In English: There is no great talent without an admixture of madness.
I thought I would follow-up yesterday's proverb about the iactura famae with another proverb featuring a Latin -ura noun. So in today's proverb, there is mixtura dementiae, some madness mixed in!
You can find the saying cited in Seneca's De Tranquilitate Animi, "On the Tranquility of the Mind." He also cites a kindred saying: aliquando et insanire iucundum est, "sometimes it is a pleasure to also go crazy." In particular, you have to be delirious to write poetry: frustra poeticas fores compos sui pepulit, "in vain did the sane mind knock on the doors of poetry." (And recall that Seneca was not just the author of philosophical treatises, such as this one, but also tragic dramas written in verse!) You can find an English translation of this essay online at Stoics.com if you are interested in learning more.
My main reason for choosing this proverb, however, was not so much the sentiment behind it (which I do agree with!), but rather the lovely word mixtura. The Latin nouns formed with -ura are some of my favorites, and they give us the words that end in -ure in English. So Latin mixtura gives us mixture, coniectura gives us conjecture, etc. You can see the hundreds of English words that end in -ure by using OneLook.com, and most of them come from Latin. You can also see Latin words that end in -ura using Perseus (if this is one of the rare days on which Perseus is actually working...).
Basically, if you have a perfect passive participle stem, such as mixt-us, you can expect to find a verbal noun formed with -ura, like mixtura in today's proverb.
So, enjoy the "ura" as you listen to today's proverb read out loud:
151. Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 30, 2007
June 29, 2007
Lucrum cum iactura famae damnum est, non lucrum
In English: Profit, with the loss of reputation, is loss, not profit.
If you read yesterday's proverb, Paulum lucri, quantum damni, "so little profit, so much loss" - you will see that today's proverb conveys precisely the same message - albeit in a less "proverbial-sounding" form.
The idea is once again the paradox of profit that is really a loss, not profit. In today's saying, the type of loss that is incurred is much more specific: a iactura famae, a loss of reputation. So this is a saying you could apply to some company that makes some short-term gain but in a way that damages their reputation and undermines their ability to do business over the long run.
The reason I was prompted to include this saying as a post today was because of the source where I found it. The fine folks at St. Louis University have put some absolutely wonderful Latin materials online, including the Praxis Grammatica of John Harmer, published in 1623 (!). The book consists of a series of statements in Latin, some of which are typical textbook-type statements (e.g., Non eram in schola hodie, "I was not in class today"), but many of which are traditional Latin aphorisms.
The preface to the book is written in Latin, and is clearly addressed to the teachers who will be using the book, rather than to the students themselves. He admits that he has included but trifles, leviuscula, in the book, but he does so on purpose, because the book is for the use of puerorum adhuc balbutientium, "boys who are still stammerers" when it comes to Latin.
So, if you have not looked at this lovely book, it is definitely worth your attention - and kudos to St. Louis University for making it available in such a great edition online!
Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:
152. Lucrum cum iactura famae damnum est, non lucrum.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
If you read yesterday's proverb, Paulum lucri, quantum damni, "so little profit, so much loss" - you will see that today's proverb conveys precisely the same message - albeit in a less "proverbial-sounding" form.
The idea is once again the paradox of profit that is really a loss, not profit. In today's saying, the type of loss that is incurred is much more specific: a iactura famae, a loss of reputation. So this is a saying you could apply to some company that makes some short-term gain but in a way that damages their reputation and undermines their ability to do business over the long run.
The reason I was prompted to include this saying as a post today was because of the source where I found it. The fine folks at St. Louis University have put some absolutely wonderful Latin materials online, including the Praxis Grammatica of John Harmer, published in 1623 (!). The book consists of a series of statements in Latin, some of which are typical textbook-type statements (e.g., Non eram in schola hodie, "I was not in class today"), but many of which are traditional Latin aphorisms.
The preface to the book is written in Latin, and is clearly addressed to the teachers who will be using the book, rather than to the students themselves. He admits that he has included but trifles, leviuscula, in the book, but he does so on purpose, because the book is for the use of puerorum adhuc balbutientium, "boys who are still stammerers" when it comes to Latin.
So, if you have not looked at this lovely book, it is definitely worth your attention - and kudos to St. Louis University for making it available in such a great edition online!
Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:
152. Lucrum cum iactura famae damnum est, non lucrum.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 28, 2007
Paulum lucri, quantum damni
In English: So little profit, so much loss.
After yesterday's saying with quantum, I thought I would do another quantum saying today. This one is based on a very simple structure, using partitive genitives: "So little (of) profit, so much (of) loss."
The statement is a thought-provoking paradox. How could there be both profit (lucrum, "gain, profit," as in the English word "lucre") and loss (damnum, "loss, injury" as in the English word "damnation" or "damage") at the same time?
The idea is that you could enjoy some kind of small monetary profit, but it could come at a tremendous loss - a loss of reputation, a loss of time, even the loss of human life. Or you might think of the companies making a profit today, but destroying the environment, creating damage that we will have to pay for many times over the in future.
The saying is adapted from a play by Terence, Heauton Timorumenos (commonly translated as "The Self-Tormentor"): haud scit hoc paullum lucri quantum ei damnum adportet, "he does not know how much loss this little bit of profit will bring him!" The paradox of a little profit at great loss is perfect for the deceptions of Roman comedy, where characters think they are acting in their own best interests, only to find out they have been the victim of the subterfuge of another character!
There is a variant on this saying which expresses basically the same idea: Parva lucra solent afferre maiora detrimenta, "Small profits are accustomed to bring greater setbacks." Although there is a nice contrast between parva-maiora, this saying does not have the nice proverbial ring that you can hear in Paulum lucri, quantum damni.
In fact, today's saying is so quintessentially proverbial in its form that you could use it to make up some Latin sayings of your own! For example, paulum sapientiae, quantum loquelae, "so little wisdom, so much talk." Just find two nouns you want to put in the genitive, and you can easily create your own paradoxical proverb!
Meanwhile, here is the "official" proverb read out loud:
954. Paulum lucri, quantum damni.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
After yesterday's saying with quantum, I thought I would do another quantum saying today. This one is based on a very simple structure, using partitive genitives: "So little (of) profit, so much (of) loss."
The statement is a thought-provoking paradox. How could there be both profit (lucrum, "gain, profit," as in the English word "lucre") and loss (damnum, "loss, injury" as in the English word "damnation" or "damage") at the same time?
The idea is that you could enjoy some kind of small monetary profit, but it could come at a tremendous loss - a loss of reputation, a loss of time, even the loss of human life. Or you might think of the companies making a profit today, but destroying the environment, creating damage that we will have to pay for many times over the in future.
The saying is adapted from a play by Terence, Heauton Timorumenos (commonly translated as "The Self-Tormentor"): haud scit hoc paullum lucri quantum ei damnum adportet, "he does not know how much loss this little bit of profit will bring him!" The paradox of a little profit at great loss is perfect for the deceptions of Roman comedy, where characters think they are acting in their own best interests, only to find out they have been the victim of the subterfuge of another character!
There is a variant on this saying which expresses basically the same idea: Parva lucra solent afferre maiora detrimenta, "Small profits are accustomed to bring greater setbacks." Although there is a nice contrast between parva-maiora, this saying does not have the nice proverbial ring that you can hear in Paulum lucri, quantum damni.
In fact, today's saying is so quintessentially proverbial in its form that you could use it to make up some Latin sayings of your own! For example, paulum sapientiae, quantum loquelae, "so little wisdom, so much talk." Just find two nouns you want to put in the genitive, and you can easily create your own paradoxical proverb!
Meanwhile, here is the "official" proverb read out loud:
954. Paulum lucri, quantum damni.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 27, 2007
O quantum est in rebus inane!
In English: Oh how much trivial stuff there is in the world!
After the quantus in yesterday's proverb, I thought it would make sense to follow up with a quantum saying, which comes from one of the satires of Persius. It is, in fact, part of the opening line to his book of satires: O curas hominum! o quantum est in rebus inane!, "Oh, the worries of mankind! Oh how much trivial stuff there is in the world!"
When I Googled the saying to see what else I might comment on here, I was delighted to find an early poem by Samuel Coleridge which takes this line as its title! The poem dates from 1791, when Coleridge was just 19 years old. It begins with a description of our hero, Philedon, who has stayed in bed until noon, recovering from a hang-over:
O, curas hominum! O, quantum est in rebus inane!
The fervid Sun had more than halv’d the day,
When gloomy on his couch Philedon lay;
His feeble frame consumptive as his purse,
His aching head did wine and women curse;
Even worse, he has bills to pay - which suddenly stirs his Muse to flights of rapture!
His fortune ruin’d and his wealth decay’d,
Clamorous his duns, his gaming debts unpaid,
The youth indignant seiz’d his tailor’s bill,
And on its back thus wrote with moral quill:
‘‘Various as colours in the rainbow shown,
Or similar in emptiness alone,
How false, how vain are Man’s pursuits below!
Wealth, Honour, Pleasure — what can ye bestow?
Yet see, how high and low, and young and old
Pursue the all-delusive power of Gold.
Fond man! should all Peru thy empire own,
For thee tho’ all Golconda’s jewels shone,
What greater bliss could all this wealth supply?
What, but to eat and drink and sleep and die?
Go, tempt the stormy sea, the burning soil —
Go, waste the night in thought, the day in toil,
Dark frowns the rock, and fierce the tempests rave —
Thy ingots go the unconscious deep to pave!
Or thunder at thy door the midnight train,
Or Death shall knock that never knocks in vain.
And so the poem goes on and on, as our hero expresses the lofty thoughts that are disdainful of the trifling affairs of the world... until he finally realizes he can sell his mother's silver to pay the debt! Ha!
Such lays repentant did the Muse supply;
When as the Sun was hastening down the sky,
In glittering state twice fifty guineas come, —
His Mother’s plate antique had rais’d the sum.
There's a good deal of fabulously done and very witty rhyme within those "lays repentant," and you can read it online at Google Books (the only edition I was able to find online of Coleridges juvenalia).
As readers of this blog know, I am a big fan of rhyme in any language, so of course I find English poets like Coleridge irresistible...
Meanwhile, without rhyme, here is today's proverb read out loud:
592. O quantum est in rebus inane!
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
After the quantus in yesterday's proverb, I thought it would make sense to follow up with a quantum saying, which comes from one of the satires of Persius. It is, in fact, part of the opening line to his book of satires: O curas hominum! o quantum est in rebus inane!, "Oh, the worries of mankind! Oh how much trivial stuff there is in the world!"
When I Googled the saying to see what else I might comment on here, I was delighted to find an early poem by Samuel Coleridge which takes this line as its title! The poem dates from 1791, when Coleridge was just 19 years old. It begins with a description of our hero, Philedon, who has stayed in bed until noon, recovering from a hang-over:
O, curas hominum! O, quantum est in rebus inane!
The fervid Sun had more than halv’d the day,
When gloomy on his couch Philedon lay;
His feeble frame consumptive as his purse,
His aching head did wine and women curse;
Even worse, he has bills to pay - which suddenly stirs his Muse to flights of rapture!
His fortune ruin’d and his wealth decay’d,
Clamorous his duns, his gaming debts unpaid,
The youth indignant seiz’d his tailor’s bill,
And on its back thus wrote with moral quill:
‘‘Various as colours in the rainbow shown,
Or similar in emptiness alone,
How false, how vain are Man’s pursuits below!
Wealth, Honour, Pleasure — what can ye bestow?
Yet see, how high and low, and young and old
Pursue the all-delusive power of Gold.
Fond man! should all Peru thy empire own,
For thee tho’ all Golconda’s jewels shone,
What greater bliss could all this wealth supply?
What, but to eat and drink and sleep and die?
Go, tempt the stormy sea, the burning soil —
Go, waste the night in thought, the day in toil,
Dark frowns the rock, and fierce the tempests rave —
Thy ingots go the unconscious deep to pave!
Or thunder at thy door the midnight train,
Or Death shall knock that never knocks in vain.
And so the poem goes on and on, as our hero expresses the lofty thoughts that are disdainful of the trifling affairs of the world... until he finally realizes he can sell his mother's silver to pay the debt! Ha!
Such lays repentant did the Muse supply;
When as the Sun was hastening down the sky,
In glittering state twice fifty guineas come, —
His Mother’s plate antique had rais’d the sum.
There's a good deal of fabulously done and very witty rhyme within those "lays repentant," and you can read it online at Google Books (the only edition I was able to find online of Coleridges juvenalia).
As readers of this blog know, I am a big fan of rhyme in any language, so of course I find English poets like Coleridge irresistible...
Meanwhile, without rhyme, here is today's proverb read out loud:
592. O quantum est in rebus inane!
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 26, 2007
O Cupido, quantus es!
In English: O Cupid, how great thou art!
I thought this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's saying about Cupid. Yesterday, the emphasis was on what a dangerous advisor Cupid is, urging people to reckless deeds. Today's saying simply tells us that Cupid is a powerful force, but it does not say whether it is for good or for ill. In either case, Cupid is not to be trifled with!
The saying comes from a play by Plautus, the Mercator, and it is uttered by the character Charinus, the young lover who is at the center of the play's plot. Although he faces many obstacles in his love for Pasicompsa (not least of which is that his father is also in love with her!), the power of love emboldens him, convincing him that he will succeed in his quest for love:
I chose the words "how great thou art!" for the English translation on purpose, thinking of that hymn to a very different god from Cupid. The Christian hymn "How Great Thou Art" is one of the most popular hymns of the modern age. You can read a history of the original Swedish hymn, along with the English lyrics, at this informative webpage by Matthias Prospero. You can read there about how it started out as a Swedish hymn composed in the late nineteenth century, then migrated to Germany, where it was then translated from German into Russian; then, an English missionary in the Ukraine heard the song, brought it back to England, and another English missionary took it to India, whereupon an American missionary heard the song sung there and brought it back to the United States where it became a big hit with the Billy Graham revival meetings of the 1950s. That's definitely the long way from Sweden to the U.S.!
Meanwhile, hoping you are on the great god Cupid's good side these days, here is the Roman saying read out loud:
953. O Cupido, quantus es!
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
I thought this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's saying about Cupid. Yesterday, the emphasis was on what a dangerous advisor Cupid is, urging people to reckless deeds. Today's saying simply tells us that Cupid is a powerful force, but it does not say whether it is for good or for ill. In either case, Cupid is not to be trifled with!
The saying comes from a play by Plautus, the Mercator, and it is uttered by the character Charinus, the young lover who is at the center of the play's plot. Although he faces many obstacles in his love for Pasicompsa (not least of which is that his father is also in love with her!), the power of love emboldens him, convincing him that he will succeed in his quest for love:
egomet mihi comes, calator, equos, agaso, armiger,Cupid is a god, and like any superhuman power, Cupid has his ups and downs, much like the goddess Fortune, who with her wheel can lift people up or send them down into the depths.
egomet sum mihi imperator, idem egomet mihi oboedio,
egomet mihi fero quod usust. o Cupido, quantus es.
nam tu quemvis confidentem facile tuis factis facis,
eundem ex confidente actutum diffidentem denuo.
I myself am my own companion, footman, horse, driver, and arms-bearer, I myself am my own commander, yes, I am my own boss, I myself am equipped with whatever I need. O Cupid, how great thou art! For with your actions you easily embolden whomever you want, and then again that same person you can immediately plunge from confidence into despair.
I chose the words "how great thou art!" for the English translation on purpose, thinking of that hymn to a very different god from Cupid. The Christian hymn "How Great Thou Art" is one of the most popular hymns of the modern age. You can read a history of the original Swedish hymn, along with the English lyrics, at this informative webpage by Matthias Prospero. You can read there about how it started out as a Swedish hymn composed in the late nineteenth century, then migrated to Germany, where it was then translated from German into Russian; then, an English missionary in the Ukraine heard the song, brought it back to England, and another English missionary took it to India, whereupon an American missionary heard the song sung there and brought it back to the United States where it became a big hit with the Billy Graham revival meetings of the 1950s. That's definitely the long way from Sweden to the U.S.!
Meanwhile, hoping you are on the great god Cupid's good side these days, here is the Roman saying read out loud:
953. O Cupido, quantus es!
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 25, 2007
Cupido atque ira consultores pessimi
In English: Desire and Anger are the worst advisors.
I though this would be a good follow-up to the previous posting about Latin ira, "anger." You can find the saying in Sallust. The idea, of course, is that if you do what desire or anger urge you to do, you are likely to do something that you will regret. These feelings are the worst possible advisors. And who do you think would be the consultores optimi, the "best advisors"? You can use that as an idea for writing your own Latin saying!
Meanwhile, what I want to focus on today is this word cupido, which I have translated as "Desire," but which is better known in English as "Cupid" himself, that wicked little god wielding such destruction with his tiny bow and arrows.
Depending on what Latin dictionary you use, you might find that you have two separate entries. One entry would be for Cupido (upper-case C), the god who is the son of Venus, goddess of love, whom we call "Cupid." The other entry would be for cupido (lower-case C), meaning "desire, passionate longing, yearning." Of course, this distinction between upper- and lower-case letters is a purely modern distinction (read more about letter cases at wikipedia).
For the Romans, there was just one word, CUPIDO, and it meant both a feeling and the "god" who personified that feeling. In Greek, this same god was called EROS (the same root as in the English word "erotic"). You can read more about Cupid-Eros at wikipedia or, even better, at theoi.com which provides abundant ancient texts for you to read and images to look at.
And what then about IRA, the personification of anger? She can probably be connected with the Greek goddess Lyssa, as can the Latin FUROR. You can read more about these angry divinities at theoi.com (which includes a marvelous picture of Lyssa from a Greek vase painting, where she is clearly labeled ΛΥΣΑ).
So, hoping you are not the victim of either Cupid or Ira at the moment, here is today's proverb read out loud:
204. Cupido atque ira consultores pessimi.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
I though this would be a good follow-up to the previous posting about Latin ira, "anger." You can find the saying in Sallust. The idea, of course, is that if you do what desire or anger urge you to do, you are likely to do something that you will regret. These feelings are the worst possible advisors. And who do you think would be the consultores optimi, the "best advisors"? You can use that as an idea for writing your own Latin saying!
Meanwhile, what I want to focus on today is this word cupido, which I have translated as "Desire," but which is better known in English as "Cupid" himself, that wicked little god wielding such destruction with his tiny bow and arrows.
Depending on what Latin dictionary you use, you might find that you have two separate entries. One entry would be for Cupido (upper-case C), the god who is the son of Venus, goddess of love, whom we call "Cupid." The other entry would be for cupido (lower-case C), meaning "desire, passionate longing, yearning." Of course, this distinction between upper- and lower-case letters is a purely modern distinction (read more about letter cases at wikipedia).
For the Romans, there was just one word, CUPIDO, and it meant both a feeling and the "god" who personified that feeling. In Greek, this same god was called EROS (the same root as in the English word "erotic"). You can read more about Cupid-Eros at wikipedia or, even better, at theoi.com which provides abundant ancient texts for you to read and images to look at.
And what then about IRA, the personification of anger? She can probably be connected with the Greek goddess Lyssa, as can the Latin FUROR. You can read more about these angry divinities at theoi.com (which includes a marvelous picture of Lyssa from a Greek vase painting, where she is clearly labeled ΛΥΣΑ).
So, hoping you are not the victim of either Cupid or Ira at the moment, here is today's proverb read out loud:
204. Cupido atque ira consultores pessimi.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 23, 2007
Fratrum inter se irae sunt acerbissimae
In English: Brothers hold their fiercest anger for one another.
After yesterday's story about discord among brothers, I thought I would post this proverb as a follow-up. You can find this saying in Erasmus's Adagia, and here is the commentary he provides:
Cain and Abel were brothers, the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain was jealous of the favor God showed to his brother and so he killed him, in this dramatic Bible story:
Romulus and Remus, like Jacob and Esau, were twins, the sons of the god Mars. Legend has it that Romulus slew his brother Remus in a quarrel about the founding of the city of Rome. As Romulus was building the sacred perimeter of the city, Remus leaped over the trench, which was regarded as a sign of very bad luck, as it meant that enemies could easily breach the city's walls in the future. Outraged at what his brother had done, Romulus killed him. There are many variants on this story, and you can find abundant information at the wikipedia article on this topic.
The last example is probably less familiar than the stories from the Bible or from mythology. The Emperor Septimius Severus had two sons with his second wife, Julia Domna. Caracalla was the elder son, born in 186, and Geta was the younger, born in 189. The father reigned jointly with his two sons, and when he died in 211 Caracalla and Geta were named co-emperors. Caracalla, however, had his brother killed, and ordered that his name be scratched out from every public monument and his face erased from family portraits (the so-called "damnatio memoriae").
Although the story of Geta and Caracalla is not as well known as the story of Cain and Abel, it certainly provides an excellent example of the savage hatred of brothers which is the topic of today's proverb.
So, with a moment of mourning for poor Geta, here is today's proverb read out loud:
795. Fratrum inter se irae sunt acerbissimae.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
After yesterday's story about discord among brothers, I thought I would post this proverb as a follow-up. You can find this saying in Erasmus's Adagia, and here is the commentary he provides:
If ever rivalry happens among brothers, it is usually more fierce than among common enemies. Very many examples can be found in history: Cain and Abel, Romulus and Remus, Jacob and Esau. The hatred of Caracalla, son of Emperor Septimius Severus, for his brother Geta was so savage and enduring that it could not even be satisfied with Geta's incredibly violent death, but continued to rage against all of Geta's friends as well.As you can see, Erasmus has cited two examples from the Bible, along with one example from Roman mythology and one example from Roman history.
Cain and Abel were brothers, the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain was jealous of the favor God showed to his brother and so he killed him, in this dramatic Bible story:
And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" The Lord said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."Jacob and Esau are another famous pair of brothers from the Bible, and their rivalry shaped and determined the course of their whole lives. Although they were twins, Esau was the eldest, having emerged first from his mother's womb, but he notoriously sold his birthright to Jacob for a "mess of pottage." Jacob later deceived their father Isaac into thinking that he was Esau, and Isaac unwittingly bestowed his blessing on Jacob rather than his brother.
Romulus and Remus, like Jacob and Esau, were twins, the sons of the god Mars. Legend has it that Romulus slew his brother Remus in a quarrel about the founding of the city of Rome. As Romulus was building the sacred perimeter of the city, Remus leaped over the trench, which was regarded as a sign of very bad luck, as it meant that enemies could easily breach the city's walls in the future. Outraged at what his brother had done, Romulus killed him. There are many variants on this story, and you can find abundant information at the wikipedia article on this topic.
The last example is probably less familiar than the stories from the Bible or from mythology. The Emperor Septimius Severus had two sons with his second wife, Julia Domna. Caracalla was the elder son, born in 186, and Geta was the younger, born in 189. The father reigned jointly with his two sons, and when he died in 211 Caracalla and Geta were named co-emperors. Caracalla, however, had his brother killed, and ordered that his name be scratched out from every public monument and his face erased from family portraits (the so-called "damnatio memoriae").
Although the story of Geta and Caracalla is not as well known as the story of Cain and Abel, it certainly provides an excellent example of the savage hatred of brothers which is the topic of today's proverb.
So, with a moment of mourning for poor Geta, here is today's proverb read out loud:
795. Fratrum inter se irae sunt acerbissimae.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 21, 2007
Fratrum concordia rara
In English: Agreement among brothers is rare.
Yesterday's proverb was about the proverbially rare phoenix, so I thought I would post another proverb about something rare: agreement, or "concord," among brothers.
I wish there were a word as nice as Latin con-cordia, "together-hearts," in English. The heart, cor, was not just a seat of sentiment and emotion in Latin, as it is for us ("sweethearts," "heartfelt," etc.), but was also a seat of intelligence and thought. So when there is concordia in Latin, it means people's minds are operating in unison, that they share the same thoughts and intentions, the same "hearts."
There is a famous Aesop's fable about a father who tries to teach his sons the value of like-mindedness, recognizing the truth of the proverb: brothers are prone to quarrel. This fable is best-known in the Greek tradition, with examples from Babrius and other ancient Greek writers. In the Latin tradition, there is no example of this story that I know of until the Renaissance, when the Greek fables became known again in western Europe, so here is an example from the Renaissance writer Hieronymus Osius, who published a collection of Aesop's fables in Latin verse in 1575:
So, hoping you are experiencing concord with your family and friends, here is today's proverb read out loud:
297. Fratrum concordia rara.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
Yesterday's proverb was about the proverbially rare phoenix, so I thought I would post another proverb about something rare: agreement, or "concord," among brothers.
I wish there were a word as nice as Latin con-cordia, "together-hearts," in English. The heart, cor, was not just a seat of sentiment and emotion in Latin, as it is for us ("sweethearts," "heartfelt," etc.), but was also a seat of intelligence and thought. So when there is concordia in Latin, it means people's minds are operating in unison, that they share the same thoughts and intentions, the same "hearts."
There is a famous Aesop's fable about a father who tries to teach his sons the value of like-mindedness, recognizing the truth of the proverb: brothers are prone to quarrel. This fable is best-known in the Greek tradition, with examples from Babrius and other ancient Greek writers. In the Latin tradition, there is no example of this story that I know of until the Renaissance, when the Greek fables became known again in western Europe, so here is an example from the Renaissance writer Hieronymus Osius, who published a collection of Aesop's fables in Latin verse in 1575:
Languentem senio cum mors vicina maneretI think this is a very powerful little story, which shows how teaching by simple physical examples can help people to reflect on the inner spiritual life.
Agricolam, soboles cui numerosa fuit:
Et vexare frequens hanc mutua rixa soleret,
Ipse modo tali conciliare parat:
Vimine connexas in fascem frangere virgas
Praecipit, at vis has frangere nulla potest.
Ille datam cuivis unam tum frangere virgam
Iussit, at haec nullo fracta labore fuit.
Firma docens hoc quam res sit concordia facto,
Distractosque iuvent robora parva viros.
Praebet ut humanis vires concordia rebus,
Sic horum discors robore vita caret.
When approaching death awaited a Farmer who was weak with old age and who had numerous offspring, and since repeated mutual quarrels regularly afflicted these children, the Farmer prepared to reconcile them in this way. He ordered them to break some sticks that had been bound together in a bundle with a willow twig, and no power was able to break the sticks. Then he ordered them to break a single stick given to any of them, and this stick could be broken with no effort at all, showing by means of this deed how strong a thing concord is, and how when men are at odds with each other, a tiny bit of strength is all it takes. Just as concord supplies potency in human affairs, so a quarrelsome life deprives people of their strength.
So, hoping you are experiencing concord with your family and friends, here is today's proverb read out loud:
297. Fratrum concordia rara.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 19, 2007
Phoenice rarior
In English: More rare than the phoenix.
After the previous two proverbs about animal comparisons, I thought this saying would be a good one to include. The idea of something that is more rare than the phoenix would have to refer to something extremely rare indeed, given that many legends about the phoenix insist that there is one, and only one, phoenix alive in the world at any one time.
The phoenix legend was widely known in ancient Greece and Rome, and it also continued to be famous throughout the Middle Ages, thanks to the inclusion of the phoenix in the medieval bestiary, via the account in the Physiologus. The story of the phoenix is also told in Isidore of Seville's famous late antique encyclopedia, the Etymologiae. Here is what Isidore says about the phoenix: Phoenix Arabiae avis, dicta quod colorem phoeniceum habeat, vel quod sit in toto orbe singularis et unica. Nam Arabes singularem 'phoenicem' vocant. "The phoenix is a bird of Arabia, so-called because it is the color of Phoenician purple dye, or because it is singular in all the world, with just one unique example, for the Arabs call something singular 'phoenix.'"
From this last bit, you can tell where Isidore's encyclopedia, "The Etymologies," gets its name. Although his etymologies are usually without much linguistic foundation of any kind, Isidore regularly makes a comment about the origin of something's name in conjunction with the meaning he attributes to that thing. In this case, since he is not really sure about the etymology of "phoenix," he decides it must be an Arab word meaning "singular," since, for Isidore, one of the most important things about the phoenix is its uniqueness, the fact that there is only one phoenix in the world at any given time. Given that linguists to this day are still uncertain about the origin of the Greek word "phoenix," Isidore is not alone in having to guess!
Isidore also relates what is probably the best-known part of the phoenix legend, its rebirth from the ashes: Haec quingentis annis ultra vivens, dum se viderit senuisse, collectis aromatum virgulis rogum sibi instruit et conversa ad radium solis alarum plausu voluntarium sibi incendium nutrit sicque iterum de cineribus suis resurgit., "When this bird has lived as long as five hundred years and sees that it has grown old, it gathers twigs of aromatic plants and builds itself a pyre. It turns itself towards a sun beam and, with a flap of its wings, it kindles a voluntary funeral pyre for itself and thus rises up again from its own ashes."
There is much more to read and learn about the phoenix legend if you are interested in that. You can find more materials at the Bestiaria Latina website, which has links in turn to other valuable online resources, such as the magnificent Aberdeen Bestiary.
Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:
645. Phoenice rarior.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
After the previous two proverbs about animal comparisons, I thought this saying would be a good one to include. The idea of something that is more rare than the phoenix would have to refer to something extremely rare indeed, given that many legends about the phoenix insist that there is one, and only one, phoenix alive in the world at any one time.
The phoenix legend was widely known in ancient Greece and Rome, and it also continued to be famous throughout the Middle Ages, thanks to the inclusion of the phoenix in the medieval bestiary, via the account in the Physiologus. The story of the phoenix is also told in Isidore of Seville's famous late antique encyclopedia, the Etymologiae. Here is what Isidore says about the phoenix: Phoenix Arabiae avis, dicta quod colorem phoeniceum habeat, vel quod sit in toto orbe singularis et unica. Nam Arabes singularem 'phoenicem' vocant. "The phoenix is a bird of Arabia, so-called because it is the color of Phoenician purple dye, or because it is singular in all the world, with just one unique example, for the Arabs call something singular 'phoenix.'"
From this last bit, you can tell where Isidore's encyclopedia, "The Etymologies," gets its name. Although his etymologies are usually without much linguistic foundation of any kind, Isidore regularly makes a comment about the origin of something's name in conjunction with the meaning he attributes to that thing. In this case, since he is not really sure about the etymology of "phoenix," he decides it must be an Arab word meaning "singular," since, for Isidore, one of the most important things about the phoenix is its uniqueness, the fact that there is only one phoenix in the world at any given time. Given that linguists to this day are still uncertain about the origin of the Greek word "phoenix," Isidore is not alone in having to guess!
Isidore also relates what is probably the best-known part of the phoenix legend, its rebirth from the ashes: Haec quingentis annis ultra vivens, dum se viderit senuisse, collectis aromatum virgulis rogum sibi instruit et conversa ad radium solis alarum plausu voluntarium sibi incendium nutrit sicque iterum de cineribus suis resurgit., "When this bird has lived as long as five hundred years and sees that it has grown old, it gathers twigs of aromatic plants and builds itself a pyre. It turns itself towards a sun beam and, with a flap of its wings, it kindles a voluntary funeral pyre for itself and thus rises up again from its own ashes."
There is much more to read and learn about the phoenix legend if you are interested in that. You can find more materials at the Bestiaria Latina website, which has links in turn to other valuable online resources, such as the magnificent Aberdeen Bestiary.
Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:
645. Phoenice rarior.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 17, 2007
Cicada vocalior
In English: More talkative than a cricket.
I thought this would make a good follow-up to yesterday's proverbial comparison, talpa caecior, "more blind than a mole." Like yesterday's saying, today's saying about the cricket is nicely illustrated by an Aesop's fable.
In fact, this is one of my favorite Aesop's fables - it is the story of the owl and the cricket, as told by Phaedrus:
So, here is today's proverb read out loud:
634. Cicada vocalior.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
I thought this would make a good follow-up to yesterday's proverbial comparison, talpa caecior, "more blind than a mole." Like yesterday's saying, today's saying about the cricket is nicely illustrated by an Aesop's fable.
In fact, this is one of my favorite Aesop's fables - it is the story of the owl and the cricket, as told by Phaedrus:
Humanitati qui se non accommodatI like the way Phaedrus adds to this animal story the mythological touches of Apollo's lyre and Athena's friendship with the owl. Many Aesop's fables do not actually have anything distinctively Greek or Roman about them, but this one does - in addition to providing a great narrative illustration of today's proverb. Of course, if you've ever had a cricket trapped somewhere in your house, you know just how that owl felt!
plerumque poenas oppetit superbiae.
Cicada acerbum noctuae convicium
faciebat, solitae victum in tenebris quaerere
cavoque ramo capere somnum interdiu.
Rogata est ut taceret. Multo validius
clamare occepit. Rursus admota prece
accensa magis est. Noctua, ut vidit sibi
nullum esse auxilium et verba contemni sua,
hac est adgressa garrulam fallacia:
"Dormire quia me non sinunt cantus tui,
sonare citharam quos putes Apollinis,
potare est animus nectar, quod Pallas mihi
nuper donavit; si non fastidis, veni;
una bibamus." Illa, quae arebat siti,
simul gaudebat vocem laudari suam,
cupide advolavit. Noctua, obsepto cavo,
trepidantem consectata est et leto dedit.
Sic, viva quod negarat, tribuit mortua.
Someone who cannot deal with people usually pays the price for his conceited behaviour. A cricket was making an awful disturbance for the owl who was accustomed to seek her food in the dark and meanwhile to catch some shut-eye in a hollowed-out tree branch. The cricket was asked to keep quiet. She began to shout even more loudly. Again the request was made, and the cricket got even more excited. When the owl saw that this was doing her no good and that her words were being ignored, she approached the chattering cricket with this trick: "Given that your songs do not let me sleep - songs which you would think Apollo's own lyre were producing - I've got a mind to drink the nectar which Athena recently gave me as a gift. If you don't object, please come; let's have a drink together." The cricket, who was parched with thirst, was at the same time pleased to have her voice praised; she greedily flew to the owl. The owl, having blocked up the hole, seized the trembling cricket and consigned her to death. What the cricket had refused to do while living, she conceded in death.
So, here is today's proverb read out loud:
634. Cicada vocalior.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 16, 2007
Talpa caecior
In English: Blinder than a mole.
I though this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb about the terra caecorum, "the country of the blind." For the ancient Romans, the mole was the proverbially blind creature, just as the bat is the proverbially blind creature in English: "blind as a bat."
There are some Aesop's fables about the blind mole, including the fable by Abstemius which happens to be the Fable of the Day for today over at LatinViaFables.com. Although the fables of Abstemius are no longer very well known, they were quite popular in the Renaissance and so I thought I would include here a different version of Abstemius's story, this time by Caspar Barth, who published a collection of Aesop's fables in verse in 1612:
Meanwhile, as for the blind mole, consider this elegant use of the proverbial figure here in a line from Shakespeare's Tempest, when Caliban says: "Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not hear a foot fall."
So, here is today's proverb read out loud, but keep the volume low, so that the mole will not hear!
636. Talpa caecior.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
I though this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb about the terra caecorum, "the country of the blind." For the ancient Romans, the mole was the proverbially blind creature, just as the bat is the proverbially blind creature in English: "blind as a bat."
There are some Aesop's fables about the blind mole, including the fable by Abstemius which happens to be the Fable of the Day for today over at LatinViaFables.com. Although the fables of Abstemius are no longer very well known, they were quite popular in the Renaissance and so I thought I would include here a different version of Abstemius's story, this time by Caspar Barth, who published a collection of Aesop's fables in verse in 1612:
Querenti Asello et eiulanti Simiae,The closest equivalent to this sentiment that I've heard in English goes like this: "I complained that I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no legs."
Quod ille cornibus, careret haec cauda
Compressit ora Talpa tali carmine.
O caecitatis adspicite miseriam huius,
Haec vos docebit abstinere questibus.
Aliena fata cum tuis, ubi expendis,
Minoribus maiora dant solacium.
When a donkey was complaining and a monkey was lamenting - the donkey because he lacked horns, and the monkey because she had no tail - the mole stopped their speaking with this pronouncement: Oh, gaze upon the wretchedness of this, my blindness; that will teach you to refrain from complaints. When you weigh your fate against the fates of others, greater troubles give consolation to lesser ones.
Meanwhile, as for the blind mole, consider this elegant use of the proverbial figure here in a line from Shakespeare's Tempest, when Caliban says: "Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not hear a foot fall."
So, here is today's proverb read out loud, but keep the volume low, so that the mole will not hear!
636. Talpa caecior.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 15, 2007
In terra caecorum monoculus rex
In English: In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
This is yet another proverb carrying on with the theme of kings, as in yesterday's proverb and the past few days. Today's proverb emphasizes that the status of the king is relative, contextual rather than objective. As is almost always the case with proverbs, the meaning can be stretched by means of metaphors. This is not just a saying about kings, but is a saying about any situation where someone or something wins out, simply because it is the best available.
Yet it is also possible to consider the proverb literally: what would a regnum caecorum, a "kingdom of the blind," really be like? For a wildly creative answer to that question, you should read H.G. Wells's wonderful short story, "The Country of the Blind," which is available online.
The premise of the story is that in a remote valley in the Andes mountains, a small community of people was stricken with a disease which gradually blinded the people and their offspring as well:
Meanwhile here is the proverb read out loud:
386. In terra caecorum monoculus rex.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
This is yet another proverb carrying on with the theme of kings, as in yesterday's proverb and the past few days. Today's proverb emphasizes that the status of the king is relative, contextual rather than objective. As is almost always the case with proverbs, the meaning can be stretched by means of metaphors. This is not just a saying about kings, but is a saying about any situation where someone or something wins out, simply because it is the best available.
Yet it is also possible to consider the proverb literally: what would a regnum caecorum, a "kingdom of the blind," really be like? For a wildly creative answer to that question, you should read H.G. Wells's wonderful short story, "The Country of the Blind," which is available online.
The premise of the story is that in a remote valley in the Andes mountains, a small community of people was stricken with a disease which gradually blinded the people and their offspring as well:
And amidst the little population of that now isolated and forgotten valley the disease ran its course. The old became groping, the young saw but dimly, and the children that were born to them never saw at all. But life was very easy in that snow-rimmed basin, lost to all the world, with neither thorns nor briers, with no evil insects nor any beasts save the gentle breed of llamas they had lugged and thrust and followed up the beds of the shrunken rivers in the gorges up which they had come. The seeing had become purblind so gradually that they scarcely noticed their loss. They guided the sightless youngsters hither and thither until they knew the whole valley marvellously, and when at last sight died out among them the race lived on. They had even time to adapt themselves to the blind control of fire, which they made carefully in stoves of stone.After centuries of time had passed, a sighted man then strayed into this valley - a man who knew this old Latin proverb!
But Nunez advanced with the confident steps of a youth who enters upon life. All the old stories of the lost valley and the Country of the Blind had come back to his mind, and through his thoughts ran this old proverb, as if it were a refrain: -- "In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King."The man fully expects to dazzle these people with his ability to see, but things do not turn out that way:
Slowly Nunez realised this: that his expectation of wonder and reverence at his origin and his gifts was not to be borne out; and after his poor attempt to explain sight to them had been set aside as the confused version of a new-made being describing the marvels of his incoherent sensations, he subsided, a little dashed, into listening to their instruction.Over time, the man falls in love with a woman of the valley, yet will her family let her marry someone who is patently a madman in their world? It's a great story - kindled in H.G. Wells's imagination by the words of today's proverb, taken literally. Find out what happens by reading the rest of the story for yourself!
Meanwhile here is the proverb read out loud:
386. In terra caecorum monoculus rex.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 14, 2007
Regum fortuna casus praecipites rotat
In English: Fortune spins the headlong downfalls of the kings.
As a follow-up to yesterday's proverb, I thought I would carry on with the theme of kings. Today, the proverb does not emphasize the omnipotence or omniscience of kings. Instead, today's proverb is about the catastrophes that can attend those who rule on high. Because they occupy such a high position, the kings have much farther to fall when Lady Luck spins the wheel of fortune that brings them crashing down.
The Latin of this proverb is a bit trickier than most. The genitive plural, regum, "of kings," receives special prominence as the first word in the sentence, and it has a nice alliteration with the last word of the sentence, rotat, "spins." The nominative subject is Fortuna, that Roman goddess famous for her wheel which spins both up and down. Then there is the object of the verb: casus praecipites. Recognizing that casus, "falls" or "downfalls," is an accusative plural is a bit tricky - but praecipites gives you the clue you need to know that it is a plural noun, and it cannot be the nominative subject of the verb, since the verb rotat is singular.
With the limitations of English word order, there's no way to convey the same sense of the Latin word unless you resort to a bit of poetic license: "Of kings Fortune their headlong downfalls spins."
The saying in the form I've given here is found in the proverbs of Publilius Syrus, Publilius "the Syrian." You can also find the saying, with a slightly different word order - praecipites regum casus Fortuna rotat - in the opening chorus of Seneca's Agamemnon.
King Agamemnon, of course, was murdered by his own wife and her lover upon his supposedly triumphant return from the Trojan War. That would definitely him a king who, at least in his final moments, was very familiar with the regal reversal of Fortune!
Meanwhile, Lady Luck's "wheel of fortune" is definitely far more than a mere television game show. If you are interested in learning more about this important symbolic figure, you can find information and images at this wikipedia article.
Meanwhile, hoping that you are on the up-side of Fortune's wheel today, here is today's proverb read out loud:
1260. Regum fortuna casus praecipites rotat.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
As a follow-up to yesterday's proverb, I thought I would carry on with the theme of kings. Today, the proverb does not emphasize the omnipotence or omniscience of kings. Instead, today's proverb is about the catastrophes that can attend those who rule on high. Because they occupy such a high position, the kings have much farther to fall when Lady Luck spins the wheel of fortune that brings them crashing down.
The Latin of this proverb is a bit trickier than most. The genitive plural, regum, "of kings," receives special prominence as the first word in the sentence, and it has a nice alliteration with the last word of the sentence, rotat, "spins." The nominative subject is Fortuna, that Roman goddess famous for her wheel which spins both up and down. Then there is the object of the verb: casus praecipites. Recognizing that casus, "falls" or "downfalls," is an accusative plural is a bit tricky - but praecipites gives you the clue you need to know that it is a plural noun, and it cannot be the nominative subject of the verb, since the verb rotat is singular.
With the limitations of English word order, there's no way to convey the same sense of the Latin word unless you resort to a bit of poetic license: "Of kings Fortune their headlong downfalls spins."
The saying in the form I've given here is found in the proverbs of Publilius Syrus, Publilius "the Syrian." You can also find the saying, with a slightly different word order - praecipites regum casus Fortuna rotat - in the opening chorus of Seneca's Agamemnon.
King Agamemnon, of course, was murdered by his own wife and her lover upon his supposedly triumphant return from the Trojan War. That would definitely him a king who, at least in his final moments, was very familiar with the regal reversal of Fortune!
Meanwhile, Lady Luck's "wheel of fortune" is definitely far more than a mere television game show. If you are interested in learning more about this important symbolic figure, you can find information and images at this wikipedia article.
Meanwhile, hoping that you are on the up-side of Fortune's wheel today, here is today's proverb read out loud:
1260. Regum fortuna casus praecipites rotat.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 13, 2007
Longae regum manus
In English: Long are the hands of kings.
After yesterday's proverb about the ears and eyes of the king, I felt obliged to include this one about the royal hands. The influence of a king reaches out over great distances, so you had better be careful. Where the king's hands can reach, there's no room to run, no room to hide.
This was a saying you could find in many forms, such as this version where the dative is used for possession (as often with body parts) instead of the genitive: Longae sunt regibus manus. The highly charged word tyrannus can also be used instead of rex: longae tyrannorum manus. There's even a version that makes the message of the saying more explicit: A regibus cavendum, quod eis praelonga sint brachia, "You should be careful of kings, because they have very long arms."
This saying makes its way into one of Ovid's Heroine Letters, when Helen is writing to her lover Paris. As King Menelaus sailed away on a journey, he told Helen to take good care of their Trojan guest. Helen, however, realizes that being left alone with Paris does not mean that she is really alone, as she explains: "My husband is gone from here in such a way that while absent he is able to guard me; don't you know that kings have long hands?"
sic meus hinc vir abest ut me custodiat absens.
an nescis longas regibus esse manus?
Of course, Menelaus's hands were not long enough to keep hold of Helen, after all!
So, hoping the grasping hands of kings are not causing trouble in your life, here is today's proverb read out loud:
556. Longae regum manus.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
After yesterday's proverb about the ears and eyes of the king, I felt obliged to include this one about the royal hands. The influence of a king reaches out over great distances, so you had better be careful. Where the king's hands can reach, there's no room to run, no room to hide.
This was a saying you could find in many forms, such as this version where the dative is used for possession (as often with body parts) instead of the genitive: Longae sunt regibus manus. The highly charged word tyrannus can also be used instead of rex: longae tyrannorum manus. There's even a version that makes the message of the saying more explicit: A regibus cavendum, quod eis praelonga sint brachia, "You should be careful of kings, because they have very long arms."
This saying makes its way into one of Ovid's Heroine Letters, when Helen is writing to her lover Paris. As King Menelaus sailed away on a journey, he told Helen to take good care of their Trojan guest. Helen, however, realizes that being left alone with Paris does not mean that she is really alone, as she explains: "My husband is gone from here in such a way that while absent he is able to guard me; don't you know that kings have long hands?"
sic meus hinc vir abest ut me custodiat absens.
an nescis longas regibus esse manus?
Of course, Menelaus's hands were not long enough to keep hold of Helen, after all!
So, hoping the grasping hands of kings are not causing trouble in your life, here is today's proverb read out loud:
556. Longae regum manus.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 12, 2007
Multae regum aures atque oculi
In English: Many are the ears of kings, and their eyes.
Like yesterday's proverb, today's proverb also features a king, this time a quite sinister one! This saying can be found in Erasmus's Adagia, where Erasmus offers the following vivid comments:
Needless to say, I vote for Erasmus!
Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:
315. Multae regum aures atque oculi.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
Like yesterday's proverb, today's proverb also features a king, this time a quite sinister one! This saying can be found in Erasmus's Adagia, where Erasmus offers the following vivid comments:
Allegoria inde ducta est, quia regibus complures ubique sunt exploratores, atque ob id oculi regum dicuntur, complures auscultatores, quibus velut auribus utuntur. Neque desunt manus, et pedes quamplurimi, fortassis ne ventres quidem. Vide, cuiusmodi portentum sit tyrannus, et quam formidandum, tot oculis, iisque emissitiis, tot auribus, iisque tam asininis, aclongis, tot manibus, tot pedibus, tot ventribus, ne reliqua parum honesta commemorem, instructum.Thanks to the joys of JSTOR, I was able to find a marvelous passage from Richard Tavener's Adagies, which provides this commentary on the saying (Tavener is one of the less well-known Bible translators of the 16th century):
The symbolism is derived from the fact that kings have many spies everywhere, and as such they are called the eyes of the kings, and they have many listeners whom the kings use like ears. Nor do the kings lack hands, nor numerous feet, and perhaps not even stomachs. Look at what sort of a monster is the tyrant, how fearful, equipped with so many eyes (and such prying eyes), and so many ears (and such long ones, like those of a donkey), and so many hands, so many feet, so many stomachs, not to mention the other, less decent, members.
Kynges haue many eares and manye eyes, as who shulde saye, no thynge can be spoken, nothynge doon so secretly agaynst kynges and Rulers, but by one meanes or other at length it wol come to their knowledge. They haue eares that lysten an hundred myles from them, they haue eyes that espye out more thynges, then men wolde thynke. Wherfore it is wysdome for subiectes, not only to keep theyre princes lawes and ordinaunces in the face of the worlde, but also preuely: namely syth Paule wold haue rulers obeyed euen for conscience sake.What a contrast! Erasmus uses the symbolism of the proverb to paint a comically monstrous picture of the king, with all his many members, while Tavener takes the same proverb to terrorize people into good behavior, so that they will obey the kings and princes at all times, in public and in private.
Needless to say, I vote for Erasmus!
Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:
315. Multae regum aures atque oculi.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 11, 2007
Aut rex aut asinus
In English: Either a king or a donkey.
Like the previous proverb, today's proverb features a king, rex. The idea of "a king or a donkey" is something like the English saying "all or nothing," with no in-between. In the form rex aut asinus, the saying makes its way into Erasmus's Adagia, 3.5.41.
When I was researching this proverb, I discovered an ingenious use to which it has been put in a story from Heatley and Kingdon's Gradatim: An Easy Latin Translation Book for Beginners, published 1893 (available online at Google Books). Although this story does not illustrate the proverb, it contains a wonderful little echo of the famous aut rex aut asinus in its very witty punchline, playing with the proverb while making an entirely new joke:
171. Aut rex aut asinus.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
Like the previous proverb, today's proverb features a king, rex. The idea of "a king or a donkey" is something like the English saying "all or nothing," with no in-between. In the form rex aut asinus, the saying makes its way into Erasmus's Adagia, 3.5.41.
When I was researching this proverb, I discovered an ingenious use to which it has been put in a story from Heatley and Kingdon's Gradatim: An Easy Latin Translation Book for Beginners, published 1893 (available online at Google Books). Although this story does not illustrate the proverb, it contains a wonderful little echo of the famous aut rex aut asinus in its very witty punchline, playing with the proverb while making an entirely new joke:
Medicus quidam gloriosus, qui maxima paupertate premebatur, omnium animos in se convertere voluit. Is igitur dum per urbem album asinum ducit, magna voce clamitabat, "Hunc quem videtis asinum, cives, litteras Latinas docere possum." Tum rex, cui id nuntiatum est, postquam hominem ad se arcessiverat, eum rem statim perficere iussit. Is vero operam libenter suscipit, sed moram decem annorum postulat. Postero die unus ex amicis medicum ita admonuit, "Fuge, o stultissime, ex hac regione, tu enim capitis certe damnaberis, quod rem, quae fieri non potest, suscepisti." At ille, "Bono es animo, amice; nam decem annis aut ego aut rex aut asinus occiderimus."Delightful! I will confess this is a book I have never heard of before, but it seems to be filled with lots of great material, and a complete dictionary in the back. It even has the adventures of Sindbad in Latin! What a find: Google Books is full of great old treasure troves like this! I'll see what other stories I can find in here (Andrew Reinhard, if you are reading this - has Bolchazy-Carducci thought about reprinting this amazing thing?)So, feeling much more like a king than a donkey (thanks to Google Books!), here is today's proverb read out loud:
A certain renowned doctor, who was suffering from extreme poverty, wanted to get everybody's attention. He therefore led a white donkey through the city and shouted loudly, "This donkey whom you see, O citizens: I can teach him the Latin language." Then the king, to whom this was announced, afterwards summoned the man to himself, and ordered him to do this thing right away. The man, in fact, willingly undertook the work but asked for a ten-year time frame. The next day, one of his friends warned the doctor with these words, "Run away from this place, you complete idiot! For you are sure to be condemned to death because you have undertaken something which cannot possibly happen." But the doctor said, "You can relax, my friend; for in ten years, either I or the king or the donkey (aut rex aut asinus) will be dead."
171. Aut rex aut asinus.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 10, 2007
Omnis est rex in domo sua
In English: Each man is king in his own home.
After yesterday's proverb about the king and his followers, I thought this proverb would be a good follow-up. It is especially appropriate since we are in the midst of moving house right now, and in the tyranny of boxes and packing tape, we are unfortunately not feeling very regal at the moment!
There are some nice variants on this Latin saying, such as Domi suae quilibet rex, "At his home, any man at all is king," or Quilibet est tugurii rex, dominusque sui, "Every man is king of his cottage, and master of his own."
There's an interesting Biblical echo, too. Compare the opening verse of 2 Samuel, Chapter 7: Factum est autem cum sedisset rex in domo sua et Dominus dedisset ei requiem undique ab universis inimicis suis, "And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies..." The king here is David, and he is about to embark on the building of the temple. The phrase used here, rex in domo sua, provides a great echo for this proverb. David is king of Jerusalem, but each man is likewise king in his own home.
Not surprisingly, there are versions of this saying in many other languages, too. In English, there is the very famous saying, "a man's home is his castle." I also like his variant: "Every groom is king at home."
I was especially delighted by this Polish version: każdy pan na swoich śmieciach, "every man is a lord on his own trash-heap."
Ha! That's a bit how I am feeling in the midst of the chaos that is my house at the moment. I'm going to try to keep up with this blog over the next couple of weeks as we make our way to North Carolina and get moved in, but I should also apologize in advance for any days that I might miss until we are re-settled!
Meanwhile, hoping you are feeling very regal in your house right now, here is today's proverb read out loud:
791. Omnis est rex in domo sua.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
After yesterday's proverb about the king and his followers, I thought this proverb would be a good follow-up. It is especially appropriate since we are in the midst of moving house right now, and in the tyranny of boxes and packing tape, we are unfortunately not feeling very regal at the moment!
There are some nice variants on this Latin saying, such as Domi suae quilibet rex, "At his home, any man at all is king," or Quilibet est tugurii rex, dominusque sui, "Every man is king of his cottage, and master of his own."
There's an interesting Biblical echo, too. Compare the opening verse of 2 Samuel, Chapter 7: Factum est autem cum sedisset rex in domo sua et Dominus dedisset ei requiem undique ab universis inimicis suis, "And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies..." The king here is David, and he is about to embark on the building of the temple. The phrase used here, rex in domo sua, provides a great echo for this proverb. David is king of Jerusalem, but each man is likewise king in his own home.
Not surprisingly, there are versions of this saying in many other languages, too. In English, there is the very famous saying, "a man's home is his castle." I also like his variant: "Every groom is king at home."
I was especially delighted by this Polish version: każdy pan na swoich śmieciach, "every man is a lord on his own trash-heap."
Ha! That's a bit how I am feeling in the midst of the chaos that is my house at the moment. I'm going to try to keep up with this blog over the next couple of weeks as we make our way to North Carolina and get moved in, but I should also apologize in advance for any days that I might miss until we are re-settled!
Meanwhile, hoping you are feeling very regal in your house right now, here is today's proverb read out loud:
791. Omnis est rex in domo sua.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
Qualis grex, talis rex
In English: As the flock, so the king.
I thought I would do this as a follow-up to yesterday's proverb about the sheep and the flock. Today's proverb is something like the English saying, "like father, like son," but instead it is about the flock (the community), and its leader, the king. Since the Latin has such a nice rhyme, maybe it would be fair to render it in English as "as the horde, so the lord."
The Latin word grex (gregis) has given us a whole range of wonderful English words. For example, there is "gregarious," which literally means "living in flocks," but which has come to mean "fond of company, consorting with others."
It's with the compounds, however, that things get really exciting. There is "aggregate," for example, meaning "to gather into a mass, into a group" - or into a flock.
If you go to church, you are part of a "congregation," a "flock," led, of course, by a "pastor," which is Latin for "shepherd."
If people are "segregated," that means they are divided up into separate groups, or separate flocks.
The best one of all, though, has got to be the English word "egregious." It now means something "extraordinary in a bad way, exceptionally bad." Historically, though, it means simply something "exceptional" in any way, either good or bad. Something "egregious" is something that stands e grege, "out of the flock."
So, hoping this audio is not too egregious, here is today's proverb read out loud:
964. Qualis grex, talis rex.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
I thought I would do this as a follow-up to yesterday's proverb about the sheep and the flock. Today's proverb is something like the English saying, "like father, like son," but instead it is about the flock (the community), and its leader, the king. Since the Latin has such a nice rhyme, maybe it would be fair to render it in English as "as the horde, so the lord."
The Latin word grex (gregis) has given us a whole range of wonderful English words. For example, there is "gregarious," which literally means "living in flocks," but which has come to mean "fond of company, consorting with others."
It's with the compounds, however, that things get really exciting. There is "aggregate," for example, meaning "to gather into a mass, into a group" - or into a flock.
If you go to church, you are part of a "congregation," a "flock," led, of course, by a "pastor," which is Latin for "shepherd."
If people are "segregated," that means they are divided up into separate groups, or separate flocks.
The best one of all, though, has got to be the English word "egregious." It now means something "extraordinary in a bad way, exceptionally bad." Historically, though, it means simply something "exceptional" in any way, either good or bad. Something "egregious" is something that stands e grege, "out of the flock."
So, hoping this audio is not too egregious, here is today's proverb read out loud:
964. Qualis grex, talis rex.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 08, 2007
Scabiosa ovis totum inquinat gregem
In English: A mangy sheep infects the entire flock.
I thought I would do one more proverb about the sheep, following up on yesterday's proverb. This time the proverb takes a different perspective. Here it is not the wolf that is the enemy, but the sheep themselves.
This popular Latin saying is roughly equivalent to the English "bad apple," in the saying "one bad apple spoils the bunch" or "one bad apple spoils the barrel."
At his astounding Frases Latinas website, Henerik Kocher has collected some nice variations on this saying. Quite a few of them put the emphasis on the fact that it takes just one mangy sheep to destroy so many: Una infecta ovis totum corrumpit ovile, "One infected sheep ruins the whole sheepfold," Grex totus in agris unius scabie cadit, "The whole flock in the fields falls because of the mange of a single sheep," Morbida sola pecus totum corrumpit ovile, "A single sick animal destroys the whole sheepfold," Unius pecudis scabies totum commaculat gregem, "The mange of a single sheep stains the whole flock," etc.
Other proverbs emphasize the idea that it is the "neighboring" sheep that causes the trouble, the contagious "contact" among the members of the flock that spreads the disease: Mala vicini pecoris contagia laedent, "The bad contagions of the neighboring sheep are harmful."
Another variant uses a participle to convey the sequence of events: Morbida facta pecus totum corrumpit ovile, "A sheep, having become sick, destroys the whole sheepfold."
Is there hope? This proverb tells you just how to handle the situation: Infecta ovis eiciatur, ne totum ovile inficiatur, "Let the infected sheep be cast out, so that it does not infect the whole sheepfold."
So, hoping you are not battling any mange, literal or metaphorical, here is today's proverb read out loud:
1172. Scabiosa ovis totum inquinat gregem.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
I thought I would do one more proverb about the sheep, following up on yesterday's proverb. This time the proverb takes a different perspective. Here it is not the wolf that is the enemy, but the sheep themselves.
This popular Latin saying is roughly equivalent to the English "bad apple," in the saying "one bad apple spoils the bunch" or "one bad apple spoils the barrel."
At his astounding Frases Latinas website, Henerik Kocher has collected some nice variations on this saying. Quite a few of them put the emphasis on the fact that it takes just one mangy sheep to destroy so many: Una infecta ovis totum corrumpit ovile, "One infected sheep ruins the whole sheepfold," Grex totus in agris unius scabie cadit, "The whole flock in the fields falls because of the mange of a single sheep," Morbida sola pecus totum corrumpit ovile, "A single sick animal destroys the whole sheepfold," Unius pecudis scabies totum commaculat gregem, "The mange of a single sheep stains the whole flock," etc.
Other proverbs emphasize the idea that it is the "neighboring" sheep that causes the trouble, the contagious "contact" among the members of the flock that spreads the disease: Mala vicini pecoris contagia laedent, "The bad contagions of the neighboring sheep are harmful."
Another variant uses a participle to convey the sequence of events: Morbida facta pecus totum corrumpit ovile, "A sheep, having become sick, destroys the whole sheepfold."
Is there hope? This proverb tells you just how to handle the situation: Infecta ovis eiciatur, ne totum ovile inficiatur, "Let the infected sheep be cast out, so that it does not infect the whole sheepfold."
So, hoping you are not battling any mange, literal or metaphorical, here is today's proverb read out loud:
1172. Scabiosa ovis totum inquinat gregem.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 07, 2007
Incustoditum captat ovile lupus
In English: When it's unguarded, the wolf captures the sheepfold.
I thought this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb, which was about the dangers posed for the poor sheep, and the way they depend on their custodians, the shepherds.
Today's saying comes from one of the poems by Ovid written in his exile, the sad Tristia. Ovid addressed this poem to his wife, praising her for having protected his interests while Ovid was sent away to the Black Sea. Ovid unleashes a whole stream of metaphors, starting with the idea that he has been shipwrecked:
So, hoping that you are keeping an eye on your sheep, here is today's proverb read out loud:
1166. Incustoditum captat ovile lupus.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
I thought this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb, which was about the dangers posed for the poor sheep, and the way they depend on their custodians, the shepherds.
Today's saying comes from one of the poems by Ovid written in his exile, the sad Tristia. Ovid addressed this poem to his wife, praising her for having protected his interests while Ovid was sent away to the Black Sea. Ovid unleashes a whole stream of metaphors, starting with the idea that he has been shipwrecked:
tu facis, ut spolium non sim, nec nuder ab illis,Next comes the couplet with today's saying, in which Ovid compares himself to unguarded sheep:
naufragii tabulas qui petiere mei.
"You have kept me from being treated like spoils from a shipwreck, keeping me from being stripped bare by those who seek the planks of my wrecked ship."
utque rapax stimulante fame cupidusque cruorisOvid then compares himself to an unburied corpse, the prey of vultures:
incustoditum captat ovile lupus,
"And just as the ravening wolf, as hunger spurs him on, greedy for gore, captures the sheepfold when it is unguarded"
aut ut edax vultur corpus circumspicit ecquodAnd now we reach the final point of these metaphorical comparisons. Ovid is praising his wife for rescuing Ovid's goods from the predatory creatures, his erstwhile friends who are now ready to take advantage of his reversal of fortune:
sub nulla positum cernere possit humo,
"Or just as the devouring vulture looks around for a corpse, to see if it can detect one that is not buried beneath the earth,"
sic mea nescioquis, rebus male fidus acerbisLuckily for Ovid, his wife stood by him and fought back the metaphorical vultures hovering about the corpse of Ovid's good fortunes, laid low by his exile!
in bona venturus, si paterere, fuit.
"Likewise some treacherous person could have come into my possessions, because of my bitter circumstances, if you had let them do it."
So, hoping that you are keeping an eye on your sheep, here is today's proverb read out loud:
1166. Incustoditum captat ovile lupus.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 06, 2007
Bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus suis
In English: The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep.
After the New Testament sheep from yesterday, I thought I would do another Biblical passage with sheep. This passage comes from the Gospel of John, and reads: Ego sum pastor bonus. Bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus suis, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep."
This saying helps reveal a fascinating bit of Latin which has entered into English as a word in its own right: Latin pastor does not mean "shepherd" in English, but instead has a special church usage, meaning the metaphorical "shepherd" of a congregational "flock," based on precisely the Biblical metaphor that is at work in today's saying. The first definition provided for the word in the Oxford English Dictionary reads: "A person who has the spiritual care of a body of Christians, as a bishop, priest, minister, etc.; spec. a minister in charge of a church or congregation, esp. (in later use) in the Lutheran and some other Protestant Churches."
Of course, people might get a clue from the related word "pasture" that the English "pastor" started out in the fields, rather than in the confines of a church.
In older English examples, the word "pastor" still meant shepherd, as you can see in this Aesop's fable as rendered by Caxton in 1484 - it's Caxton's version of Androcles and the lion, although in this case the role of Androcles is played by a "pastour," a shepherd. Here are the opening lines; you can read the complete story at aesopica.net:
1192. Bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus suis.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
After the New Testament sheep from yesterday, I thought I would do another Biblical passage with sheep. This passage comes from the Gospel of John, and reads: Ego sum pastor bonus. Bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus suis, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep."
This saying helps reveal a fascinating bit of Latin which has entered into English as a word in its own right: Latin pastor does not mean "shepherd" in English, but instead has a special church usage, meaning the metaphorical "shepherd" of a congregational "flock," based on precisely the Biblical metaphor that is at work in today's saying. The first definition provided for the word in the Oxford English Dictionary reads: "A person who has the spiritual care of a body of Christians, as a bishop, priest, minister, etc.; spec. a minister in charge of a church or congregation, esp. (in later use) in the Lutheran and some other Protestant Churches."
Of course, people might get a clue from the related word "pasture" that the English "pastor" started out in the fields, rather than in the confines of a church.
In older English examples, the word "pastor" still meant shepherd, as you can see in this Aesop's fable as rendered by Caxton in 1484 - it's Caxton's version of Androcles and the lion, although in this case the role of Androcles is played by a "pastour," a shepherd. Here are the opening lines; you can read the complete story at aesopica.net:
And this fable approueth esope & sheweth vnto vs / of a lyon whiche ranne after a beest / and as he ranne / a thorne entred in to his foote / whiche hurted and greued hym gretely / wherefore he myght no ferther goo / but as wel as he cowde he came to a shepherd whiche kepte his sheep and beganne to flatere with his taylle shewynge to hym hys foote / whiche was sore hurted and wounded / The sheepherd was in grete drede and casted before the lyon one of his sheep / But the lyon demaunded no mete of hym / For more he desyred to be medycyned and made hole of his foote / And after whanne the sheepherd sawe the wounde / he with a nydle subtylly drewe oute of his foote the thorne / and had oute of the wound alle the roten flesshe / and enoynted hit with swete oynements / And anone the lyon was hole / And for to haue rendryd graces and thankys to the sheepherd or pastour the lyon kyssed his handesYou don't even want to know what the spellchecker thinks of the venerable Caxton! Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:
1192. Bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus suis.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 05, 2007
Sicut oves in medio luporum
In English: Like sheep in the midst of wolves.
After yesterday's proverb about the sheep and the wolves, I thought this would be a good follow-up. Today's saying is adapted from the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus is giving instructions to his disciples: Ecce ego mitto vos sicut oves in medio luporum, "Behold: I dispatch you like sheep in the midst of wolves."
Obviously, this is a dangerous situation! So Jesus explains how the disciples will need to behave: estote ergo prudentes sicut serpentes et simplices sicut columbae , "therefore, be wary as serpents and trusting as doves."
Quite by accident, the fable from Abstemius that I posted yesterday in the Latin Via Fables blog is about the simplicitas of the dove - although in that story, things do not turn out so well for the dove! Here is Abstemius's story:
Still, it's worth remembering that Jesus also told the disciples not just to be simple as doves but also "wary," prudentes as serpents. If you are a sheep going out into the midst of wolves, you might need to get in touch with your "inner serpent," in addition to practicing the simplicity that is proverbially associated with both sheep and with doves.
So, hoping you did not find yourself in the midst of wolves today, here is today's proverb read out loud:
390. Sicut oves in medio luporum.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
After yesterday's proverb about the sheep and the wolves, I thought this would be a good follow-up. Today's saying is adapted from the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus is giving instructions to his disciples: Ecce ego mitto vos sicut oves in medio luporum, "Behold: I dispatch you like sheep in the midst of wolves."
Obviously, this is a dangerous situation! So Jesus explains how the disciples will need to behave: estote ergo prudentes sicut serpentes et simplices sicut columbae , "therefore, be wary as serpents and trusting as doves."
Quite by accident, the fable from Abstemius that I posted yesterday in the Latin Via Fables blog is about the simplicitas of the dove - although in that story, things do not turn out so well for the dove! Here is Abstemius's story:
Columba interrogata a pica, quid eam induceret ut in eodem semper loco nidificaret, cum eius pulli inde semper surriperentur. Simplicitas, respondit. Haec indicat fabula facile esse viros probos saepe decipi.Clearly, this fable, like so many of the fables of Abstemius, is engaged in a pointed dialogue with the Christian virtue of simplicitas.
A dove was asked by a mappie what led her to always make her nest in the same place, when her chicks were always snatched away from her there. My simplicity leads me to do this, replied the dove. This fable shows that it is an easy thing for honest people to be duped.
Still, it's worth remembering that Jesus also told the disciples not just to be simple as doves but also "wary," prudentes as serpents. If you are a sheep going out into the midst of wolves, you might need to get in touch with your "inner serpent," in addition to practicing the simplicity that is proverbially associated with both sheep and with doves.
So, hoping you did not find yourself in the midst of wolves today, here is today's proverb read out loud:
390. Sicut oves in medio luporum.
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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
June 04, 2007
Vae miseris ovibus, iudex lupus est
In English: Woe for the poor sheep; the judge is a wolf.
Yes, there are still more Latin sayings featuring wolves, like the saying from yesterday and the past week or so. This is one of my favorites. What is a poor sheep supposed to do when she looks up and sees that the judge is none other than the wolf, her worst enemy?
There's a wonderful Aesop's fable that explores this theme, where the dog falsely accuses of the sheep of being in his debt, and brings in as his witnesses against the sheep a wolf, a kite, and a hawk. Based on this false testimony, the sheep had to sell her wool and go cold in the wintertime in order to pay a debt she didn't owe.
To see a fable with the wolf as judge, we can go to the great poems of Robert Henryson, a fifteenth-century Scottish poet. Here is the beginning of Henryson's version of the old fable, with the spelling modernized:
So, hoping you don't have to go to court at all - but if you do, that you don't find a wolf on the bench, here is today's proverb read out loud:
334. Vae miseris ovibus, iudex lupus 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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
Yes, there are still more Latin sayings featuring wolves, like the saying from yesterday and the past week or so. This is one of my favorites. What is a poor sheep supposed to do when she looks up and sees that the judge is none other than the wolf, her worst enemy?
There's a wonderful Aesop's fable that explores this theme, where the dog falsely accuses of the sheep of being in his debt, and brings in as his witnesses against the sheep a wolf, a kite, and a hawk. Based on this false testimony, the sheep had to sell her wool and go cold in the wintertime in order to pay a debt she didn't owe.
To see a fable with the wolf as judge, we can go to the great poems of Robert Henryson, a fifteenth-century Scottish poet. Here is the beginning of Henryson's version of the old fable, with the spelling modernized:
1. About a Dog our Aesop tells this tale,Who, seeing a Sheep for money was hard pressed,Before a Court this luckless Sheep would hail,And payment of a debt he would request.A Wolf was on the bench, a judge unjust,But judge he was, with powers from Parliament,So to the Sheep a summons strict he sent.The poem is an absolute delight from start to finish; you can read the rest of the poem in its modernized version, and you can also see Henryson's own words: Esope ane taill puttis in memorie / How that ane doig because that he wes pure, / Callit ane scheip unto the consistorie, / Ane certane breid fra him for to recure...
2. And it was done in proper legal style;The Judge made out a right citation:"I, the Lord Wolf, free from all fraud and guile,Under the pain of high suspension,Of cursing great, and interdiction,Sir Sheep, I charge thee strict, that thou appearAnd answer to that Dog before me here."
So, hoping you don't have to go to court at all - but if you do, that you don't find a wolf on the bench, here is today's proverb read out loud:
334. Vae miseris ovibus, iudex lupus 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.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)