To go to Rome
is little profit, endless pain;
the master that you seek in Rome
you find at home or seek in vain.
--Epigram scribbled in the margin of a manuscript by Sedulius of Liège (9th century), an Irish scholar in Europe. Translated by Frank O'Connor (1903-1966), pseudonym of Michael O'Donovan, in A Short History of Irish Literature.
Techt do Róim,
mór saítho, becc torbai;
in Rí con-daigi i foss,
manim bera latt ní fhogbai.
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