Tulach Alainn: 'To know nothing is the sweetest life.'8 Where's Sean Beag? MANUS He's at the salmon. HUGH And Nora Dan? MAIRE She says she's not coming back any more.
1. I am present [Latin; Friel's note]. Roman administrator who wrote an important col2. With complete sobriety [Latin; Friel's note]. lection of letters. 3. Sober [Latin; Friel's note], 7. Befuddles. 4. Hail [Latin; Friel's note]. 8. From Ajax, by the ancient Greek playwright 5. Ceremony of naming [Latin; Friel's note], Sophocles (ca. 496?406 B.C.E.), born in the village 6. Or Pliny the Younger (61 or 62?ca. 113 C.E.), of Colonus, near Athens.
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FRIEL: TRANSLATIONS, ACT 1 / 2489
HUGH Ah. Nora Dan can now write her name?Nora Dan's education is complete. And the Donnelly twins?
[Brief-pause. Then.]
BRIDGET They're probably at the turf.9 [She goes to HUGH.] There's the oneand- eight I owe you for last quarter's arithmetic and there's my one-and-six1 for this quarter's writing.
HUGH Gratias tihi ago.2 [He sits at his table.] Before we commence our studia3 I have three items of information to impart to you?[To MANUS.] a bowl of tea, strong tea, black?
[MANUS leaves.]
Item A: on my perambulations today?Bridget? Too slow. Maire? MAIRE Perambulare?to walk about. HUGH Indeed?I encountered Captain Lancey of the Boyal Engineers who
is engaged in the ordnance survey of this area. He tells me that in the past few days two of his horses have strayed and some of his equipment seems to be mislaid. I expressed my regret and suggested he address you himself on these matters. He then explained that he does not speak Irish. Latin? I asked. None. Greek? Not a syllable. He speaks?on his own admission? only English; and to his credit he seemed suitably verecund?James?
JIMMY Verecundus?humble.
HUGH Indeed?he voiced some surprise that we did not speak his language. I explained that a few of us did, on occasion?outside the parish of course? and then usually for the purposes of commerce, a use to which his tongue seemed particularly suited?[SJiotits.] and a slice of soda bread?and I went on to propose that our own culture and the classical tongues made a happier conjugation?Doalty?
DOALTY Conjugo?I join together. [DOALTY is so pleased with himself that he prods and winks at BRIDGET.]
HUGH Indeed?English, I suggested, couldn't really express us. And again to his credit he acquiesced to my logic. Acquiesced?Maire?
[MAIRE turns away impatiently. HUGH is unaware of the gesture.]
Too slow. Bridget?
BRIDGET Acquiesco.4 HUGH Procede. BRIDGET Acquiesco, acquiescere, acquievi, acquietum.
HUGH Indeed?and Item B . . . MAIRE Master. HUGH Yes?
[MAIRE gets to her feet uneasily hut determinedly. Pause.]
Well, girl?
MAIRE We should all be learning to speak English. That's what my mother says. That's what I say. That's what Dan O'Connell5 said last month in Ennis. He said the sooner we all learn to speak English the better.
[Suddenly several speak together.]
9. I.e., cutting turf. 1. One and a half shillings?eighteen pennies? in the old British currency. 'One-and- eight': one shilling and eight pence, or twenty pennies. 2. I thank you [Latin; Friel's note]. 3. Studies [Latin; Friel's note[. 4. Acquiescere: to rest, to find comfort in [Latin; Friel's note]. 5. Irish lawyer and nationalist leader (1775? 1847), born in Kerry and known as the Liberator, who argued for Ireland's adoption of the English language. The first Roman Catholic member of Parliament, he regained civil rights for Irish Catholics and urged the reestablishment of the Irish Parliament in Dublin.
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249 0 / NATION AND LANGUAGE
JIMMY What's she saying? What? What? DOALTY It's Irish he uses when he's travelling around scrounging votes. BRIDGET And sleeping with married women. Sure no woman's safe from that fella.
JIMMY Who-who-who? Who's this? Who's this? HUGH Silentium! [Pause. ] Who is she talking about? MAIRE I'm talking about Daniel O'Connell. HUGH Does she mean that little Kerry politician? MAIRE I'm talking about the Liberator, Master, as you well know. And what he said was this: 'The old language is a barrier to modern progress.' He said that last month. And he's right. I don't want Greek. I don't want Latin. I want English. [MANUS reappears on the platform above.] I want to be able to speak English because I'm going to America as soon as the harvest's all saved. [MAIRE remains standing. HUGH puts his hand into his pocket and produces a flask of whisky. He removes the cap, pours a drink into it, tosses it back, replaces the cap, puts the flask back into his pocket. Then.] HUGH We have been diverted?diverto?divertere?Where were we? DOALTY Three items of information, Master. You're at Item B. HUGH Indeed?Item B?Item B?yes?On my way to the christening this morning I chanced to meet Mr George Alexander, Justice of the Peace. We discussed the new national school. Mr Alexander invited me to take charge of it when it opens. I thanked him and explained that I could do that only if I were free to run it as I have run this hedge-school for the past thirty- five years?filling what our friend Euripides6 calls the 'aplestos pithos'? James? JIMMY 'The cask that cannot be filled'. HUGH Indeed?and Mr Alexander retorted courteously and emphatically that he hopes that is how it will be run. [MAIRE now sits.] Indeed. I have had a strenuous day and I am weary of you all. [He rises.] Manus will take care of you. [HUGH goes towards the steps. OWEN enters. OWEN is the younger son, a handsome, attractive young man in his twenties. He is dressed smartly?a city man. His manner is easy and charming: everything he does is invested with consideration and enthusiasm. He now stands framed in the doorway, a travelling bag across his shoulder.] OWEN Could anybody tell me is this where Hugh Mor O'Donnell holds his hedge-school? DOALTY It's Owen?Owen Hugh! Look, boys?it's Owen Hugh! [OWEN enters.
