Friday, April 06, 2007

Latin Via Proverbs 58

I hope these notes will help you tackle this group of proverbs in Latin Via Proverbs. This group features sayings with pronouns, specifically with forms of first and second person pronouns.

Please note: to read the proverbs in Latin, you need to acquire a copy of the book from lulu.com! What I am providing here in the blog are notes to help people who are making their way through the book either in a Latin class or on their own.

Group 58

768. A friend is another self. (There are many variations on this saying: alter ipse amicus, alter se, est amicus tamquam alter idem.)

769. My right hand to me is a god. (In Vergil's Aeneid, Mezentius invokes his right hand as the god who will defend him, along with his spear.)

770. I myself am closest to myself. (This is a saying from Terence's Andria.)

771. I am my own ruler. (This is a saying from Plautus's Mercator.)

772. In me is all the hope I have. (This saying is made famous by its use in one of Montaigne's essays.)

773. With me are all my things. (This is a saying attributed to Simonides in a fable by Phaedrus.)

774. You too, Brutus, my boy! (These are the words supposedly spoken by Julius Caesar at the time of his assassination.)

775. Me today, you tomorrow. (This is a saying from the Latin epitaph tradition.)

776. Me yesterday, and you today. (This is a saying from the Book of Ecclesiasticus, also known as The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach.)

777. Peace be with you. (Notice that the Latin does not require a verb. You can see a Biblical usage of this phrase in the Book of Genesis.)

778. You are the salt of the earth. (You can find this saying in the Gospel of Matthew.)

779. Blessed are you, the poor, because yours is the kingdom of God. (You can find this saying in the Gospel of Luke.)

780. Not for me, not for you, but for us. (You can see this in the coat of arms for the London borough of Battersea.)

781. Another person's life is our teacher. (This is one of the distichs of Cato, which in its complete form reads: Multorum disce exemplo quae facta sequaris, / Quae fugias, vita est nobis aliena magistra, "Learn by the example of many people which deeds to follow, which to avoid; another person's life is our teacher.")

782. Wayfarer, what you are, I also was; what I am, so all will be. (This is an inscription from a Roman epitaph.)

783. I am the Roman emperor, and above the rules of grammar. (This assertion of the claims of grammar dates to a legendary story about the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund. During the Council of Constance, the Emperor treated the word schisma as if it were a feminine Latin noun, when it is actually a neuter noun, borrowed from Greek. When people corrected him, citing grammarians such as Priscian, in order to explain that the noun is actually neuter, the Emperor responded that he was above the rules and regulations of the grammarians.)


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