Help with translations

[Dark Muse]

I got these from a book I recently started reading called The Quincunx and was currious if anyone could translate, I tried looking it up online but couldn't find anything really.

This is a quote from Quntilian, a scholar of Rhetoric in Anceint Rome

Quid Quincunce speciosius, qui, in quamcunque partem spectaveris, rectus est?

And this is a family motto from a Coat of Arms within the book

Tuta Rosa Coram Spinis

[pagebypage]

Tuta Rosa Coram Spinis literally:

"all * rose * in the presence of * thorns" so a basic translation would be

"all roses have thorns" or "every rose has thorns".


Quid Quincunce speciosius, qui, in quamcunque partem spectaveris, rectus est?

In the Institutio Oratoria I found it as:


Quid illo quincunce speciosius qui, in quamcunque partem spectaveris, rectus est?

What fairer sight is there than rows of trees planted in echelon which present straight lines to the eye from whatever angle they be viewed?

I can't translate complex Latin anymore. I haven't done it for decades and I've lost all my vocabulary so I cheated a little (well quite a bit :)) and found you a source with an English translation.

THE INSTITUTIO ORATORIA OF QUINTILIAN
(http://www.archive.org/stream/institutioorator03quinuoft/institutioorator03quinuoft_djvu.txt)
Book VIII, m. 9. Just search the page using "rectus est" and you'll find it. The following block will have the English translation.

[Dark Muse]

Thanks a lot

[pagebypage]

Glad to help. I never read the book. Let me know if it is worth the read.

Just for something to do, my own translations of the rest of the family mottoes:

Mompesson: Cancerata pereat rosa "The heat of summer withers the rose."

Clothier: Devant si je puis, en crabe si je dois "Forward if I can, sideways if I must."

Palphramond: Devant si je puis, pour gagner la rose "Forward if I can: to win the rose."

Maliphant: Nulla rosa sine spinis "There isn't a rose without a thorn."

[Dark Muse]

oh cool

[Nick Capozzoli]

I got these from a book I recently started reading called The Quincunx and was currious if anyone could translate, I tried looking it up online but couldn't find anything really.

This is a quote from Quntilian, a scholar of Rhetoric in Anceint Rome

Quid Quincunce speciosius, qui, in quamcunque partem spectaveris, rectus est?

Literally, this translates to: "What is more spectacular than [Or "How spectacular is"] a Quincunx, that, from whatever side you view it, is straight."

The Quincunx is an arrangement of five objects in a pattern identical to the five spots on dice. and there was a Roman coin which displayed this figure. It was a pattern into which trees were planted in orchards. You can see this pattern from the roadside in orchards and vineyards throughout the world. Driving by these in an automobile, you can see the lines shift, always straight.

Actually I think this is a perceptual "Gestalt" thing, reflecting our human tendency to seek out and revel in patterns that bring order to apparent disorder and complexity. The Romans were preoccupied with and quite good at this, and they loved rectilinearity. You can see it in the layout of their roads and other big public works projects, like the aqueducts, and in smaller scale productions, like the layout of their homes and gardens. That is what Quintilian wanted to say. The Quincunx of five trees (or whatever) provided a unit that could be added up to create a massive structure that was beautiful to behold from any angle of view. They carried this view of order ro things besides orchards, gardens, and public works to things like the structure of their armies in battle.

Nick