Lash'd into Latin by the tingling rod.

Lash'd into Latin by the tingling rod.

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.]

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

Small Latin, and less Greek.

Small Latin, and less Greek.

This is your devoted friend, sir, the manifold linguist and the
armipotent soldier.

This is your devoted friend, sir, the manifold linguist and the
armipotent soldier.

Languages are no more than the keys of Sciences. He who despises
one, slights the other.

Languages are no more than the keys of Sciences. He who despises
one, slights the other.

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.

A Babylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect.

A Babylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect.

Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of
the two!

Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of
the two!