1001. Verba monent, exempla movent.
Notice the nice play on words: monent-movent.
1002. Mone sale.
[sal: salt, wit] Salt has many metaphorical connotations in Latin, including the sense of wit - so when you have to chastise someone, do so with a bit of humor if you can!
1003. Vos estis sal terrae.
You will find these words in the Gospel of Matthew, 5.
1004. Vitae sal amicitia.
[amicitia: friendship] In this sentence, salt has the sense of something that adds to the pleasure of something, an essential ingredient that is sadly missed when it is lacking. Compare the English saying, "Variety is the spice of life."
1005. Amicitia sol et sal vitae.
In Latin, there is a nice sound play between sol and sal - both of which are vital to life, too, of course!
1006. Sine amicitia vita est nulla.
This is another way of stating the essential value of friendship: without it, life is nothing!
1007. Amicitia vera, rara avis in terra.
Notice the nice rhyme here: vera... terra. Compare the saying you saw earlier: Amicus certus, rara avis.
1008. Amicitia, nisi inter bonos, esse non potest.
You can also find the saying in this form - Amicitia esse non potest nisi inter bonos viros - but the word "bonos," by itself, is able to convey the idea of "bonos (viros)."
1009. Fugiendae sunt nimiae amicitiae.
Here you have the gerundive used to express a command, with amicitiae as the subject, hence the form fugiendae: feminine plural.
1010. Amicitia semper prodest.
These words come from Seneca the philosopher, who goes on to say: Amicitia semper prodest, amor aliquando etiam nocet; Friendship is always useful - love sometimes also does harm.
1011. Monere et moneri proprium est verae amicitiae.
The genitive (verae amicitiae) with an infinitive (monere et moneri) expresses the idea of capability or duty - something like, "It is properly the task of true friendship to warn and be warned." Compare the saying you saw earlier: Ab amicis libenter moneamur.
1012. Amicitia et prodest et delectat.
[delecto: delight, please] Here you see the et...et... construction, equivalent to both... and... in English.
1013. Nihil agere delectat.
Here the infinitive phrase, nihil agere, is the subject of the sentence: "To do nothing is delightful."
1014. Delectant alia alios.
This is another one of those alia...alios constructions: different things (alia) delight different people (alios).
1015. Alii aliis rebus delectantur.
This restates the previous saying, but this time with a passive verb: Different people are delighted by different things, aliis rebus.
1016. Te tua, me delectant mea.
This proverb depends on a parallel construction: te/me and tua/mea, with te/me as the objects of delectant and tua/mea as the subjects.
1017. Me mea delectant, te tua, quemque sua.
This universalizes the previous saying - you, me and anybody at all - quemque sua!
1018. Varietas delectat.
[varietas: variety, difference] Compare the English saying, "Variety is the spice of life."
1019. In varietate voluptas.
This takes up the same idea with a different form of expression: There is pleasure (voluptas) in variety... and alliteration, too - in the Latin, if not in English.
1020. Varietate homines delectantur.
This takes up the same idea again, this time with people, homines, as the subject of the verb.
1021. Nolite fieri servi hominum.
[servus: slave, servant] The masculine plural nominative, servi, agrees with the implied subject of the verb, vos: you, plural.
1022. Servo non est otium.
You can render this with a "for" construction in English ("There is no rest for the slave"), or you can consider this to be something like a dative of possession: A slave has no leisure time.
1023. Qualis dominus, talis et servus.
You have seen other qualis...talis proverbs earlier: Qualis grex, talis lex; Qualis mater, talis et filia, etc.
1024. Erat manus Domini cum eis.
[: ] The words are from the Biblical book of Acts, 11.
1025. Nescit quot digitos habeat in manu.
[quot: how many, of what number] The subjunctive habeat is because of the indirect question, introduced by quot.
1026. Quot servi, tot hostes.
[tot: such a number, as many] For this saying, you have two new words that, like qualis-talis, form a correlative pair: quot-tot, "how (so) many... as (so) many." You could render this proverb in English, "As many slaves (as a man has), so many are his enemies."
1027. Quot homines, tot sententiae.
[sententia: opinion, feeling, thought] This is another quot...tot saying: "There are as many opinions as there are people." Notice that quot and tot are indeclinable, not changing for gender - quot homines (masculine), tot sententiae (feminine).
1028. Quot capita, tot sententiae.
[caput: head] This is another quot-tot sentence, where "capita" (heads) stands for people, who each have an idea of their own in mind, hence "There are as many opinions as there are heads."
1029. per capita
You can find out more about the use of this phrase in English at this Wikipedia article.
1030. Roma caput mundi.
For other cities that could lay claim to the title of "caput mundi," see this Wikipedia article.
1031. Caput rerum Roma est.
This expresses the same idea once again, but this time with "res" (plural) instead of "mundus."
1032. Caput imperat, non pedes.
[pes: foot] Notice that there is an implied parallelism here: Caput imperat; non (imperant) pedes. Otherwise, the sentence could mean something entirely different; without the comma: caput imperat non pedes, "the head does not rule the feet," which would lead to trouble indeed!
1033. Pedibus ambulo meis.
Notice how the ablative phrase, "pedibus...meis," wraps nicely around the verb.
1034. Dei laneos pedes habent.
[laneus: wool, woolen, covered in wool] The idea here is that woolen feet, laneos pedes, are quiet: you cannot hear them sneaking up on you!
1035. Dii irati laneos pedes habent.
[irascor: get angry, be angered] This makes the same idea even more sinister: now the gods are enraged, irati!
1036. Nunquam sapiens irascitur.
Notice how in English we use the idiomatic expression "get" to convey the same idea as the middle voice of the deponent verb, irascor: The wise man does not get angry (or, to use a passive: is never angered).
1037. Iratus nemini magis nocet quam sibi.
The verb nocet takes a dative complement, nemini. Just in case you were not sure about nemini, sibi gives you an unambiguous dative signal: The angry man harms no one (nemini) more than himself.
1038. Lex videt iratum; iratus legem non videt.
This is one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.
1039. Iratum noli stimulare.
[stimulo: prod, poke, rouse] The imperative noli takes an infinitive complement, stimulare; iratum is the accusative object of that infinitive.
1040. Leonem stimulas.
Obviously not a smart thing to be doing! Erasmus included this in his Adagia, 1.1.61.
1041. Somnum ne rumpe leoni.
[rumpo: break, destroy, interrupt] In English we would probably say "Don't disturb the lion's slumber," but Latin uses a dative here: leoni. As often, where we freely use a genitive in English, Latin is often hesitant to use the genitive for something that is not a true possession - sleep is something you do, not something you have. Compare the Latin expression: mihi nomen est... - while in English we use the possessive: My name is...
1042. Noli irritare leones.
[irrito: provoke, annoy, irritate] This is good advice for the person who is rousing the lion; see "leonem stimulas" above.
1043. Noli irritare crabrones.
[crabro: hornet, wasp] Although smaller than lions, hornets should also not be disturbed!
1044. Crabrones non sunt irritandi.
This expresses the same idea with the gerundive, irritandi, agreeing with the subject, crabrones (masculine plural).
1045. Incitas crabrones.
[incito: enrage, arouse] This is the hornet-equivalent of the proverb cited earlier: Leonem stimulas.
1046. Currentem incitas.
[curro: run] This is a rebuke to someone who is doing something unnecessary: you don't need to rouse the runner, since he is already running! Compare the saying cited above, Piscem natare doces.
1047. Curre ut vincas.
[vinco: conquer, defeat, win] This is a Warren family motto.
1048. Bis vincit qui se ipsum vincit.
[bis: twice] This is not an easy task, of course, as you learned from an earlier saying: Est difficillimum se ipsum vincere.
1049. Bis vincit qui se vincit in victoria.
This provides a more specific context for the idea expressed in the previous saying: when you triumph over someone else, you must also keep yourself in check. You can find this advice in the sayings collected by Publiblius Syrus.
1050. Bis ille miser est, ante qui felix fuit.
This is another one of the sayings of Publilius Syrus.
Scala 22 (1051-1100)
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