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[Birchy]

Great quotes from the Roman playwright Terence...

http://www.fallingskyhazard.com/catalog.htm

As a person is so must you humor them.

He makes a great mistake... who supposes that authority is firmer or
better established when it is founded by force than that which is
welded by affection.

How often events, by chance, and unexpectedly, came to pass, which you
had not dared even to hope for!

I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.

I believe because it is impossible.

I do not give money for just mere hopes.

I hold this as a rule of life: too much of anything is bad.

Many a time from a bad beginning great friendships have sprung up.

Nowadays those are rewarded who make right appear wrong.

Their silence is praise enough.

They are so knowing, that they know nothing.

What a grand thing it is to be clever and have common sense.

While the mind is in doubt it is driven this way and that by a slight
impulse.

You're a wise person if you can easily direct your attention to
whatever needs it.

http://www.fallingskyhazard.com/catalog.htm

[John W. Kennedy]

Re: ***BEEP***

Birchy wrote:[color=blue]
> Great quotes from the Roman playwright Terence...[/color]

....
[color=blue]
> I believe because it is impossible.[/color]

Terence /may/ have said that somewhere, but I have never seen that line
attributed to anyone but Tertullian, although what he actually said was,
"It is certain because it is impossible."


---
John W. Kennedy
"Sweet, was Christ crucified to create this chat?"
-- Charles Williams. "Judgement at Chelmsford"

[Dr John Stockton]

Re: ***BEEP***

JRS: In article <Ct2Vd.10578$tW 3.6405@fe10.lga >, dated Tue, 1 Mar 2005
13:13:29, seen in news:comp.lang. javascript, John W. Kennedy
<jwkenne@attglo bal.net> posted :[color=blue]
>Birchy wrote:[color=green]
>> Great quotes from the Roman playwright Terence...[/color]
>
>...
>[color=green]
>> I believe because it is impossible.[/color]
>
>Terence /may/ have said that somewhere, but I have never seen that line
>attributed to anyone but Tertullian, although what he actually said was,
>"It is certain because it is impossible."[/color]

That seems most unlikely; whatever he said was probably in Latin.
Without a skilled examination of the actual words, done with a knowledge
of the Latin of the time, one cannot be at all sure that both renditions
are not equally good, or bad, approximations to what was actually meant
by the original words.

--
© John Stockton, Surrey, UK. ???@merlyn.demo n.co.uk Turnpike v4.00 MIME. ©
Web <URL:http://www.merlyn.demo n.co.uk/> - FAQish topics, acronyms, & links.
Check boilerplate spelling -- error is a public sign of incompetence.
Never fully trust an article from a poster who gives no full real name.

[John W. Kennedy]

Re: ***BEEP***

Dr John Stockton wrote:[color=blue]
> JRS: In article <Ct2Vd.10578$tW 3.6405@fe10.lga >, dated Tue, 1 Mar 2005
> 13:13:29, seen in news:comp.lang. javascript, John W. Kennedy
> <jwkenne@attglo bal.net> posted :
>[color=green]
>>Birchy wrote:
>>[color=darkred]
>>>Great quotes from the Roman playwright Terence...[/color]
>>
>>...
>>
>>[color=darkred]
>>>I believe because it is impossible.[/color]
>>
>>Terence /may/ have said that somewhere, but I have never seen that line
>>attributed to anyone but Tertullian, although what he actually said was,
>>"It is certain because it is impossible."[/color]
>
>
> That seems most unlikely; whatever he said was probably in Latin.
> Without a skilled examination of the actual words, done with a knowledge
> of the Latin of the time, one cannot be at all sure that both renditions
> are not equally good, or bad, approximations to what was actually meant
> by the original words.[/color]

Certum est, quia impossibile est. (His ipsissima verba)

versus

Credo quia impossibile. (The common quote)

---
John W. Kennedy
"Compact is becoming contract,
Man only earns and pays."
-- Charles Williams. "Bors to Elayne: On the King's Coins"

[roger_pearse@yahoo.co.uk]

Re: ***BEEP***

Dr John Stockton wrote:[color=blue]
> JRS: In article <Ct2Vd.10578$tW 3.6405@fe10.lga >, dated Tue, 1 Mar[/color]
2005[color=blue]
> 13:13:29, seen in news:comp.lang. javascript, John W. Kennedy
> <jwkenne@attglo bal.net> posted :[color=green]
> >Birchy wrote:[color=darkred]
> >> Great quotes from the Roman playwright Terence...[/color]
> >
> >...
> >[color=darkred]
> >> I believe because it is impossible.[/color]
> >
> >Terence /may/ have said that somewhere, but I have never seen that[/color][/color]
line[color=blue][color=green]
> >attributed to anyone but Tertullian, although what he actually said[/color][/color]
was,[color=blue][color=green]
> >"It is certain because it is impossible."[/color][/color]

Indeed he did:

Crucifixus est dei filius; non pudet, quia pudendum est.
Et mortuus est dei filius; credibile prorsus est, quia ineptum est.
Et sepultus resurrexit; certum est, quia impossibile.

The Son of God was crucified: I am not ashamed--because it is shameful.
The Son of God died: it is immediately credible--because it is silly.
He was buried, and rose again: it is certain--because it is impossible.


(De carne christi, 5:4).
[color=blue]
> That seems most unlikely; whatever he said was probably in Latin.
> Without a skilled examination of the actual words, done with a[/color]
knowledge[color=blue]
> of the Latin of the time, one cannot be at all sure that both[/color]
renditions[color=blue]
> are not equally good, or bad, approximations to what was actually[/color]
meant[color=blue]
> by the original words.[/color]

Oh, I think we can tell the difference between 'credo' and 'certum
est', although your point has some validity for much of what Tertullian
wrote.

The false passage seems to have been manufactured in the 18th century,
probably in France where Tertullian had enjoyed a considerable vogue in
the 17th century. Indeed we can think of Cardinal Richlieu reading one
of the versions of the period while D'Artagnan and co leap around
outside. The reason for the misquote was of course to attack him. But
the passage in question has no overtone of the kind commonly assumed.
Rather he is making fun of Marcion arguing from contemporary pagan
values rather than reason.

What did Tertullian think about reason?:

Quippe res dei ratio quia deus omnium conditor nihil non ratione
providit disposuit ordinavit, nihil [enim] non ratione tractari
intellegique voluit.

For reason is a property of God's, since there is nothing which God,
the creator of all things, has not foreseen, arranged and determined by
reason; moreover, there is nothing He does not wish to be investigated
and understood by reason.

(De paenitentia 1:2)

All the best,

Roger Pearse

http://www.tertullian.org