|
| otium
cum dignitate |
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994
From:
Dan McCaffrey
Subject:
otium cum dignitate
The
usual translation for otium cum dignitate is of course leisure with
dignity.Recently my colleague Greg Daugherty was giving a talk on
the Roman idea of paupertas and I was struck by the notion that
given the attitudes of the optimi towards themselves and towards
manual labor this phrase might be translated as leisure with
worthiness.
Date:
Sun, 30 Jan 1994
From:
Carl Conrad
Subject:
Re: otium cum dignitate
There
is an outright Protestant attitude toward work: *otium* is a
pejorative word (as in Catullus 51) until it is re-valued under
Epicurean influence as equivalent to *ataraxia*. The valued word and
concept is *negotium*. I'd translate the phrase "otium cum
dignitate" therefore as "leisure without loss of esteem."
Date:
Sun, 30 Jan 1994
From:
"Edwin P. Menes"
Subject:
Re: otium cum dignitate
Given
the 'loadedness' of the word *dignitas* in aristocratic circles,
I've come to think of this as maintaining one's political influence
in retirement.
From:
"Leo C. Curran"
Isn't maintaining one's political influence in retirement auctoritas
rather than dignitas?
Date:
Sun, 30 Jan 1994
From:
"Edwin P. Menes" <
Subject:
Re: otium cum dignitate
Yes.
Maybe it's better to say 'the possibility of political influence'
since dignitas is a subset of auctoritas. |
| Culled
from
classics.log9401e. |
|