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Besides 'tis known he could speak Greek
As naturally as pigs squeak;
That Latin was no more read more
Besides 'tis known he could speak Greek
As naturally as pigs squeak;
That Latin was no more difficile
That to a blackbird 'tis to whistle.
Everything is Greek, when it is more shameful to be ignorant of
Latin.
[Lat., Omnia Graece!
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Everything is Greek, when it is more shameful to be ignorant of
Latin.
[Lat., Omnia Graece!
Cum sit turpe magis nostris nescire Latine.]
Away with him, away with him! He speaks Latin.
Away with him, away with him! He speaks Latin.
. . . Philologists, who chase
A painting syllable through time and space
Start it at home, read more
. . . Philologists, who chase
A painting syllable through time and space
Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark,
To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's Ark.
I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,
Which melts like kisses from a female mouth.
I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,
Which melts like kisses from a female mouth.
Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of
the two!
Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of
the two!
For though to smatter ends of Greek
Or Latin be the rhetoric
Of pedants counted, and vain-glorious,
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For though to smatter ends of Greek
Or Latin be the rhetoric
Of pedants counted, and vain-glorious,
To smatter French is meritorious.
- Samuel Butler (1),
A Babylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect.
A Babylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect.
He Greek and Latin speaks with greater ease
Than hogs eat acorns, and tame pigeons peas.
He Greek and Latin speaks with greater ease
Than hogs eat acorns, and tame pigeons peas.