>In my Latin class the teacher told us the line "forsan et haec olim >meminisse iuvabit" was famous. We did not go very detailfully into the >meaning of this line. I would like to hear other people's reaction to >this line. Are there deeper meanings?
The meaning is straightforward. A time will come, perhaps, when we will be glad to remember our present ordeal. The line is famous because the sentiment expressed is one we can all understand and because it can be applied to all sorts of situations. The last three words have been used as a school motto, for example, implying that our schooldays are the happiest days of our life, though we may not know it at the time. Similarly, I can imagine a tramper grunting the words as he climbs through the bush in foul weather with a sixty-pound pack on his back on what had been forecast to be a fine weekend. In its context, the line is somewhat more subtle. There is an echo of a line in the Odyssey (according to Williams's note), and it becomes clear at lines 208-9 that Aeneas cheers his men despite his own inward anxiety, which he conceals. Simon Cauchi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 13 Riverview Terrace, Hamilton, New Zealand Telephone and facsimile +647 854 9229 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
