@wildflower92490,
Quote:Ridebis, et rideas.
You will laugh, and let you laugh.
This simply means I know you'll laugh at this and you are welcome
to do so.
Quote:Ego, ille quem cognovisti, apros tres pulcherrimos cepi. "Ipse
cepisti?" inquis.
I,????, seized three very beautiful boards. "Did I myself capture
them?" you ask.
"Ille quem cognovisti", "he whom you have known well" plus the explicit
use of "Ego" is meant to emphasize that the writer did what follows
even though it is out of character for him.
He "captured boars", not "seized boards".
Quote:Ipse cepi; non tamen ita feci ut ab quiete mea discederem. Ad retia
eram;
I myself seized; nevertheless I did not do so to depart from my
rest. I was at the nets;
Ipse cepi again empahasizes that he himself captured them.
He goes on to say that he didn't do this to change his usual idle
ways, that is, he hasn't turned into an outdoorsman.
Quote:habebam non venabulum sed stylum; cogitabam de aliquo scribebamque,
ut—si vacuas manus reportarem—plenas tamen tabellas reportarem.
I did not have a hunting lance but a pen; I did not think about
someone and I was writing, in order that, if I report empty hands, I
might nevertheless report full writing tablets.
While he was waiting at the nets, the nets he would use to capture the
boars, he wasn't holding his hunting spear, but a pen. Once again, he
emphasizes that he is at heart a writer, not a hunter. He says that
even if he came back with empty hands, his notebook would at least be
full.
Quote:Hoc studium tibi non culpandum est; nunc cognosco quomodo animus
corpore moto excitetur.
This study must not be censured by you; I now know in what way the
spirit is stirred up by an aroused body.
He is saying don't think any less of me for studying this way - I've
found that bodily exercise stimulates the mind.
Quote:Arbores enim et illud silentium, quod mihi aucupanti datur, magna
beneficia scriptori sunt.
Even the trees and that silence which is given to....
. . . me as I lie in wait are of great service to an author.
So, what motivated you to read Pliny?
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace