Some Lewis in Latin

At the 2013 Conference hosted by The Society for Classical Learning, I purchased The Latin Letters of C.S. Lewis, translated by Martin Moynihan. I bought it thinking, "Well, this is something written in Latin by possibly the greatest writer of the twentieth century, so why not give it a try?" As I started reading a few letters a night, I realized that I had purchased a gold mine . The same delightful spirituality that comes through in Lewis' English works also comes out in his Latin
prose. Already the letters are golden, but there is more. The book also contains some of the letters written by the man that Lewis corresponded with in Latin, Don Giovanni Calabria. Calabria, understanding Lewis' importance in the Christian world community, felt that he should start a correspondence with Lewis. Lewis did not know Italian and Calabria, or Father John, did not know a word of English, so Father John guessed correctly that Lewis knew Latin. (Another argument for why everyone should know Latin!)

These letters are absolute gems. I highly recommend Latin teachers read these letters for personal enrichment and for the joy of Latin and Latin prose. I'm going to focus on one phrase from one of Lewis' letters to Father John, because I find the quote thought-provoking.

Lewis writes to Father John about how he had been severely ill from streptococcum and tonsilitim. He could not do any work during that time and writes: Operatio mentis adest, opus abest. Moynihan translates it: The working of the mind is there, but not its work. I tend to enjoy translating his letters literally: The working of the mind is present, but the work is passed over. This passage might be fun to read with your students if they are fairly adept at their Latin, but you could certainly read the passage to younger students in English with easy Latin words mixed in. A discussion could be led about how the mind may work perfectly fine, while one is ill, but the body cannot perform in order for one to realize those thoughts. The teacher may also start a discussion about the mind versus the body with these types of questions. Can thoughts free us from the bodily world? Can tricks of the mind affect the body? The questions in this regard are endless and get the student to think philosophically about the subject of thoughts and actions. Include in the discussion the scientific names of certain diseases, sicknesses, and bacterial infections. Yes, Latin is in Science too. It's everywhere we look!

Beatus lectus Latin enthusiasts and teachers!