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[Poem to Benito Mussolini] - 1928
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The following text is taken from Hipólito Galante, Benito Mussolinio Romanorum Duci Hippolytus Galantes sal. ([Santiagi]: [Typ. La Illustración], 1928). The same
text was also published in the Argentinian newspaper La Nación (20 September 1928) in
the section 'Página Italiana' on p. 15. The English translation that accompanies the Latin text is by Paola D'Andrea. Many thanks are due to Stephen Harrison for his advice.
BENITO MUSSOLINI
ROMANORUM DUCIHIPPOLYTUS GALANTES
SAL.
TO BENITO MUSSOLINI,
LEADER OF THE ROMANS,IPPOLITO GALANTE
GIVES GREETINGS.
1
O Tu Tonantis quem sata uertice
2
Dias in oras luminis editum
3
Uultu benigno, durae alumne
4
Aemiliae petiisse uisa,
You child of tough Emilia, whose divine birth into the radiant regions of the upper world seemed to have been welcomed by the goddess born from the head of the Thunderer, with a benevolent look on her face,
5
Europae iniquos quae tua mens fuit
6
Bellona campos dum fera concutit
7
Flagro atque matres eiulantes
8
Italica pereunte pube?
what sort of thoughts were in your mind whilst cruel Bellona struck with her lash the cruel battlefields of Europe and the hearts of mothers wailing in grief as the flower of the Italian youth perished?
9
Eheu relatos pectore ab intimo
10
Quos sustulisti tunc gemitus, amor
11
Quem semper arto nexu in omnes
12
Continuit nihil extimescens?
Alas! What sort of lamentations did you raise from the depths of your heart, you whom fearless love has always joined to all other men in a close bond of solidarity?
13
Nefanda deinde perculit haud minus
14
Gaudens proteruis seditionibus
15
Licentia, effrenisque leges
16
Caelicolumque hominumque miscens:
Then abominable Licence struck us no less hard, rejoicing in violent insurrections, confusing together with no restraint the laws of men and gods:
17
Fundo paterno pellitur impia
18
Dum ui colonus, priscaque gloria
19
Sollertiae atque acris laboris
20
Fructus ubique perit sceleste.
And so, whilst the farmer is expelled from his father’s land with impious violence, the ancient glory of industriousness and the fruit of bitter exertion shamefully perish everywhere.
21
Contemptus unde ipse Oenotrius sibi
22
Liuore cristis anguineis caput
23
Tollente contra: totque inani
24
Corporibus studio interemptis.
As a result, the Italian looked down on himself with contempt, while Hatred raised its bloody snake-crested head against him, a multitude of bodies was destroyed by vain vehemence.
25
Iactata truci seu ratis Africo
26
Obiecta iam iam truditur ardua
27
In Saxa, late mugientis
28
Vorticibus peritura ponti:
The ship of state, continuously tossed by, or exposed to, the violent southwest wind, is now about to be thrust on to the hard rocks, destined to perish amongst the immense whirlpools of the wide-roaring sea.
29
Dementia uulgi haud secus Itala
30
Dum terra fertur, mens stupuit metu
31
Ne in membra rursus distrahatur
32
Barbarus atque iterata calcet
And whilst just in the same way the Italian land is carried away by the folly of the mob, the mind is stunned by the fear of the country being once more dismembered and of the foreign enemy coming back to trample
33
Latina rura. Hei! Caucasus horridus
34
Duris profecto cautibus edidit
35
Quicumque siccis ausus atram
36
Cernere luminibus ruinam!
the Latin fields. Alas! The horrible Caucasus has surely brought forth out from its hard rocks whoever dares to look at this dark ruin with a dry eye!
37
Uerum pudenda saeua Necessitas
38
Si clade pressit, siue animis sacri
39
Soli repulsa est gratia, ut tu
40
Numine nos tegeres deorum,
But, if harsh Necessity has pressed with cruel disaster, or if the love of the sacred soil is expelled from our hearts, so that you need to protect us by virtue of divine majesty,
41
Non iam cruenta est buccina matribus
42
Natusue prima quem rapuit furor
43
Martis iuuenta luctu acerbo
44
Collacrimandus, et impetita
no longer does the trumpet of war sound cruel to the ears of the mothers; no longer is to be mourned the son whom the fury of Mars has taken away with a premature grief in early youth, And the unconsulted
45
Themis sacrata oracula et ordinum
46
Confusa iura et pessima, dum probat
47
Honesta uulgus damna sectans
48
Inque chaos uetus orbis actus.
sacred oracles of Themis and the confusion of the rights of the classes, whilst the people approve of honest models but pursue acts of grievous damage, and the old world is driven towards chaos.
49
Per te nouus iam nascitur Italis
50
Rerum ordo, per te iam redeunt noui
51
Fasces, sibique Urbs imperatum
52
Commeminit populos potiri.
Thanks to you a new order is already emerging for Italy, thanks to you new fasces are coming back, and the eternal city remembers the command given to it to control the peoples.
53
Frustra impiis Te uulneribus petit
54
Uesana Erinys. Te invidiae uirus
55
Dente irrito captat, uenitque
56
Obsequia in tua uterque mundus.
In vain the insane Fury tries to assault you with wicked attempts to wound. The poison of hatred tries to grip you in vain with its fang, and both worlds come to your obedience.
57
Salue pater, Dux Ausoniae nouae!
58
Fortuna quo te cumque uocauerit
59
Pergas: per ignes perque ferrum
60
Te sequimur genus omne Romae.
Hail to you, father, leader of the new Ausonia! Wherever fortune will call you, there may you go: we, the people of Rome, will all follow you, through iron and fire.