Top 5 Brown Building Inscriptions

The second-best benefit to being a Latin student at Brown (the first one, if you're wondering, is the Latin Carol Sing) is that you can sometimes read the Latin building inscriptions around campus. Usually these are pretty boring, plus you look like a bit of a nerd while you're squinting at some Latin on the side of a building, but every now and then you get a fun one. (Read on to see exactly how fun).Once you start looking for good building inscriptions, though, you realize that they're really everywhere here. And while I'm sure I've missed some of the better ones, here's a preliminary list of the top five building inscriptions here at Brown.#5: Sayles HallThis inscription definitely falls into the "Keep it simple, stupid" category. Filio Pater Posuit literally means "His Father Put (This Large Building Here)." Of course the real story is more touching—the building was a memorial from William F. Sayles to his dead son, who would have graduated in 1881, when Sayles Hall was dedicated.  #4: Van Wickle GatesThis is definitely not a building, but the gates do have one of the longer Latin inscriptions on campus, a protracted quote about the delights of academics from Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta. This is definitely the opposite of keeping it simple. It says "Haec studia adulescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solacium praebent," which I won't bother to translate for you. Suffice it to say that Cicero loves to read.  #3: John Carter Brown LibraryFor a guy whose family was pretty much always on the wrong side of it, John Carter Brown's library sure has a really good quote about history on the side.  #2: Carrie TowerThe Carrie tower (in the corner of the Quiet Green, at the intersection of Prospect and Waterman) is yet another monument to a deceased loved one. Paul Bajnotti gave it in 1904 as a remembrance of his wife Caroline Mathilde Brown. On the door which leads into its base is inscribed a verse from Song of Solomon 8:6: "Love is strong as death." #1: 70 Brown St.This inscription (on the side of the English Department building at 70 Brown St.) definitely wins the prize for succinctness. It's no surprise that it's a quote from Gertrude Stein, from her extremely good (and confusing) "Composition as Explanation."  Images via and via Paul Michaud '22.