Ducentesimum Septimum Decimum Latinum Verbum Diei: July 18, 2010

[Christina Wallin]

Theme for this month: Dilecta verba

blanditia, blanditiae f.

Definition: flattery, blandishments; charm, allurement

Sententia: Propertius' Elegies, IX.29-31

quisquis es, assiduas a fuge blanditias!

illis et silices et possint cedere quercus,

nedum tu possis, spiritus iste leuis.


Whoever you are, flee from unremitting flatteries! To these flatteries
both flint and oak are able to yield, so much more you, [comprised of]
that brittle spirit, are able to yield.

Sextus Propertius was a poet in the first century C.E. With Vergil,
he shared Maecenas as a patron. His existent work consists of the
Elegies, divided into 4 books of poetry written entirely in elegaic
couplets. This particular poem is his 9th poem, in the 1st
book, in which he is speaking to Ponticus, one who has just fallen in
love. Propertius is warning Ponticus of the suffering and lack of
freedom involved in love. However, this is a horrible summary!
Instead, you should read the poem itself, which I think is hilarious:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0067%3Abook%3D1%3Apoem%3D9.
The link is the English translation, but usefully the Latin is also
available from the same source, the Perseus Project.

“Blanditia” was found in Ovid's Amores, on the old AP Ovid-Catullus
syllabus. It is a favored word of Propertius as well.
Etymologically, it comes from “blandus,” “coaxing/flattering/
charming,” + “ia,” an ending to change the word into a noun. The
etymology of “blandus” is not certain.