sabidius, Author at Sabidius.com | Page 3 of 9
-1
archive,paged,author,author-control,author-1,paged-3,author-paged-3,bridge-core-3.0.1,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode-title-hidden,qode_grid_1300,qode-content-sidebar-responsive,qode-theme-ver-28.6,qode-theme-bridge,disabled_footer_top,qode_header_in_grid,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-6.1,vc_responsive
Ancient History / 19.02.2017

Introduction. In Chapters 201-234 of Book VII of his "Histories", Herodotus gives an account of the heroic stand made by Leonidas, the King of Sparta, and three hundred of his fellow-countrymen against the huge Persian army of King Xerxes, which was invading Greece, at the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. The self-sacrifice of Leonidas and his men is one of the most renowned military exploits of ancient history, and served to inspire future generations of Greeks to courageous deeds. A dramatic account of the events at...

Ancient Greek, Greek Grammar / 28.12.2016

1) Introduction: This article explains the use of the Greek Perfect tense within the structure of Greek tense forms in general, and indicates how the Greek Perfect differs from the Latin Perfect tense. 2) Tense forms: In both classical languages, and indeed in English, verb tense systems provide a combination of two dimensions: a) they indicate the time of the action which the verb describes, i.e. whether it is past, present or future time - in relation to time, verbs are either primary (present and future) or secondary/ historic (past); and...

Latin Translation / 29.08.2016

In a number of his books in which are recounted the memoirs of Harry Flashman, the bete noir of "Tom Brown's School Days", George MacDonald Fraser gives a number of Latin quotations, mostly recounted by the erstwhile and manque scholar, Captain John Charity Spring, whom he first meets as the master of the slave ship 'Balliol College'. Flashman's ability to both understand the meaning of these quotations, and indeed to quote them many years later, when writing his memoirs, surely indicates that his classical education at Rugby School was a lot more thorough than is generally supposed, and that he was indeed a credit to the efforts of his former headmaster, Thomas Arnold, despite his expulsion for drunkenness.
Poetry / 12.02.2015

Typi non habent claritatem insitam; est usus legentis in iis qui facit eorum claritatem. Investigationes demonstraverunt lectores legere me lius quod ii legunt saepius. Claritas est etiam processus dynamicus, qui sequitur mutationem consuetudium lectorum. Mirum est notare quam littera gothica, quam nunc putamus parum claram, anteposuerit litterarum formas humanitatis per seacula quarta decima et quinta decima. Eodem modo typi, qui nunc nobis videntur parum clari, fiant sollemnes in futurum. Aenean non vestibulum mauris. Donec ac nulla faucibus justo accumsan interdum eu id lectus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in...

Poetry / 12.02.2015

This poem was written by Air Commodore Alastair Panton, CB, OBE, DFC (1916-2002). Originally published in "Wings - and other things" by Group Captain Hugh Lynch-Blosse in 1990, it reappeared in "Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer, an RAF Officer's Memoir of the Battle of France 1940", by Alastair Panton and Victoria Panton Bacon, Biteback Publishing, 2014. This poem captures in a delightfully evocative fashion a pilot's rapture at the experience of flight.
Greek Texts, Latin Translation / 28.12.2014

Introduction. This extract from St. Paul's first letter (or epistle) to the Corinthians features the final part of the traditional reading laid down in the Book of Common Prayer for the Funeral Service. This magnificent and haunting passage is set out below in four versions. The first two versions are in English, the recent translation of the New English Bible preceding the words of the Authorised Version, in which the English language appears at its most majestic. Below are the Latin version of the Vulgate, used by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries, and, finally, the original, as written by St. Paul in 'koine' Greek.
Latin Translation / 29.10.2014

Introduction. Caius Suetonius Tranquillus (c.69-c.130 A.D.) was born in Italy, the son of a military tribune of equestrian rank. He practised as an advocate in Rome during the reign of Trajan (98-117). He became a close friend of the Younger Pliny, and may have served on his staff when he was proconsul of Bithynia Pontus in 111-12. After Pliny's death, he found a new patron in Septicius Clarus, the prefect of the praetorian guard, and when Hadrian succeeded Trajan in 117, he entered the imperial service, and took...

Latin Translation / 14.09.2014

Introduction. The fourth and last book of Horace's "Odes", was published in 13 A.D., some ten years after the publication of the other three, and they constitute the last of his published works. It is clear that he resumed the writing of lyric poetry only at the instance of Augustus and in order to celebrate the victories of the emperor's step-sons, Tiberius and Drusus Nero. He probably did so with some reluctance, as the beginning of the first ode in the book strongly suggests, and the second ode provides...

Ancient History / 29.06.2014

Introduction. The mythology and literature of the Ancient Greeks contain many stories about the gods. The Greeks were polytheists, that is, they believed in many gods. They also adopted an anthromorphic approach to their gods, and built temples, in which they placed statues of the gods in human form. As a result Greeks felt that the gods were like them, and shared the same attributes and desires as humans, although on a grander scale of course. As the influence of Greek culture spread to Rome, the Romans began to...

Ancient Greek, Greek Grammar / 01.06.2014

Sabidius has prepared this item as a tribute to his grandson Hector Charles Metcalfe. A number of epithets are used by Homer to describe the Trojan hero Hector in Homer's "Iliad". These are listed below, according as to whether they are general epithets that might apply to others as well or whether they have a more specific reference to the actual attributes of Hector himself. Of the latter, "Hector of the shining (or flashing) helmet" is perhaps the most common and best known, but the final book of the...