From Augustine's Confessions (1:21):
Quid enim miserius misero non miserante se ipsum.
My text has this footnote:
English struggles to capture the fugura etymologica here (triple anaphora of miser-).
Indeed it does! I'm tempted to render the sentence as:
For nothing is more miserable than a miser not commiserating with himself.
Don't like it? Okay, let's try this:
For nothing is more wretched than a wretch who does not consider himself wretched.
That any better? Methinks Augustine thought he had much in common with the apostle Paul (Rom. 7:24).
This is way too much fun.
