I am unsure of the exact translation of “A Micus Viri, Vir Dei”
"From service to man, ??? man God???
Can anyone help?
Are you sure you’ve spelled it correctly. My dictionary, and that of Perseus, return nothing for micus.
Are you sure it’s not: Amicus viri, vir dei?
That would mean A friend of man (is) a man of god.
a fine emendation, turps.
~D
speaking of emendations, the world will commend any man who can bring sense back to the following:
Cat.63.74-5:
roseis ut hinc labellis sonitus adiit
geminas deorum ad aures noua nuntia referens (thus V).
(this is no doubt a largely fruitless post, for most people won’t have the slightest inclination to look at the sense, but nonetheless i make the post in the hope that some people wish to address the problem.)
the metre is galliambic:
uu-u-u–/uu-uuuux
various resolutions and contractions are possible. line 74 clearly lacks a pyrrhic, and Bentley’s citus is typically taken after sonitus. the problems in the couplet come from hinc - it is unlikely to mean ‘from him/her’. ‘geminas…aures’ cannot make sense when used of a group of gods, and ideally we would like to be talking about a single goddess (Cybele) here. what is the adiit doing (most people emend to abiit). with what should ‘ad aures’ go?
anyhow, for minds curious i leave the problem, unsolved by the last half a millenium of Classical scholarship.
~D
Yes, It probably was meant to be Amicus. The bronze plate into which this is cast has a definite space between the “A” and the “micus” which lead to my confusion. ( That and the fact that it has been many years since I studied Latin). So this old man has learned something and found an intersting diversion in this website. I appreciate the responses.
Take care and God bless,
jc