erat eo tempore vir sagax, medicinae artis peritissimus atque in ea nobilissimus, qui proconsul manu sua coronam illam agonisticam imposuerat non sano capiti meo, sed non ut medicus.
Augustine, Confessions, Latin Library 4.3.5
Focus on this fragment:
imposuerat non sano capiti meo
I stumbled on deciding what “non” negates. This is a frequent problem of mine, and I believe that in my autodidactic study I have missed something.
Can anybody point me to some good advice on how to decide what “non” negates?
Since submitting the query, I’ve found a translation that agrees with you, and now, after reading the two of you it looks crystal clear.
Here is my general problem. When in doubt about what “non” negates, I find myself at a loss what to do. I feel that I should have a short list of things to try before giving up and looking at the translation.
I feel that in a class with a teacher, the teacher would say, "Well, in translating non, before you give up and read a translation, first try [this] and then try [that]. " After all, “non” is an important word.
Something like this: Oh, the car won’t start. Will it crank? Is it out of gas? Et cetera.
This is in Allen & Greenough in the section titled “Order of Words-Special Rules”. It confirms what Laurentius Mons indicated and gives a little more information. On the use of two negatives (making a positive), you can consult sections 325-328, titled Negative Particles.