Page "Lonesome Dove" Paragraph 33

The sign for Gus McCrae and Woodrow F. Call's Hat Creek Cattle Company includes a Latin motto, " Uva Uvam Vivendo Varia Fit ," which appears to be a reference to a proverb first attributed to Juvenal.

The proverb, " Uva Uvam Videndo Varia Fit " is translated as " A grape ( uva ) other grapes ( uvam ) seeing ( videndo ) changes ( varia fit ).

" Some readers think McMurtry's substitution of " vivendo " for " videndo " is an artifice used to underscore Gus's lack of education and unfamiliarity with Latin ; but later, when Call asks Gus about the motto, he is interrupted while explaining " uva, uvam, fit, double fit, ..." while pointing to the sign ( or the crew, perhaps ).

Having established that, McMurtry gains nothing by adding a spelling error that only Latin scholars would catch.

Likewise, it seems unlikely — as other readers have suggested — that the substitution was simply a typographical error.

Although the substitution is ungrammatical, " vivendo " means " living ," turning the phrase " A grape changes when it sees other grapes " to " A grape is changed by living with other grapes " or, since we are not really concerned with grapes after all, to " We are changed by the lives around us.

" The author's alteration takes on greater significance in light of the larger themes of the narrative that deal with how one leads one's own life, and with living itself.

These themes are underscored by other remarks that characterize their journey, such as: ( 1 ) " you ride with an outlaw, you die with an outlaw " when Jake is found with the horse thieves ; and ( 2 ) a comment Gus made to Call: " It ain't dyin ' I'm talkin ' about ... it's LIVIN!

"; all best understood as parabolic references to the true vine and Vinedresser from Jn 15: 1.