Friday, July 01, 2011

Scala 24 (1151-1200)

<== Go back to Scala 23 (1101-1150)

1151. Deo et Fortunae me committo.

Here you have Deo et Fortunae, "God and Luck."


1152. Magna negotia viris magnis committenda.

The gerundive committenda, agreeding with the subject, negotia, expresses a command: Great activities must be entrusted to great men.


1153. Alia committenda, alia celanda.

[celo: conceal, hide, keep secret] This is another one of those alia...alia, proverbs: "some things... other things..." with two different gerundives - "some things are to be handed over, other things are to be kept hidden."


1154. Aliud est celare; aliud est tacere.

Here you have infinitives being used as nouns: It is one thing to conceal something; it is another thing (merely) to keep silent.


1155. Felicitatem tuam celato.

The form celato is future imperative: hide! conceal!


1156. Ars est celare artem.

Compare Ovid's description of the statue made by Pygmalion (Metamorphoses, 10): Ars adeo latet arte sua.


1157. Fraus est celare fraudem.

Here you have the infinitive being used as a noun: celare fraudem, "to conceal a falsehood" is itself a falsehood, fraus.


1158. Amor et lux non celantur.

As often, it helps to add "can" to your English rendering of the Latin verb: Love and light cannot be hidden (English uses the verb "can" in a much wider range of idioms than the Latin "posse").


1159. Nec amor nec tussis celatur.

[tussis: cough] Note the nec...nec... construction, equivalent to English "neither...nor..."


1160. Tussis pro crepitu.

[crepitus: clap (thunder), snap (finger), fart] For more on this saying in Latin, see the entry for farting, Peditum, in the Latin Wikipedia, Vicipaedia.


1161. Suus cuique crepitus bene olet.

[oleo: smell, smell like, stink] This is yet another variation on the theme of cuique suum... a very cynical one indeed!


1162. Pecunia non olet.

[pecunia: money] For the famous story of this saying and the emperor Vespasian's urine tax (vectigal urinae), see this Wikipedia article.


1163. Pecunia pecuniam parit.

To get the alliteration in English, you could say something like "Money makes more money."


1164. Amicos pecuniae faciunt.

This is a cynical interpretation of friendship... I guess if I win the lottery someday, I will find out!


1165. Illum adiuvat, qui habet, pecunia.

This saying is adapted from Cicero's De Finibus, 5.


1166. Omnia potest pecunia.

Compare the sayings you have already seen: "Caritas omnia potest" and "Cura omnia potest."


1167. Pecuniae imperare oportet, non servire.

Note that both the verb imperare, command (give orders to), and servire, serve (be a slave to), both take a dative complement: pecuniae.


1168. Bona, imperante animo bono, est pecunia.

The phrase "imperante animo bono" is an ablative absolute, here providing a hypothetical condition: Money is good, provided that a strong mind is in charge.


1169. Pecunia est alter sanguis.

[sanguis: blood] This is one of many Latin proverbs invoked by Francois Rabelais in Gargantua and Pantagruel, 42.


1170. Pecunia regina mundi.

[regina: queen] Since pecunia is a feminine noun, that means she is a queen, regina, rather than king, rex.


1171. Suus rex reginae placet.

This saying can be found in Plautus's Stichus.


1172. Iustitia virtutum regina.

[iustitia: justice, righteousness] Like pecunia in the saying cited earlier, iustitia is a feminine noun, which is why she is regina, not rex.


1173. Iustitia omnibus.

The verb is implied here, but not stated: (let there be) justice for all.


1174. Adhuc et semper iustitia.

The adverb adhuc can express a spatial relationship or a temporal one; here, the adverb semper lets you know that adhuc is temporal: thus far (in time), until now, etc.


1175. Iustitia per sese colenda est.

This is the gerundive being used to express necessity, something like a command: Cherish justice for its own sake!


1176. Homines ad iustitiam nati sunt.

The words are adapted from Cicero's De Legibus, 1.


1177. Si vis pacem, cole iustitiam.

This is the motto of the International Labor Organization: image.


1178. Discite iustitiam.

You can find these words in Vergil's Aeneid, 6.


1179. Facite iustitiam.

You can find these words in the Biblical book of Isaiah, 56.


1180. Vivat iustitia!

Note the subjunctive, vivat. In English you might say, "Long live justice!"


1181. Fiat iustitia.

Another subjunctive, fiat: "Let there be justice."


1182. Fiat iustitia et pereat mundus.

[pereo: die, perish, pass away] This was the motto of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I; for more, see this Wikipedia article.


1183. Fiat iustitia ne pereat mundus.

This is a variation on the previous proverb; the philosopher Ludwig von Mises has removed the defiant paradox and replacing it with a purpose clause: ne pereat mundus.


1184. Virtus manet; divitiae pereunt.

The proverb is based on a parallelism: virtus/divitiae and manet/pereunt.


1185. Cum fortuna perit, nullus amicus erit.

See the earlier saying about money and friendship: Amicos pecuniae faciunt.


1186. Qui amat periculum, in illo peribit.

The words come from the Biblical book of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), 3.


1187. Quod periit, periit.

You can find these words in Plautus's Cistellaria. Note the perfect tense: periit (the present tense would be perit).


1188. Hora horis cedit; pereunt sic tempora nobis.

This is a sun-dial inscription, which is also in the form of a dactylic hexameter if you elide the "h" - 'ora 'oris - at the beginning of the line.


1189. Mortalia facta peribunt.

[mortalis: mortal] These words come from Horace's Ars Poetica.


1190. Felix per omnia nemo est mortalium.

Notice how the phrase "nemo mortalium" wraps nicely around the verb.


1191. Nil sine magno vita labore dedit mortalibus.

These words come from Horace's Satires, 1.9.


1192. Si es mortalis, vive ut mortalis.

This is a "memento mori" type of proverb, where live and death are intertwined. Compare saying you saw earlier: Nascentes morimur.


1193. Ardua res homini mortali vincere numen.

The infinitive phrase, vincere numen, is being used as a noun: ardua res (est)... vincere numen.


1194. Mortale est omne mortalium bonum.

The adjective bonum here is being used substantively, "a good thing, a good" (compare the English plural usage "goods"). You can find these words used by Seneca, Epistulae Morales 98, who in turn attributes the words to the philosopher Metrodorus of Lampsacus.


1195. Regitur fatis mortale genus.

The words are from Seneca's Octavia.


1196. Vita mortalium brevis.

[brevis: short, brief] This is included by Erasmus in his Adages, 3.10.63.


1197. Brevis hominum vita.

For the phrase in context, consider these words of St. Augustine (In Psalmum 72): Iniquus cogitet quam sit brevis hominum vita, "Let the wicked man think how short human life is."


1198. Ars longa, vita brevis.

For a discussion of this famous saying, see the Wikipedia article.


1199. Vita brevis, gloria aeterna.

This is a motto of the Pryce family.


1200. Brevis ipsa vita est, sed malis fit longior.

This is one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.


Scala 25 (1201-1250)

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