Si multis placuerit vita tua, tibi placere non poterit

In English: If your life is pleasing to many, it won't have been pleasing to you.

In other words: By trying to please others, you won't be able to please yourself. This seems to me a very wise saying about the hazards of life spent in seeking the praise and approval of others, so much so that we need to do in order to satisfy, to really satisfy, ourselves. This is definitely something that I've had to confront in my own choices in life, going my own way professinally. Now as a teacher, I constantly hope to inspire my students to work for themselves and their own satisfaction, rather than trying to please me or jumping through hoops in order to get a diploma. Luckily, by having students create their own websites and keep their own blogs in my classes (you can take a look at mythfolklore.net), there is at least a chance for them to do something based on their own interests, rather than simply taking exams. School seems to be, sadly, a place where students learn to please others rather than learning how to set their own standards and then strive to live up to them.

This saying comes from the sayings of Publilius Syrus, whose Sententiae are one of the great sources for classical Latin sayings. You can read the sayings of Publilius Syrus online at the Ad Fontes Latin Library.

It is through that Publilius Syrus lived sometime in the first century B.C.E., and that he came from Syria (hence his name "Syrus") to Italy as a slave and later won his freedom and gained fame as a performer. At some point the collection of sayings attributed to Publilius were written down and were known to the author Aulus Gellius, who lived in the 2nd century C.E. This makes Publilius a contemporary of another famous slave in ancient Rome, Phaedrus, who came to Rome as a slave (probably from Thrace), later won his freedom, and is known to us today for having put Aesop's fables into verse. You can read Phaedrus's fables online at aesopica.net.

The fact that these two collections of wisdom literature from the ancient world were assembled by former slaves should come as no surprise. We all need to liberate ourselves and it is wisdom that might allow us to do that.

So here is today's proverb read out loud:

3440. Si multis placuerit vita tua, tibi placere non poterit.

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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Si rota defuerit, tu pede carpe viam

In English: If your wheel's broken, you better make your way on foot.

I chose this proverb today after watching a great movie tonight, Apollo 13. When their spacecraft suffered catastrophic failure on their mission to the moon, these astronauts and all the technicians back on Earth found a way to make it work, cobbling together an air filter out of spare parts, hooking up batteries backwards to squeeze out every bit of juice to bring the astronauts back home safely. Although they certainly couldn't make their way back on foot from outer space, all the people involved in this operation exemplified the meaning of this proverb.

There's an old Aesop's fable that makes the same point by means of a story:

An ox-driver was bringing his wagon from town and it fell into a steep ditch. The man should have pitched in and helped, but instead he stood there and did nothing, praying to Heracles, who was the only one of the gods whom he really honoured and revered. The god appeared to the man and said, "Grab hold of the wheels and goad the oxen: pray to the gods only when you're making some effort on your own behalf; otherwise, your prayers are wasted!"

In other words: God helps those who help themselves! You might pray to the god to fix your wheel, but be prepared to listen to that booming voice instead advise you: "If your wheel's broken, you better make your way on foot." And while we're at it, we might thank God for giving us feet to go with!

And here is today's proverb read out loud:

3441. Si rota defuerit, tu pede carpe viam.

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.

Nec habeo, nec careo, nec curo.

In English: I have not, I lack not, I care not.

This phrase was made famous by George Wither's Motto, published in 1621. Wither (1588-1667) was a satirical poet in his younger years, and also the author of religious poetry, becoming a Puritan in his later years. You can read some of his poetry at the RPO website at the University of Toronto.

I have a great personal fondness for this motto, as it expresses a thought that seems to me very neglected in our society, which assumes that getting more and having more is the solution to all life's problems. This saying declares exactly the opposite of that materialistic and acquisitive philosophy: I don't have it, I don't need it, and I don't care about it. This is the positive sense of "not caring," in the sense of being without worries, without concerns, without troubles - not in the sense of being careless or uncaring, but rather "carefree."

Every year, as the frenzy of Christmas shopping reaches its annual crescendo, the international Buy Nothing Day attempts to persuade people to stop and think, instead of shop. You can read more about last year's Buy Nothing Day at the AdBusters website. It seems to me admirably sane. AdBusters are also the promoters of TV Turnoff Week... but that is a topic for another time! I'm sure, though, that George Wither could have modified his motto to sing the praises of life without television as well!

And here is today's proverb read out loud:

1553. Nec habeo, nec careo, nec curo.

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.

Dum pastores odia exercent, lupus intrat ovile

In English: While the shepherds quarrel, the wolf enters the sheepfold.

I offer up this proverb as a commentary on the squabbles between the Democrats and the Republicans who seem to be spending a lot of time right now blaming each other for events gone by (who tried the hardest to catch bin Laden) instead of trying to figure out how to bring some peace into a world staggered by violence.

Of course, we are not just sheep. The poor sheep have to put up with the shepherds they have got. Unlike the sheep, we do have a choice in all this: we get to VOTE; sheep don't. Sadly, it's exactly because elections are coming that the shepherds are quarreling on television every night, when we would like some attention paid to the problems of the flock. Problems here and now: not the blame game of the past.

There's an Aesop's fable about shepherds that I've often thought about in relationship to both Afghanistan and Iraq, where we formerly armed the Taliban (because they were enemies of the Soviets) and where we formerly armed Hussein (because he was an enemy of Iran).

A shepherd found a little wolf cub and raised it. Then, when the cub was bigger he taught it to steal from his neighbours' flocks. Once he had learned how to do this, the wolf said to the shepherd, "Now that you have shown me how to steal, take care that many of your own sheep don't go missing!"

So it's not just that we are currently fighting wolves there in the Middle East - they are "our" wolves... or at least, they used to be. What a world we have made for ourselves.

And here is today's proverb read out loud:

1558. Dum pastores odia exercent, lupus intrat ovile.

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.

Avarum irritat, non satiat pecunia

In English: Money provokes the greedy person; it doesn't satisfy him.

The verbal charm of this Latin proverb depends on the similarity between the two verbs here: irritat, non satiat. I've been trying to come up with a pair of English verbs that fit together as nicely, but I haven't managed to come up with anything I like. Maybe: "Money makes a greedy man demented, not contented."

I chose this proverb for today in honor of the sentencing of Enron's Andrew Fastow, a perfect example of greed gone mad. Fastow has been sentenced today to six years in prison, the result of a plea bargain in which he testified against his bosses at Enron, Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.

During the summer, I posted a large collection of Latin proverbs about greed after I saw the genius documentary film, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. If you have not seen this film, I recommend it very highly. I watched it out a sense of civic duty, since Enron was in the news all the time, but I really did not know very much about the story. I expected the documentary to be a bit tedious, but instead it was completely gripping, from start to finish. Through the words and deeds of Lay, Skilling and Fastow, the film shows how their greed for money, for insane amounts of money, launched them into a world that has nothing to do with reality. Enron was a real business, but what they were doing was surreal - and dangerous. It's a cautionary tale that I found both shocking and sobering.

The Romans had many proverbs denouncing the dangers of greed. Proverbs that might have helped Jeff Fastow stay out of jail. Ken Lay has since died - and as for Jeff Skilling, his sentencing is scheduled for next month. I'll have another proverb in honor of that occasion, too!

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

1090. Avarum irritat, non satiat pecunia.

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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Quam felix vita transit sine negotiis

In English: How happily life passes by without business to do.

I am posting this proverb in honor of the joys of the weekend... and as a lament for the work week that stretches from Monday through Friday. Sigh. My weekend passed very happily - and all too swiftly - without any job duties to occupy my time.

The Latin word for "business" here is negotium, as in the English words "negotiate" and also the phrase "negotiable currency." The etymology of the word in Latin is really nifty: negotium is a compound of the word nec, meaning "not," and otium, meaning "leisure." (the final "c," which is a voiceless consonant, turns into its voiced counterpart "g" because of the following vowel).

So, in Latin "business" is literally "not-leisure." In other words: not-weekend. This is an etymology that the Romans themselves were aware of, as a grammarian explains: "negotium, quod non sit otium," "[it's called] negotium because it's not otium."

Even though the Romans were an admittedly hard-working people, I like the fact that their word for "business" constantly reminded them of that blissful alternative: every time they said negotium there was a hint of leisure, of otium, reminding them of how nice the weekend can be!

So here is today's proverb read out loud - and listen for the otium there in the phrase sine negotiis:

2236. Quam felix vita transit sine negotiis.

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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Alterum pedem in cymba Charontis habet.

In English: He's got one foot in Charon's boat.

In other words: he's just one step away from death, with one foot in the grave already. According to Greek mythology, Charon is the boatman of the dead. It was Charon's job to bear the souls of the dead in his boat across the river of Acheron, which marked the boundary of the underworld. The dead supposedly had to pay a fee for this service, and so a coin, an obol was sometimes placed in the mouth of the dead, the price of that final journey in Charon's boat. You might be familiar with the harrowing representation in Michelangelo's depiction in the Sistine Chapel, where Charon has raised an oar and is about to beat the dead souls who have entered his boat.

In English, we use a quite different metaphor to express this same idea. Death is a kind of house, and we are at Death's door, or knocking at Death's door, or lying at Death's doorstep. The idea is that we then pass through that door, never to return. When looking for more information about the history of this saying in English, I found this lovely bit of a poem by Sir John Davies, cited in Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets:

But as Noah's pigeon, which return'd no more,
Did show she footing found, for all the flood,
So when good souls, departed through death's door,
Come not again, it shows their dwelling good.

For our culture, Noah and his dove are immediately recognizable, just as Charon and his boat were for the ancient Greeks and Romans. The abstract language of theology or the impersonal language of science can provide people with one way of pondering our existence, but the use of stories and myths has always been, and will always be, a powerful way to imagine those things we cannot see but which we need to talk about.

So here is today's proverb read out loud:

1518. Alterum pedem in cymba Charontis habet.

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.