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April 14, 2009
How Can I Go On Without A Reference?
I was going to make fun of the last five or six words of this quotation on books:
. . . welcome, assiduous companions, always ready to appear in public or go back in their box at your order, always disposed to speak or be silent, to stay at home or make a visit to the woods, to travel or abide in the country, to gossip, joke, encourage you, comfort your, advise you, reprove you, and take care of you, to teach you the world's secrets, the records of great deeds, the rules of life and the scorn of death, moderation in good fortune, fortitude in ill, calmness and constancy in behavior. These are learned, gay, useful, and ready-spoken companions who will never bring you tedium, expense, lamentation, jealous murmurs, or deception.
But how can I follow my plan? I can't find a proper reference. I believe the quotation is from Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) but I'm not even sure exactly how the quotation begins and I'm not sure of its original language. I would guess he wrote it, he indeed did write it, in Latin but Italian is not completely out of the question. I Googled every way I could think of and I couldn't find a proper reference to a specific work. How can I make fun of this quotation without a proper reference?
So if anyone knows the precise reference for this quotation, please let me know. I may do a post on it some day.
Posted by Duane Smith at April 14, 2009 8:11 PM | Read more on Humor |
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Comments
Personally, I refuse to be defeated by machines and this search was abnormally addictive. Perhaps I have OCD, lol. The answer you seek is: Francesco Petrarca. De vita solitaria, Liber secundus, XIV. Language: Latin.
... comites gratos et assiduos, et promptos vel in publicum prodire
... welcome, assiduous companions, always ready to appear in public
vel ad arculam redire cum iusseris, paratosque semper vel tacere vel loqui,
or go back in their box at your order, always disposed to speak or be silent,
et esse domi, et comitari in nemora,
to stay at home or make a visit to the woods,
et peregrinari, et rusticari, et confabulari, et iocari, et hortari,
to travel or abide in the country, to gossip, to joke, to encourage,
et solari, et monere, et arguere, et consulere, et docere secreta rerum,
to comfort, advise you, reprove you, and take care of you, to teach you the world's secrets,
monimenta gestorum, vite regulam mortisque contemptum,
the records of great deeds, the rules of life and the scorn of death,
modestiam in prosperis, fortitudinem in adversis, equabilitatem in actionibus atque constantiam:
moderation in good fortune, fortitude in ill, calmness and constancy in behavior.
comites doctos, letos, utiles ac facundos, sine tedio,
These are learned, gay, useful, and ready-spoken companions who will never bring you tedium,
sine impendio, sine querela, sine murmure, ...
expense, lamentation, jealous murmurs, ...
Live long and prosper.
Posted by: Glen Gordon at April 15, 2009 2:54 AM
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