Latin Via Proverbs 104

I hope these notes will help you tackle this group of proverbs in Latin Via Proverbs. This is another group of proverbs with second conjugation verbs, including both first and second declension nouns.

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 104

1353. Amidst arms, the Muses are silent. (On a Red Cross memorial plate, you can read this variant: inter arma silent Musae, loquitur Caritas, "amidst arms, the Muses are silent, Charity speaks.")

1354. During drinking, business keeps quiet. (This is a play on the proverb cited above, inter arma silent Musae.)

1355. In difficulties it's clear who your friends are. (You can find this saying in Petronius.)

1356. The lean lice bite more sharply. (There's a great Aesop's fable about a fox and a hedgehog that expresses this same idea.)

1357. Ingenuity often stirs up trouble. (You can find this saying in Ovid.)

1358. Often the greatest talents are hidden in obscurity. (You can find this saying in Plautus.)

1359. Often great things beneath some slight thing are accustomed to hide. (The adjectives magna and exiguo are used substantively here.)

1360. The beginning is hot, the middle is luke-warm, and the final stages are cold. (What a great series of second conjugation verbs, all in a row!)

1361. First: do not harm. (This is a precept of medical practice; you can read more about the history of the saying at wikipedia.)

1362. It is a comfort to the wretched to have a sharer in their troubles. (In other words: misery loves company!)

1363. To have an evil neighbor is a great evil. (There's a more optimistic variant, too: Vicinus bonus, ingens bonum, "A good neighbor is an enormous good.")

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