This
Latin gem is a marvel of morphological compression.
First,
the auxiliary verb, nolo. The prefixal n- is negative (as in German); it joins with volo ‘want’ to form a composite exactly analogous to earlier
English nill (which survives as a
fossil, invisible save to adepts of etymological geology, in willy-nilly). You are probably familiar with this modal verb in the
expression from ‘law Latin’, nolo
contendere, the plea of ‘No contest’. A present participle of the same verb appears in the
Latin equivalent of willy-nilly (used
in many languages including English), nolens
volens. The imperative
appears in the Vulgate version of the celebrated words of Christ to the
Magdalene, noli me tangere. And finally, again from English law
Latin, this time with the auxiliary itself in the infinitive: nolle
prosequi, literally ‘not to wish to pursue (the matter)’, for when a prosecutor drops a case.
Noli me tangere |
Julius Caesar refusing the crown |
People being what we are, the phrase is often used ironically, to indicate that the lips and the heart are at odds.
But -- What if the fellow genuinely does not want that? I was reminded of this (rare) situation in happening upon the following passage:
But -- What if the fellow genuinely does not want that? I was reminded of this (rare) situation in happening upon the following passage:
After an election in the sixteenth century,
le supérieur général des
dominicains, une fois élu, déclara qu’il avait mieux à faire que d’exercer le
pouvoir, et s’en retourna à ces chères études.
-- Jean Lacouture, Jésuites
(1991), p. 116
To preclude such an awkward
situation, General William Tecumseh Sherman, mooted as a candidate for
President, famously stated: “If
nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve.”
A parallel from pagan modernity: In his trenchant essay "The Inner Circle", C.S. Lewis recalls the motto of boys at English "public schools":
.
Further
philological footnote: Passive
infinitives are familiar from other phrases of law Latin, e.g. certiorari (passive of certiorare). And indeed the prosequi
in nolle prosequi is sort of a passive infinitive -- strictly, the
infinitive of a deponent (passive in
form, active in meaning) -- though morphologically it is very odd, lacking the
characteristic -r- of the an
infinitive active or passive. (As
though to atone for this, the finite
form in the first person singular
gets one: sequor ‘I pursue’.)
~
A predecessor from pagan antiquity:
Plato’s rulers were to be given absolute power only upon the condition that they did
not want it.
-- Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way
(1930)
She notes the parallel to “nolo episcopari”
A parallel from pagan modernity: In his trenchant essay "The Inner Circle", C.S. Lewis recalls the motto of boys at English "public schools":
"Them as asks, shan't have."
~
The
morphology of episcopari is, as we
remarked, that of a passive infinitive (a category which the daughter languages
sadly lack), exactly like that of percipi
in Bishop Berkeley’s classic phrase.
We
had latterly to remark, in our note upon that maxim, that waggish rascal
Fielding’s proclivity for turning Latin tags to his own account; and he once again does so here, while
describing the courtship by the Captain, for the wealthy heiress’ hand:
He soon found means to make his
addresses, in express terms, to his mistress, from whom he received an answer
in the proper form, viz: the answer
which was first made some thousands of years ago, and which hath been handed
down by tradition from mother to
daughter ever since. If I was to translate this into Latin,
I should render it by these two words:
Nolo episcopari.
-- Tom Jones (1749)
-- Tom Jones (1749)
Meaning: She replied coyly, playing hard to get;
but was quite willing, with proper
plying, and after a decent interval, to be … gotten.
(Note:
mistress here means, ‘mistress-in-prospect’;
and that, in a quite respectable
sense.)
~
~ Posthumous Endorsement ~
"Were I alive
today, and in the mood for a mystery,
this is what I should be
reading: "
('Tis I, Henry Fielding, and I approved this merry message.)
~
~
~
[Update
May 2017] There are actually a
wealth of epigrams, illustrating the basic thesis that some things can be
achieved only indirectly, the wording varying depending upon what is being
aimed at:
No man who cares about originality
will ever be original.
will ever be original.
-- C.S. Lewis, radio address
.
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