Giovenale traslation

[Robert Stonehouse]

Pippo <lgma...@tin.it> wrote:

>Is there anybody who knows the right english translation of Giovenale
>words from Satire V, 15, vv 131-133? "Mollissima corda humano generi
>dare se Natura fatetur, quae lacrimas dedit; haec nostri pars optima
>sensus".

Try this:
'Nature makes it obvious that she gives the human race merciful
hearts, for she gave tears; this is the best part of the human
disposition.'

This means taking 'sensus' in Lewis and Short's meaning II:
'feeling, sentiment, emotion, affection; sense, understanding,
capacity; humor, inclination, disposition, frame of mind, etc.'

A.E.Housman, however, thought this impossible and so put a full stop
after 'optima', leaving 'this is the best part of us', and making
'sensus' part of the next sentence.
ew...@bcs.org.uk