Prayers are letters addressed to God, so see:
Select Works by David Clarkson, ed. B. H. Cooper, notes by J. Blackburn:
Wycliffe Society: page 294 sub "A Discourse Concerning Liturgies":
'Proceed we to the third prayer, viz., that for blessing or sanctifying the
elements … which consisted much of thanksgiving, and from thence this
sacrament, as is thought, came to be called the eucharist. It is of this,
that Justin Martyr gives an account, in the words alleged by others; … "the
president, in like manner, as before, prays and gives thanks, according to
his ability." This praying, according to his ability, or as he was able,
plainly excludes all praying by forms prescribed, or composed for him by
others, if he either had ability (which none question in the pastors of
those times) to compose, or was able to conceive a prayer himself. // One
tells us, it is a compliment of civility, as when we say, Ago gratias, non
quas debeo, sed quas possum; or quantas possum maximus, "I give thanks not
such as I might, but such as I can, or the best I can." But, not well
pleased with this (it seems) himself, (at which we need not wonder) he tells
us (which will no more please others) of some, (learned too) who understand
it of giving God thanks, with as loud a voice as he is able: gelws tauta kai
lyros, "ridiculous this and trifling."'
Joannis Kepleri astronomi, Pera Omnia Vol. II,-- OR opera omnia, ed.
Christian Frisch (1859),
De Jovis Satellitibus &c. Literae Kepler aliorumque mutuae: "In qua
dissertatione pro honestisima etiam mei facta mentione tibi rursus gratias
ago, non quas debeo sed quas possum maximas." (2:464)
Edmund Spenser in his verse epistle to Gabriel Harvey:
'Plura vellem per Charites, sed non licet per Musas': "that is, it would be
gracious to write more, but lack of poetic inspiration forbids it" (AnFQ
729).
-- Jim N.
On Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:58:01 +0900
Steven Willett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> On Feb 16, 2007, at 5:16 AM, Roger Kuin wrote:
>
>> Apologies for cross-posting.
>>
>> There is a Latin expression I keep running into in letters of the
>> 1570s, and I wonder if anyone knows its origin. The expression is
>> something like
>>
>> tibi non quas debeo sed quas [or quantas] possum, gratias ago.
>
>
> I don't think there's an archetype for the phrase, which is a kind of
> boilerplate that can be adapted to a broad range of expressions. One
> finds it throughout medieval and renaissance letters in various
> grammatical forms. Here, for example, it occurs in a Nov. 7, 1531 letter
>from Brother Nicolaus Ellenbog to Johannes Eck:
>
> Gratias non quas debeo, sed quas possum, dignationi tuae habeo et ago
> immensas.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> Steven J. Willett
> Shizuoka University of Art and Culture
> Department of International Culture Studies
> 1794-1 Noguchi-cho, Shizuoka Pref.
> Hamamatsu City, Japan 430-8533
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Phone: 53-457-6142
>
>
[log in to unmask]
James Nohrnberg
Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
Univ. of Virginia
P.O Box 400121
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
|