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Saturday 20 October 2018

Saturday Rave: L'Oreste by Giovanni Rucellai.

L'Oreste is one of the first Italian classical tragedies to be written in blank (ie non-rhyming) verse, and the very first to be written in hendecasyllables (that just means that each line has eleven syllables. Yes, that is an odd number. Literally.). 

L'Oreste is based on the Aeschylus's trilogy of plays the Oresteia (Orestes was the son of Agamemnon).

I can't find an on-line translated version of L'Oreste, but there are a few quotations. The play was written before 1516 but, sadly, despite the half millennium that has been available for their message to sink in, many people are still too dim to have taken them on board.

Quest' oltraggio è fatto ai Dei,
I quai, se non han cura di se stessi,
Non vi curate si vendicarli.

This is an insult offered to the Gods,
And if the Gods themselves make light of it
It is not in your hands that vengeance lies.

Oh, but I wish they would.

Word To Use Today: vengeance. This word comes from Old French, from the Latin vindicāre, to punish.


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