A Place of Brightness: lucullus cum lucullo

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Latin Quotes Worth Knowing About: Lucullus Dines with Lucullus!

This Latin Quote is actually originally from Greek, but it's about a Roman and a Latin translation has been used literarily.

Plutarch, writing about the Roman Lucullus, a politician of the Late Republic, reports the following delightful anecdote about this man, known for his love of lavish meals.

He was brought a meager meal while dining alone. The slave who prepared it had assumed that Lucullus would not want a rich and expensive meal, since he didn't have even one guest. To this, Lucullus states:

‘οὐκ ᾔδεις, ὅτι σήμερον παρὰ Λουκούλλῳ δειπνεῖ Λούκουλλος;’
Don't you know that today Lucullus dines with Lucullus? (Plut. Luc. 41.2)

The statement "to dine Lucullus cum Luculo" can be used to describe enjoyment with eating alone. Note, for instance, Charles Lever:

"...[T]here have been times when I have enjoyed these Lucullus cum Lucullo festivals more than convivial assemblages."
(Lever, A Day's Ride: A Life's Romance, p. 206 [1876])

Yet more delightful is this usage by the erudite Rev. Joseph Farrell:

"I have dined alone, Lucullus cum Lucullo or Lazarus cum Lazaro, it boots not which..."
(Farrell, "Lectures by a Certain Professor," The Irish Monthly Magazine, Vol. 1, p. 134 [1873])

Nota Bene, Father Farrell here augments the phrase with a coinage implying "to eat alone on meager fare" (cf. Luke 16:19-31), that very thing that Lucullus was unwilling to do!

Fun Fact: Lucullus was once married to the sister of the woman thought to be Catullus' lover Lesbia!

In Saecula Saeculorum, the 4th Novel in the Valquist Series

In this fourth novel of the Valquist Series, Andrew Valquist is retired (?) from the National Security Agency and teaching Latin at a Classical Academy in the Washington DC area. But in the world of espionage, looks can be deceiving. He's not necessarily happy with the role he has played in all this, but the school was actually a joint NSA/MI-6 Project in which four young people have been unwittingly prepared for a mission to travel back in time to ancient Rome to retrieve information from a library that may save the modern world from certain destruction. They know they have to at least try to save humanity, but can they also save each other?

Next Stop: Spanish, the 3rd Novel in the Valquist Series

This third novel in the Valquist Series can be read as an espionage action-adventure in its own right, but also you can use it as a way to either brush up on your Spanish or learn functional Spanish for the first time! John Valquist needs to learn Spanish. But he's in luck, since his uncle Andrew is a language expert and a former (?) spy who is taking him on a vacation to Spain so he can study the language. In Next Stop: Spanish, you have the chance to see and study the words John studies, and then watch him add more and more Spanish into his dialogue as the story progresses. During this vacation, they get pulled into espionage intrigue (why do these things always happen to the Valquist family?). In the dramatic conclusion, John will need to put together everything he has learned to save his uncle!

Amor Vincit Omnia: the 2nd Novel in the Valquist Series

In this second novel of the Valquist Series, Keith Massey takes you into the halls of the National Security Agency, where he himself worked for four years after 9/11 and an Arabic linguist. You follow our hero Andrew Valquist, as he starts work as a new recruit at the NSA. Little does he know that on his first on the job, he's about to fly off on an unexpected overseas assignment. He'll be even more surprised when he learns that his background in ancient Latin will be crucial to the mission!