Latin Via Proverbs 69

I hope these notes will help you tackle this group of proverbs in Latin Via Proverbs. This group of sayings is based on the use of the relative pronoun qui, quae quod.

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 69

917. Sweet is that which is useful. (Compare the famous line in Horace, miscere utile dulci, "to mix the useful with the sweet.")

918. That which is useful is honest. (You will find this saying in Erasmus's Adagia, 4.7.93.)

919. That which is true is secure. (This saying is a popular family motto, as you can see in the Courtenay family crest.)

920. Something which is not needed is dear even at a farthing. (This is a saying attributed to Cato by Seneca.)

921. Those things which are rare are dear. (You can also find this in the superlative form: quae rarissima carissima.)

922. That which is God's, to God; that which is Caesar's, to Caesar. (This saying is adapted from the famous saying in the Gospels, as in Matthew.)

923. He who is a trouble to himself, does no one any good. (This saying is a good way to remember the dative form of the adjective nullus, which is nulli.)

924. Food: not that which is most plentiful, but most sweet. (You can read a brief essay on this saying at the AudioLatinProverbs.com website.)

925. Happy is the man for whom other people's punishments are a lesson. (In other words, it is much better to learn from someone else's mistakes, rather than from your own!)

926. To whom the domain belongs, his is the religion. (This is a Latin phrase which is associated with "religions of state," meaning that the religion of the ruler is the religion of the state. You can read more about the history of this practice in the Christian tradition at wikipedia.)

927. When the end of something is good, the thing itself is also good. (You can find this principle in philosophical writers such as Boethius.)

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