Edit: I've since concluded that he more likely said, "sacra templa poeta taberna quaerabat", which can be very loosely translated as: the priest seeks the temple, the poet seeks the pub. Hence Brother Mace's subsequent remark that a poet would like the joke, but a priest would consider it lousy.

Apologies if you already knew this, but I only just discovered that Brother Mace's "joke" is actually taken from a Latin textbook, where it's an example of a sentence that omits a repeated word. It's supposed to be "Sacerdos templum, poeta tabernam quaerebat", so he mangles it a bit!

Edit: I've since concluded that he more likely said, "sacra templa poeta taberna quaerabat", which can be very loosely translated as: the priest seeks the temple, the poet seeks the pub. Hence Brother Mace's subsequent remark that a poet would like the joke, but a priest would consider it lousy.

I remember one time he muttered to himself "Ignoramus maximus" when the dungeoneer said he couldn't speak Latin. I can guess what that particular phrase means, but we'd really need a Latin speaker to translate the other stuff he says.

I loved all of Brother Mace's appearances - it's hard to narrow it down to a few 'classic' ones. The one I rewatched most recently was his encounter with goblin-Christopher in Series 5. Very entertaining!

The 'descendant' line in series 5 is funny, imo.

"I sit here in my lonely cell and I contemplate the follies of the wide world. And I also drink a lot of ale."