Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, December 12, 1917 by Various
page 26 of 54 (48%)
page 26 of 54 (48%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
into Latin in two or three words the old cricket adjuration, 'Play the
game.'" He has already had some suggestions, including "_Lude ludum_," from "an eminent scholar," but, like the late Mr. TOOLE in one of his most famous songs, still he is not happy. In rendering colloquial phrases into the lapidary style of ancient Rome, I confess it is often hard to improve on the brevity of the vernacular, though the admonition "to keep your end up" can be condensed from four words to two in "_sursum cauda_." Again the familiar eulogy, "Stout fellow," can be rendered in a single word by the Virgilian epithet "_bellipotens_." A distinguished Latinist recalls in this context the sentiment of the writer, Pomponius Caninus:-- _Rebus in adversis comitem sors prospera pinguem_ _Det mihi._ And to the same authority I am indebted for the following version of "Don't speak to the man at the wheel:"-- _O silete, circumstantes_ _Nautas rotam operantes._ Though Latin is tottering at our schools it occasionally pops up in unexpected places. For example, not very long ago I heard a popular comedian introduce his family motto and translate it for the benefit of a music-hall audience. Latin quotations, even from HORACE, have gone out of fashion in the Houses of Parliament. Perhaps they will revive on the stage. The unfair preference for Greek shown by doctors in the nomenclature of disease is perhaps to be explained by the |
|