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Dear Language Enthusiast,

Greetings from Transparent Language!  As we approach the year 2000 many questions arise around the issues of Y2K, as well as cultural and religious responses to the new millennium. Here at Transparent Language, Inc. we thought this would be a good opportunity to review what Cicero says about cosmic divisions of time in the "Dream of Scipio." A Latin excerpt appears below, with the English following it.

Incidentally, "millennium" is not a classical Latin word-- it is a modern coinage dating back to the early 17th century. The ancient Romans did not presume to organize aeons the way they organized their armies.

Our thanks to everyone who responded to the contest last month, and our congratulations to the three winners: Gabija Blotzer, Stephen Felder, and Anonymous. We enjoyed reading all of your entries (one of which was entirely in Latin!) and wish we could have given a prize to everyone who correctly identified the catastrophes, which are listed near the bottom of this newsletter. There will be another contest next month.

Sincerely,
Richard Welland Crowell, PhD
Latin Editor

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latine:

Cicero: De Re Publica, Book VI: Somnium Scipionis (fragmentum)

Homines enim populariter annum tantum modo solis, id est unius astri, reditu metiuntur; cum autem ad idem, unde semel profecta sunt, cuncta astra redierint eandemque totius caeli discriptionem longis intervallis rettulerint, tum ille vere vertens annus appellari potest; in quo vix dicere audeo quam multa hominum saecula teneantur.

Namque ut olim deficere sol hominibus exstinguique visus est, cum Romuli animus haec ipsa in templa penetravit, quandoque ab eadem parte sol eodemque tempore iterum defecerit, tum signis omnibus ad principium stellisque revocatis expletum annum habeto; cuius quidem anni nondum vicesimam partem scito esse conversam.

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In English:

Cicero: On the Republic, Book 6: The Dream of Scipio (excerpt)

Human beings commonly measure the year by the return of the sun-- a single star. But when all the stars together shall have returned to the same place where they started out, and, after long intervals, shall have assumed identical positions across the entire sky, then the revolving Year can truly be said to have come full circle-- a Year in which I can scarcely bring myself to say how many generations of men are contained.

For as in olden days the sun appeared to abandon humanity and to be eclipsed at the time when the soul of Romulus gained entrance to the sacred places of the sky-- whenever the sun shall have been eclipsed once more in the same location in space and time, then and only then, with all the constellations and the stars having been recalled to the starting point, should you deem the Year to have been fulfilled. And know this: the fact of the matter is that the twentieth part of that Year has not elapsed. (Translated by R. Crowell)

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Contest Results
Here the the Q's and A's from last month's contest:

1. August 24, 79 A.D., Campania: the eruption of Vesuvius.
2. March 15, 44 B.C., Rome: the assassination of Julius Caesar.
3. 216 B.C., Apulia: Hannibal destroys the Roman army at Cannae.
4. July 18, 64 A.D., Rome: the great fire.
5. 166 A.D., the entire Roman empire: a horrible plague begins.
6. 390 B.C., Rome: the city is sacked by the Gauls.*
7. 146 B.C., Corinth: the city is destroyed by Lucius Mummius.

* One astute customer pointed out that Oxford dates this event at 387 B.C.

Among those who got all the answers right were: Joe Beltran, Sara Johnson and Manuel Nunes. When you enter the next contest, be sure to let us know if we have permission to use your name.