Lexitechnia

Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 1.16 “Milli passum” dixit pro “mille passibus” et “uno milli nummum” pro “unis mille nummis” aperteque ostendit “mille” et vocabulum esse et singulari numero dici eiusque plurativum esse “milia” et casum etiam capere ablativum. He said milli passum instead of mille passibus and uno milli nummum instead of unis mille nummis […]

Cicero on constellations, De Natura Deorum 2.43: Minorem autem Septentrionem Cepheus passis palmis [post] terga subsequitur. Now Cepheus, palms outstretched, follows behind the lesser Septentrio. Cepheus is still reckoned a constellation; minor Septentrio appears to be an unusual name corresponding to what we would now call Ursa Minor, or the Little Dipper.

Cicero, Ad Atticum 7.7: Cetera videntur esse tranquilla; tranquillissimus autem animus meus qui totum istuc æqui boni facit. Everything else seems to be going peaceably; and my mind is quite peaceable itself, taking the whole thing with contentment. I don’t think I have the second half of this second sentence right at all. Tranquillissimus autem […]

Seneca, Controversiae 2.7: Miserrimus omnis sæculi maritus: sic contempta absentia mea etiamnunc iniuriam meam nescirem, si qui fecerat tacere voluisset. I’m the most miserable husband of all time – even now I wouldn’t have known that I’d been wronged in my wretched absence if the man who had done it had wanted to keep quiet. […]

Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 10.40: “Di in prœlio sunt,” inquit; “habet pœnam noxium caput.“ “The gods are in this battle,” he said. “The guilty head has received its punishment.” It feels righter here to put habet as “has received” here rather than “has”. I have a vague idea that this isn’t the first time I’ve […]