Comment by benbreen

This is the result when I asked GPT-4 to write "a new, original passage in latin which is inspired by Del Rio's style. Make the Latin elegant and lucid, with witty turns of phrase," then asked Claude to translate it back to English. I am no Latin expert, but I know enough to say that this is clearly lucid, makes sense -- though overwrought -- and has no glaring errors. I will ask my classicist friends to weigh in on the matter of style though.

GPT-4 improvising: "Quemadmodum divini philosophi docent, mysteria naturae introrsus latitant, neque enim sine causa Democritus 'naturam rerum' dixit esse clausam in occulto. Verum, si Angelorum bonorum opera ut in Psalmis celebratur, 'Benedicite, omnes Angeli Domini, Domino,' quo pacto maleficae entitates—daemones scilicet—invisibiles nec tamen inactiones sunt? Mihi consentaneum videtur quod Tertullianus et Ambrosius prodiderunt, angeli esse nuntios divinos, sed daemonas esse nuntios corruptionis. Ne confundamus! Nam verbum 'daemon' Graecis non semper malum significat, sed Romanis—o mores!—semper sinistram portendit.

In huius argumenti speculo, miror qua de causa daemones semper in tenebris vel in locis desertis, vel in nocturna silentia se abscondant. An non, ut Seneca loquitur, 'magna vis veritatis est, quae se per se defendet'? Atqui daemones a veritate abhorrent, quasi nox a lucem fugiat.

Ergo, si volumus a daemonum insidiis nosmetipsos protegere, debemus, ut Virgilius canit, 'forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit,' non oblivisci quod lux aeterna sit telum acerrimum contra tenebras. Haec ita dicam, et iam concludo: sicut angeli ad caelum pertinent, sic daemones ad abyssum—et utrique suum locum noverunt. Caveamus igitur ne, dum caelum quaerimus, abyssum inveniamus."

Claude translation: "As the divine philosophers teach, the mysteries of nature lie hidden within, for not without reason did Democritus call nature 'enclosed in the dark'. Yet, if by the work of good Angels as celebrated in the Psalms, 'Bless the Lord, all you Angels of the Lord,' in what manner are evil entities—namely demons—invisible yet not inactive? It seems fitting to me what Tertullian and Ambrose handed down, that angels are divine messengers, but demons are messengers of corruption. Let us not confuse the two! For the word 'daemon' does not always signify something evil for the Greeks, but for the Romans—oh the times!—it always portends something sinister. In the mirror of this argument, I wonder for what reason demons always hide themselves in shadows or deserted places or the silences of the night. Does not, as Seneca says, 'truth have great power, which will defend itself'? Yet demons shrink from the truth, as the night flees from the light. Therefore, if we wish to protect ourselves from the snares of demons, we must, as Virgil sings, 'perhaps one day it will please us to remember these things,' not forget that eternal light is the sharpest weapon against the darkness. I will say this much, and now conclude: just as angels belong to heaven, so demons belong to the abyss—and both know their proper places. Let us beware, therefore, lest while seeking heaven we find the abyss."