Translation of Rome

[Caius Fabius]

Sorry, my translations come mostly from my Russian wife or my Russian-English military dictionaries. It doesn't work as well for ancient translations, (or for that matter, when translating documents about the Crimean War). I would love to find out more about Roman re-enacting in Russia and other C.I.S. nations.

[stevesarak]

Another question:

When flogging Pullo, Vorenus says: "Justice knows every man's number".

What is it about?

Some Latin idiom or what?

In my opinion these all say the same as that phrase:

You can’t hide from fate.

What goes around comes around.

You’ll get yours in the end.

Justice knows no bounds.

You pay for your crimes.

Justice will find you in the end.

These are different way of saying the same thing.

It’s another way of saying that regardless of who you are, you will be punished for your crimes.

[Tarbicus]

"Принцепс второй когорты" (princeps cohors secundus) will sound best Smile

You just lost your audience. Keep it simple. While the couple in front of the TV in Moscow are asking each other "What does that mean?" they missed the next lines in the show and lost the story, made a cup of tea, and won't bother watching next week because they don't know what's going on.

[Quassnoi]

You just lost your audience. Keep it simple. While the couple in front of the TV in Moscow are asking each other "What does that mean?" they missed the next lines in the show and lost the story, made a cup of tea, and won't bother watching next week because they don't know what's going on.

They won't since they've already seen Atia making love to Timon and are waiting for the next scene

Actually, I think that everything should be done the correct way, not the way everybody likes (these are sometimes different ways).

If Vorenus is "princeps cohors secundus", the he must be called so, not "mr. lieutenant, sir" or "tovarisch podpolkovnik" or someway else. It's not very important for an action, but it gives idea of what ranks were used in the Roman army. I'll better put some brief description of the rank in titles rather than approximating it with modern ranks.

Series are called "Rome", after all

[Tarbicus]

The series is also called a "multi-million dollar investment" by the Producers and HBO/BBC. :wink:

Besides, unless the dialogue is spoken in Latin, "Colonel" or "Lieutenant General" is actually a fairly accurate translation. Rome isn't a history lesson, it's a very very expensive piece of entertainment.

I honestly don't think using modern military ranks is a good idea (I just threw it in to offer an alternative), but I do think you need to apply a bit more thought to the subject.

"Senior Centurion" or "First Centurion" could be a good idea? Or is that far too understandable for the average viewer?

[Quassnoi]

"Senior Centurion" or "First Centurion" could be a good idea? Or is that far too understandable for the average viewer?

I think it will be "Центурион второй когорты" (second cohort centurion), instead of "princeps". "Centurion" and "cohort" are understandable and this is close to original rank.

[Tarbicus]

Good move.

I'm not trying to break your nether-regions, but I've witnessed Producers get nasty (e.g., one screaming at a guy on crutches for being too slow, and making people cry before the day had even started). :?

[Ildar]

If Vorenus is "princeps cohors secundus", the he must be called so, not "mr. lieutenant, sir" or "tovarisch podpolkovnik" or someway else.

No, Alexander (Aleksey?),

He can be called, for example, "старший центурион" (senior centurion) or "младший центурион" (junior centurion). Both the spirit of Roman age will preserve and TV viewer will not burden with terms too.

[stevesarak]

There’s a lot that goes over the average viewers head. As I’m watching something, I’ll ask what was just said and nobody knows. A lot of people don’t know a lot of what’s being said, they just follow along. They get the main point so that’s good enough for them, they don’t really care. On one episode when I heard a title was being given to Vorenus, I asked what they had just said, no one in the group I was with knew or really cared, they just knew it was an important title and that was good enough. Viewers like me with an interest in Rome had to quickly write it down and look it up the next day.

A lot of viewers don’t know the difference between a lieutenant and a colonel but they can figure out that one is higher then the other by the way the rank is used. So I think that both viewer need to be taken into account. Be accurate in the ranks because A) The viewers expect a certain amount of accuracy. B) A lot of viewers aren’t going to understand the rank regardless of what you call it. C) Most viewers don’t really care what you call them as long as you can do it in a way that they understand the importance, ex. A solider, is called out by is commander in front of the troops. He’s given the rank of XX the viewer doesn’t know what that is but the camera pans to his fellow soldiers who show that it’s a great promotion.

Stay true to the time period, even if people don’t understand what something means they know if it fits or not. Sometimes people would rather hear an accurate rank or title they don’t understand then a modern translation. I’ve heard people that didn’t know any military terms, comment that “They weren’t called that back thenâ€

[Quassnoi]

Next question

Is the old senate speaker (in the second episode and further) a princeps senatus?

What is his name then?

[Ildar]

What is his name then?

Принцепс Сената.

[Quassnoi]

What is his name then?

Принцепс Сената.

I know

I mean who was princeps senatus that time?

[Quassnoi]

In the second episode Brutus says to Servilia: "a va, mother".

What does he mean?