Search for the guilty and the persecution of the innocent

[brookter]

Somebody has asked me to translate this phrase into Latin, which I think comes from a humorous list of the stages of project management.

The search for the guilty and the persecution of the innocent

My initial attempt is something like:

in scelestis inquisitio, et insontium insectatio

but I'm not sure whether that's adequate.

E.g. does inquisitio take in + dat? (I've had a look in Lewis and Short and there is one example where it does appear to, but there others where it doesn't and I found it difficult to decide what the 'normal' usage would be).

There's a noun insectator, but I can't find an equivalent for 'persecution', so I've formed one. What would be an acceptable substitute?

Of course, I could have got the whole thing wrong, so any improvements including word ordergratefully accepted!

Finally, are there any existing Latin tags that come close to the original English?

many thanks

David

[brookter]

Ah, I hope my question wasn't too dumb...

Has anybody got a better suggestion for the phrase "Search for the guilty and the persecution of the innocent" than in scelestis inquisitio, et insontium insectatio?

It doesn't feel right to me, but I can't think of how to improve it.

Many thanks

David

[adrianus]

Salve Davide
anglicè "persecution" = latinè est (secundum Ainsworth) persecutio, vexatio

[brookter]

Adriane,

Thank you very much. For some reason, persecutio wasn't in the dictionaries I tried at first, then I became sidetracked by insectator. Seems obvious now!

So

in scelestes inquisitio, insontium persecutio

I've spent a bit more time looking through the Perseus entry (Lewis and Short), and as far as I can tell, the accusative is used in the phrase with the closest meaning I can find ("inquirere in competitores", Cicero Mur. 21), so I've gone with that.

Thanks for your help,

David

[adrianus]

Petere sontes; insontes persequi ?

in scelestos, nota, non in scelestes

[brookter]

Adrianus,

Thanks for the correction for the accusative.

One question, why the change from nouns to verbs? Is that simply a more Latin way of expressing ideas?

[adrianus]

I think it's more stylish and I think I did read as much in a book on composition, but I may be misremembering and my Latin isn't wonderful anyway.
Meliùs ad latinitatem et sic rato in fonte legi, ut credo, at nonnunquam malè memini; porrò, frequenter in latino scribendo erro.

[brookter]

Thanks, Adriane. I appreciate your help.