July 31, 2017
Just Saying…
By Q.C. Jones
An August Muse about August
It was an august time for August in August
august – [aw-guhst] – adjective
1. inspiring reverence or admiration; of supreme dignity or grandeur; majestic:
an august performance of a religious drama.
2. venerable; eminent:
an august personage.
August – [aw-guh st] – noun
1. the eighth month of the year, containing 31 days.
2. a male given name, form of Augustus.
Back in the olden days, yours truly, QC Jones was convinced truly educated folks had to read Latin. Looking back, I can’t remember if the thought came from reading classic Roman mythology, the study of history or the many quotes from the Latin-tongue, like “e pluribus unum,” spewed by great leaders of the past. But, somehow I managed to survive two years of Latin in high school followed by a couple of grueling semesters in college.
While I would like to report my education experience as exemplary, the truth is some forty years past my graduation, which was anything but “cum laude,” I can probably recognize something like 200 words from the ancient text. While I hold the university of my youth in high regards, I would never characterize it in Latin “Alma Mater” which is roughly translated as “kind and nourishing mother.” But, one of word firmly planted in my brain is “augustus.”
Augustus could be translated as “great and magnificent.” Just like Henry the Great of France and Herod the Great of Biblical times and “The Great One” Jackie Gleason, Romans were pretty keen on assuming the Augustus moniker. With this in mind, let’s jump into Mr. Peabody’s WayBack Machine and set the dials March 16, 44 BC.
They were still tidying up the nasty blood stains on the carpets of The Theatre of Pompey, where Brutus and his pals forever engrained the Ides of March into the lexicon of modern times. Gaius Octavius, the great nephew and adopted son of Julius had just become the new Emperor. Capitalizing on the popularity of the recently assassinated Julius, Octavius changed his last name to Caesar.
Fearing Octavius, which means eighth, didn’t have the marketing appeal required of a great leader, the newbie Emperor did what any self-respecting big wig would do and changed his name to Augustus Caesar. Somewhere along the way, the month the Romans called Sextillis (which means sixth) became August and we got stuck with the eighth month (which would have been Octavius) carrying the name of a guy named great. Holy Jupiter, who happened to be the King of the Roman gods, these Romans were weird. But let’s get back to August, in a QC Jones sort of way…
From my perch high atop the Mississippi Bluff near the Village of East Davenport, I can see the dome of Old Main at Augustana College. Somehow the hearty Swedes who formed the university decided to name it August, or at least the feminine version of the Latin name. Without disrespecting a fine institution, one could wonder if they had visions of grandeur or just thought the name had a nice ring.
Apparently August used to be a pretty popular name amongst the residents of the good old QCA. One that comes immediately to mind for me is Dr. August P. Richter who was the editor of the Der Democrat newspaper of Davenport, Iowa. The good doctor, not of the medical variety, was (I believe) the originator of the newspaper’s motto “Jedem das Seine!” which could be translated from German as “To each his own.” For those of you wondering, the paper was ardently socialist and supported popular freedom and social reform. Again because you might be wondering, reflecting the sentiment of the German populace of the QCA, the paper was also strongly against prohibition.
Another semi-famous pair of Augusts in the QCA were August Steffen and his son August Steffen Jr. The Steffens family migrated from Prussia in 1849 and went into the dry goods business. Somewhere along the way they made a pile of money. August, the junior, built a little shack in Davenport called The Overview, August, like the month, is gone but the 6,000 square foot mansion still stands at the corner of West Sixth and Ripley. QC knew a young couple who started the renovation of the place back at the turn of the century (2000) and heard an interesting tale.
According to lore, when Junior died, his kids couldn’t get along. Since they jointly inherited the house and both were set on living in grand style with a view, they split the house down the middle. A wall was built down the middle of the great, perhaps we could say “august”, stairway. One set of kids got the west half of the house and the other got the eastern side.
Finally, since the calendar is pointing to August, I thought I would share a final story from the season. In my mind, Credit Island is one of the coolest spots in the QCA. In late August of 1814, Zachary Taylor, who went on to be the 12th President of these United States, headed up the Mississippi to fight the British and their Indian allies. He made it to Credit Island in September and ended up fighting the western most battle of the War of 1812. That’s pretty august, too.
Finally, since we have peppered this post with a major dose of Latin, I thought I would share my own personal motto, “tumenti inepta” which is loosely translated “pompous and silly.” Just saying….
