Nicola Gardini
Author of Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language
About the Author
Image credit: Photo by Paola Polzella, from NDBooks.com
Works by Nicola Gardini
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Statistics
- Works
- 25
- Members
- 335
- Popularity
- #71,019
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 11
- ISBNs
- 52
- Languages
- 6
I have long thought of myself as a scholar, and particularly look back at high school Latin with fondness, even though I was not smart enough to continue my studies beyond two years. It seemed that further study would mark me for the priesthood. The author is passionate about Latin. He guides the reader through the styles of authors from Livy to Augustine, and explains the development of the language.
P 87 [about Lucretius] "Life therefore organizes itself in the universe - and here's the interpretive paradigm - just as language organizes itself on the page"
P 171 [Petronius writing about farting in the The Satyricon] "Nemo nostrum solide natus est. Ego nullum puto tam magnum tormentum esse quam continere. Hoc solum vetare ne Iovis potest" (None of us was born solid. I can think of no greater torment than holding it in. Its the one thing that even Jupiter cannot prevent)
P 203 [Juvenal on Fortune] "Monstro quod ipse tibi possis dare; semita certe tranquillae per virtutem patet unica vitae. Nullem numen habes, si sit prudentia: nos te, nos facimus, Fortuna, deam caeloque locamus" (What I propose can be had on your own; the path is one that leads by virtue to a peaceful life. There are no other gods, when you have wisdom. It's we, dear Fortune, we who make you a goddess, and prop you up in the sky"
P 208 [Lucretius] "Venus simulacris ludit amantis, nec satiare queunt spectando corpora coram nec manibus quicquam teneris abradere membris possunt errantes incerti corpore toto" (So in love, Venus taunts lovers with ghosts, and they cannot sate their bodies by looking - though they are near - nor can they draw anything from the supple limbs as they grope aimlessly across the other's body)
P 215 [Propertius] "...solus ero, quoniam non licet esse tuum" (I'll be alone, if I cannot be yours)… (more)