# one should say, in <impuris naturalibus>



## longxianchen

Hi, happy new year to you
Here are some words from the novel Lady Chatterley's Lover(page *386*, chapter 17) by Lawrence (planetebook,here):
(background: Connie was in Venice, in a stupor of happiness. Then she received a letter from Clifford, which said:"We too have had our mild local excitement. .……")

_It appears the truant wife of Mellors, the keeper, turned up at the cottage and found herself unwelcome. He packed her off, and locked the door. _*Report has it*(=it's reported)_, however, that when he returned from the wood he found the no longer _*fair *(=pretty) _lady firmly established in his bed, in *puris naturalibus*; or *one*_(=I) _should say, in _*impuris naturalibus*_. She had broken a window and got in that way._


The sentence in blue is a little confusing for me. I have inserted some notes in the sentence. 
And what do* puris *and *impuris naturalibus *mean please?
Thank you in advance


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## exgerman

in puris naturalibus = in her state of natural purity (i.e.naked)

Then he revises it to "natural impurity" (i.e. she was tempting him)


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## longxianchen

Thank you a lot.
But how did you figure out *naked* from *natural **purity*?


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## exgerman

Nakedness is man's natural state, before convention clothed us. Babies come naked into this world. Adam and Eve were naked until they sinned, then they wore clothes. It's a common trope in Western thought, not sat all an obscure connection of thought.


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## Scholiast

Lindsaius Scoliasta amicis omnibus SPD

Sadly to say, D. H. Lawrence was an _alumnus_ of my own _alma mater_, Nottingham High School (East Midlands of England). He, or his Latin teacher there, had forgotten their grammar. _In puribus naturalibus_ was meant, such as to say, "In their unadorned natures". But of course Mellors may have forgotten his grammar when he became a Gamekeeper.

Σ


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## chipulukusu

Scholiast, you mean that the plural ablative of _purus_ is _puribus_? I'm not sure about that, I believe that _puris_ is correct.


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## Scholiast

Oh dear, so sorry, and how embarrassing!

Yes of course _puris_ is right, I was stupidly thinking of _pluribus_.

Σ


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## chipulukusu

Scholiast said:


> Oh dear, so sorry, and how embarrassing!
> 
> Yes of course _puris_ is right, I was stupidly thinking of _pluribus_.
> 
> Σ



It happens even to the best!


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