5.0485 More Rs: Charles I Quote (4/76)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Fri, 29 Nov 1991 16:46:13 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0485. Friday, 29 Nov 1991.


(1) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 91 20:43:58 -0500 (20 lines)
From: jdg@oz.plymouth.edu (Dr. Joel Goldfield)
Subject: Cecil Rhodes qutoation

(2) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 91 23:31 PST (20 lines)
From: Shirley Arora <ILX3ARO@UCLAMVS.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 5.0480 Rs: Quotation Cite

(3) Date: Thu, 28 NOV 91 09:35:02 GMT (21 lines)
From: SA_RAE@vax.acs.open.ac.uk
Subject: RE: 5.0477 Qs: Quote

(4) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 91 21:27 CDT (15 lines)
From: "HOKE ROBINSON, MSU" <ROBINSONH@MEMSTVX1.BITNET>
Subject: RE: 5.0480 Rs: Quotation Cite (4/67)

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 91 20:43:58 -0500
From: jdg@oz.plymouth.edu (Dr. Joel Goldfield)
Subject: Cecil Rhodes qutoation

In his reply about Emperor Charles V, Nils Monaghan includes in his
closing a quotation attributed to Cecil Rhodes: "So much to do, so
little time." Doesn't this quotation itself have a long history of
permutations dating back at least to Hippocrates' famous saying from
his _Aphorisms_, Sec. 1, No. 1? [Sorry. Can't get the Greek characters
on this system.] "Life is short, the art is long, opportunity fleeting,
experience treacherous, judgment difficult"? A nice, succinct Latin proverb
permutation is: "Ars longa, vita brevis".

Regards,
Joel D. Goldfield
Dept. of Foreign Languages
Plymouth State College/Univ. System of NH;
Inst. for Academic Technology/UNC-Chapel Hill;
Assistant Editor, _Computers and the Humanities_

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------136---
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 91 23:31 PST
From: Shirley Arora <ILX3ARO@UCLAMVS.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 5.0480 Rs: Quotation Cite (4/67)

An addendum to yesterday's posting: I should have pointed
out that in the passage from Lord Chesterfield's _Letters_ in which
he supposedly refers to English as the language to use to one's
horse, he does not mention the language by name. The passage reads
as follows (as given in the _Macmillan Book of Proverbs_):
"What progress so you make in that language in which Charles
the Fifth said that he would choose to speak to his mistress? . . .
You already possess, and, I hope, take care not to forget, that
language which he reserved for his horse. You are absolutely
master, too, of that language in which he said he would converse
with men" (letter of Jan. 25, 1750). The editor supplies the
identification of the three languages--Italian, English, and
French, respectively--but it seems to me that the second could as
easily be German (more probably, in fact, in view of Chesterfield's
specific attribution of the quotation to Charles V).

(3) --------------------------------------------------------------39----
Date: Thu, 28 NOV 91 09:35:02 GMT
From: SA_RAE@vax.acs.open.ac.uk
Subject: RE: 5.0477 Qs: Hypertext S/W; Quote; Unix; Newport News (4/74)

Martin Raish <MRAISH@BINGVMB> asked for help with a "Spanish quotation"


It reminded me too closely of a quotation I remembered in an article on
'Programming Languages' by Lawrence G. Tesler (source not remembered - date in
the 80s). Right at the end of the article Tesler quotes Charles V as saying
(presumably in French) "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men
and German to my horse"

Tesler end with (in a piece on the great variety and differences in the many
programming languages available) ... 'A programming language too must be chosen
according to the purpose intended.'

Simon Rae | SA_RAE@VAX.ACS.OPEN.AC.UK (World)
Research Adviser, Academic Computing Service | SA_RAE@UK.AC.OPEN.ACS.VAX (JANET)
The Open University, Walton Hall, | phone: (0908) 652413
Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom | fax: (0908) 653744
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------17----
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 91 21:27 CDT
From: "HOKE ROBINSON, MSU" <ROBINSONH@MEMSTVX1.BITNET>
Subject: RE: 5.0480 Rs: Quotation Cite (4/67)

I was interested to see the quote concerning the use of the various
languages attriuted to Charles V. The variant I know is attributed to
Frederick the Great of Prussia, and went, if memory serves, "I speak
French to my ambassadors, English to my accountant, Italian to my
mistress, Latin to my God and German to my horse," perhaps most
interesting as German was the language of the country he ruled (and
which still reveres and despises him, as the recent controversy over
whether and how to return his remains to his palace Sans Souci --
not "Ohne Sorge" -- amply demonstrates). Maybe Frederick stole it
from Charles V. (Were they related? Charles must have been a Hapsburg.)
Hoke Robinson, Philosophy, Memphis State U. Memphis TN 38152 USA