Readers (Latin lovers?) may be interested in reading my novel The Latin Student (published by Flower Publish). There are many Latin passages which are conveniently translated by "the Latin Student" as part of the story.
While I agree wholeheartedly with Mary Beard, I must say that my 5 years of Latin (high school + college) provided me with a significant "leg up" on my medical school classmates during the courses in anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and pathology. And when things got tight, I could recite to myself, "Arma virumque cano Troiae qui primus ab oris Italia...ectcetera.
Around the world there are numerous enclaves of individuals dedicated to the preservation and use of the Latin language. Essays, short stories and poems are being written by individuals who daily proclaim their commitment to Latinitas. And under the auspices of entities like the Grex Latine Loquentium (aka The Grex) Latin epistolography flourishes. Textkit is another resource which brings together Latin enthusiasts of all levels of proficiency. One poster to Textkit has digitized Egidio Forcellini's seminal Lexicon Totius Latinitatis.
Once one unroll the chartae and begins the journey into time, there is a clash of values and circumstances: in the poet's we encounter the sublimity of physical Loveland a crudity that scrapes the dregs of unmitigated pornography. Propertius, Tibullus and Catullus elevate rejection to high verse, while Ovid sings of female sexual gratification. In his Metamorphoses we meat a Centaur couple who, in the great Centauromachy, fight side by side and die together, a lesson in fidelity and courage not unworthy of imitation.
In the historians we read of the rise and fall of empire. Who will overlook the Stoic virtue of Thrasea Paeta and the redoubtable Arria, who killed herself, inviting paetus with the words, "Paete, non dolet")? Cicero and Seneca educate us in religion, philosophy and the language arts, while Quimtilian and St. Augustine inculcate the values of a humane education, and write against corporal punishment in pedagogy.
Rome, in short, is the mother of nations, fountain of tradition. Generations and nations have risen and disappeared, but Rome, the Niobe of Nations persists.
LXXVIII Oh Rome! my country! city of the soul! The orphans of the heart must turn to thee, Lone mother of dead empires! and control In their shut breasts their petty misery. What are our woes and sufferance? Come and see The cypress, hear the owl, and plod your way O'er steps of broken thrones and temples, Ye! 700 Whose agonies are evils of a day -- A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay. LXXIX The Niobe of nations! there she stands, Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe; An empty urn within her wither'd hands, Whose holy dust was scatter'd long ago; The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now; The very sepulchres lie tenantless Of their heroic dwellers: dost thou flow, Old Tiber! through a marble wilderness? 710 Rise, with thy yellow waves, and mantle her distress. LXXX The Goth, the Christian, Time, War, Flood, and Fire, Have dealt upon the seven-hill'd city's pride; She saw her glories star by star expire, And up the steep barbarian monarchs ride, Where the car climb'd the capitol; far and wide Temple and tower went down, nor left a site: -- Chaos of ruins! who shall trace the void, O'er the dim fragments cast a lunar light, And say, 'here was, or is," where all is doubly night?
Five single syllables rationalize the learning of Latin. Anno Domini.
Just as the French revolution (and orwellian characters as well) tried to renumber the calendar, such impulse exists today. Our vigilance to protect the year 1 numbering (if not its AD name) must be unquenchable.
Our constant assimilation to Anno Domini must be a deliberate feature of our lives.
The Potpourri enforced the use of Latin as the exclusive source of the reading of the inspired word of God for political and economic power that helped plunge Europe into a dark age when combined with the Muslim conquest of the North Africa and the Middle East
In 1972 Cat Stevens released Catch Bull at Four. 52 years later, I'm still a fan! The song O Caritas featured Latin lyrics and is excruciatingly relevant in today's turbulent word.
O Caritas
hunc ornatum mundi
nolo perdere
video flagrare, video flagrare
video flagrare, omnia res
audio clamare, audio clamare
audio clamare, homines
nunc extinguitur
mund(i) et astrorum lamen
nunc concipitur
mali hominis crimen
tristetat(e) et lacrimis
gravis est dolor
de terraeque maribus
magnus est clamor
O caritas, O caritas
nobis semper sit amor
mos perituri mortem salutamus – ah, ah
sola resurgit vita
Ah, this world is burning fast
Oh, the world will never last
I don’t want to lose, I don’t want to lose it
I don’t want to lose it here in my time
Give me time forever, give me time forever
Give me time forever here in my time
(Translation of Latin:)
I don’t want to lose the harmony of the universe
I see all things – burning, I hear me – shouting
Now is the light of the world and the stars are going out
Now does the blame for the disaster fall upon men
Grief is heavy with sadness and tears
Great is the noise from the earth and the seas
O love! O love! Be with us always
We who will perish salute death Life alone goes on!
I am absolutely smitten by the depth of research that accompanies this wonderful article! Bene factum (I just looked this up 😉)
So glad you enjoyed it!!!
Readers (Latin lovers?) may be interested in reading my novel The Latin Student (published by Flower Publish). There are many Latin passages which are conveniently translated by "the Latin Student" as part of the story.
While I agree wholeheartedly with Mary Beard, I must say that my 5 years of Latin (high school + college) provided me with a significant "leg up" on my medical school classmates during the courses in anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and pathology. And when things got tight, I could recite to myself, "Arma virumque cano Troiae qui primus ab oris Italia...ectcetera.
Around the world there are numerous enclaves of individuals dedicated to the preservation and use of the Latin language. Essays, short stories and poems are being written by individuals who daily proclaim their commitment to Latinitas. And under the auspices of entities like the Grex Latine Loquentium (aka The Grex) Latin epistolography flourishes. Textkit is another resource which brings together Latin enthusiasts of all levels of proficiency. One poster to Textkit has digitized Egidio Forcellini's seminal Lexicon Totius Latinitatis.
Once one unroll the chartae and begins the journey into time, there is a clash of values and circumstances: in the poet's we encounter the sublimity of physical Loveland a crudity that scrapes the dregs of unmitigated pornography. Propertius, Tibullus and Catullus elevate rejection to high verse, while Ovid sings of female sexual gratification. In his Metamorphoses we meat a Centaur couple who, in the great Centauromachy, fight side by side and die together, a lesson in fidelity and courage not unworthy of imitation.
In the historians we read of the rise and fall of empire. Who will overlook the Stoic virtue of Thrasea Paeta and the redoubtable Arria, who killed herself, inviting paetus with the words, "Paete, non dolet")? Cicero and Seneca educate us in religion, philosophy and the language arts, while Quimtilian and St. Augustine inculcate the values of a humane education, and write against corporal punishment in pedagogy.
Rome, in short, is the mother of nations, fountain of tradition. Generations and nations have risen and disappeared, but Rome, the Niobe of Nations persists.
LXXVIII Oh Rome! my country! city of the soul! The orphans of the heart must turn to thee, Lone mother of dead empires! and control In their shut breasts their petty misery. What are our woes and sufferance? Come and see The cypress, hear the owl, and plod your way O'er steps of broken thrones and temples, Ye! 700 Whose agonies are evils of a day -- A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay. LXXIX The Niobe of nations! there she stands, Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe; An empty urn within her wither'd hands, Whose holy dust was scatter'd long ago; The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now; The very sepulchres lie tenantless Of their heroic dwellers: dost thou flow, Old Tiber! through a marble wilderness? 710 Rise, with thy yellow waves, and mantle her distress. LXXX The Goth, the Christian, Time, War, Flood, and Fire, Have dealt upon the seven-hill'd city's pride; She saw her glories star by star expire, And up the steep barbarian monarchs ride, Where the car climb'd the capitol; far and wide Temple and tower went down, nor left a site: -- Chaos of ruins! who shall trace the void, O'er the dim fragments cast a lunar light, And say, 'here was, or is," where all is doubly night?
(Byron)
This was an awesome read bro thank you for writing this.
I have been inspried by latin as of late. Im even moving to Italy in a month or so.
Not for nothing, I have my Order of Santiago on.
N.B. We have a similar collective blind spot for numbers, being as they are, in fact, Arabic.
Hindu-arabic. Those traders were middlers.
Five single syllables rationalize the learning of Latin. Anno Domini.
Just as the French revolution (and orwellian characters as well) tried to renumber the calendar, such impulse exists today. Our vigilance to protect the year 1 numbering (if not its AD name) must be unquenchable.
Our constant assimilation to Anno Domini must be a deliberate feature of our lives.
The Potpourri enforced the use of Latin as the exclusive source of the reading of the inspired word of God for political and economic power that helped plunge Europe into a dark age when combined with the Muslim conquest of the North Africa and the Middle East
In 1972 Cat Stevens released Catch Bull at Four. 52 years later, I'm still a fan! The song O Caritas featured Latin lyrics and is excruciatingly relevant in today's turbulent word.
O Caritas
hunc ornatum mundi
nolo perdere
video flagrare, video flagrare
video flagrare, omnia res
audio clamare, audio clamare
audio clamare, homines
nunc extinguitur
mund(i) et astrorum lamen
nunc concipitur
mali hominis crimen
tristetat(e) et lacrimis
gravis est dolor
de terraeque maribus
magnus est clamor
O caritas, O caritas
nobis semper sit amor
mos perituri mortem salutamus – ah, ah
sola resurgit vita
Ah, this world is burning fast
Oh, the world will never last
I don’t want to lose, I don’t want to lose it
I don’t want to lose it here in my time
Give me time forever, give me time forever
Give me time forever here in my time
(Translation of Latin:)
I don’t want to lose the harmony of the universe
I see all things – burning, I hear me – shouting
Now is the light of the world and the stars are going out
Now does the blame for the disaster fall upon men
Grief is heavy with sadness and tears
Great is the noise from the earth and the seas
O love! O love! Be with us always
We who will perish salute death Life alone goes on!
Credits
Producer
Paul Samwell-Smith
Writers
Andreas Toumazis, Jeremy Taylor & Cat Stevens