"7 Stars & 7 Stones & 1 White Tree" Latin Verse Translation

Latin text:
Altae navēs atque altī trēs regēs triplex
Quae fluctōsum trans mare lata ab fractā terrā
Septem saxa et septem stellās ac laurum albam

Original:
Tall ships and tall kings, three times three,
What brought they from the foundered land over the flowing sea?
Seven stars and seven stones and one white tree.

The English text is a poem from The Two Towers, chapter 11 - The Palantír, page 202*. In the story, the poem recalls how the faithful few escaped by ship the destruction of Numenor, bringing with them the seedling of the king’s tree as well as the seven seeing stones.

The Latin is my own translation, set to Dactylic Hexameter, as would be typical for classical epic verse. I must admit that the lines are almost entirely spondees, ‘trans mare’ being the only dactyl included. In order to fit the meter, I have shortened ‘fluctuosum.’

I took this photo in July of 2022, standing on Danseberga, facing Klauvåsen across Tysdalsvatnet, near Stavanger, Norway. There was a brisk wind blowing and it felt cold for July. Over my left shoulder was Stavanger itself on the North Sea. Hva for et fint utsikt!


*Tolkien, J. R. R. “The Two Towers.” Second Edition. 1965. Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, NY.