Publius V. Maro et al. (was: Translation question)

At 7:22 pm +0100 7/12/00, Mikael Johansson wrote:
[....]
>
>Praenomen Nomen gentis Cognomen
Quite - and because the Romans (generally) used this three-name system,
some wit this side of the Atlantic will every so often "Americanize" Roman
names   :)

>Thus
>
>Marcus Tullius Cicero was one of the Tullians, his first name was Marcus
>(they had some 6-8 names for each gender, and after taht went on numbering
>them -- thus Quintus Horatius Flaccus...), and his Cognomen was Cicero
>(possibly his _branch_ of the Tullians).
Yep - "Marcus T. Cicero" is still recognizable, but "Quintus H. Flaccus"
causes puzzlement.

>Gaius Iulius Caesar was of the Iulians (who traced back to Aeneas himself,
>and thus to Venus), of the _branch_ called Caesar due to the voluminous
>hair.
Yes, Gaius J. Caesar, the inventor of the Caesar Salad  :)

And the tradition of the Julian descent from Iulus, son of Aeneas, son of
Venus, daughter of Jupiter (Wow - what ancestry!) is told in the well-known
works of one Publius V. Maro.

Ray.

PS - I know there was another tradition that Venus was born from the foam
of the sea after it was impregnated by the genitals of Saturn, cut of and
thrust there by his son Jupiter.  But the tradition of Publius V. Maro and,
presumably, the Julians was that Venus was the daughter of Jupiter & Dione.



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A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
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