Help with a sentence

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gerardnfarrell
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Help with a sentence

Post by gerardnfarrell »

Can someone make sense of the following for me:

Nos certe quod verisimilius visum est in tanta confusione, et antiquitatis caligine scripsimus parati ut ab aliis doceamur, si forte in aliquo, praeter intentionem, erraverimus.

All I have are disjointed bits that make no sense, i.e.:

We are sure that it more likely seen
in such great confusion and in the obscurity of antiquity
we have written
in order to be taught by others
if powerful in others,
except the intention,
we have erred.

I feel I am out of my depth here...

adrianus
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Re: Help with a sentence

Post by adrianus »

Salve gerardnfarrell
Presumably written in the preface to the reader.
Id in praefatione lectori scriptum est, ut praesumo.
Nos certe quod verisimilius visum est in tanta confusione, et antiquitatis caligine scripsimus parati ut ab aliis doceamur, si forte in aliquo, praeter intentionem, erraverimus.

We[/I] at any rate have written what seemed more[/quite] likely in such confusion, and in the veil of antiquity, ready that we[/I] might be instructed by others if we[/I] should, despite [our/my] intention, have gravely erred in something.
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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furrykef
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Re: Help with a sentence

Post by furrykef »

Wow, that's a confusing sentence even in English... :lol:
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gerardnfarrell
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Re: Help with a sentence

Post by gerardnfarrell »

Thanks! I was really stumped by this. The 'si forte in aliquo' part had me confused.
The passage does indeed come from a preface-to a book called 'Disputatio Apologetica de Iure Regni Hiberniae adversus Haereticus Anglos' written in the 17th century by an Irish priest in Portugal, banned and burned in Ireland during the confederate period for proposing that the Irish abandon their loyalty to the Stuarts...

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