I hope these notes will help you tackle this group of proverbs in Latin Via Proverbs. This group includes more sayings with first conjugation and third conjugation verbs.
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. You can find more Study Guide material at the LatinViaProverbs.com wiki website.
Group 158
2025. To give to god is to receive. (Thomas Aquinas looks at the other side of the equation: Non enim potest homo dare Deo, nisi quae a Deo accepit, "A person cannot give something to God except for what he has gotten from God.")
2026. It is better to give than to receive. (Compare Acts 20:35: beatius est magis dare quam accipere.)
2027. It is better to suffer an injury than to inflict one. (You can find this saying in Cicero.)
2028. To make mistakes is a human thing; to forgive is a divine thing. (Compare a more secular comment by Cicero: Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare. There is a very famous version in Alexander Pope: "Good-Nature and Good-Sense must ever join; / To err is Humane; to Forgive, Divine.")
Errare humanum est, ignoscere divinum.
2029. Getting up early makes you healthy, holy and wealthy. (You may be familiar with Ben Franklin's "early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealth and wise." Here's The Book of Husbandry from1523 by Anthony Fitzherbert: "At grammer-scole I lerned a verse, that is this, Sanat, sanctificat, et ditat surgere mane. That is to say, Erly rysyng maketh a man hole in body, holer in soule, and rycher in goodes.")
Sanat, sanctificat, ditat te surgere mane.
2030. The younger ox learns to plow from the older ox. (There is an Aesop's fable about the yoking of the oxen together so that the younger can learn from the older.)
2031. It is not easy to both blow and inhale at the same time. (Here is a more fulsome expression of the same idea: simul flare sorbereque haud factu facile est. )
2032. It is easier to cause wounds than to cure them. (You can find this comparison in Quintilian: tanto est accusare quam defendere, quanto facere quam sanare uulnera facilius, "just as it is easier to accuse than to defend, so it is easier to make wounds than to heal them.")
2033. We get sick quickly; we recover slowly. (The pair cito...tarde is commonly found in Latin expressions, as in Tacitus: Lamenta ac lacrimas cito, dolorem et tristitiam tarde ponunt.)
2034. We often praise virtue; we rarely cultivate it. (The pair saepe...raro is commonly found in Latin expressions, as here in Martial: haec, quae saepe solet vinci, quae vincere raro.)
2035. The crimes we commit as young men, we pay for when old. (Compare the English saying "Young men's knocks old men feel.")
2036. Those who flee across the sea change the sky but not their soul. (You will find this saying in Horace.)
2037. When fools avoid vices, they rush into the opposite. (This saying can also be found in Horace.)
2038. The gods worry about great affairs; they ignore the small stuff. (You will find this saying in Cicero.)
2039. The thorn defends the roses; bees cover the honey. (This saying from Claudianus became popular in the emblem tradition, as here in Vaenius's Amorum emblemata.)
2040. They make desolation; they name it peace. (You can find this saying in Tacitus.)
This blog post is part of an evolving Study Guide for users of the book Latin Via Proverbs.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment