Cicero, Ad Atticum 6.1: Illud quidem fatebitur Scaptius, me ius dicente sibi omnem pecuniam ex edicto meo auferendi potestatem fuisse. Scaptius will admit this at least—that when I was judge he had the opportunity to carry off all the money from my edict. I don’t think ‘when I was judge’ is exactly the best translation […]
Also tagged Cicero, potestas, translationCicero, Ad Atticum 16.6: Sed tamen perspice quo ista vergant mihique aut scribe aut, quod multo malim, adfer ipse. But anyway, look into which way things are leaning and either write me or, what I’d much prefer, let me know in person. Haven’t done one of these in a while. Will try to post more […]
Also tagged Cicero, translation, vergoToday’s dictionary work, for acies (Cicero, Ad Atticum 10.7): Mea causa autem alia est, quod beneficio vinctus ingratus esse non possum, nec tamen in acie [me] sed Melitæ aut alio in loco simili [oppidulo] futurum puto. My case, though, is different, because I’m bound by a favor and can’t be ungrateful, but nevertheless I’m not […]
Also tagged 1913ese, 2nd century BC, acies, Cicero, Plautus, translation, trochaic septenarius, venter meus(Yeah, I know I haven’t posted here in a while — I’ve been working on a large blog post and have been neglecting the smaller ones.) Horace, Epode 8: sÄ“d Ä«ncÄtÄt | mÄ“ pÄ“ctÅs Ä“t | mÄmmÇ£ pÅtrÄ“s Ä•quÄ«nă quÄ|lÄ“s Å«bÄ•ră vÄ“ntÄ“rquÄ• mÅl|lÄs Ä“t fÄ•mÅ«r | tÅmÄ“ntÄbÅ«s Ä“xÄ«lÄ• sÅ«|rÄ«s ÄddÄtÅ«m. But your chest excites me, […]
Also tagged Horace, iambic dimeter, iambic trimeter, translation, venterCicero, giving examples of the use of comparison to be witty, quoting a man responding to doubts that money was given to Magius because Magius was so poor, De Oratore 2.66: “Erras,” inquit, “Scaure; ego enim Magium non conservasse dico, sed tamquam nudus nuces legeret, in ventre abstulisse.” “Scaurus,” he said, “you are mistaken; I’m […]
Also tagged Cicero, translationCicero, De Fato, 12.28-29, showing once again that ‘nihil tam absurde dici potest quod non dicatur ab aliquo philosophorum’: Sic enim interrogant: “Si fatum tibi est ex hoc morbo convalescere, sive tu medicum adhibueris sive non adhibueris, convalesces; item, si fatum tibi est ex hoc morbo non convalescere, sive tu medicum adhibueris sive non adhibueris, […]
Also tagged Cicero, fallacies, philosophy, translationAll right, so my bugbear for the week has been anointment.  In particular, unguere (or ungere), a Latin word meaning “to anoint”. My problem is that “anoint” is one of those 1913ese words that doesn’t correspond well to anything we talk about today. In its historical or ceremonial context—where you might anoint someone king, say—the […]
Also tagged 1913ese, anointment, Cicero, translation, unguereThe matter of this plural is something I happened to fall into by accident this week. I was working on this out of Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.50: Vomitione canes, purgatione autem alvos ibes Ægyptiæ curant. Dogs treat their stomachs by vomiting, while the ibises of Egypt do it by purging the bowel. I went […]
Also tagged Cicero, dog Latin, ibis, translationCicero, Ad Atticum 11.20: Sed et alia timenda sunt ab aliis Quintisque, et ab hoc ipso quæ dantur, ut a domino, rursus in eiusdem sunt potestate. But there are also other things to be feared from, among others, the Quinti, and the things given by [Caesar] himself, as by a master, are back in his […]
Also tagged Cicero, potestas, translationVitruvius, De Architectura 1.2: Uti in hominis corpore e cubito, pede, palmo, digito ceterisque particulis symmetros est eurythmiæ qualitas, sic est in operum perfectionibus. As in the body of man the eurhythmy is of a symmetrical sort, from the forearm, the foot, the palm, the finger, and all the other small parts, so it is […]
Also tagged palmus, pes, qualitas, translation, Vitruvius