It always looked so weird to me, like, who not just read the Bible like a proper book instead of having all of those numbering?

I guess it’s because it makes easy to find some specific line? But that is from an academic perspective instead of something you would put in a faith book?

When did that started and why they put all the numbering?

    • Lvxferre
      2•1 year ago

      Even tying sound with movement, on itself, is surprisingly insightful. If they thought that Earth didn’t make a sound because it was fixed, this means that they were aware that movement creates sound. (Later on we’d discover that sound is movement.)

      We drew many comparisons but I think I remember one being that the story opens like that in the Odyssey I think?

      I’m a bit clueless on Greek but I gave it a check, and it was the Odyssey indeed - the “lyric I” starts right off the bat asking the Muse about Odysseus. And since Virgil crafted the Aeneid as a continuation of the Odyssey, he most likely took a lot of the poetic resources from it, kind of like a fan game ripping off assets from the original.

      Note however that Ancient Greek poetry had another resource at hand, that Latin didn’t - tone. And the authors of the past used it quite a bit, so the poem had a melody by itself, by just reading it aloud. Like this:

      1. ἄν·δρα μοι ἔν·νε·πε, μοῦ·σα, πο·λύ·τρο·πον, ὃς μά·λα πολ·λὰ (H - - H - - L - - H - - L H - - L)
      2. πλάγχ·θη, ἐ·πεὶ Τροί·ης ἱε·ρὸν πτο·λίε·θρον ἔ·περ·σεν (H - - L H - - L - H - H - -)

      Those are the two first verses of the Odyssey. Here H/bold = rising or high, L/italics = low or falling, and dash/unmarked = unstressed.

      Any preferred translations [for De Bello Gallico]? All I have is Latimore translations for the texts I’ve mentioned hahahaha

      I usually follow it in Portuguese (my L1), so I can’t help you much with that. That said I’d recommend you to avoid translations flowering the text too much (it goes against the “spirit” of the text), or insistently keeping Latin word order intact (e.g. “Gallia is wholly divided in parts three” or junk like this, it sounds awful in English).

      Or other readings you might think I’d enjoy? I think Odyssey was my absolute favorite, but I’m also a Golden Ass enjoyer of sorts as well.

      For the Odyssey the nearest in spirit that you’ll get in Latin would be the already mentioned Aeneid. Past that you’d probably need to either go back to Greek works (like Argonautica) or even modern languages (like Os Lusíadas, same “we’re out, to the unknown world, to do something great” vibe).

      Things like the Golden Ass are easier to find, though. Anything Plautus will give you a good laugh: Aulularia (The Pot of Gold), Miles Gloriosus (The Proud Soldier), Bacchides. Often there are “moral messages” in them but they’re mostly slapstick comedy.

      You might also like some of Catullus’ poems. The one from my example is well-behaved, but check poems 16, 39, 58 and 84 for some fun. 16 in special is quoted often due to the profanity.

      I often compare Martial’s Epigrams to the Roman version of shitposting.