Maxim ?
John Westerlage
disorder and rebellion by referring to a Latin maxim:
Mao periculosam libertatem quam quietam servitutem.
("Rather a dangerous liberty than a peaceful servitude.")
Does anyone know if there is any such maxim, and, if so,
is it attributed to anyone or is it anonymous?
jw
B. T. Raven
> Thomas Jefferson supposedly justified tolerance for civic
> disorder and rebellion by referring to a Latin maxim:
>
> ("Rather a dangerous liberty than a peaceful servitude.")
>
> Does anyone know if there is any such maxim, and, if so,
> is it attributed to anyone or is it anonymous?
>
> jw
Fifth from last paragraph:
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/summer/letter.html
Another url that I didn't check out mentioned a paraphase from Sallust.
John Westerlage
Wow! - 15 minutes! What a response time.
Thanks very much - the name Sallust is all I needed to
Google it. Apparently the original was in Sallust's
Histories, I, 55, 26:
"... potiorque visa est periculosa libertas quieto servitio."
Thanks again !!
jw
jsqu...@gmail.com
That was an excellent reply. I enjoy reading original
texts when they come from people like Jefferson,
especially when they bring a bit of Latin to life.
I wonder.... would you have an estimate as to how many
of the "Founding Fathers" knew enough Latin to
be comfortable with that "Malo......" quote by
J.?
Johannes Patruus
> On Jun 9, 4:34 pm, "B. T. Raven" <ni...@nihilo.net> wrote:
>> John Westerlage wrote:
>>> Thomas Jefferson supposedly justified tolerance for civic
>>> disorder and rebellion by referring to a Latin maxim:
>>> MALO periculosam libertatem quam quietam servitutem.
>>> ("Rather a dangerous liberty than a peaceful servitude.")
>>> Does anyone know if there is any such maxim, and, if so,
>>> is it attributed to anyone or is it anonymous?
>>> jw
>> Fifth from last paragraph:
>>
>> http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/summer/letter.html
>>
>> Another url that I didn't check out mentioned a paraphase from Sallust.
>
> That was an excellent reply. I enjoy reading original
> texts when they come from people like Jefferson,
> especially when they bring a bit of Latin to life.
Abraham Lincoln's dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery, in English and
Latin - http://tinyurl.com/4dxm3a
Patruus
B. T. Raven
Quite a few of them. Certainly the authors of _The Federalist Papers_
together with a large moiety of their audience. For a long time, maybe
until the Depression, the American public school system (in the American
sense of public) was second only to the Prussian one. Hoover even
translated Agricola's _De re metallica_. Here is a stellar example of
the level of Latinity in 1835, at least among some scholars:
[Readable on-line if Perseus gets its act together]
Georgii Washingtonii Amerîcae Septentrionalis Civitatem Foederatarum
Praesidis primi, Vita, Francisco Glass, A. M., Ohioensi, litteris
Latinis conscripta.
with this tag on the title page:
"longe trans Oceanum, si Libris Sybillinis credamus..."
at google books but incomplete (lacks prooemium and chapter one):
Eduardus
Ed Cryer
"B. T. Raven" <ni...@nihilo.net> wrote in message
news:ht2dneYSX9oyPtPV...@sysmatrix.net...
Well, well. So steeped in classical Latin and obviously expecting to
have a similar readership, that he can playfully quote and play with
famous references.
Livy Praefatio;
Utcumque erit, iuvabit tamen rerum gestarum memoriae principis terrarum
populi pro virili parte et ipsum consuluisse;
Francis Glass Prooemium;
Utcunque erit, juvabit tamen famam viri, omnium sæculorum facile
principis, pro virili parte me ipsum consecrasse,
Ed
Ed Cryer
"Ed Cryer" <e...@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote in message
news:g2mbcc$9is$1...@aioe.org...
Caput Primum.
.......
Sub patris tutelâ altus eruditusque, utrum literis Græcis atque Romanis
animum suum Washingtonius appulerit parum comperimus, eamque rem igitur
in medio relinquemus.
Ah, ah. Nice one, Francis! All the chivalrous grace of an English dandy.
It appears that the pater patriae didn't get too far into Latin and
Greek (maybe didn't even open the door).
Ed