Groton School Quarterly, Fall 2009

Personae | People of Note

Serve God and Rule

by Andrew Greene ’78

Fifth Formers Connor Baharozian, Liza MacEachern, and Bryn Garrity give physics class their attention.

62 | Quarterly Fall 2009

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atin was not my subject; I was a Greek scholar and a mediocre one. My teacher was Mr. Myers, who administered tests as a gentleman should, in the study of his house over tea. I would sit in a deep chair by the fire, mentally treading water, balancing a cup and saucer in one hand and Homer in the other. With snow falling silently in the dark outside, the only sounds available to cover my halting words were the clock and the spitting logs. As I flailed away, Mr. Myers would cock his head, smile, and compliment me despite the hash I was making of it.

So I knew a little Greek, less Latin, and next to nothing about Groton’s motto. But times change. Child-rearing and taxes made me philosophical, and the great Internet library helped me paper over the holes in my education, including some of the Latin I skipped. About the motto, Google has something to say. deus, per quem bene servimus et bene dominamur.1 That was written by Aurelius Augustinus, a Berber from Algeria and later the bishop of Hippo, in winter 386. He was 32 years old, living in the suburbs of Milan, and in the middle of converting to Christianity. Augustine also wrote, “deus, cui serviunt omnia quae serviunt,” (“whom all things serve which do serve”) and, “deus, cuius legibus arbitrium animae liberum est” (“by whose laws the will of the soul is free”).2 There is a pattern to these ideas that any Grotonian would recognize. The Roman Church liked Augustine’s style enough to copy it, and in the fifth century came up with this oratorio, the Collect for Peace: deus auctor pacis et amator, quem nosse vivere; cui servire regnare est; protege ab omnibus impugnationibus supplices tuos; ut qui in defensione tua confidemus, nullius hostilitatis arma timeamus.3 Finally, in 1549, the Church of England translated it: O God, which art author of peace, and lover of concorde, in knowledge of whome standeth oure eternall life, whose service is perfect fredome: defende us, thy humble servantes, in al assaultes of our enemies, that wee surely trustyng in thy defence, maye not feare the power of any adversaries: through the myght of Jesu Christ our lorde.4 So the motto’s origin is 1,000 years older than the Book of Common Prayer, let alone Groton. It came indirectly from a young North African, unsure of his beliefs, who was asking questions about service to God. Re-reading the soliloquia and the Collect today, it becomes plain that Endicott Peabody, when he made his final edits, omitted a word. He did it deliberately, perhaps because the word was so obvious. Replace it and the phrase becomes, “deus, cui servire regnare est,” or, “O God, ... whose service is perfect fredome.” With God resurrected, the colloquial meaning goes from, “Servants rule!” (a contradiction) to, “Servants of God rule!”