Current Reading: Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove

 

I read Larry McMurtry's book back in 1990 or 1991 and decided to start it again. Here's a quote:

The whole sign read:

HAT CREEK CATTLE COMPANY

AND LIVERY EMPORIUM

CAPT. AUGUSTUS MC

CRAE }     PROPS.

CAPTAIN W. F. CALL

P. E. PARKER     WRANGLER

DEETS, JOSHUA

FOR RENT: HORSES AND RIGS

FOR SALE: CATTLE AND HORSES

GOATS AND DONKEY'S NEITHER BOUGHT NOR SOLD

WE DON'T RENT PIGS.

UVA UVAM VIVENDO VARIA FIT

    Augustus didn't say a word about the motto, and it was a good two months before anybody even noticed it, which showed how unobservant the citizens of Lonesome Dove really were. It galled Augustus severely that no one appreciated the fact that he had thought to write a Latin motto on a sign that all visitors could see as they rode in, though in fact those riding in took as little note of it as those already in, perhaps because getting to Lonesome Dove was such a hot, exhausting business. The few people who accomplished it were in no mood to stop and study erudite signs.

And if you are interested, one person on the Internet suggested the following interpretation of the Latin phrase at the bottom of the sign:

The Latin phrase that appears on the Hat Creek Cattle Company sign in "Lonesome Dove" is a garbled corruption, and there's no direct translation. It derives from the scholia to Juvenal 2.81 which cites the proverb "uva uvam videndo varia fit" This means something like "a grape changes color [i.e., ripens] when it sees [another] grape" Novelist Larry McMurtry probably intentionally misused the Latin, perhaps to make a point about Augustus McCrae's tenuous understanding of the language. From there, any number of interpretations have arisen to explain why McMurtry chose to communicate that particular idea. Probably the soundest theory is that the phrase serves as a metaphor for the group's journey, as many of the story's characters go through a process of personal maturation and development. Much like grapes ripen in the presence of others.