November 05, 2006

Sua cuique hora

In English: To each his own hour.

I though this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb about glory. Although it might be the case that everybody has his own moment (or moments!) of glory, it's not likely that someone would feel a sense of glory all the time. In fact, maybe you have never even had a moment of glory. Well, don't worry! Today's proverb assures you that, sooner or later, you hour will come!

We could consider this to be the ancient Latin equivalent of Andy Warhol's modern dictum, first pronounced in that momentous year of 1968: "In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." Warhol's words have since given rise to the proverbial phrase "fifteen minutes of fame."

Of course, Warhol's idea was basically a cynical one. He saw that the massive machinations of the popular media were able to make anyone famous, even someone with no claim to fame whatsoever - but that fame would last a mere 15 minutes or so, unable to last any longer. The pop band Sugar Ray named one of their albums 14:59 to indicate that their 15 minutes of fame were not up yet!

The Latin saying is not as cynical as Warhol's "fifteen minutes of fame," thank goodness. So if your moment of glory has not come yet, just wait: the Latin proverb promises you that your hour will come, although each person's hour comes at its own time!

With happy thoughts for your Latin "hora," whenever that may be, here is today's proverb read out loud:

935. Sua cuique hora.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Latin Via Proverbs: 4000 Proverbs, Mottoes and Sayings for Students of Latin.

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