The first sentence of the “Life” of St Botolph reads as follows:
Omnipotentis Dei benignitas, compatiens errori humani generis, quod ab antiquo serpente caelitus concessa denudatum gloria, ignorantiae damnatur tenebris; divitias misericordiae suae in eius restauratione exhibere voluit, ut ad gloriam lucis de qua caecum aberraverat, rediret per lumen quod ei ineffabili gratia administravit.
I.e.
The benevolence of almighty God – compassionate towards the error of the human race, which, having been stripped by the ancient serpent of the glory granted to it by heaven, is condemned to the darkness of ignorance – wished to display the riches of His mercy in the restoration of it, so that (the human race) might return to the glory of the light from which it had blindly strayed, through the Light which He bestowed upon it, by His ineffable grace.
I’ve been staring at that, and wondering how to turn that into English without departing too far from the original.
Suggestions anyone?
What are you taking as the antecedent of “quod”? I am assuming it is neuter.
…genus humanum, of course. I apologize for being dumb. How about considering “God” instead of “benignitas” as the subject, and going from there? Breaking it down into simpler sentences for the contemporary English ear, but keeping the order of ideas: error, stripping, darkness; restoration, return, light.
How about:
Because the kindness of almighty God felt compassion for the human race which–having been stripped of the glory granted it by heaven by the ancient serpent–is condemned to the shadows of ignorance for its error, he wished to show forth the riches of his mercy in its restoration. For thus [the human race] might return to the light from which it had wandered when blind by means of the light which he administered to it through his ineffable grace.
This utilizes the fuller meaning latent in the participles, breaks the purpose clause out and makes it its own sentence; it also takes the “error” from the first clause and relocates it to the clause about condemnation. I thought this legitimate because it seems clear that God feels compassion for the human race, not the error of the human race.