Ars Magna

Experimentum IV

5:00 AM

Quotiescumque scribo Latine, maestus sentio - fortasse etiam depressus - quia plus scire quam agere possum, sed non possum scribere in paginis ex corde tuo propter imperitiam linguae. Iterum, dicere nihil per omnes alias linguas mundi, quarum in suis propriis semitis sunt unicae, magna calamitas est.

Accipere vel dimidium aetatis meae in hac scriptura consumendam gratam cogitationem facit. Tamen, satis me assecutum esse cogito, etiamsi obscurus vel omnino deformis sim. Scriptor sum, sed non Latinus. Scribere in lingua nova difficilis res venit. Mea sententia, difficilius est scribere quam discere. Stultum te sentis et quasi puer eras. Placet mihi cogitare me bonum scriptorem in lingua patria esse, sed Latine tardius et cum cunctatione scribo. Dictionario utor saepius quam velim. Ita est. Spero autem me tempore discere hanc magnam artem, Latine scribere.

My Translation

Whenever I write in Latin, I feel sad - perhaps even depressed - because I know more than I can express, but I can't write from the heart on the page due to my lack of skill in the language. Again, to say nothing through all the other languages of the world, each unique in its own way, is a great disaster.

To receive back even half of my time spent on this writing makes for a pleasant thought. Nevertheless, I believe it important enough to pursue, even if I am to finish it poorly or utterly deformed. I am a writer, but not a Latin one. Writing in a new language becomes a difficult task. In my opinion, it is more difficult to write than to learn. You feel foolish, as if you were a child. It pleases me to think that I am a good writer in my native language, but in Latin I write more slowly and with hesitation.