Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est…

So sayeth Beethoven on his deathbed, allegedly. For ya’ll ‘non-scholars’ it means “Applaud my friends, the comedy is over…”

Nowadays one cannot attribute any words or actions to anyone without the preamble or disclaimer of:

‘the alleged crime/word/action/thought/supposition/possibility/etc etc etc everyone is a moron’

clause so in case there is a person alive who heard and recorded Ludwig van Beethoven’s last words and may dispute my reference, may they speak now and never hold their peace. Because no one cares.

Why?

Because no one speaks Latin these days, genius.

They just want attractive Pinterest pages to pin and share and plagiarize. Doesn’t anyone research their sources these days? I mean, I can’t be the only one purchasing Latin textbooks to ensure the accuracy of my quotes or translations, can I?