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#22034 03/14/01 04:34 PM
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Scribbler's mea culpa

Scribblere certior facto, as Caesar used to say, he does just fine for an old guy.

For all you Latin fans who say how much you enjoyed reading Caesar, I thought he came off sounding like a pompous ass. I enjoyed Cicero, but there are lots of Latin geeks who consider him one of the world's great bores. My idea of the world's greatest bore is Livy.


#22035 03/14/01 05:48 PM
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A pompous ass indeed! Yes, I would agree with that as well... yet, the pompous ass told stories of discovering foreign lands, their peoples and traditions, setting up camps in dark forests and of course those gory battles. Translating all of that was a fascinating to me, I felt as if I were establishing a unique link between the history of 2000 years ago and my own history. Having said that, some of the descriptions of the battles were graphic enough to make us all queasy in the classroom!




#22036 03/14/01 09:25 PM
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And he studiously avoided "I" and "me".


#22037 03/17/01 11:22 AM
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Actually, Julius was a liar. Uderzo and Goscinny have written the definitive history of Roman Gaul and it was divided into four parts. Sorry folks!



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#22038 03/17/01 02:06 PM
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And if the Gauls had been consulted, they would have divided it into a dozen parts.


#22039 03/17/01 03:39 PM
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Gaius Julius said that? Only three parts? Of all the gall!



#22040 03/17/01 04:02 PM
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But Caesar beat the ass off Pompey.


#22041 03/17/01 04:34 PM
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Since we have multiple translators aBoard, can anyone help w/ the following quotes? I believe I have stated them correctly. There is a book of modern vintage (a "pony" !!!!???) if help is needed. These are rather difficult.

"In curro meo ab Officina Baiuoaria Mechanica fabricato habeo machinam quae litteras per aethera transmittit."

"Meum balineum calidum verticosum cum aqua scintillante fontana Gallica impletum est. "


I'll cite authority to any wishing to have it.


#22042 03/17/01 04:54 PM
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I get the idea the first one is talking about radio, and the second about having a shower bath, but can't get some of the details.


#22043 03/18/01 01:19 AM
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In curro meo ab Officina Baiuoaria Mechanica fabricato habeo machinam quae litteras per aethera transmittit.

Well, I've had a crack at it. It ain't good Latin as far as I can tell {"fabricato habeo"?) But Bill's at least partly right about radio, or maybe it just presages the air mail service!

Here's what I get literally:

In (or "Because of") the hurry to get out of (or just "leave"?) the "Baiuoarian Mechnical"(?) office (or "factory"?) I build I have (I have built?)a machine which transmits messages through the air.

Neither "Baiuoaria" nor "Mechanica" appear in either of my Latin dictionaries - possibly a deficiency but probably because Baiuoaria is a name. Whatever, it's not from the classical period. Leonardo perhaps?

Give, Scribbler!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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