The Bible has a miracle-story concerning the reversal of a shadow on a
sundial, but it doesn't seem to have any suitable quotes (at least in
Latin).
See Isaiah 38:4-8 and 2 Kings 20:1-11.
The first one, in the King James Version, contains a nice line if you
truncate the sentence -
"Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees" (Isa. 38:8) That has
a nice ring to it, I think.
The full sentence is "Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees,
which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward" (i.e. the
miracle)
The Vulgate's Latin is really unsuitable - "Ecce ego reverti faciam umbram
linearum per quas descenderat in horologio Ahaz in sole retrorsum decem
lineis".
Thus the ambiguity of the KJV "bring again", obscures that it means
"reverse", and hence produces a really lovely sounding motto for a sundial.
Ross Caldwell
43"20 N
3"12' E
Béziers
France
-
