Expert: Maria - 10/8/2010

Question
i am decorating my room in Ancient Rome theme and i was wanting to paint
a quote on my wall in ancient roman text.  so if i could please get the
translation and maybe even the style of the translation in roman, PLEASE  

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you
will find strength

Answer
Hello,

First of all I have to tell you that Latin, which was the language of the ancient Romans, is a very concise language which expresses  much in few words.

Therefore  your sentence cannot be translated word for word, but it translates correctly as follows:

-“Tui compos es ideoque  fortis ”
(literally, “You are the master of yourself, therefore you are / you will be  strong”)

If you want, you can write this sentence in capital letters as the Romans did in their inscriptions:

-" TUI COMPOS  ES  IDEOQUE  FORTIS " as well as " TVI COMPOS  ES  IDEOQVE FORTIS" where I've used the ancient form of U, that is V.

See below for grammatical analysis.

Best regards,
Maria
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Note that .

-You are = ES (2nd.person singular, present indicative of SUM, I am)

-the master = COMPOS ( nominative singular )

-of yourself= TUI

-therefore = IDEOQUE

-you are/ you will be = this verb in the present or future is omitted as in Latin it is understood

-strong =FORTIS (adjective  in the nominative singular)

As you can see, Latin word order is different from English, just because in Latin syntactical relationships are indicated by the endings, not by the order of the words.