Too ... to

[Ed Cryer]

Too hot to handle ...
Too heavy for me to carry .......
Too far gone down the road of enmity to turn back.

This "too" is very characteristic of English; but not so in classical
Latin.
The underlying meaning is of a comparative type; hotter than ....;
heavier than .....; further than ...
And that would be characteristic of Latin; using "quam ut .." or "quam"
+ relative pronoun;

Calidius quam ut tangi possit; calidius quam quod tangi possit.
Gravior quam ut portare possim; gravior quam quem portare possim.
Ultra progressus in inimicitiis quam ut reverti possit; inimicitiae
graviores quam de quibus salvus discederet.


I've found a sentence in Livy that highlights this in a quite striking
manner;
Hannibali nimis laeta res est uisa maiorque quam ut eam statim capere
animo posset.
The affair seemed to Hannibal too fortunate and greater than he could
grasp mentally for the moment.
We would simply say "too fortunate for him to grasp".

Ed

[Johannes Patruus]

Post by Ed Cryer
Too hot to handle ...
Too heavy for me to carry .......
Too far gone down the road of enmity to turn back.
This "too" is very characteristic of English; but not so in classical
Latin.
The underlying meaning is of a comparative type; hotter than ....;
heavier than .....; further than ...
And that would be characteristic of Latin; using "quam ut .." or "quam"
+ relative pronoun;
Calidius quam ut tangi possit; calidius quam quod tangi possit.
Gravior quam ut portare possim; gravior quam quem portare possim.
Ultra progressus in inimicitiis quam ut reverti possit; inimicitiae
graviores quam de quibus salvus discederet.
I've found a sentence in Livy that highlights this in a quite striking
manner;
Hannibali nimis laeta res est uisa maiorque quam ut eam statim capere
animo posset.
The affair seemed to Hannibal too fortunate and greater than he could
grasp mentally for the moment.
We would simply say "too fortunate for him to grasp".

This construction brings to mind a particularly nightmarish sentence in
Bradley's Arnold (Ex. 63:3) -

The chiefs of the enemy easily perceived that in the recent rebellion and
mutiny their offences had been too great to be pardoned. At the same time,
in spite of this great defeat, they were too high-spirited to ask for mercy,
and too powerful to obtain it.

rendered by the Key as -

Hostium vero duces facile intellegebant maiora se in recenti defectione ac
seditione deliquisse quam quibus ignosci posset; idem in tanta hac
calamitate et ferociores erant quam qui misericordiam orarent et potentiores
quam qui impetrarent.

Patruus