Re: Translation question

At 8:06 pm -0500 4/12/00, DOUGLAS KOLLER wrote:
>A resend, since my last message was dated last year:
>
>Hi Ray --
Hi Douglas,

As the message got sent publically by mistake, I thought it a mite unfair
on any Conlanger who read the mail & wondered what the Latin meant not to
see the reply.

Hope you don't mind.

[snip]

>off on me. I have no idea since the grammar, for me, dissolves mid-sentence.
It does, doesn't it?

And the last word ain't Latin - The Latin _neuter_ cannot possibly, depite
all the cases, both singular & pural in all three genders, yield _neutron_.
Thinks: When were neutrons first mentioned?

>Here's the quote:
>
>"Faber est suae quisque fortunae addius Claudius caecus dictum arcanum est
>neutron."
>
>A translation and a demi-parse, please?
>
>One gets the impression this is a famous quote but...
Well the first part is:
Faber est suae quisque fortunae
"Every man (quisque [nom.sing]) is the fashioner (faber) of his own fortune."
SALLUST, Ad Caeserem senem de re publica oratio, 1

More strictly, Sallust quotes the words in the accusative & infinitive
form, saying that Appius had once said in his verses: "faber est suae
quisque fortunae".

As written by Sallust it reads:
Sed res docuit id uerum esse, quod in carminibus Appius ait, fabrum esse
suae quemque fortunae, atque in te maxume, qui tantum alios praegressus es,
ut prius defessi sunt homines laudando facta tua quam tu laude digna
faciundo.

"But experience has taught that this is true, which Appius said in his
verses, that everyman is the fashioner of his own fortune; and [it is]
especially [true] of you who have surpassed others to such an extent that
people are sooner wearied in praising your deeds than you are in doing
deeds worthy of [their] praise" - said Sallust to Caesar.

Note the archaisms, e.g. _maxume_ for the later _maxime; _faciundo_ for
later _faciendo_.

>What's 'addius'?
Good question. It must surely be a typo for 'Appius'.

Appius Claudius Caecus [praenomen + nomen + cognomen] was consul in 307 BC
and is one of the earliest known Latin writers.   He composed _Sententiae_
(proverbs) in the pre-classical 'Saturnian' meters in imitation of
Pythagorus' "Golden Verses".

>Why
>is Claudius leaping about in the sentence?
Not leaping - just being quoted (and it's not the famous Emperor, see above)

>Is this something Newton said?
I think not.

If it weren't for that final _neutron_ , I'd suggest:

'Everyman is the fashioner of his own fortune': Appius Claudius Caecus - a
mysterious saying.

But that neutron eludes me.

Any Conlanger got any ideas?  John?  Philip?

Ray.



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A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                   [J.G. Hamann 1760]
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