Lexitechnia

Cicero, Ad Atticum 15.16a: Equidem etiam pluvias metuo, si Prognostica nostra vera sunt; ranae enim ῥητορεύουσιν. I’m actually also worried it may rain, if our Prognostics is correct, as the frogs are making their speeches. The Prognostics (Διοσημεῖα), considered part of the Φαινόμενα of Aratus Solensis, was translated into Latin by Cicero in his youth. […]

Cicero, Ad Atticum 7.13: Ænigma […] plane non intellexi; est enim numero Platonis obscurius. I didn’t quite understand your riddle; it’s more obscure than Plato’s number. I’m not sure if ‘obscure’ is the best word to describe a riddle. “Plato’s number,” or the nuptial number, is given as either 6³ or 60⁴, both of which […]

Cicero, De Lege Agraria 2.97: Singularis homo privatus, nisi magna sapientia praeditus, vix cancellis et regionibus offici magnis in fortunis et copiis continetur. A private individual, unless he is endowed with great wisdom, is hardly restrained by the bars and boundaries of his position when among great wealth and power. I’ve been posting these less […]

Ovid (Metamorphoses 15.871–2): Jāmqu(e) ŏpÅ­s | Ä“xÄ“|gÄ«, quōd | nÄ“c JŏvÄ­s | Ä«ră nÄ•c | Ä«gnÄ«s nÄ“c pŏtÄ•|rÄ«t fÄ“r|rÅ«m nÄ•c Ä•|dāx ăbŏ|lÄ“rÄ• vÄ•|tÅ«stās. And now I have completed a work that neither the wrath of Jupiter nor fire nor the sword nor gluttonous Time can do away with. Because just being ære perennius is underachieving. […]

Vitruvius (De Architectura 10.2): In trocleam induntur orbiculi duo per axiculos versationes habentes. Two pulley wheels are inserted into the block, turning on its axles. From what I can tell so far, classical Latin does not seem to have a word exactly corresponding to ‘pulley’; there was the sheave—the grooved wheel itself—orbiculus, and there was […]