Frammento del Canto 3:
Criticising the elite goes back a long way, as Pope shows us in his Rape of the Lock (even as he gets us to see, in his funny way, that we ourselves are not too far from the butt-end of the joke). Example (in Friulian with original below it):
Dongja di chej pras, par sempri 'ncoronàs da flòus,
indà che'l Tamigi li so grandi tors al vuarda orgoliòus,
jodi si pòl na strutura di forma maestoša,
che'l nòn a cjapa dal Hampton, che visìn ghi ripoša.
Uchì i statìscj’ britànics la ruvina a proclàmin spes
di tiràns forèscj' e da li nìnfis di stu post stes.
Uchì, oh granda Ana, cun tre règnus scoltàs da te,
consej ogni tant ti risèvis—e ogni tant te.
Uchì i eròes a vègnin e pur li nìnfis
par godi'n tal palàs ognidùn daj so plašèis:
cjacarànt òris istrutìvis a pasàvin:
cuj che dàt al veva'l bal, o fàt višita par ùltin;
al conta un da la gloria da la britànica regina,
e 'n altri al descrìf na biela tendina indiana;
un ters al interpreta mòtus, mùšis e ocjàdis,
e na reputasiòn a mòu a ogni dos peràulis.
Na preša, o'l svintulà, ogni tant pàuša ghi dà al tabajà,
cul cjantà, tirà ocjàdis cà e là, e dut un ridusà.
Intànt, dal misdì zìnt jù plan plan,
di sbiegu il soreli al manda il so raj rovàn;
plens di fan i magistràs il verdèt a fìrmin,
e par ca posi la giurìa senà, puòrs diàus 'picjàs a vègnin;
i afarìscj' da la Borsa in pas a tòrnin,
e i grancj' sfuars dal sbieletasi a finìsin....
The original of Alexander Pope:
Close by those meads, for ever crown'd with flow'rs,
Where Thames with pride surveys his rising tow'rs,
There stands a structure of majestic frame,
Which from the neighboring Hampton takes its name.
Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom
Of foreign tyrants and of nymphs at home;
Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea.
Hither the heroes and the nymphs resort,
To taste awhile the pleasures of a court;
In various talk th' instructive hours they p
Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last;
One speaks the glory of the British queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At ev'ry word a reputation dies.
Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat,
With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.
Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day,
The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray;
The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jury-men may dine;
The merchant from th' Exchange returns in peace,
And the long labours of the toilet cease....
:)
