Welcome back to school! At a teacher training event, I was shown this amazing four-way pun taken from the seal of St. John’s College.

“Facio Liberos ex Liberis Libris Libraque”

Facio = “I make”

Liberos = “free [men or people]

ex Liberis = “from children”

Libris Libraque = “by means of books and a scale”

The words books (libris) and scale (libra) are both in the Ablative. In this case it’s ablative of Instrument.

-que is an enclitic word for “and,” which means it leans on the end of the last item in the list.

If you want to remember that libra means scale, just think of this:

So, the whole motto is,

“I make free men from children with books and a scale.”

It sounds a lot better in Latin.