The sun., 1916-11-08
HERON OF THE HEARNS.
Professor Knapp Of Columbia Helps
Solve the L~atinists' Riddle.

Solve the Latinists' Riddle.
To THE EDITOR OF The SrN-Sir: My
friend and n%eighbor Mr.. John Nick.
Camp called my attention some time ago
to the Latin words. "Virtute non vi ar
dua petit ardea." about which he had
written to you, and with reference to
which YOU printed. early last month. sew
,ial communications. | have n suggestion
TO offer In connection with the interpre-
.ation of these words which some one
with more leisure than ! can command
may lie able to work out in detail.
The Latin word "ardea.' which means
heron ! knew to be very rare. In
fact. tho best available Latin lexicon,
the great "Thesaurus Lingua Latino
gives the word only once from the whole
range OF Latin through the Augustan
Age this is the citation from Nergil.
Georges <" l.. 1863. given early IN oc-
tober by one OF your correspondents. In
that passage Nergil counts II a sign Of
rain when the heron deserts the marshes
Il knows 80 we'll and flies above the
high clouds In Lucan, "Tharsalis'
's 49, 's '"'A'' We - 'N
phenomena which seem TO him omiuous
Of evil II Tx, not the tossing Of the
woods. nor the flashing OF the shore by
the seas. nor the uncertain way IN which
the dolphin challenges the pillows. nor
the fact that the sea gull hugs the dry
ground. nor the fact that the heron has
ycntuied 10 ny aloft, trusting it, swim
miug pinions. Bo,n Nergil and Lucan.
then. agree IN describing the heron as 81
bird hat, under normal circumstances,
clings relatively close 10 the ground. Their
evidence proves the absurdity. by the way.
cf the etymology gwen for "ardea' b"
two ancient Roman scholars they con-
meet the word with "%arduus.' "iigh,'
ard SO make the heron a 'righ filer
Light on the hcyon's a. ing power. 90
pccially tn the matter ~ height. ram ne
got from the article "Falcnnry' N tho
Enryclopedta Hr,tauni,a 4. eleventh cdi.
ton from y, 10 @, 1t - plain that in
b,Ch rs ing -, heron Is nc match Tor
the falcon
The expression under discussion sounds
Hhe - proyerp. and uould tierc-
.pt. have its verb uI tho present
teuNc. petit" not ~ IN" future tense.
'pete',' a. i mad evidently been printed
in THE SIS Nj. camp assured me that
%'I'et.t wl> t., light reading. ! have
since verified his 10y an examination O.:
the monument, There Is no Latin prov
erh about the heron. The words under
. 4 scussiou are OF modern manufacture.
| got my ms hint Of Il proper inter-
probation OF the Lain words Ctrausia.
tlun is easy enough when. IN answer to
Al. - N-
had seen the words. lie saw them in
Woodlawn cemetery, OIL a monument e..
a family named lieain recalled tho
fact that hy-fltms ~ the word heron"
are 'heir." "hearn' and 'hearne" I
thought | saw tn "ardea.' then. = play
II the family name ! had not then
s"'n tie monument, ard | was loath
/" a. 'pt, fully, my own suggestion, be-
cause my feeling rrhc,ied against su,n
= Conceit on a scpulChral monument. es-
pc,ially since the Oddly of the concrit
was REINFORCED by the jingle 'ardua
ardea."
Lately, | saw the monument on a
low stIlObaie Is the inscription, arranged
IN two lines. three words in each line.
Above this * a large bio Il. carrying the
one word "Ilearn' above. again. is a
monolithic shaft. Nothing appears on
the monument save the Inscription and
the one word 'IIearn" Plainly. there
fore, the inscription is meant to apply
to the whole family ,there have been
ON tiN" or six i|nterinents in the plot).
This leads to the thought that the Latin
words constitute family motto that
accompanied a helaldic device in which
= ,.. i,,.,, a-,,I ..l 9 Hr
az a proud family motto, priced by tn.
living members Of the family, and proud
ly transferred to the family tomb. the
words seem less odd indeed, the conc,it
and the jingle both are what We should
expect in such a motto.
1t remains for some one. il there IS
stIll interes, in the subject, to trace the
connection OF the heron with the Hearn
family IN general, and with the particu.
lar Hearn family on whose tomb his in
scrlption appears,
The exact Interpretation OF tn" in
scriptiOn ! cannot give. In the case OF
Latin expressions made To order no Lat
mist, however competent, il ashamed to
: confess that he cannot tell how to in
tcrpret with eXattncss. 1t is usually
necessary In the ease of such contentious
expressions to interview the maker to
ask him what idea he aimed to make the
expression convey. lie In fortunate IL
after that he can see in the Latin that
idea.
In the present instance the general
sense would seem to he that the family
in question won a high place in the
world by sheer force Of character rather
than by 'brute) strength. I see in
VIRTUE" and wi" an antithesis hetween
spiritual and physical qualities. It may
he noted in conclusion that the singular
"Ni' liz apt To have a bad sense, "yio-
lence" rather than "A good meaning.
strength" CHARLES KNAPP.
BARNARD COLLEGE. November 6.