I need a help with the last sentence of the second book.
(...) in pace et tranquillitate degentes - bellum enim nullum nisi pium sucipient - felix atque beata nostra civitas sacratissima in aeternum vigebit proxima quae nostrae pronpinqua.
(...) living in peace and tranquility - for they will wage no war, but only pious deeds - our most sacred state, nearest and dearest to all, will flourish happily and blissfully.
The problem is "proxima quae nostrae pronpinqua", I'm not sure about the correction of my translation. I'd be thankful if anyone could help me here.
De republica, ultima sententia
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ohlavrac
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Shenoute
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Re: De republica, ultima sententia
About the first part:
bellum enim nullum nisi [bellum] pium sucipient
"for they will wage no war, except a pious one"
About proxima quae nostrae propinqua, one way I can see right now for the grammar to work is to take it as quae [est] proxima propinqua nostrae [civitati] "which is the closest neighbour/relative to our state".
> "living in peace and tranquility - for they will wage no war, except a pious one - our most sacred state will forever flourish happily and blissfully, which is the closest in kind to ours".
But I'm not entirely satisfied by this, mostly because it would mean that civitas nostra is used in the same sentence to refer to two different entities: "our most sacred state, which is closest to our state, will flourish". I guess it's possible (for instance, if Quirini is comparing the city he is living in and his ideal city) but it seems a bit clunky to me, so I'm probably wrong.
bellum enim nullum nisi [bellum] pium sucipient
"for they will wage no war, except a pious one"
About proxima quae nostrae propinqua, one way I can see right now for the grammar to work is to take it as quae [est] proxima propinqua nostrae [civitati] "which is the closest neighbour/relative to our state".
> "living in peace and tranquility - for they will wage no war, except a pious one - our most sacred state will forever flourish happily and blissfully, which is the closest in kind to ours".
But I'm not entirely satisfied by this, mostly because it would mean that civitas nostra is used in the same sentence to refer to two different entities: "our most sacred state, which is closest to our state, will flourish". I guess it's possible (for instance, if Quirini is comparing the city he is living in and his ideal city) but it seems a bit clunky to me, so I'm probably wrong.
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ohlavrac
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Re: De republica, ultima sententia
It was a terrible mistake to translate pius as a noun, not as an adjetive. Thank you for pointing it out to me. As to proxima propinqua, when I searched, the only ocurrence I found was "amitia est caro patris, id est, proxima propinqua patris" and "matertera est caro matris, id est, proxima propinqua matris". That's why I've translated it as "nearest and dearest to all", I thought of something like the closest relative.
But, if take the liberty and go wild (again), I'd translate as such: "living in peace and tranquility - for they will wage no war, except a pious one - our most sacred state will forever flourish happily and blissfully, and our state is not far from it".
But, if take the liberty and go wild (again), I'd translate as such: "living in peace and tranquility - for they will wage no war, except a pious one - our most sacred state will forever flourish happily and blissfully, and our state is not far from it".