# Nonne tibi omnes videntur plus amasse quam expedit



## KsSp

Hello.
I am reading Origen's Homilies on Luke, and one sentence looks particularly strange. To such an extent does it seem strange that I fail to grasp the meaning  
Here's the original sentence:
"Nonne tibi omnes videntur plus amasse quam expedit, et dum virtutem uniuseujusque mirantur, dilectionis perdidisse mensuram?"
Using a dictionary, I looked up all the words in it, and everything I managed to come up with is the following:
"Don't you see that greater love for everyone is promoted by, and while they admire at every virtue, the degree of losing love?", which is just a bunch of words with no apparent meaning as a whole. Perdidisse and amasse are perfect active infinitive, but I don't see any other way of rendering it in English (to have loved/lost?). 
What does this sentence mean? The sentence above is the only "translation" I've managed to produce...
The context: this homily is about John the Baptist, Saint Paul, and the excessive love that people feel for them (as if they were equal to God). 
Thank you.


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## bearded

Hello
My attempt (bad English  just for understanding) :
Don't they all seem to you to have loved more than it is convenient, and  while they were looking at the virtues of each one, to have lost the right measure of loving?


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## KsSp

Thank you, bearded!


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## Scholiast

saluete amici!

Idle curiosity:

Origen wrote in _koiné _(or quite classical Greek)—he had read Demosthenes and Plato. Who, please, was the translator into Latin, and when?

My (I hope gentle) suggestions to improve on bearded's neat effort here: 'Don't they all seem to you to have loved more than is appropriate, and while they marvel at the virtues of each of them, to have lost, in their devotion, a sense of proportion?'

Σ


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## KsSp

Hello, Scholiast! As far as I know, some of his works were translated by Tyrannius Rufinus, others by Jerome, and some by an anonymous author. The work in question was translated into Latin by Jerome, which means it was done at some point between 370 and 420 or so (judging from when Jerome lived). 
Thank you for your contribution!


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## bearded

Many thanks, Scholiast, for your kind improvement of my English translation (from bad to nice English!).
I was unsure about 'mirantur', and I see from your 'marvelled' that for you it is synonymous of 'admirantur' (I rather thought 'observed', but of course 'marvelled' does make sense).
As a whole, I would say the text is written in non-classical and (comprehensibly) late-Latin syntax and style.


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## Scholiast

Ladies and gentlemen

First, thanks to KsSp for the information (# 5). I have subsequently learned that Tyrannius Rufinus, a contemporary of Jerome and a considerable scholar in his own monkish right, also contributed to a Latin translation of Eusebius.
Secondly, I have (mildly) edited the translation in my previous post (# 4), more accurately to reflect the tense of _mirantur_ and the word-order with its rhetorical emphasis.


bearded said:


> I would say the text is written in non-classical and (comprehensibly) late-Latin syntax and style.


In 'feel' I agree about this, but the indirect speech construction with accusative and infinitive (which in much late or mediaeval Latin gives way to _quod_ [= _che_/_que_/_que_ in Italian/Spanish/French] + indicative), is perfectly and stylishly classical.
Σ


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