Question Hello Maria
I was wondering if you could help me with a twist on a certain Latin phrase, if it’s not too much trouble?
The phrase is “either to conquer or to die”.
I would like to know a translation which is similar although, more based around achievement: “either to victory or to death”.
Thank you in advance
Chris
Answer Hello,
The Roman saying “Aut vincere aut mori” corresponds exactly to “Either to conquer or to die”, if “to conquer/ to die” are used as simple infinitives, not as infinitives of purpose.
If on the contrary you want to use “to conquer / to die” as purpose infinitives, i.e. to indicate that for example you will fight in order to either conquer or die, you should say “Ad vincendum aut ad moriendum” with the gerund (see below for grammatical analysis).
Likewise “Either victory or death” translates as “Aut victoria aut mors”, while “Either to victory or to death” , expressing the purpose of achieving either victory or death, should be translated literally as “Ad victoriam aut ad mortem”.
That being stated, I have to tell you however that Latin prefers to say “Aut vincere aut mori” / “Aut victoria aut mors”, instead of “Ad vincendum aut ad moriendum” / “Ad victoriam aut ad mortem” which are grammatically correct, but not so lapidary for a language like Latin marked by conciseness of expression.
Hope this can be helpful to you.
Best,
Maria
__________________________________________________________
-Either = AUT ( which is omitted if you use the gerund)
-to conquer = VINCERE(infinitive of VINCO) / AD VINCENDUM (gerund of purpose)
-or = AUT
-to die =MORI (infinitive of MORIOR) / AD MORIENDUM (gerund of purpose)
-Either = AUT ( which is omitted if you use the AD and the accusative))
-to = AD (preposition which takes the accusative)
-victory = VICTORIAM ( purpose in the accusative of VICTORIA)
