but found your website enthralling. I hope my attempt at verse will please some of your readers. > > > > Dr. Johnson argues that the tough, squalid and filthy life that a crofter was compelled to lead precluded all culture. The Sapphic verse is a metre perhaps invented by [Sappho](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappho), the Greek poetess of [Lesbos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesbos), which was taken into Latin by [Catullus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus) and later, with brilliant success, by [Horace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace). Johnson uses it here and I have attempted to use it here in an English dress. ## See also ![[hester-lynch-thrale-1741-1821🔎#^hester-lynch-thrale-infoblock]]![[samuel-johnson-1709-1784🔎#^samuel-johnson-infoblock]] #history/person/SALUSBURY/hester-lynch-born-1741 #history/person/JOHNSON/samuel-born-1709 ![[Footer#^footer-embed]] [^1]: `But-and-ben` is the traditional crofter's cottage in the Highlands of Scotland. It translates the Latin `tugurium` which means `cottage`. Johnson wanted to make the point that the tough, grimy and squalid crofter's life stymied all culture. [^2]: The `thick vapours` is the Latin `fumis`, which means `smokings`. Dr. Johnson is referring to the black soot which is characteristic of the old croft's walls and general interior. [^3]: This has a meaning similar to 'As it deserves'.