Question re: Latin

[med_cat]

Hi all,

Anybody here could tell me the exact translation of this quotation from Francis Bacon?

"Natura enim non nisi parendo vincitur."

Thank you!

Cat

Comments

[elaby]

My Latin-teacher friend, who I happen to be sitting with, says "For nature is not conquered except to obey (to be subjected to, to be compliant)." So... you can't conquer Nature except to obey it, or go along with it?

She says the "parendo" is odd because it would mean "for the purpose of obeying" but in Bacon's writing, it seems like it should mean "to command".

She's a lot smarter than I am :D I took half a semester of Latin.

[med_cat]

Thank you very much! I gathered it was something like that but I wanted to be certain 8D

And please convey my thanks to your friend :) I had taken a bit of Latin but it wasn't much and it was 18 years ago...

Thanks again,
Cat