Pliny on earthquakes (Naturalis Historia 2.82): praecedit vero comitaturque terribilis sonus, alias murmuri similis, alias mugitibus aut clamori humano armorumve pulsantium fragori, pro qualitate materiae excipientis formaque vel cavernarum vel cuniculi, per quem meet Indeed, a terrifying noise goes before and along with it, sometimes a rumbling, sometimes like bellowing or human shouting or the […]
Tagged Pliny, qualitas, translationPliny on pyramids again (Naturalis Historia 36.17) Pyramis amplissima ex Arabicis lapicidinis constat. The largest pyramid is made from the Arabian quarries. This is just about short enough to go without much comment except on the word lapicidinae ‘quarry/quarries’. This word is also found spelled lapidicinae, as indeed some copies of this text have it. […]
Tagged Pliny, pyramis, translationMarcus Caelius, writing to Cicero (Ad Familiares 8.4): Coactus est dicere Pompeius se legionem abducturum sed non statim sub mentionem et convicium obtrectatorum; inde interrogatus de successione C. Caesaris… Pompey was forced to say his legion would be withdrawn, though not immediately, in response to insinuation and the public outcry of his detractors; then he […]
Tagged Caelius, interrogo, translationCicero, Ad Atticum 11.21: accepi VI Kal. Sept. litteras a te datas XII Kal. doloremque quem ex Quinti scelere iam pridem acceptum iam abieceram, lecta eius epistula gravissimum cepi. On the 27th of August, I received a letter you sent on the 21st, and the pain I received from Quintus’ crime a long time ago, […]
Tagged abicio, Cicero, translationCicero, in On the Nature of the Gods 2.37, considers the sun and stars. He then states, in a precursor to the infinite monkey theorem, that the works of Ennius are not at all likely to form from the fall of letters thrown in the air, and from this premise he continues: Isti autem quemadmodum […]
Tagged Cicero, intelligent design, qualitas, quality, translationI’ve been wanting to post these little translations I do for my dictionary, partly for feedback on quality, partly to talk about the texts themselves. In his Natural History, 36.16, Pliny gives us his opinion of the pyramids: Dicantur obiter et pyramides in eadem Ægypto, regum pecuniæ otiosa ac stulta ostentatio. And the pyramids, also […]
Tagged pyramids, pyramis, translation