Reminder.

[Anonymous No.12666485]

The only remotely acceptable English translation of Augustine's Confessions is the Outler edition. It is the only one that retains the cadence and near-poetic beauty of the original.
Unlike most other translations, the translator had a great command of English and Latin and himself was an adept writer. Most other works fall incredibly short. The only real criticism of this version is that it is "not accessible", which itself is a comment for brainlets and by brainlets.

[Anonymous No.12666602]

I highly doubt that any English Translation can keep the cadence of a Latin text. Word order is freer in Latin, and rhetorical conventions would sometimes fly in the face of stylistic standards in English.
Is this is the right text? https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/hum100/augustinconf.pdf
Well, if the first line of the work proves anything, Outler retains neither the cadence nor the sense. Here:
Org: et laudare te vult homo, aliqua portio creaturae tuae, et homo circumferens mortalitem suam, circumferens testimonium peccati sui et testimonium, quia superbis resistis. et tamen laudare te vult homo, aliqua portio creaturae tuae.
Outler: And man desires to praise thee, for he is a part of thy creation; he bears his mortality about with him and carries the evidence of his sin and the proof that thou dost resist the proud. Still he desires to praise thee, this man who is only a small part of thy creation
O. suppresses the word 'homo' two times, replacing it with 'he' ("he bears... he desries to praise..."), and one use of 'circumferens'. He also refuses to identify between the first and last cola, putting a relative clause where A. settles for apposition. In other words, O. removes what an English stylist would see as redundancies. What Augustine is doing has greater resemblance with the following muddle:
And to praise thee wisheth Man, but a part of thy creation. And Man, [as per] surrounded by his own mortality, surrounded by the testament of his sin, and [of the fact] that thou opposeth the proud. And yet to praise thee wisheth Man, but a part of thy creation.
(Sorry for Archaizing, laxer word order.)

[Anonymous No.12666613]

>>12666485
Let us see your copy

[Anonymous No.12666756]

Is it possible to read the Confessions outside of a Christian context? I mean can you read it as a story of personal growth and maturation that has bits of wisdom applicable to someone of any faith or is it basically just "I used to be a filthy degenerate until I found Jesus!"?

[Anonymous No.12666763]

>>12666756
Yes, you can gain a lot from it. And who knows, it might even let you closer to God. Give it a try anon, it is worth it

[Anonymous No.12666767]

>>12666756
I'm an atheist and I found it inspirational in my battle against the lower passions.

[Anonymous No.12667652]

is it settled then? Outler is the best?

[Anonymous No.12667658]

>>12666756

Yes, since he was not a Christian, but a Catholic.

[Anonymous No.12667743]

Original: sed non tenebatur modus ab animo usque ad animum quatenus est luminosus limes amicitiae, sed exhalabantur nebulae de limosa concupiscentia carnis et scatebra pubertatis, et obnubilabant atque obfuscabant cor meum, ut non discerneretur serenitas dilectionis a caligine libidinis.


Pilkington: “Out of the dark concupiscence of the flesh and the effervescence of youth exhalations came forth which obscured and overcast my heart, so that I was unable to discern pure affection from unholy desire.”

Outler: “Instead, the mists of passion steamed up out of the puddly concupiscence of the flesh, and the hot imagination of puberty, and they so obscured and overcast my heart that I was unable to distinguish pure affection from unholy desire.”

Chadwick: “Clouds of muddy carnal concupiscence filled the air. The bubbling impulses of puberty befogged and obscured my heart so that it could not see the difference between love’s serenity and lust’s darkness.”

Pusey: “Out of the muddy concupiscence of the flesh, and the bubblings of youth, mist fumed up which beclouded and overcast my heart, that I could not discern the clear brightness of love from the fog of lustfulness.”

Pine-Coffin: “Bodily desire, like a morass, and adolescent sex welling up within me exuded mists which clouded over and obscured my heart, so that I could not distinguish the clear light of true love from the murk of lust.”

Wills: “Instead of affection’s landmarks drawn in light, earth-murks drowned in lust – and my erupting sexuality – breathed mephitic vapors over the boundary, to cloud and blind my heart in clouds and fog, erasing the difference between love’s quietness and the drivenness of dark impulse.”

Sheed: “From the muddy concupiscence of the flesh and the hot imagination of puberty mists steamed up to becloud and darken my heart so that I could not distinguish the white light of love from the fog of lust.”

Ryan: “Clouds arose from the slimy desires of the flesh and from youth’s seething spring. They clouded over and darkened my soul, so that I could not distinguish the calm light of chaste love from the fog of lust.”

Boulding (1998): “From the mud of my fleshly desires and my erupting puberty belched out murky clouds that obscured and darkened my heart until I could not distinguish the calm light of love from the fog of lust.”

Ruden (2017): “Mine were the putrid fumes rising from scummy bodily lusts and the diseased eruption of puberty, befouling and befuddling my heart with their smoke, so that there was no telling the unclouded sky of affection from the thick murk of carnality.”

______________________________________-

Outler is the best sounding and Pusey is probably the most accurate

[Anonymous No.12669223]

bump

[Anonymous No.12669228]

>>12666602
True but better than other English translations.

[Anonymous No.12669239]

>>12667743
>not choosing my man Henry CHADwick
Truly sad

[Anonymous No.12669259]

>>12669239
Third best

1. Outler
2. Pusey
3. Chadwick.

The others on that list can go to hell.