Tuesday, February 5, 2008, 07:08 - World History: Ancient, Medieval & Modern, Popular Latin Phrases, Mottos, Slogans
Posted by Administrator
Here is a rather perplexing reference to a gift, supposedly presented to General Robert. E. Lee:Posted by Administrator
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SAVANNAH [GA] REPUBLICAN, March 26, 1863, p. 1, c. 2
Golden Spurs to Gen. Lee.—We had the pleasure of examining at the Jewelry establishment of Mr. John Hill on 14th street, yesterday, a pair of very magnificent spurs, of solid burnished gold, which were imported through the blockade, from citizens of Maryland, as a present to General Lee. They are each engraved, on the inside, with the following inscription:
"Stemulus (sic, should be 'stimulus') Dedit Virtus,
Presented to Gen. Robert E. Lee, by his friends and admirers of Prince George county, Maryland."
The gift does honor to the patriotism and credit to the taste of the givers.—Rich. Enq.
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Without seeing the original I cannot say at what point (and to what degree) the text became corrupted. Certainly, the general would have been surprised by the fact that both nouns in the Latin part of the inscription are in the Nominative case. It is therefore impossible to tell for sure whether courage ('virtus') gave a 'stimulus '(literally 'spur') or vice versa.
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