Inspiring! Princeton University 2006 Salutatory Oration

Marius Magnus

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
California
That is pretty cool. His pronunciation isn't perfect, but you can tell he can actually feel what he's saying instead of just reciting words. That's a good model to emulate...say it like you mean it!

I could pick out a few words, but my Latin has a long way to go before I'll be able to understand a speech.
 

Cato

Consularis

  • Consularis

Location:
Chicago, IL
If you are not aware of the story surrounding this amazing young man, you should be.

Dan-El Padilla Peralta left his native Dominican Republic at age 4 when his family illegally immigrated to the United States. Starved for attention while living in a New York homeless shelter, a family friend handed him an old book about the ancient world. His fascination with that book was the first step in a long climb from the slums of New York to become a classics major and a star student at an Ivy league school (he chose Princeton because they would grant financial aid without taking loans from the federal government, which require student proof of citizenship).

He likely will become one of this generation's greatest classics scholars. He has a scholarship to continue his studies at Oxford, but worries that his immigration status will prevent him from returning home to the US to see his family. He has become something of a poster child for the immigration reform movement in the US; the Wall Street Journal ran a cover story about him in April of this year (unfortunately only available on-line via paid subscription). You can read more about this remarkable man at the links below:

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/04/28/news/15457.shtml

http://www.atrium-media.com/rogueclassicism/Posts/00003828.html
 

Cato

Consularis

  • Consularis

Location:
Chicago, IL
Because I'm a big believer in helping students/others appreciate Latin (especially an ingenious yet funny speech like this one), I've transliterated the first thre paragraphs of Mr. Peralta's speech so you can follow along with the spoken tongue:

O sodales mei hominesque Princetonienses,

Vos saluto! Musa, mihi causas memora quo numine placato , quibis magistris pecunia corruptis, nos convocati sumus ut hodie hic staremus. Discipulos mihi carmina in se adversos (?) hos qui tantis literis propter theses scriptis, unam letteram acceperunt, quae modo elationis causa, modo ululationis causa erat. Tantae molles erat labores academicos nostros superare.

Ectos garmoi kainos homos aidaio poulesen, qui semper Nantucket rubrum et Lacostae vestamenta gerit. Cum ego ad hanc praeclarissimam Universitatem quattuor ante annos agressus sum, non intellegere potui quare vobis condiscipulis meis purpuratus aut punicatus esse placeret. hodie confiteor veritatem: Non intellego tamen. Sed ego in studiis meis dedici quomodo discipuli Princetonienses laboribus confectis celebrarent in quad ad colonial ad latera clunesque comovendas eunt--mirabile visu! Et iam hoc vobis dico: Aliqui inter nos tripudiare non possunt.

Necesse autem mihi est parentibus nostris hoc fateri: Nos ad moenia Princetonia non solum ut studeremus venimus, sed etiam ut optimam Milwaukiense vel monstam dicam biberemus, et pizzas apud Fristi ederemus, et pulcherimis cum condiscipulis luderemus. Vere omnes discipuli qui per portas FitzRandolphas transierunt unam noctem amoris cuius eos pudet habent. Hodie hac veritate in alta mente reposita egrediamur.

Notes:

Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine placato - This is almost a word-for word quote of Aeneid I.8; the entire paragraph is a comical version of the opening dedication to the Muse in Vergil's epic.

Ectos garmoi kainos homos aidaio poulesen - This is a well-known Greek quote from book IX of Homer's Iliad, where Achilles says these words about Agamemnon after he again refuses to give him the slavegirl Briseis: "I hate him like the gates of Hell".
 

Iynx

Consularis

  • Consularis

Location:
T2R6WELS, Maine, USA
Eheu, chjones, these glosses (as so often happens) fail to illuminate the part that my poor intellect finds darkest. What is all that about "Nantucket red and garments of Lacosta"? Some sort of in-joke about the clothing of rich collegians? (Memento, sis, ut vestimenta mea a Dickies, aut a Sears et Roebuck emantur-- pauper sum, et humilis).
 

Cato

Consularis

  • Consularis

Location:
Chicago, IL
Princeton students are often ridiculed by the other ivy leaguers for their expensive preppy clothing, in particular sportswear from French clothier Lacoste. "Nantucket Reds" refers to a style of shorts/pants that supposedly indicate the wealthy social classes of the Northeast--particularly Martha's vineyard. Both are a sly dig that college students who wear these probably got in on mommy and daddy's money rather than academic excellence.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/03/04/arts/9824.shtml?type=printable[/url]
 

Iynx

Consularis

  • Consularis

Location:
T2R6WELS, Maine, USA
Velim dicere, chjones, ut inter meas multas stultitias amor erga vestimenta numquam inventus sit. Sed vere, cum annos quinque habebam, galeam scoream aviatoris superbe gerebam.
 
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