Talk:List of Roman dictators

Reasons in Latin

I think this article would be much more helpful if the reasons for appointing were given in English rather than Latin. SpinningSpark 11:58, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

But they're traditionally given in Latin, and there's a not-very-long and perfectly readable section devoted to what they mean immediately preceding the table. P Aculeius (talk) 13:26, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Maybe in the scholarly papers you read, but we are aiming at a general readership here. The length of the list makes it particularly difficult, forcing the reader to scroll back to the top to find the translation. Books on Roman history aimed at a general audience, and even some aimed at not so general, will use English translations of Roman terms. On my own bookshelf from the Penguin Classics series are Livy: The Early History of Rome, Livy: The War With Hannibal, and Caesar: The Civil War. All of them use "Master of Horse" throughout rather than magister equitum. They may give the Latin name in parentheses on first use, I can't remember, but in running text the English name is always used. Similarly in this book "Master of Horse" is given first with the Latin in parentheses on page xliii and the reason for Caesar's dictatorship is given in English first with rei publicae constituendae causa in parentheses (you don't have that one in the article by the way). SpinningSpark 15:45, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

It's really not all that long, so I think you're overstating the matter. But "Master of the Horse" is itself somewhat dated, as "magister equitum" is fairly commonplace in English sources, and has been for a long time. And at the same time, most of these reasons defy simple English translation. "To do the thing", "to do something", "to see to the matter", "to perform a task", "to take care of business" (a rather modern metaphor); all rather unsatisfactory. "To drive a nail", "to drive the nail", perhaps slightly better, but still requiring the reader to look up at the top and see what the heck it's talking about. If readers need to look over the top anyway to figure out what it means, then insisting on rather inexact and awkward translations just doesn't accomplish much. P Aculeius (talk) 18:13, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

I agree with Spinningspark, most readers will not know Latin. As a compromise, I have retained the Latin phrases given in the list but added the English meanings afterward in parentheses. AmateurEditor (talk) 15:36, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

I just read the article and I was left with the same impression that SpinningSpark mentioned. Most of the Latin terms could be substituted with English ones and the article would be much easier to read.

The explanatory paragraph gives the key. In my opinion, every listing of "Rei Gerundae" could be easily substituted by the term "General Purpose", possibly with and explanation that this applies to the Rei Gerundae concept and an explanation of it.

Same would apply to the "clavi figendi" clause, if we take into account that it's not that a dictator is needed to drive any garden variety nail. The cause here would be to participate in a religious ceremony to Jupiter (so it would be "Religious ceremony", maybe?).

As for "sine magistro equitum", there is no reason for the term to remain in Latin. The phrase appears to mean "without master of cavalry/the horse", so putting that should do (it could be abbreviated to "None assigned").

181.31.1.7 (talk) 02:27, 7 May 2022 (UTC)

New source for list of dictators

I wanted to note here there is another source now for the list of dictators. Specifically, Mark B Wilson, Dictator: the evolution of the Roman dictatorship (2021) App'x 1. Ifly6 (talk) 19:44, 19 February 2022 (UTC)