Re: Another ~STRANGE BOOK~ WW3?

[Jacques Guy <jguy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jorge Stolfi wrote:
 
> I see no mention of "towers" in the French text. I would translate
> "autour" as "around". If it were in two words "au tour" it could be
> "the tower" (singular)

No: au tour = to/at the lathe
    à la tour = to/at the tower

It would have to be "aux tours", which then could be either.
 
> Actually, the first two verses of the quatrain are not that opaque:
> they are obviously predicting an eruption of the Vesuvius and the
> associated earthquakes.  "Napoli", as any medieval scholar would have
> known, comes from the Greek "Neapolis" = "New City".

Or it could be any of the many French towns called Villeneuve:
Villeneuve-de-Berg, Villeneuve-de-Marsan, Villeneuve-l'Archevêque,
Villeneuve-le-Roi, Villeneuve-les-Avignon, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges,
Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Villeneuve-sur-Yonne. Nostradamus knew what
he was doing! And, if you want to go switch to the New World,
it could just as well be New Orleans, Newark, New Haven, or,
staying in the Old World, Newhaven, Newcastle, Newport... just
grab a gazetteer! But I prefer Jorge's interpretation: the new
city is Napoli. This is corroborated by the mention of Arethusa,
a nymph turned into a fountain by Diana, near Syracuse. My
hat off to Nostradamus: predicting a volcanic eruption in southern
Italy at some unspecified date in the future... that's chutzpah for you!