any classicists on this board?

[Steve]

---  "susanmcgee48176" <Schlobin at ...> wrote:
>
> I recently have been trying to unravel an issue/answer a 
> question and wonder if any of you have any insight into it.
> 
> ...
> 
> Ibis Redibis in Numquam Armis Peribis. ... Numquam can modify
> either redibus or  peribis...you can't tell which one. SO...
> the phrase EITHER means -
> 
> "You will go, you will return, you will never perish in arms" 
>
> ...OR...
>
> it means-
> "You will go, you will never return, you will perish in arms." 
>  
> ...
> Delphi Oracle - Syntactic Ambiguity
> A famous Latin translation of one of the prophecies of the 
> oracle at Delphi reads "Ibis, redibis numquam peribis in 
> bello." Two different translations and interpretations may be
> provided for this sentence.
> 
> 1. "You'll leave, and you shall never return as you will 
> perish in the war." 
>
> 2. "You'll leave and return, and you shall not perish in 
> the war." Very close to what I had been taught.
>  
> ...
>  
> Pyrrthus, being about to make war against Rome, was told by 
> the oracle "Credo te, Aeacide, Romanos  vincere posse, which
> can mean either-  
> "I believe that you, Pyrrthus can conquer the Romans" 
> 
> or else- 
> "I believe, Pyrrthus, that the Romans will conquer."
>  
> ...
> 
> Can anyone on this list shed some light?
> 
> Susan
>


bboyminn:

Sorry, off on my own tangent here, and not meaning to stir
any controversy, but there are so many people who are so
all-fired sure as to exactly what the Bible does and doesn't
say, yet these examples clearly illustrate how the simplest
of phrases can have exactly the opposite meaning depending
on how they are interpreted. 

Of course, in your examples were are dealing with Prophecies
that I suspect are intended to be ambiguous and confusing. 
Prophets and Seers, like Leprechauns, are tricksters, and you
can never truly trust what they say. 

Now, I suspect in the broad and general context, we can take
the Bible at its general philosophy, but when people start
to pick and choose short passages with absolute certainty
as to there meaning, I start to become suspicious.

As to your original question, I haven't got a clue.

Steve/bboyminn