# Resistit paucis orbuitur pluribus



## Chticli

<<Resistit paucis orbuitur pluribus>>

Hi,
it's another coin and i don't find the translation. My latin is really so far....


Thanks a lot for your help.
Chticli


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## Scholiast

Greetings

It should be _obruitur_, and the whole phrase means "He resists with a few, [though] beset by many".


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## Quiviscumque

Dear Scholiast, taking into account the fact that it is a coin, is this translation suitable?

It halts for a few, it is buried by many.


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## Scholiast

In response to Quiviscumque (#3):



> is this translation suitable?



Whyever not? It might of course be a dynastic motto anyway (I have no idea what coin this is, nor where or when it was minted). British coinage bearing the image of the monarch still retains the legend F[idei] D[efensor], an honorific title conferred on Henry VIII in 1521 by Pope Leo X (when Henry was still loyal to the papacy) for his composition of a tract against Protestant reformism, and transmitted to his descendants and successors ever since, despite the anachronism.

And - with respect - I don't think either "it halts" (for _resistit_) or "it is buried" (for _obruitur_) really convey the Latin sense.


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## Quiviscumque

Scholiast said:


> And - with respect - I don't think either "it halts" (for _resistit_) or "it is buried" (for _obruitur_) really convey the Latin sense.



Perhaps it does not... It would be a little contrived. But people sometimes play on words.


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## Cagey

This coin is from the mid 1600's. Here is a picture:
http://www.sprezzatura.it/Arte/jeton_bouclier2.jpg
The other side of the coin has '_Comitia Burgundiae_', and a French journal*** identifies Burgundy as the subject of the slogan. 
_[Burgundy] stood up against a few; it has fallen to many. _
(I know too little of French history to explain the circumstances.) 

There is a disc shape on the coin that the coin books identify as a shield threatened by arrows. 
However, there are quite a few internet sites that identify the image as a flying saucer, and consider it possible evidence that the earth was visited by beings from outer space in the 17th century.  This reading influences their translations of the Latin, which are usually inaccurate.    

The coin discussed in this thread, which has the same design, has aroused the same sort of speculation:  opportunus adest

***Source: Bulletin, Volumes 1-6 By Société d'études d'Avallon


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## Scholiast

vae nos

"1600*'*s" forsooth. _quis custodiet_....?


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## Quiviscumque

Cagey said:


> This coin is from the mid 1600's. Here is a picture:
> http://www.sprezzatura.it/Arte/jeton_bouclier2.jpg
> The other side of the coin has '_Comitia Burgundiae_', and French journal*** identifies Burgundy as the subject of the slogan.
> _[Burgundy] stood up against a few; it has fallen to many. _
> (I know too little of French history to explain the circumstances.)
> 
> There is a disc shape on the coin that the coin books identify as a shield threatened by arrows.
> However, there are quite a few internet sites that identify the image as a flying saucer, and consider it possible evidence that the earth was visited by beings from outer space in the 17th century.  This reading influences their translations of the Latin, which are usually inaccurate.
> 
> The in the coin discussed in this thread, which has the same design, has aroused the same sort of speculation:  opportunus adest
> 
> ***Source: Bulletin, Volumes 1-6 By Société d'études d'Avallon



I saw, I was too imaginative, and Scholiast were -as usual- right.


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## CapnPrep

Cagey said:


> The other side of the coin has '_Comitia Burgundiae_', and a French journal*** identifies Burgundy as the subject of the slogan.
> _[Burgundy] stood up against a few; it has fallen to many. _
> (I know too little of French history to explain the circumstances.)
> […]
> ***Source: Bulletin, Volumes 1-6 By Société d'études d'Avallon


Here's a more complete source, if you want to learn about the history of Burgundy through the topical slogans/designs chosen for the honorary tokens given to the elected officials of the États de Burgogne every three years:

Claude Rossignol. (1851) _Des libertés de la Bourgogne d'après les jetons de ses états_. 
 The story of the 1648 token is told around p. 130. As for the Latin, the verbs are present tense, and the message is defiant but desperate: _She can resist_ or _is resisting against a few, but against so many more, she is overwhelmed_.


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## Scholiast

As usual, CapnPrep's astonishing scholarship (#9) outdoes us all. _obruimur_. That the inscription was on an honorific medallion, rather than a coin of fiscal currency, makes of course now complete sense.


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