Eventus stultorum magister est

In English: The outcome is the teacher of fools.

This is a saying very similar to yesterday's proverb: experientia magistra stultorum, "experience is the teacher of fools."

Of course, yesterday we were dealing with experientia, a feminine noun, so she was the school-mistress, the magistra of fools. Today, we have eventus, a masculine noun, so he is the school-master, the magister of fools.

You can see this saying illustrated in Boissard's Emblematum Liber of 1593:

Haec decuit primae tentare in flore iuventae,
Cum tibi tot palmas detulit alta Croton.
Quae doceat sero, turpi discenda pudore,
Stultorum eventus multa magister habet.

These things it was appropriate to attempt in the flower of first youth, when the tall city of Croton gave to you so many palms of victory. The outcome, teacher of fools, has many things to teach later on, things which are to be learned with shameful disgrace.

The example is based on Milo of Croton, the famous athlete of ancient Greece, who did not realize that he could only accomplish great athletic feats in his youth, before his prowess faded in old age. Instead of anticipating this change, he had to learn his lesson from the actual results, eventus, of aging.

For an ancient citation, you can find this sentiment expressed in Livy, where there is a contrast between eventus on the one hand, and ratio, "reason," on the other: Nec eventus modo hoc docet—stultorum iste magister est—sed eadem ratio, quae fuit futuraque donec res eaedem manebunt, immutabilis est, "And it is not only the outcome which teaches this - that school-master of fools - but reason itself, which was and will be unchanging so long as the same conditions will hold."

So, with a salute to the power of reason, here is today's proverb about those forced to make do without reason!

550. Eventus stultorum magister est.

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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Experientia magistra stultorum

In English: Experience is the teacher of fools.

I thought this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb about learning, painfully, from mistakes. Today's proverb is also about learning from mistakes, but it makes a sharper point: fools need to learn from mistakes, because they do not use reason to predict the outcome of their actions. Instead, fools can only learn by experience, making mistakes and suffering the consequences.

The Latin word experientia is a feminine noun, so it is the feminine teacher, the magistra, the "mistress" or "school-mistress" of people who are fools.

A fuller form of the saying makes clear the difference between the way that fools learn, and how wiser people make their decisions: Experientia stultorum magistra, prudentia sapientum, "experience is the teacher of fools, while foresight is the teacher of wise men."

You can find this notion invoked in Erasmus's introduction to his Colloquia familiaria, where he says in praise of his book: Adde quod bonae prudentiae pars est, nosse stultas vulgi cupiditates et absurdas opiniones. Eas arbitror satius ex hoc libello discere, quam experientia stultorum magistra, "Add the fact that part of good prudence is to know the foolish wants and crazy opinions of the masses. I suspect that those things can be better learned from this little book than from experience, that teacher of fools."

Even better, Erasmus goes on to say in the same preface, Et haud scio an quidquam discitur felicius, quam quod ludendo discitur, "And I don't know whether anything can be learned more fortunately than that which is learned through play."

Hurray for Erasmus! I wish he had been my Latin teacher. Although, thanks to his marvelous books, in a sense he is!

Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:

129. Experientia magistra stultorum.

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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Nocumentum documentum

In English: A loss, a lesson.

This is one of my favorite Latin sayings, although it's almost impossible to translation into English, since so much depends on the play on words. I've tried to capture something of that play on words by saying "a loss, a lesson." The literal meaning of the Latin would be something like "a harm is an example."

As you can see, the two words nocumentum and documentum are formed in the same way. The word nocumentum is from the verb nocere, "to hurt, do harm," while the word documentum is from the verb docere, "to teach." The idea, of course, is that when somebody (preferably somebody else!) suffers some kind of hurt or harm, this can teach you to avoid falling victim to the same kind of hurt or harm.

Of course, we have lost this sense of documentum meaning something that teaches or informs. Documents are now just so much paper! But the root of the word shows that the original Latin meaning was not a piece of paper, but rather a proof, an example, an instructive demonstration of some principle of idea - something that teaches you something, docet.

Take yesterday's proverb, for example, which was about the stag who rushes into the arrow, running straight into his own destruction. This is a big nocumentum for the stag, but it can be a good lesson, documentum, for you, the beneficiary of the stag's terrible mistake!

This always reminds me of one of the great "demotivators" from despair.com. The image shows a sinking ship, with the motto: "Mistakes: It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others."

So, hoping that none of us are serving as a warning to others at this particular moment, here is today's proverb read out loud:

54. Nocumentum documentum.

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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Cervus ad sagittam properat

In English: The stag rushes into the arrow.

I thought that after yesterday's proverb about the cowardly stag, this would be a good follow-up. The stag's strength is in the swiftness of his legs, so that if he is not brave enough to stand and fight, he can escape by running away as fast as he can. As this proverb points out, however, the stag can rush into his own doom, struck by the arrow in the midst of flight, rushing into his own death.

This saying can be found in the Adagia compiled by Polydorus Vergilius, a contemporary of Erasmus, the author of the most famous collection of Latin proverbs or "adagia." You can find an online edition of Polydorus's Adagia at the Herzog August Bibliothek, as well as a list of the proverb headings, listed alphabetically.

In his commentary on this particular saying, Polydorus notes that hunters would trick the deer by using the dogs to drive the stags right into an ambush where the hunters would be able to shoot the fleeing deer with arrows. Polydorus also notes a comparison to the Book of Proverbs in the Bible: Stultus eam sequitur quasi bos ductus ad victimam, sicut irretitur vinculo cervus, donec transfigat sagitta iecur eius; velut si avis festinet ad laqueum et nescit quod de periculo animae illius agitur, "The fool follows her like a cow led to sacrifice, like a deer caught in a snare, until the arrow pierces its liver; as if a bird rushed into the net and did not know that it was a matter of danger to its own life."

The first edition of Polydorus's Adagia was published in 1498, before the more famous book by Erasmus. Polydorus can thus make his claim as having published the first modern collection of Latin proverbs, but it was Erasmsus's book which set the standard for the proverb collections that were subsequently published in all the countries of Europe.

Polydorus was an Italian scholar, born in Urbino in 1470, who spent much of his career in England, where he died in 1555. Polydorus is most famous for his book De inventoribus rerum, "On the Inventors of Things," which was a best-seller during the Renaissance, although it is largely forgotten today. You can read more about Polydorus, including his involvement in the tumult of 16th-century English history, in this detailed wikipedia article.

So here is today's proverb read out loud:

1086. Cervus ad sagittam properat.

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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In pace leones, in proelio cervi

In English: In peace, they are lions; in battle, deer.

Yesterday's proverb created a similar opposition: "In the palace, lions; in the camp, rabbits." Today's proverb is based on a similar opposition, between the proverbially courageous lions, and the proverbially cowardly deer.

You can see the deer's cowardice expressed in this very nice Aesop's fable about the dialogue between the young fawn and the older deer. Here is the story as told in a Latin textbook for schoolboys, circa 1857:

Hinnuleus quondam patrem suum his verbis interrogasse dicitur: Mi pater, cum multo sis maior canibus et tam ardua cornua habeas, quibus a te vim propulsare possis, qui fit, ut canes tantopere metuas? Ibi cervus ridens, Mi nate, inquit, vera memoras; mihi tamen, nescio quo pacto, semper accidit, ut, audita canum voce, in fugam statim convertar. Haec fabula docet, natura formidulosos nullis rationibus fortes reddi posse.

Once upon a time a fawn is said to have questioned his father with these words: Father, since you are so much bigger than the hounds, and you have such lofty horns with which you could drive the pack away from you, how does it happen that you are so afraid of the dogs? Then the stag laughed and said, "My child, you are telling the truth; but I don't know for what reason, it always happens to me that as soon as I hear the voice of the hounds, I immediately turn and flee. This fable shows that nature can render even the strong into little cowards for no reason at all.

The proverbial cowardice of the deer goes all the way back to the beginnings of the European literary tradition, when Homer's Achilles denounces Agamemnon for being a "drunken sot, dog-eyed, deer-timid coward!" (in Ian Johnston's translation).

So, rather than the sounds of hunting hounds baying, here is something less terrifying to hear: today's proverb read out loud:

393. In pace leones, in proelio cervi.

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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In praetoriis leones, in castris lepores

In English: In the palace, lions; in the camp, rabbits.

I thought this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's lion proverb. Today's proverb is about would-be lions, people who are bold as lions when far away from the battle, but who become timid as rabbits when they get near the actual fighting!

These are animal stereotypes that are still alive for us today - the bold, courageous lion, and the "scaredy rabbit." This is a good occasion for another Aesop's fable - a weird one, but very funny I think, about the rabbits who decide that they are such cowards, life is not worth living anymore. Here is the Latin version in Steinhowel:

Cum strepitus magnus ad lepores subito veniret, consilium simul fecerunt, ut se precipitarent propter assiduous metus. Et euntes ad oram fluminis venerunt, ubi multae erant ranae; at ille ubi agmen leporum viderunt veniens, expaverunt valde et in fluvium se iactaverunt. Haec ubi lepores viderunt unus ex illis ait: Sunt, inquit, et alii timentes; sequamur vitam, ut ceteri quam natura dedit!

Here is the Caxton translation, from 1484 (as you can tell by the spelling... or the lack thereof):

For somtyme as a hunter chaced thurgh the feldes and woodes / the hares beganne to flee for fere And as they ranne / they adressyd them in to a medowe fulle of frogges / And whanne the frogges herd the hares renne they beganne also to flee and to renne fast / And thenne a hare whiche perceyued them so ferdfull sayd to alle his felawes / Lete vs no more be dredeful ne doubtuous / for we be not alone that haue had drede / For alle the frogges ben in doubte / and haue fere and drede as we haue .

You can also see some early illustrations to Steinhowel online.

Luckily, the rabbits were content just to be braver than frogs. They didn't aspire to feel as brave as lions!

So, you can ponder whether you tend towards the lion or the rabbit end of the spectrum as you listen to today's proverb read out loud:

394. In praetoriis leones, in castris lepores.

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

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio.

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Leonina societas periculorum plena

In English: Alliance with a lion is full of dangers.

I thought this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb, which was a moral from an Aesop's fable about the "lion's share." Today's fable puts the lion right into the saying itself: if you make an alliance with a lion, you are running a terrible risk. You can decide who the metaphorical lions might be in your life whom you have to watch out for! (I have tangled with some lions in my time, that's for sure!)

Yesterday I posted the Aesop's fable by Phaedrus about how the lion went hunting with a sheep, goat, and a cow, and ended up cheating his "partners" out of their spoils by taking it all for himself - the proverbial lion's share. For those animals, alliance with the lion was a big mistake. Note that the emphasis here is not at all on how bad the lion is. Of course the lion is bad - that's how lions are! The point of the story is that if you are a sheep, you should not make alliances with lions. Sheep can be smarter than that, and they need to use their smarts since they don't have teeth and claws to match the lion. So if you are a sheep, watch out for the lions... or you will regret it.

To show just how dangerous things can get with your partner the lion, I thought I'd share today a different version of the fable about the lion's share, this time about a lion, a fox and a wolf who go hunting together. This is another popular Aesop's fable, found in both the Latin and Greek fable traditions. Here is a wonderful version of that story by Odo of Cheriton:

Leo, Lupus et Vulpes condixerunt sibi ad invicem quod venarentur. Vulpes cepit anserem, Lupus arietem pinguem, Leo bovem macilentum. Debuerunt prandere. Dixit Leo Lupo quod praedam partiretur. Dixit Lupus: Vnusquisque habet quod cepit, Leo suum bovem, ego arietem, Vulpes anserem. Leo iratus erexit palmam, et cum unguibus extraxit totum corium de capite Lupi. Et dixit Leo Vulpi quod divideret. Et ait Vulpes: Domine, vos comedatis de pingui ariete, quantum volueritis, quod teneras habet carnes, et postea de ansere, quantum volueritis, tandem de bove temperate quod duras habet carnes, et quod remanserit detis nobis qui homines vestri sumus. Ait Leo: Certe bene dicis. Quis te docuit ita bene partiri? Et ait Vulpes: Domine, ille rubens capellus socii mei, demonstrato capite excoriato.

The lion, the wolf, and the fox agreed to go hunting together. The fox caught a goose, the wolf caught a fat ram, and the lion caught a scrawny cow. Then it was time to eat. The lion told the wolf to divide their catch. The wolf said, "Let each one take what he has caught: the lion will take the cow, I'll take the ram, and the fox will take the goose." The lion was enraged and, raising his paw, he used his claws to strip the wolf's head of all its fur and skin. The lion then ordered the fox to divide the spoils. The fox said, "My lord, you should eat as much of the fat ram as you want, since its meat is tender, then you should eat as much of the goose as you want, but you should eat the cow's flesh only in moderation, since it is so tough. Whatever is left over you can give to us, your servants." "Well done," said the lion. "Who taught you how to do such a good job of dividing the spoils?" The fox said, "My lord, I have learned from my associate's red cap: his excoriated skull provides a very vivid lesson."

If you are interested in reading some more Latin or Greek versions of this story, you can do that at the aesopica.net website.

So, still keeping an eye out for those lions, here is today's proverb read out loud:

314. Leonina societas periculorum plena.

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

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio.

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Numquam est fidelis cum potente societas

In English: An alliance with someone powerful is never reliable.

Since I have been posting some proverbs connected with fables, I thought I would include this proverb today, which is the moral of a very famous Aesop's fable about the "lion's share."

Pretty much everyone knows the phrase "lion's share," but they often do not know the story that goes with it. When I ask people, they sometimes think the "lion's share" means a lot, or the biggest part of something. The fable, however, is much more biting: the lion's share is the WHOLE thing, taken by violent force from the lion's unfortunate allies.

Here is the version of this story as told by the Roman poet Phaedrus:

Numquam est fidelis cum potente societas.
Testatur haec fabella propositum meum.
Vacca et capella et patiens ovis iniuriae
socii fuere cum leone in saltibus.
Hi cum cepissent cervum vasti corporis,
sic est locutus partibus factis leo:
"Ego primam tollo nomine hoc quia rex cluo;
secundam, quia sum consors, tribuetis mihi;
tum, quia plus valeo, me sequetur tertia;
malo adficietur si quis quartam tetigerit."
Sic totam praedam sola improbitas abstulit.

An alliance with someone powerful is never reliable.This little story proves my contention. A heifer and a she-goat and a long-suffering sheep were allies with a lion in the woods. When they had seized a gigantic stag, and it had been divided into parts, the lion spoke these words: "I take the first part because by name I am called king; you will give the second part to me because I am one of the team; then, the third part will go to me because I am stronger; if anyone should touch the fourth part, he will find himself in trouble." So it is that wickedness all by itself carried off the whole prize.

With friends like a lion, who needs enemies, eh? This fable appears in Steinhowel's Aesop, so you can see some great early illustrations of this fable online.

Meanwhile, hoping you are keeping far away from the lions, here is today's proverb read out loud:

435. Numquam est fidelis cum potente societas.

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

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio.

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Simia in pelle leonis

In English: A monkey in the lion's skin.

I thought this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb about the donkey in the lion skin. This proverb expresses a similar idea - the unworthy creature, the monkey, who wears the noble lion's skin - but in this case, there is no story to go with the saying. At least, there is no extant fable that has survived about the monkey in the lion's skin. Still, that's no reason why you cannot make one up! In the absence of a story about the monkey in a lion's skin, I thought I would offer this Aesop's fable about the kingdom of the monkeys and the monkey king:

There were two men travelling together: one was a liar and the other always told the truth. Their journey led them to the land of the monkeys. There was a whole crowd of monkeys there and one of them noticed the travellers. The monkey who was clearly their leader ordered that the men be detained. Since he wanted to know what the men thought of him, he commanded all rest of the monkeys to stand before him in a long line to his right and to his left, while a seat was prepared for him to sit on (this monkey had once seen the emperor, so he was ordering his monkeys to line up for him in the same way). The men were then told to come forward into the midst of the monkeys. The chief monkey said, 'Who am I?' The liar said, 'You are the emperor!' Then the monkey asked, 'And those whom you see standing before me: who are they?' The man answered, 'They are your noble companions, your chancellors, your officials and the commanders of your armies!' Because these lies flattered the monkey and his troops, he ordered that the man be showered with presents. All the monkeys were fooled by his flattery. Meanwhile, the man who always told the truth thought to himself, 'If that liar received such rewards for telling lies, then surely I will receive an even greater reward for telling the truth.' The chief monkey said to the second man, 'Now you tell me who I am, and who are these whom you see standing before me?' And the man who always loved the truth and never lied said to the monkey, 'You are simply a monkey, and all of these similar simians are monkeys as well!' The chief monkey immediately ordered the monkeys to attack the man with their teeth and claws because he had spoken the truth.

You can also read some Latin versions of this fable online, too, and look at some early illustrations.It's not exactly the monkey in a lion's skin, but it is the monkey in the king's robes - and one who insists on his right to wear them!Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:

389. Simia in pelle leonis.

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

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio.

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Leonis exuvium super asinum

In English: A lion's skin on a donkey.

After yesterday's Aesopic fable about the dog in the manger, I thought I would do another proverb with an Aesopic connection: the donkey in the lion's skin.

This proverb actually makes sense if you do not know what the actual fable is about. A lion and a donkey are completely different animal characters. The lion is brave, noble, the king of beasts. The donkey is not a fighter, hardly noble, and is a beast of burden, the animal symbol of a slave's lot in life. Obviously, a lion's skin doesn't suit a donkey, so this is a proverb about things that are out of place.

The saying takes on even more life when you know the Aesop's fables that tell what happens when the donkey puts on a lion's skin. There are two basic variants to the story.

In one version, it is the fox who points out the donkey's foolishness (Perry 188). This is a version attested in the Greek tradition, but I don't have a Latin version of this story. Here is an English translation by V.S. Vernon Jones:

An Ass found a Lion's Skin, and dressed himself up in it. Then he went about frightening every one he met, for they all took him to be a lion, men and beasts alike, and took to their heels when they saw him coming. Elated by the success of his trick, he loudly brayed in triumph. The Fox heard him, and recognized him at once for the Ass he was, and said to him, "Oho, my friend, it's you, is it? I, too, should have been afraid if I hadn't heard your voice."

There's a wonderful illustration by Arthur Rackham, too.

In the other main version, the donkey gives himself away to the human beings who were previously intimidated by his appearance (Perry 358). This version is well-attested in the Latin tradition, as in this version by Odo of Cheriton:

Asini viderunt quod homines male et dure tractaverunt eos, stimulando, onera imponendo. Viderunt etiam quod timuerunt Leones. Condixerunt ad invicem quod acciperent pelles leoninas, et sic homines timerent illos. Fecerunt sic. Asini igitur, induti pellibus leoninis, saltabant, discurrebant. Homines fugerunt credentes esse Leones. Tandem Asini inceperunt recanare. Homines diligenter auscultaverunt et dixerunt: Vox ista vox Asinorum est; accedamus proprius. Accesserunt tandem; viderunt caudas illorum et pedes et dixerunt: Certe isti sunt Asini, non Leones, et ceperunt Asinos et multum bene verberaverunt.

The donkeys saw that the people treated them very badly and harshly, with whips and putting loads on them. They also saw that the people were scared of lions. So the donkeys decided amongst themselves that they would get some lion skins, and then the people would fear them. That's what they did. The donkeys, therefore, dressed in lion skins, leaped about and ran here and there. The people ran away, thinking they were lions. Finally the donkeys started to bray. The people listened carefully and said: "That voice is the voice of donkeys! Let's go over there." So they went over to the donkeys and saw their tails and their hooves and they said: "For sure these are donkeys, not lions," and they seized the donkeys and they gave them a very sound whipping indeed.

You can see some great woodcut illustrations of this story, too.

So, while the proverb definitely makes sense on its own, it's more fun when you have a story to go with it!

And here is today's proverb read out loud (hoping I don't sound like a donkey braying, ha ha!):

407. Leonis exuvium super asinum.

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

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio.

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Canis in praesepi

In English: The dog in the manger.

The topic of yesterday's proverb was envy, invidia, so I thought this would be a fun proverb to use as a follow-up. This proverb, "the dog in the manger," is one of those sayings which derives from a fable, and in order to get the meaning of the proverb, you have to know the fable. So, here is the story of the envious dog in the manger, in the Latin version by Steinhowel:

Sunt plures, qui hoc invident aliis, quod ipsi habere nequeunt, et quamvis ipsis non prosit, tamen alios impediunt. De hoc audi fabulam. Canis impius iacebat in presepe, quod erat plenum feno. Et venientes boves ut comederent, non sinebat ore patulos suos dentes ostendens. Tunc boves dixerunt ei: Inique agis, naturam invidens in nobis, quam tu non habes.

There are many who have are jealous of others because of something that they themselves are unable to have, and even if it does them no good at all, they also prevent others from getting it. Listen to a story about this. There was a wicked dog lying in the manger, which was full of hay. And when the oxen came in order to eat, the dog did not allow them to do so, snarling at them and baring his teeth. Then the oxen said to him: "You are doing wrong, being envious of our natural condition, which is not your condition, for it is not your nature to eat hay, yet you forbid us to eat it."

Here is the early English translation by Caxton, which is included in the first book of Aesop to be published in English:

None ought not to haue enuye of the good of other / As it appiereth by this fable / Of a dogge whiche was enuyous / and that somtyme was within a stable of oxen / the whiche was ful of heye / This dogge kept the oxen that they shold not entre in to theyr stable / and that they shold not ete of the sayd hey / And thenne the oxen sayd to hym / Thow arte wel peruers and euylle to haue enuye of the good / the whiche is to vs nedefull and prouffitable / And thow hast of hit nought to doo / for thy kynde is not to ete no hey

As you can see, the spellchecker had not yet been invented when Caxton published his book in 1484.

You can also see some wonderful illustrations from the Steinhowel Aesop, published in 1479, 1501 and 1521 respectively, along with a great illustration by the 19th-century illustrator, Walter Crane - accompanied by the story in the form of an English limerick. I'm slowly tagging all the Aesop's fables at my websites with del.icio.us tags, so you can see a whole range of English and Latin versions of the fable at this del.icio.us link.

So, keeping in mind the whole sad story of the dog and the oxen, unhappy and hungry, here is today's proverb read out loud:

387. Canis in praesepi.

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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Invidia gloriae comes

In English: Envy is a companion to glory.

I thought that this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb about the relationship between Fortuna and gloria. As yesterday's proverb told us, Fortune, or more precisely a reversal of Fortune, is the butcher of glory. In today's proverb, we learn about another danger to glory: invidia, or "envy." When you experience glory, the envy of others always accompanies that glory.

You can find this sentiment expressed by Cornlius Nepos in his life of Chabrias: Est enim hoc commune vitium in magnis liberisque civitatibus, ut invidia gloriae comes sit et libenter de his detrahant, quos eminere videant altius, "There is this general flaw in great and free states, such that envy is the companion of glory and they freely disparage those whom they see raised up higher than others."

Returning to yesterday's proverb again, you can see both of these ideas - Fortune and envy - linked in Pliny's account of the Roman triumph. At the moment of his great glory, the Roman general had two things to fear: a reversal of Fortune and the envy of others. Pliny explains that the Roman general had two charms which were able to ward off these dangers. One was a verbal charm, and the other charm was an amulet of the god Fascinus, which was a charm against the evil eye of envy:

quamquam religione cum tutatur et fascinus, imperatorum quoque, non solum infantium, custos, qui deus inter sacra Romana a Vestalibus colitur, et currus triumphantium, sub his pendens, defendit medicus invidiae, iubetque eosdem respicere similis medicina linguae, ut sit exorata a tergo Fortuna gloriae carnifex.

Fascinus is the guardian not only of infants but also of generals; in Roman religion, he is worshipped as a god by the Vestals; as a remedy against envy, Fascinus hangs under the chariots of generals and protects them, and a similar verbal remedy urges them to look back in order to conjure away Fortune, the butcher of glory, from following behind him.

The prescence of the Fascinus indicates that the dangers of envy are lurking. As today's proverb tells us, envy is the companion of glory - but it is a dangerous companion, one that an amulet of Fascinus is able to ward off. If you would like to read more about the god Fascinus and his "fascinating" powers, visit this Bestiaria Latina blog post, where you will also find some images of ancient Fascinus amulets.

So, hoping that you find this all fascinating in a good way, here is today's proverb read out loud:

255. Invidia gloriae comes.

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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Fortuna gloriae carnifex

In English: Fortune is the butcher of glory.

I've been posting proverbs about Roman Fortuna lately, and today's proverb is a very wrenching commentary on the powers of that goddess. The proverb tells us that Fortune takes glory and cuts it down, brutally, bringing what was bright and shining to a bloody, disastrous conclusion.

The Latin word carnifex is literally a "meat-maker" (carni-fex), hence my choice of the word "butcher" as the translation here. In more specific usage, the word referred to the hangman or executioner, who took a living human being and rendered him into lifeless flesh, a dead body. This occupation rendered the hangman himself such an undesirable figure that he was not allowed to live within the city of Rome and had to live outside the city walls.

This saying is famously reported by Pliny in his account of the Roman triumph:

quamquam religione cum tutatur et fascinus, imperatorum quoque, non solum infantium, custos, qui deus inter sacra Romana a Vestalibus colitur, et currus triumphantium, sub his pendens, defendit medicus invidiae, iubetque eosdem respicere similis medicina linguae, ut sit exorata a tergo Fortuna gloriae carnifex.

Fascinus is the guardian not only of infants but also of generals; in Roman religion, he is worshipped as a god by the Vestals; as a remedy against envy, Fascinus hangs under the chariots of generals and protects them, and a similar verbal remedy urges them to look back in order to conjure away Fortune, the butcher of glory, from following behind him.

So, at the moment of the height of his luck, the Roman general has to beware that the good fortune he enjoys does not turn into bad fortune, the butcher of his own glory.

If you're interested, you can read more about the god Fascinus and his "fascinating" powers at this Bestiaria Latina blog post.

So, watching out from Fortune from behind, here is today's proverb read out loud:

256. Fortuna gloriae carnifex.

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

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio.

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Gutta fortunae prae dolio sapientiae

In English: A drop of luck rather than a vat of wisdom.

I've been doing proverbs about Latin Fortuna for several days, and as I mentioned earlier on, there are many different perspectives on the power of Luck and its place in people's lives. Today's proverb endorses Luck in the strongest terms possible: it's better to have just one drop of good luck, which is more potent than a cask full of wisdom.

You might remember an earlier proverb that stated something quite the opposite: Victrix fortunae sapientia, "wisdom is the conqueror of fortune." So does one drop of fortune beat a gallon of wisdom... or not?

The world of proverbs has room for everybody, as you can see. Proverbs are not a single philosophical system, tending towards a single conclusion, completely consistent. Instead, they are a swirling compendium of the thoughts of many people distilled over time into a few pithy words. Different people see different forces at work in their lives: luck, hard work, wisdom, divine providence... and there are proverbs endorsing each and every one of these world views.

What I really like about today's proverb is the great contrast between the gutta and the dolium, between the "drop" and the "vat." How many drops in a vat? Who knows ... and who cares? It just takes one drop of fortune to do the trick!

So, wishing you a nice drop of good luck, here is today's proverb read out loud:

149. Gutta fortunae prae dolio sapientiae.

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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Vitrea est fortuna

In English: Fortune is made of glass.

This is another saying about Roman Fortuna, following up on the sayings of the past few days. Today's saying tells us that Fortune is vitrea, "glassy, made of glass."

If we look at a fuller form of the saying as found in Publilius Syrus, you can get a clearer picture of the underlying metaphor: Fortuna vitrea est; tum cum splendet, frangitur, "Fortune is made of glass; at the moment when she glitters, she breaks." Publilius Syrus, that is Publilius the Syrian, is the author of a collection of Latin sayings from around the first century B.C.E., the Sententiae.

This is yet another way to express the transitoriness of good Fortune, the "splendid" Fortune that breaks like glass. In previous sayings, we saw that Fortuna is round like a wheel, going up and going down. We also learned that Fortuna is a vagabond, coming and going from one place to another. The metaphor in today's saying is even more dramatic: Fortune is beautiful but fragile, like glass.

The Latin adjective vitreus is from the noun, vitrum, meaning "glass," as in the phrase in vitro, "in a glass (test tube)." We also have the word "vitreous" in English, so if you wanted, you could translate today's saying as "Fortune is vitreous" ... although I think "Fortune is made of glass" sounds better!

It's also worth saying something about the verb frangitur in the fuller version of the saying in Publilius. English is notoriously sloppy about transitive and intransitive verbs, making no distinction between them. You can say in English, "the glass breaks" (intransitive) and you can also say "I break the glass" (transitive). In Latin, however, there is a distinction that can be made: vitrum frango, "I break the glass," and vitrum frangitur, "the glass breaks." It is this intransitive form, frangitur, which is used in the proverb, more precise and less ambiguous than the English verb!

So, hoping that your Fortune is sparkling and not shattered, here is today's proverb read out loud:

5. Vitrea est fortuna.

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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Vaga est fortuna

In English: Fortune is fickle.

This is another proverb that helps to paint a picture of Roman Fortuna. With yesterday's proverb, Fortuna est rotunda, we would have gone astray if we said "Fortune is rotund." Instead, Fortuna is rotunda, "round," like a "wheel," rota. The same pitfall awaits us here. Although the Latin word vaga does give us the English word "vague," the sense of this saying in Latin is not that Fortune is vague. Instead, Fortune wanders, she comes and goes, she has no fixed place or abode. Fortune is a vagabond, going from place to place, bestowing her favors on one person and then changing her mind, moving on, and bestowing her attentions on someone else. Hence, Fortune is fickle.

You can find this sentiment expressed in a nice little passage from Cicero: Vide quam sit varia vitae commutabilisque ratio, quam vaga volubilisque fortuna, quantae infidelitates in amicis, "Look at how shifting and changing is the business of life, how fickle and flightly is Fortune, how many betrayals there are among friends," etc. The fickleness of Fortune is clearly equated to be a bad thing. We want to be able to count on Fortune, like a friend, but instead she betrays us, as our other friends do, too.

Although, if you ask me, it seems to me that this is a glass half-full half-empty kind of scenario. With yesterday's proverb, we learned about the wheel of Fortune, and how she goes up and down. With today's proverb, we learned that she is vaga, she comes and she goes. So you can think about Fortune going down and going away... or you can think about Fortune coming up and heading your way. Fortune is not your friend, but she is also not your enemy!

So, hoping your glass is half-full, here is today's proverb read out loud:

4. Vaga est fortuna.

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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Fortuna est rotunda

In English: Fortune is round.

Carrying on with the theme of proverbs about Fortune, today we learn that Fortuna is round - in Latin, rotunda. This does not mean that Fortune is "rotund" in the English sense of being fat! Instead, it helps to think about the etymology of the Latin word for "round," because the word rotundus is related to the word for that very round thing, a "wheel," rota.

So, when you translate this into English, it might be more accurate to say "Fortune goes around," in the sense of being round in the way that a wheel is round, going up and down. It is the going up and down of Fortune that is the dominant idea here, which is expressed visually in the icon of the "Wheel of Fortune." As the wheel goes up, your fortunes rise... but what goes up, must come down, and so as Fortune's wheel rises for some, it is at the same time going down for others, plunging them into the depths of misfortune.

While looking up the wikipedia article on the history of the "Wheel of Fortune," I found this lovely piece of a poem from the medieval Carmina Burana (notice the wonderful medieval rhyme scheme):

Fortunae rota volvitur;
descendo minoratus;
alter in altum tollitur;
nimis exaltatus
rex sedet in vertice
caveat ruinam!
nam sub axe legimus
Hecubam reginam.

The wheel of Fortune turns; I go down, diminished; another is raised on high; raised up far too high, the king sits at the top: let him beware of ruin! for at the bottom axis of the wheel we read "Queen Hecuba"

Queen Hecuba of Troy is that great emblem of the reversal of fortune, watching the utter destruction of her royal family and the devastation of her city at the end of the Trojan War.

So, hoping that the wheel of your Fortune is not spinning too terribly fast, here is today's proverb read out loud:

3. Fortuna est rotunda.

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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Fortuna caeca est

In English: Fortune is blind.

Yesterday, I promised a series of proverbs and sayings about Roman Fortuna, but first I wanted to review the sayings about Fortune that I've posted in the blog previously. Yesterday's proverb, Victrix fortunae sapientia, told us that wisdom was able to triumph over fortune. Yet this is not a universal proverbial truth, because a few days earlier we learned that Fortuna imperatrix mundi, Fortune rules the world. Yet back in October, I had posted a very defiant proverb in defense of individual effort: Est unusquisque faber ipsae suae fortunae, asserting that each person is the maker of his own fortune.

Clearly, the topic of luck or fortune provoked a variety of responses among people in the ancient Roman world, and I think this is still true today. Some people believed that luck ruled the world, above and beyond human control. Other people thought that people made their own luck, shaping their own destiny. In particular, they thought that a human quality such as wisdom could give you the upper hand in a contest with the effects of fortune.

What's especially interesting is that unlike so many elements of traditional culture which stand in outright contradiction to modern scientific culture, the notion of luck, also known as "randomness," has a firm foothold in the scientific world. Indeed, the foundation of many scientific investigations is the principle of randomness. Check out the wikipedia article on randomness for information about randomness at work in the physical and biological sciences, mathematics, statistics, economics, and more.

Today's proverb, about the blindness of Fortune, calls attention precisely to that aspect of Fortune which is like modern randomness. When the proverb tells us that Fortune is blind, it means that she is doling out her gifts and punishments with no regard to person. She cannot see what's she doing - which does not stop her from doing it all the same! The result: randomness. As Seneca has his chorus exclaim in the Phaedra: Res humanas ordine nullo / Fortuna regit sparsitque manu / munera caeca, "Fortune rules the affairs of men at random and, blind, she hands out her gifts."

That, then, is one perspective on Fortune, a blind goddess acting at random. I'll share some more proverbs about the Roman Fortuna in the following days.

Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud - a proverb so simple it could be learned on the very first day of a Latin class, although it definitely gives you some profound notions to think about!

2. Fortuna caeca est.

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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Victrix fortunae sapientia

In English: Wisdom is the conqueror of fortune.

After yesterday's proverb about patience being the victrix of evils, I thought I would do another victrix proverb today. Yesterday's saying was in praise of patience, patientia, and today's proverb is in praise of wisdom, sapientia. Specifically, the saying tells us that wisdom is so strong that it (or perhaps I should say "she"!) is able to overcome the force of luck herself, the Roman goddess Fortuna.

Now, as a teacher and perpetual student, I definitely am a believer in sapientia, working hard to achieve some wisdom and to help my students do the same. At the same time, the powers of the goddess Fortuna are pretty awesome. Is wisdom really powerful enough to defeat Fortune, to be the victrix in a battle between the two of them? The idea must be that if Luck does not look kindly on you and condemns you to some dire situation, then Wisdom can give you the means you need to overcome your unlucky circumstances.

The Latin phrase is found in one of Juvenal's satires, and there is a very similar saying in Seneca: Sapiens quidem vincit virtute fortunam, "the wise man indeed can overcome luck by means of his excellence."

There is a whole range of Latin proverbs reflecting on the relative powers of sapientia and of fortuna, so I'll share some of those proverbs in the coming days, comparing them to today's optimistic endorsement of the victorious powers of wisdom.

Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:

284. Victrix fortunae sapientia.

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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Victrix malorum patientia est

In English: Patience is the conqueror of evils.

In yesterday's proverb, we had the great word imperatrix, so I thought I would follow that up with a proverb featuring the word victrix. It's also a proverb that expresses a very positive sentence: the way to beat trouble is precisely by putting up with them, patientia. Endurance brings victory.

You no doubt know the Latin word victor, which gives us the English word "victor." The word victrix is the feminine form of the word because the subject of the sentence is a feminine noun, patientia.

If we were to create an English equivalent for victrix, we'd have to say "victress," which is actually found in the Oxford English Dictionary, that great repository of words you may not have never heard before but which have indeed been used by someone, somewhere, sometime in English. My favorite of the citations is from Thomas Heywood, circa 1637: "She that's crownd Victresse by the Trojan Boy, For meed this golden Apple shall enioy," obviously a reference to the Judgement of Paris (the "Trojan Boy") who awarded the apple to the goddess Venus, making her the "Victresse" in the contest to see who was the fairest.

To the victress go the spoils!

So, with praise for victorious Patience, here is today's proverb read out loud:

283. Victrix malorum patientia est.

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

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio. You can also hear this saying read aloud at a Polish website: Wladyslawa Kopalinskiego Slownik wyraz?w obcych i zwrot?w obcojezycznych (weblink).

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Fortuna imperatrix mundi

In English: Fortune is the empress of the world.

In the past several days I've featured proverbs where things were the "mother" or "father" of something based on their gender. A feminine noun would be a "mother," mater, but if a noun is masculine, it gets to be the "father," pater. Today's proverb features a similar play with the grammatical gender of a noun. The subject of the proverb, Fortuna, is a feminine noun. This means she is the "empress," imperatrix, of the world. In other words: luck rules!

The word imperatrix is a feminine noun, the female equivalent of the masculine noun imperator, "emperor, commander, general." In English we have some word pairs with distinct male and female forms: emperor-empress, actor-actress, mister-mistress (although the word "mistress" certainly has come to acquire a range of meanings that do not parallel the masculine "mister") and waiter-waitress are the ones that first come to mind. There are a few more, but not too many.

In Latin, however, the feminine forms with the suffix -trix are much more commonly found. For example, this word imperatrix exists in Latin not just to describe real human females who were emperors or generals (hardly a common situation in Rome!), but rather because the feminine noun could be used in sentences like today's proverb. Grammatical gender, in addition to actual human biological gender, means that the feminine forms can play a substantial role in the Latin language, even if the the Roman women themselves were hardly liberated by today's standards.

On the days when the Perseus website is working (which is maybe half the time since they suffered some kind of server meltdown last summer), you can use the reverse dictionary look-up in order to search for words in the Latin dictionary based on the last letters of the word, instead of the first letters. That yields a long, long list of wonderful Latin words ending in -trix. Since Perseus seems to be working today (glory hallelujah!), I can provide this sample of the many Latin -trix words you will find: agitatrix, ambulatrix, cantatrix, compotrix, creatrix, devoratrix, divinatrix, dominatrix, educatrix, fabricatrix, gubernatrix, ianitrix, insultatrix and liberatrix, to name just a few.

So here is today's proverb read out loud - enjoy the trix!

237. Fortuna imperatrix mundi.

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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Crudelitatis mater avaritia est, pater furor.

In English: Greed is the mother of cruelty, and rage the father.

After the proverbs about matres and patres over the past few days, I thought this would be a good illustration of the same pattern in a fuller form! Today's proverb is about cruelty, crudelitas. Who is the mother of cruelty? That would be greed, avaritia. And who is the father of cruelty? That would be rage, furor.

In other words, when someone is both greedy and enraged, they are likely to engage in acts of cruelty! A scary thought, expressed very vividly with this metaphor of one set of emotions giving birth to a specific type of action. The phrase is cited as an example by the grammarian Publius Rutilius Lupus.)

The reason that avaritia is the "mother" is simply becuase avaritia is a feminine noun. Likewise, furor is the "father" of cruelty because furor is a masculine noun.

Another typical feature of this particular proverb is the use of parallelism, which allows a word to be implied but not repeated. If you were to spell it out fully, the proverb would read crudelitatis mater avaritia est, CRUDELITATIS pater furor EST. In most Latin sentences, especially in poetic or highly stylized sentences (e.g., in proverbs), there is a tendency to suppress words that can be supplied from context. In this proverb, the grammatical parallel of mater-pater and avaritia-furor makes it possible to omit the words crudelitatis and est from the second half of the saying.

For those of you who are Latin teachers, I would urge you to use this kind of proverb as a pattern to let your students write their very own proverbs! All they have to do is find the "mother" and "father" emotions (with correct gender!), and then say what the "child" of those emotions would be! Just to take one example, entirely invented by me: felicitatis mater fortuna est, pater labor, "Luck is the mother of happiness, and hard work the father."

Just a thought for easy - and fun - Latin composition in the classroom! If you want to contribute some mother-father proverbs of your own invention, please feel free to post them in the comments area of this blog!

Meanwhile, hoping to inspire you to create your own sayings, so here is today's proverb read out loud:

302. Crudelitatis mater avaritia est, pater furor.

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

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio.

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Labor gloriae pater

In English: Hard work is the father of fame.

In yesterday's post, inscitia mater arrogantiae, and in the previous day's post repetitio mater memoriae, I discussed two Latin proverbs based on the theme of the symbolic mater, and promised that I would then do a pater proverb. So, here it is: labor gloriae pater, "hard work is the father of glory."

The reason the word pater is used in today's proverb is that the subject of the proverb is labor, a masculine noun. The grammatical gender of the noun, labor, determines which symbolic parent it becomes: a father.

If you were to rephrase the saying to focus on gloria, you could say that gloria laboris filia est, "fame is the daughter of hard work." Because the word gloria is a feminine noun, it would be the "daughter" of hard work.

I really like these proverbs that set up family relationships - father, mother, daughter, son - between abstract nouns! It is a very efficient and powerful way to express the relationship between these nouns.

Take today's proverb, for example. There is another Latin saying that expresses a very similar idea, but with many more words and much more difficult grammar! Solet sequi laus, cum viam fecit labor, "Praise is accustomed to follow when hard work has opened the way." This saying expresses the same basic idea: hard work first, glory afterwards. It also uses a metaphor to do that: hard work clears the path, makes way for glory. Yet I still prefer the simple three-word proverb: labor gloriae pater. It's a bit more like a riddle this way. The words are easy to understand, so it takes a minute to stop and think just what it means - but when you've grasped the meaning, it's easy to remember. Just three little words, but a serious bit of advice: get to work if you want to get famous!

And now, before I get back to work (not sure about if and when this labor will bring me any gloria, ha ha), here is today's proverb read out loud:

269. Labor gloriae pater.

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

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio.

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Inscitia mater arrogantiae

In English: Ignorance is the mother of conceit.

I chose today's proverb as a follow-up to yesterday's proverb about repetitio mater memoriae because of the parallel use of mater in today's proverb. Repetition is the mother of memory... while ignorance is the mother of conceit.

This is definitely a proverb that rings true in my experience. Spending most of my life in the academic world, I've had more than enough of the conceit bred by people's ignorance. Sadly, admitting ignorance - which is often the first step on the road to learning! - is something that is much frowned upon in the academic world. Rather than rejoicing when we discover our ignorance, we are made to feel ashamed. What a loss! When you find a pocket of ignorance (or a chasm of ignorance!), that is a great moment: it lets you know which way to go and what to focus on.

The reason I picked this proverb as a pair is to show the wonderful use of Latin mater to show how gender plays a role in these proverbs. The word mater, "mother," is used here not in order to make some statement about women being more prone to conceit or needing more repetition in order to remember things. The gender is instead driven by the grammatical gender of the subject of the sentence. Repetitio, "repetition" is a feminine noun - which means it is the mater, "mother" of something ("repetition is the mother of memory"). Likewise, inscitia, "ignorance," is a feminine noun - which means it is the mater, the "mother" of something ("ignorance is the mother of conceit").

Tomorrow I'll be sure to post a proverb with pater instead of mater so you can see some more examples of how this elegant turn-of-phrase works in Latin!

So here is today's proverb read out loud:

233. Inscitia mater arrogantiae.

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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