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Passage from Ovid's Metamorphesis: How do I not plagerize the translation?

There is a passage from the classic Greek epic poem Metamorphosis that I would love to use in my book. Being the fact that the passage itself is over 1000 years old, I'm sure I won't have to deal with any copyright issues on that part, however, I do worry that I will have issues from the person who translated it in the copy of the book I own. Is there any way I can use the passage with out having to worry about copyright issues from the translator?
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
The translation can be covered by copyright, so that could still be an issue.

Plagiarism is just passing something off as your own work, so as long as you give credit you won't be plagiarizing. How old is the translation? Depending on what you're doing, you might have a Fair Use argument. Safest thing if it is still under copyright is to get permission.
 
The translation was written in the late 50's. I'm not exact on the date. Is there anyway I'd be able to translate it in my own words?
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
If it is from the 1950s, it could very well be under copyright.

If you want to translate the text yourself, there's nothing stopping you. The original isn't under copyright and you're free to use it however you want, including by preparing a translation of it.
 
Fair use depends on several flexible variables: amount of material used as a percentage of the whole, how it's use and what you use. If you use three lines from a book-length poem as an essential element of your work, and the passage is not the crux of the source work, that should be fair use. You're on less firm ground if the passage is used in a decorative sense, such as an epigraph.

Here's the thing, though: there are many old translations you can use. Or just stick the passage in Google Translate and use what comes out, modifying it with your own poetic sense as a real translator would.
 
An 8-line epigraph? Forget about fair use and permissions. That's a lot for an epigraph.


Here's the passage I had in mind:

"O divine wills of the underworld
into which we fall back, whichever of us are created mortal,
if it is allowed and with the wanderings of false speech placed aside
you permit truth to be said, I did not descend here so that I might see
shady Tartarus nor to bind the three throats
of the monster of Medusa shaggy with monsters;
the cause of my way is my wife"
 
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