Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-12-29
A SQUAEBLE IN LATIN.
Odd Dispute Born of the Kaiscr'r
Message to the President.


Message to the President.
One of the sad sad things in this
beautiful world is tn" way scholars
Latin scholars fight with one another.
Latin aS everybody knows. is dead
language Not subject to the mouth
ings Of the vulgar. classic Latin has re-
manned unaltcrcd and unchanged for
thousands of years. Thus. if Span
lard knows his cicero. his Horace and
his Virgil hut not Danish he can make
himself intcliigihl" To the Dane who
knows no Spanish. but does know his
Nirgii Horace and Cicero. Latin Is
therefore used AS the medium in which
to write nbstr,sc scientific works. Be
inG in Latin, they are intclligible to
the men of science of the whole world.
Being in Latin. they are not subject TO
the fluctuations in the meanings of
words To- which all spoken languages
arc subject. such is the pretty theory.
But in practice the ease stands differ
entity. In practice no two IatinistS are
ever able to agree on "A single Latin
sentence. Let scholar crawl painful
~ NJ Shaky ladder to inscribc on the
facade of Il public building Latin
motto. and all his scholastic brethren
begin to hurl ut him hard rocks of crit
icism and vegetables of contempt. You
can bet on il. II never fails. And the
kaiscr's message to the Wpsident is a
fine case in point. As tie scientists
say 1T is Il beautiful specimen What
the kaiser wrote was "rrlum quod bo-
mum felix faustumque sit populo Amer
lean" Instantly tho word sharps leap
ed upon ii with unholy joy. Professor
H. \. Sill Of Cornell devoted half Il col
umn in the New York Post-practically
the organ of the universities to an cX-
egcsS Professor y. W. H.. in tho
same journal. says that the word tuum
puzzled him considerably. Professor
james q. CroSwcll contributes a stick
full of menty comment and remarks in
conclusion. Il forbear To translate. feel
ing that there are too many dangers in
ambush cautious man. Professor V
Y. of Brooklyn writes, 1T is evident
that the slightly altered form Of the
we'll known Roman formula has led
many of our minds astray as to the i'm
pcrial meaning" He suggests that 4
comma be placed after honum and that
est be supplied. Professor Charles
II. Ward of Columbia wants to know
'why all this pother about the kaiser's
Latin: 1t is perfectly good and simple
May that be thine which is we'll hap
| py and fortunate for the American
people," Professor H. thinks Profess
or Wards translation is mot good
sense" and suggests the addition OF
Id, est. comma, the transpositioI
Of quOd and the alteration of Aneri
can To Americana. And finally. the
! Rev. Theodore G. Williams remarks
How hard il is to write good Latin
We quite agree with him in view OF
| the exhibits.
| This sort of thing happens every
time Even Secretary Hay was caugh
mapping the other day He said in
speech on Roosevelt that many gren
men besides the hero of San Iuai
have been soldiers. Even IIorac,
! could say. "Militavi non sine gloria.
| But n gentleman in the rear rises t
remark that it was in no bloody affrn,
that Horace fought not without glory
but in the sweet wars of love. tn.
couplet runs:
Wiki puclis nuper idoncus
Et militavi non sine gloria.
and Michael Monahan neatly construc
It:
| ! have been n slick fellow with the girls
And have fought with glory In the wars q
Venus.
So apparently there are pitfalls ev
eryWherc for the feet of the l.atinist
And what II commentary on scholar
ship when a dozen Of the "Gelehrtc
quarrel and iabbcr over Il single sim
pie sentence. After all is it any won
der that the plain man of affairs view
the scholar with Il trace of c0ntcmp
and all his ways with more than
trace of superior and satisfied amuse
ment?-Argonaut