I'm not familiar with it as a phrase. However, maybe it's just about delenda est? Cause that bit has quite a history, going back to a famous Roman senator who wanted Carthage to be destroyed. Many politicians and others after him have used similar phrases. So perhaps your author was doing the same.

An interesting idea, but I feel like Islam would have to rise before Trinitarianism became established. Or Trinitarianism would have to remain controversial until Islam arose, whichever chain of events one prefers.

Consider Muhammad living 10 more years and seeing the conquest of Jerusalem, his main goal. Jerusalem becomes the holy city for muslims, he is buried next to the tomb of Jesus. The Byzantine clergy mission to evaluate islam's claim, rather then cataloguing it as an heresy, recommends to integrate the Qu'ran as the Gospel of Muahamad. Instead of the Arab-Byzantine war, we have a reluctant mutual recognition. Religious infighting happens, but the Church of Muhammad grows in the Christian population as one of the branches of Christianity. Eventually, one of the emperors converts.

Of course warlords and empire regions would still fight each other, but instead of having the boring orthodox/roman catholic schism, we would have one between the pope and the descendants of Muhammad and instead of the crusades, a cultural war between the Latin and Arab-speaking intellectual of the time.

Veni, vidi, corrēxī — Parvus Caesar

Thanks! Both for the compliment and the explanation. It saves me the moral dilemma whether to explain my own joke 😅

I actually forgot the macrons in that book, it's been a while since I've read it, I should continue, since I've stopped so early. But thank you for your explanation! You explained pretty well, made my eyes bright!

I'm late, but I hope I can help. The line above the vowel is called a macron, and it's the most common way of marking a long vowel in Latin nowadays. There have been various ways of marking long vowels throughout history, but it's also been very common to forgo them. Basically, it's up to the writer to decide if they want to make it explicit which vowels are long, or if they leave it to the reader to know which vowels are long.

So you will typically find macrons in textbooks and other teaching materials, if the author wants to make sure the reader learns about vowel length. On the other hand, a lot of edited original Latin texts will not include them, since those editions are often aimed at an audience of scholars who should be able to tell which vowels are long. They might explicitly mark a vowel as long or short if it's an unusual case, though.

So if you're worried about doing it wrong, please don't. As long as your usage of macrons is consistent, there is no wrong choice. It's a matter of taste and preference. Though if you're still learning, it's probably a wise choice to keep track of vowel length.

I'm puzzled about one thing, though. You say LLPSI doesn't use macrons, but it's actually pretty well known for using them. Are you confusing it with another textbook, by any chance?

Suspecto eos non curare de intellectualibus Latinum loquentibus