Justus Lipsius Hieronymo Mercuriali

Latin Learning Latin
1

Hello,

Justus Lipsius on his leaving Leiden for Germany where he returned to the Catholic Church:

Nam ego me abduxi a locis, in quibus vixi hactenus, et transtuli in Germaniam ad loca puriora. > Puto me capis> . atque occasio erit non solum saepius inter nos scribendi, sed etiam liberius, remoto omni metu illo suspicionum, quae me frustra premebant.

While it seems to mean “I think you understand me”, I do not see how puto me capis works. Is it possible not to have a ACI after puto (or is capis something else than the 2nd sg. present of capio)?

2

hi, i don’t know what style of latin the author you’ve quoted is using, but at first glance it looks like it could be a parenthetic puto from conversational latin. see OLD on puto, para 8, and as an e.g. see cicero’s letter to atticus 8.9.4: “Balbus quidem maior ad me scribit nihil malle Caesarem quam principe Pompeio sine metu vivere. tu, puto, haec credis. sed cum haec scribebam v Kalend., …”.

maybe it’s imitating that, worth looking into anyway as a possibility, cheers, chad

3

Thanks, chad, that seems to solve the question.

I am really puzzled sometimes by how these 17th century editions use punctuation marks. Commas are everywhere, except where I’d expect them :smiley: