Author Tom Holland tweeted:
My contribution to the Vita Barbae: @wmarybeard read Rubicon in ms when I'd never written anything on Roman history, & had no call on her whatsoever. She was unfailingly generous & supportive (though did arch an eyebrow at one particular translation). https://t.co/MkFcRGoYUG— Tom Holland (@holland_tom) January 30, 2018
...and then followed it up with...
I can't remember what the translation was. I just remember your note in the margin - 'I would like to know what the Latin was'.— Tom Holland (@holland_tom) January 30, 2018
I had read Rubicon a few years ago (see my review here) and I was fairly sure I remembered what the quote was. So I attempted to Tweet it at Tom Holland. (P.S.--this was the first time I've ever tried to Tweet at a famous person. I follow a number of famous people on twitter, but I usually try to avoid being one of those annoying randos who tweets meaningless things at famous people. But in this particular case, I thought I could help him out by reminding him of the quote he was looking for.)
I no longer have my copy with me, but I believe there was a line of Mark Antony (from Suetonius) which you translated as: "So what if I'm fucking the queen? What does it matter where you shove an erection" Was this it?— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) January 31, 2018
Tom Holland never replied.
But... I'm still 99% sure this must have been the quote. I mean, what else could it have been?
Regrettably, I abandoned my Latin studies 20 years ago, and can not now vouch for the accuracy of Tom Holland's translation. All I can do is compare it with other translations of the same passage. Here is the same passage from the 1913 Loeb Classical Library:
Antony also writes to Augustus himself in the following familiar terms, when he had not yet wholly broken with him privately or publicly: "What has made such a change in you? Because I lie with the queen? She is my wife. Am I just beginning this, or was it nine years ago? What then of you — do you lie only with Drusilla? Good luck to you if when you read this letter you have not been with Tertulla or Terentilla or Rufilla or Salvia Titisenia, or all of them. Does it matter where or with whom you take your pleasure?"
This indicates that Tom Holland might have punched up his version slightly. But then, that's part of the fun of his book.
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