We are in the home stretch 5 week mark of Beginning Latin. Before handing us over to another teacher for Intermediate 1 next Monday (yikes!), Mauer has decided to make things extra painful, just so we’ll remember him always:)
Since we have finished the entire Latin book, we are now just translating random pieces of Virgil, Pliny and Cicero that he decides to give us. Our daily quizzes are also harder- the only guideline he gives is that he will randomly pick 15 verbs from the entire passage and require us not only to give all 4 principal parts, but to give the voice, mood, tense and meaning. Seeing as there are 60+ verbs per passage, this makes studying rather challenging.
He has also decided to increase the liveliness of his insults on our intelligence. One day he told us we were so bad at grammar, there wasn’t a planet in the universe fit for us. Another day when someone “perversely misconstrued” the meaning of a sentence, he told him the only option left was a Roman suicide. Last week, he told us that all of our heads should be cut off and mounted on spikes as a warning to those who didn’t understand Latin grammar.
In spite of it all, I am still enjoying it. Last night we had to translate a letter that Pliny wrote to the emperor of Rome, asking him what course of action he should take against the Christians. This is an exciting passage, as it is from around 100 AD and one of the earliest accounts/descriptions we have of the Early Church, even the first worship service and mention of women who held some sort of deacon position (no one really knows what the word “minister” means in ancient texts, so don’t go bring this argue with someone about why women should be pastors!).
Here it is, if you would like to read it:
Written by Pliny (the younger) to the Emperor of Rome:
1. mos est mihi, domine, omnia, de quibus dubito, ad te referre. Quis enim potest melius vel cunctationem meam regere vel ignorantiam docere? Cognitionibus de Christianis interfui numquam et nescio quid et quatenus aut poenas dare soleat aut quaeri. Et multum haesitavi, num sit discrimen aetatum, an teneri nullo modo a robustioribus differant; num detur paenitentiae venia, an eum, qui omnino Christianus fuit, desisse non adiuvet; num nomen ipsum, si scelere careat, an scelera nomini iuncta poenas dent.
1. It is my custom, master, that I refer all things which I hesitate about to you [the emperor]. For who can better guide my hesitation or teach my ignorance? I have never been present at the judicial inquiry concerning the Christians, and I do not know what is the custom for them to be punished or how far for them to be questioned. I have hesitated much, whether there should be a discrimination of the ages, where the delicate should not differ from the more robust, whether pardon should be given to penitence, or whether it does not help him who has ceased being a Christian; whether the name itself, even if it lacks fault or any faults associated with the name, should be punished.
2. interim, in eis qui ad me tamquam Christiani deferebantur, hunc modum tenui. Interrogavi, ipsos num essent Christiani: id confitentes iterum ac tertio tempore interrogavi, poenas minutus: eos perserverantes iussi. Hoc enim mihi certum videbatur: qualecunque esset quod faterentur, certe, pertinacia et inflexibilis obstinatio debet poenas dare. Fuerunt alii similis dementiae, quos, quod cives Romani erant, designavi in urbem remittendos esse. Mox, ipsa cognitione crimen ita se diffundebat, ut plures eius species invenirem. Propositus est libellus sine auctore multorum nomina continens. Alii negabant esse se Christianos aut fuisse; qui, quando praeeunte me does appellarent, et imagini tuae ture ac vino supplicarent, et denique male dicerent Christo (quorum nihil posse cogi dicuntur qui sunt veri Christiani). dimittendos esse putavi. Alii, ab indice nominati, esse se Christianos dixerunt et mox negaverunt: fuisse quidem, sed desisse, quidam ante triennium, quidam ante plures annos, non-nemo ante viginti. Hi quoque omnes et imaginem tuam deorumque simulacra venerati sunt et Christo maledixerunt.
2. In the case of those men who were reported to me as Christians, I kept this manner: I have interrogated those men themselves that they are Christians: a second time, and then again I interrogated, threatening punishment. If they persisted, I ordered them to be executed. For this thing seems sure to me; whatsoever thing it is, what is confessed, certainly stubbornness and insolence should be punished. There have been others of a similar madness, who because they were Roman citizens, I have designated should be sent back to the city. Soon, the crime was so spread by the judicial inquiry itself that I found many kinds of it. There was put before me a little pamphlet containing the names of many people [who were Christians]. Others denied that they were or had been Christians, who, with me going first, called on the gods and supplicated your image with incense and wine, and finally they cursed Christ (those who are real Christians are said to be able to be compelled to do NONE of these things) and I thought that they should be released. Others, having been named by the informer to be Christians, soon denied it, saying that they stopped before a certain 3 year period, some many years ago. They also have venerated your image and the likeness of the gods and have cursed Christ.
3. Affirmabant autem hanc fuisse summam vel culpae suae vel erroris: stato die ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo, quasi deo, dicunt secum invicem, et se sacramento obstringere, non in scelus, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria committerent; ne fidem fallerent; ne depositum appellati abnegarent. Quibus actis, mos sibi discendendi est, et rursus conveniunt ut capiant cibum, promiscuum tamen et innoxium. Quod ipsum facere desiverunt post edictum meum, quo, post mandata tua, hetaerias esse vetueram. Ergo, magis esse necessarium credidi ex duabus ancillis, quae ministrae esse dicebantur, quid esset verum et per tormenta quaerere. Sed nihil aliud inveni quam superstitionem depravam et immodicam.
3. Moreover, they used to affirm that theirs was highest, whether of their own blame or errors; and on a set day they come together before dawn, say a poem to Christ, as if to God, taking turns among themselves, and binding themselves to an oath, not in wickedness, but not by theft, not robbery, not committing adultery; not deceiving the faith; that if they were to be asked they would not deny that they were overpaid. And when these things had been done, they have the habit of leaving, and again then they come together to take a meal- but a public one, nevertheless, and harmless. And they had even stopped doing this very thing after my edict, by which, after your mandate, I had forbidden these clubs to be. Therefore, I have believed it to be more necessary to question about that which is true and even torture two maids who were said to be ministers. But I have found nothing other than depraved and exaggerated superstitions.
4. In cognitione igitur tam difficile, te consulere mihi optimum visum est. Visa est enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter periclitantium numerum. Multi enim omnis aetatis, monis ordinis, utriusque sexus etiam, vocantur in periculum et vocauntur. Neque solas civitates sed etiam vicos atque agros superstitionis istius contagio tetigit; quae videtur sisti et corrigi posse. Certe videtur templa iam desolata coepisse celebrari, et sacra sollemnia diu intermissa repeti, et pastum venire victamarum, cuius adhuc rarissimus emptor inveniebatur. Ex quo facile est videre, quae turba hominum emendari possit, si sit paenitentiae locus.
4. Therefore, in the judicial inquiry so difficult, what seems best to me is to consult you. It has seemed to me a thing worthy of consultation, especially on account of the number who are in danger. For many of every age, of every rank, and even of either sex, are being and will be called into danger. The contamination of those superstitions has touched not only citizens but also villages and farms; which seems to be able to be stopped and to be corrected. Certain temples, already desolate, have begun to be thronged, and the usual rites which had long been interrupted are now being pursued, and the fodder of victims has begun to come, of which only the rarest buyer used to be found. And from this it’s easy to see what a crowd of people is able to be corrected if there will be granted room for repentance.
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