Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-02-04
A SQUABBLE IN LATIN.
odd Dispute Born of the kaiser's
Message TO the President.


One of the sad. sad things i'm this
beautiful world is the way scholars
Latin scholars-fight with one another.
Latin. as everybody knows. is dead
language. Not subject TO tire mouth
ings of the vulgar. classic Latin has re-
manned unaltered and unchanged for
thousands of years. Thus if Il Span
lard knows his Cicero. his Horace and
his Virgil but not Danish. he can make
himself ineligible TO the Dane who
knows no Spanish. but does know his
Virgil. Horace and Cicero. Latin is
therefore used as the medium in which
to write abstruse scientific works. Be
ing in Latin. they are ineligible 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
are subject. Such is the pretty theory.
But in practice the case stands differ
emily. In practice no two Latinists are
ever able to agree on n single Latin
sentence. Let a scholar crawl painful
" up shaky ladder to inscribe on the
a
motto. and all his scholastic brethren
begin To hurl at him hard rocks of crit
icism and vegetables of contempt. lou
can bet on it, 1t never fails. And the
kaiser's message to the president Is a
fine case in point. AS the scientists
say. 1T is beautiful specimen" What
the kaiser wrote was ''Tuum quod boz
mum felix faustumque sit populo Amer
lean" Instantly the word sharps leap
ed upon ii with unholy joy. Professor
ii. 4. Sill of Cornell devoted half col
umn in the New York Post-practically
the organ of the universities-to an ex-
egesis. Professor y. W. H.. in the
same journal. says that the word tuum
puzzled him considerably. Professor
James G. Croswell contributes a stick
full of meaty comment and remarks in
conclusion. II forbear TO translate. feel
ing that there are too many dangers in
ambush" Cautious mani Professor "
V. of Brooklyn writes. 1T is evident
that the slightly altered form of the
well known Roman formula has led
many of our minds astray as TO the i'm
comma be placed after bonum and that
est be supplied. Professor Charles
III. Ward of Columbia wants to know
why all this pother about the kaiser's
Latin? 1t is perfectly good and simple,
May that he thine which is well. hap
py and fortunate for the American
people," Professor III. thinks Profess
mr.. lnfi
sense" and suggests the addition of
i'll. est, a comma. the transposition
Of quod and the alteration of Ameri-
can TO Americana. And. finally. the
Rev. Theodore c. Williams remarks.
How hard ii 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 caught
mapping the other day He said in
speech on Roosevelt that many great
men besides the hero of San Juan
have been soldiers Even Horace
could say. Militant non sine gloria"
But gentleman in the rear rises to
remark that it was in no bloody ARRAY
that Horace fought. not without glory,
but in the sweet wars of love The
couplet runs:
Wiki puellis nuper idoneus
Eft militavi non sine gloria.
and Michael Monahan neatly CONSTITUTES
it:
I have been a slick fellow with the girls
And have fought with glory in the wars OF
Venus.
So apparently there are pitfalls ev-
erywhere for the feet of the Latinist
And what a commentary on scholar
ship when a dozen of the "Gelehrte'
quarrel and jabber over a single sim
pie sentence, After all. is it any won
der that the plain man of affairs views
the scholar with a trace of contempt
and all his ways with more than a
trace of superior and satisfied amuse-
ment?-Argonaut.
when Don Carlos Nodded.