Glossary entry

Latin term or phrase:

Insanire putas sollemnia me neque rides

English translation:

You think I suffer a common madness, and you don't laugh

Added to glossary by Luis Antonio de Larrauri
Feb 17, 2009 10:45
15 yrs ago
Latin term

Insanire putas sollemnia me neque rides

Latin to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Horace
Hi,

Please see
http://www.uah.edu/society/texts/latin/classical/horace/epis...

"Insanire putas sollemnia me neque rides..."

Best wishes,

Simon
Change log

Feb 19, 2009 12:27: Luis Antonio de Larrauri Created KOG entry

Proposed translations

+4
38 mins
Selected

You think I suffer a common madness, and you don't laugh

This is the sense of sollemnia here.
"Ordinary" would do, too.

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Note added at 48 mins (2009-02-17 11:34:14 GMT)
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Here is some explanation I found on the Internet:

101. insanire sollemnia me, 'that my madness is but the
■universal one', an accusative of extent,

http://www.archive.org/stream/qhoratiflacciepi00hora/qhorati...

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-02-17 11:49:58 GMT)
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101. sollemnia, as the Schol. ex-
plains it, ' pro consuetudine cunctorum,'
one more madman in a mad world ; the
doctrine of Sat. 2. 3. For the use of
' sollemnis' cp. Epp. 1. 18. 49, 2. 1. 103;
for the cogn. acc. with ' insanire ' see
Sat. 2. 3. 63.
http://www.archive.org/stream/operaomniawithco02horauoft/ope...

Here there is another translation:
si curatus inaequali tonsore capillos occurri, rides; si forte subucula pexae trita subest tunicae vel si toga dissidet impar, rides: quid mea cum pugnat sententia secum, quod petiit spernit, repetit quod nuper omisit, aestuat et vitae disconvenit ordine toto, diruit aedificat, mutat quadrata rotundis? insanire putas sollemnia me neque rides, nec medici credis nee curatoris egere a praetore dati, rerum tutela mearum cum sis et prave sectum stomacheris ob unguem de te pendentis, te respicientis amici. Ad summam, sapiens uno minor est love, dives, liber, honoratus, pulcher, rex denique regum, praecipue sanus-nisi cum pituita molesta est. If I run into you when my hair is cut unevenly, you laugh; if it happens that the shirt under my brand-new tunic is worn-out, or if my toga, ill-fitting, sits askew, you laugh: what about when my thought is at war with itself, rejects what it sought, seeks again what it just now abandoned, seethes and is out of sync with the entire system of life, when it destroys, builds, changes squares to circles? You think that I rage my usual fits and you neither laugh at me nor think that I'm in need of a doctor or guardian appointed by the praetor, though you are the caretaker of my affairs and get angry over a crookedly cut nail on the friend who depends on you, who looks to you for all. In sum, the wise man is second to Jove alone-he is rich, free, honored, handsome, finally a king of kings, and, particularly, healthy, except when he has a runny nose. (1.1.94–108)
http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:_YFd9FDzvZIJ:www.eschol...


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Note added at 1 hr (2009-02-17 11:59:33 GMT)
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Nevertheless, I think "me" is not "at me", in this case, although it might be. I think "me" is the subject in accusative of "insanire", because
1) the sentence is just following the order of previous affirmative sentences: si curatus inaequali tonsore capillos occurri, rides; si forte subucula pexae trita subest tunicae vel si toga dissidet impar, rides
2) The verb "puto" usually has a subordinate phrase with the subject in accusative when it means "regard, judge": aliquis forsan me putet... (Cicero);
putare deos esse (Cic.)
noli putare me maluisse (don't think I would have prefer..."
Peer comment(s):

agree Péter Jutai
8 mins
Thank you, Péter!
agree Sergey Kudryashov
34 mins
Thank you, Sergey!
agree Sandra Mouton : Agree about "me" being the subject of the infinitive
1 hr
Thank you Sandra!
agree Rebecca Garber
1 hr
Thank you Rebecca!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "many thanks excellent"
+2
31 mins

see explanation

I have found this online translation which seems sound enough.
Peer comment(s):

agree Sergey Kudryashov
3 mins
Спасибо Сергей
agree Nina Storey
6 mins
Thanks Nina
Something went wrong...
+1
46 mins

You think I do slightly crazy things and you don't laugh at me

hi,

sollemnia insanire means "to do simple, ordinary crazy things", or, as Freddy Mercury said: to go slightly mad :-)

Here is an explanation in Latin:

Nolunt videlicet solita peccare, aut ut Horatius loquitur sollemnia insanire, quibus peccandi praemium est infamia: Faciuntque hoc homines, ut ait Cicero, quos in summā nequitiā non solum libido et voluptas verum etiam ipsius nequitiae fama delectat, ut multis in locis notas ac vestigia scelerum suorum relinqui velint.

I hope this helps.

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Note added at 3 óra (2009-02-17 13:57:18 GMT)
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Dear Antonio,

me is of course a part of the acc. cum. inf. Putas me insanire. I thought it was nicer this way.
Peer comment(s):

agree Sergey Kudryashov
27 mins
thx
Something went wrong...
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