Latin Via Proverbs 169

I hope these notes will help you tackle this group of proverbs in Latin Via Proverbs. This group includes present active indicative forms of the verb fio.

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 169

2176. The way is made by force. (You can find this saying in Vergil's Aeneid.)

2177. From the calf comes an ox. (This is a proverb based on size: something that starts out small can end up unexpectedly large!)

2178. With age, the fox grows more clever. (NB: There is a typo in the first edition of the book: aetati should read instead aetate.)

2179. Abundance turns into disgust. (This saying is adapted from Livy.)

2180. Good does not come of evil. (You can find this sentiment in a letter of Seneca.)

2181. The day is nothing; as you turn around, it is night. (You can find this saying in Petronius's Satyricon.)

2182. Nothing happens without a reason. (This phrase is adapted from the Book of Job.)

2183. What comes into being quickly, perishes quickly. (Compare this nice Italian parallel: "Presto finito, presto perito." You can find this popular saying cited by Spinoza.)

2184. No one becomes completely vile all of a sudden. (The saying is adapted from Juvenal.)

2185. Love grows sweet with coaxing, not commands. (This is one of the sayings of Publilius Syrus.)

2186. Time becomes the doctor of every grief. (This is one of the sayings from the Greek author Apostolius. You can find many variants on this same basic idea, such as Tempus omnia sanat, for example.)

2187. What long was woods in a moment becomes ashes. (You can find this observation in the elder Seneca's Naturales Quaestiones.)

2188. At last the stripling becomes a tree. (Compare this similar saying: sub qua nunc recubas arbore, virga fuit.)

2189. From the acorn comes the lofty oak tree. (A fuller form of the phrase is de nuce fit corylus, de glande fit arduce quercus. This item from Alanus de Insulis, Liber Parabolarum, is quoted by Chaucer in Troilus and Criseyde: "as an ook cometh of a litel spyr.")

2190. From comedy often comes tragedy. (Compare an opposite sentiment in Plautus's Amphitruo: faciam ex tragoedia comoedia. Compare also this interesting observation in Cicero: Itaque et in tragoedia comicum vitiosum est et in comoedia turpe tragicum.)
Ex comoedia saepe fit tragoedia.

2191. Life does not grow happier if it grows longer. (You can find this saying in Seneca.)
Vita beatior non fit si longior.

2192. Life itself is short, but with troubles it becomes longer. (This is another one of the sayings of Publilius Syrus.)

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This blog post is part of an evolving Study Guide for users of the book Latin Via Proverbs.

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