He plays o' th' viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four
languages word for word without book, and hath all read more

He plays o' th' viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four
languages word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts
of nature.

Lash'd into Latin by the tingling rod.

Lash'd into Latin by the tingling rod.

Everything is Greek, when it is more shameful to be ignorant of
Latin.
[Lat., Omnia Graece!
read more

Everything is Greek, when it is more shameful to be ignorant of
Latin.
[Lat., Omnia Graece!
Cum sit turpe magis nostris nescire Latine.]

For though to smatter ends of Greek
Or Latin be the rhetoric
Of pedants counted, and vain-glorious,
read more

For though to smatter ends of Greek
Or Latin be the rhetoric
Of pedants counted, and vain-glorious,
To smatter French is meritorious.
- Samuel Butler (1),

It is Hebrew to me.
[Fr., C'est de l'hebreu pour moi.]

It is Hebrew to me.
[Fr., C'est de l'hebreu pour moi.]

I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,
Which melts like kisses from a female mouth.

I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,
Which melts like kisses from a female mouth.

He attempts to use language which he does not know.
[Lat., Negatas artifex sequi voces.]

He attempts to use language which he does not know.
[Lat., Negatas artifex sequi voces.]

. . . Philologists, who chase
A painting syllable through time and space
Start it at home, read more

. . . Philologists, who chase
A painting syllable through time and space
Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark,
To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's Ark.

But those that understood him smiled at one another and shook
their heads; but for mine own part, if read more

But those that understood him smiled at one another and shook
their heads; but for mine own part, if was Greek to me.