Expert: Maria - 2/20/2006

Question
I am a history teacher for a special education school and we are doing a lesson on ancient times, specifically about Pompeii 79 AD.  A roman citizen carved in the wall in his last moments after Mt. Vesuvius erupted, "Nothing In World Can Endure Forever."  I told the kids i would try to find out what that looked like in it's original form.  Can you help?

Answer
Hello,

If a Roman citizen living in Pompeii  could have carved this phrase in the wall in his last moments after Mt. Vesuvius erupted on August 24, 79 AD, he would have written it in Latin, of course, as Latin was the language spoken by the Romans who lived in Italy and anywhere in the Roman empire. Latin was in fact  the lingua franca, i.e. the language widely used beyond the population of its native speakers, like English today.

Therefore this Roman citizen would have written:

1-“Nihil in universo  durare potest in perpetuum”
or:
2-“Nihil in terris durare potest in aeternum”.

Please note that:
-Nothing = NIHIL
-In = IN
-World = UNIVERSO (ablative case,singular) or TERRIS(ablative plural).
-Can = POTEST
-Endure = DURARE
-Forever = IN PERPETUUM or IN AETERNUM

Hope this can be helpful to you.
Best regards,
Maria