CoodaShooda (#229),
...He replied with a message in imperfect Latin..
.
Not so ! In its original form, it was "te salutamus ", because the gladiators were addressing a single person (the Emperor). Now Lerew was (presumably) speaking to the whole Air Staff, so he used the accusative plural: "vos". (He would certainly have known the difference).
Recalls an amusing (true) story from 1950. The Pope had declared it to be a Holy Year, during which every Catholic priest was obliged to visit Rome at least once. The BEA marketing men saw an opportunity to get ahead of the game. They circularised every Catholic priest in the UK (in Latin), extolling the virtues of BEA. Nearly all replied (also in Latin), with various queries about prices, baggage allowances, timings, possible discounts etc.
BEA was floored, and had to hurriedly recruit a staff of (very expensive) Latinists to answer all the questions. As RyanAir had not been invented (
AFAIK), I suppose they may have drummed up some extra traffic.
...Ignoring a further message intended to remove him from command, and after consulting the Army commander, Lerew next day led his men away from Rabaul...
Well done, Sir ! (spoken by one who himself has been threatened with Court Martial for not obeying orders).
Danny.