From John Woodgate
Further to Elizabeth Bromham’s comment on the black swan (29 July, p 23), Wikipedia tells us: “Rara avis – ‘Rare bird’ – An extraordinary or unusual thing. From Juvenal’s Satires: Rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno (‘a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan’).”
The editor writes:
• The full quote in the translation by Niall Rudd (Oxford University Press) is: “Suppose she is beautiful, graceful, wealthy, fertile, and also has ancient ancestors dotting her hallway; suppose she is purer than any Sabine with streaming hair who stopped a war – a rare bird, as strange to the earth as a black swan; who could endure a wife who was such a paragon?”
Rayleigh, Essex, UK
