Latin

[Peter Bostock]

At 22:11 4/03/99 +0100, you wrote:
><snip>
>
>Care Baro,
>Libellus tuus est iactura probosa pellium papyrique et sententiae tuae
>indignae etiam plebecula humillima sunt. Si imperator essem*, tum tu
>eiectus in exilium vitam reliquam miserrime degeres scribens Philippicas
>acerbas in frustra corticis in gurgustio male olenti apud Dalmatas.

* add the following:  (qualis vita priore fui, ut tua fortasse intersit
cognoscere)

And for those like me who 'understand' Botanical Latin but are not fluent in
any way in any form of conversational Latin, here is Henry's translation
((c) Henricus Barbatus, 1991)

Dear Blockhead,

Your publication is a scandalous waste of animal hides and papyrus reeds,
and your views are unworthy of even the lowliest rabble. If I were emperor
[and it may interest you to know that in a previous life I was], you'd be
sent into exile and spend the rest of your miserable days scribbling bitter
diatribes on bits of bark in a smelly hovel in Dalmatia.

or to put it another way,

Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

>Who said that Latin is dead?
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>Jan Bosselaers

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Peter D. Bostock, Senior Botanist, Queensland Herbarium, Brisbane
pbostock at ozemail.com.au (also peter.bostock at env.qld.gov.au)
Web http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pbostock (TRANSLAT Bot.
Latin translation program (freeware) available at web site)