1251. Tempus animae medicus.
[anima: soul, spirit, life, breathing] You need to be able to separate subject (tempus) from predicate (animae medicus) in this sentence: Time is the doctor of the soul.
1252. Anima in amicis una.
This is a motto of the Powell family.
1253. Animae sal est amor.
Compare the sayings about salt which you saw earlier: "Amicitia sol et sal vitae" and "Vitae sal amicitia."
1254. Anima pro anima, oculus pro oculo.
This is from Polydorus's Adagia. The full expression in the Biblical book of Deuteronomy is "Non misereberis ejus, sed animam pro anima, oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente, manum pro manu, pedem pro pede exiges."
1255. Fugiens animam servas.
[servo: save, keep, protect, preserve] Here you can translate the participle as expressing an idea of means or purpose: "By running away, you can save your life." (The Latin word anima is often used to stand for a life; see the previous saying: anima pro anima, "a life for a life.")
1256. Omnia in futuro servantur incerta.
The words are from the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, 9.
1257. Arma non servant modum.
Compare a similar saying about love which you saw earlier: Nescit amor habere modum.
1258. Serva me; servabo te.
You can find this bargain in Petronius's Satyricon, 44.
1259. Datum serva.
The participle datum expresses the idea of "that which has been given, a gift." The proverbial advice is given by the so-called Cato in his Monostichs.
1260. Servandus modus.
Here you have the gerundive being used to express a command; modus is the subject, hence the masculine singular form: servandus: The limit must be observed = You should stay within the limit.
1261. Deum cole, regem serva.
This is another proverb built on a parallelism: deum/regem - cole/serva.
1262. Legem servare est regnare.
This proverb plays with the paradox that obeying the law is actually a form of empowerment, so to keep to the law (legem servare) makes you a ruler (regnare).
1263. Fides, etiam hosti, servanda est.
[fides-ei: faith, trust, belief] Here you have another gerundive expressing the idea of necessity - servanda. The feminine singular form agrees with the subject of the sentence: fides.
1264. Frangentibus fidem fides non est servanda.
The verb fides can take a dative complement, as you here. The phrase "frangentibus fidem" (those who break faith) is the dative complement of fidem: You don't have to keep faith with those who have broken faith.
1265. Frangenti fidem fides frangatur eidem.
This expresses the same idea as the previous saying, but using the passive subjunctive - frangatur - to express the idea of necessity: If someone has broken faith, let your faith in him be broken (frangatur).
1266. Non servanti fidem, fides non est servanda.
This expresses the same idea as in the previous saying: if there is someone who has not kept faith with you (non servanti fidem), then you do not have to keep faith with him: fides non est servanda.
1267. Fide laboro.
This is a motto of the Borrer family.
1268. Servabo fidem.
This is the motto of the 33rd Field Artillery Regiment of the US Army.
1269. bona fide
This Latin phrase (in the ablative case) is often abbreviated: B.F. For more information about the use of the phrase "bona fide" (ablative) and also "bona fides" (nominative), see this Wikipedia article.
1270. Fides facit fidem.
Compare the earlier saying about breaking faith with those who have broken faith, where mistrust breeds mistrust; this saying expresses the positive counterpoint: trust breeds trust.
1271. Oculis magis habenda fides quam auribus.
The gerundive, habenda, expresses the idea of necessity or command, and agrees with fides, the subject of the sentence. Meanwhile, oculis and auribus are the dative complements of fides: You should put more faith in your eyes (i.e. what you see) than in your ears (i.e. what you hear).
1272. Iustitiae soror fides.
[soror: sister] Fides gets to be the sister, soror, of justice because fides is a feminine noun.
1273. Voluptatis soror est tristitia.
[tristitia: sadness] Tristitia is also a feminine noun, hence the use of the sister metaphor in Latin.
1274. Iracundiae tristitia comes est.
[iracundia: anger, irascibility] In English we might use a different proverbial metaphor and say, "Anger and sadness go hand-in-hand."
1275. Iracundiam rege.
This is another piece of advice from the so-called Cato.
1276. Consilio melius vincas quam iracundia.
Consilio and iracundia are being compared in this proverb, so they need to be in the same case: consilio can be ablative or dative, and iracundia can be nominative or ablative - which means they must both be ablative.
1277. Consilio inimica iracundia.
[inimicus: unfriendly, hostile, enemy] Here the adjective inimica is being used substantively, to mean "enemy" (a female enemy): Anger is an enemy to discussion.
1278. Vide ne inimicis iracundia tua voluptati sit.
The dative in the predicate, voluptati, is something like an English adjective: be pleasurable, be a pleasure, etc.
1279. Omne nimium est naturae inimicum.
The adjective nimius is being used substantively here to mean "(something) excessive" or the idea of "excess" itself: Every excess is an enemy to nature.
1280. Invidia tacite, sed inimice irascitur.
The point of this proverb is the connection between the two adverbs: tacite, sed inimice.
1281. Homini nihil inimicius quam sibi ipse.
The indeclinable noun nihil is regarded as neuter singular, hence the adjective: inimicius (neuter comparative of inimicus). The adjective inimicus in turn takes a dative complement: homini... sibi.
1282. Inimicus sibi, amicus nemini.
The idea here is that someone who is unfriendly to his own self (inimicus sibi) cannot be a friend to anybody (amicus nemini).
1283. Si tibi amicum, nec mihi inimicum.
The neuter amicum here would mean an "agreeable (thing)" - so, "if it is agreeable to you, it is not disagreeable to me." The saying is collected by Erasmus in his Adagia, 2.1.33.
1284. Nulli inimicus ero.
As noted earlier, the word "inimicus" takes a dative complement, as you can see again here: nulli. This is a motto of the Donaldson family.
1285. Noli de mortuo inimico tuo gaudere.
The imperative noli takes an infinitive complement, which you will find all the way at the end of the sentence here: noli...gaudere. This advice comes from the Biblical book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), 8.
1286. Virtuti inimica voluptas.
Here again you have inimica as a female enemy: Pleasure is an enemy to virtue.
1287. Vis legibus est inimica.
[vis: force, strength, power, violence] Here the word vis is the feminine noun, "force, violence;" hence the feminine form, inimica: violence is an enemy to law. (The Latin use of "leges" to mean the law as a whole can be rendered in English with the singular "law.")
1288. Magna vis pecuniae.
Here you have a noun phrase as the subject, vis pecuniae (the power of money) and a predicate adjective, agreeing with vis: magna.
1289. Magna vis auri.
This is a variation on the previous saying, now with aurum in place of pecunia. You can find this sentiment in Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, 5.
1290. Naturae vis maxima.
You can understand maxima here as a true superlative ("the greatest of all") or just as an emphatic adjective: "extremely great."
1291. Melior est sapientia quam vires.
Here you have vis now in the plural: vires. You can find these words in the Biblical book of Wisdom, 6.
1292. Vires hominis breves sunt.
These words are invoked as an example of catachresis, or what we might call a mixed metaphor, in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, 4.45. The idea is that the terms "longus" and "brevis" do not really apply to the idea of a person's strength - except insofar as a person's strength might be short-lived, which is an extension of the meaning of "brevis," but not its literal meaning.
1293. Fit via vi.
Here the Latin relies on a nice sound play: via and vi. This is also a motto of the Way family, which adds to the play on words, since the English family name is a translation of one of the Latin words in the motto.
1294. Vi verum vincitur.
Here the proverb depends on alliteration: v-v-v. You can find these words in Plautus's Amphitruo.
1295. Non prodest ratio, ubi vis imperat.
Here the opposition is not between truth and force as in the previous saying, but between reason and force, ratio and vis.
1296. Ratione, non vi.
This is a more hopeful take on the opposition between ratio and vi: Let us act reasonably, not violently - Ratione, non vi.
1297. Non vi, sed virtute.
This is a third contrast: not vis as opposed to verum, not vis as opposed to ratio, but vis as opposed to virtus.
1298. Non vi, sed iure.
[ius: justice, right, duty, law] Yet another opposition: vis as opposed to ius. Compare also the earlier saying: Vis legibus est inimica.
1299. Contra vim non valet ius.
[contra: against] This is a pessimistic take on the power of force, which can overwhelm the force of justice itself.
1300. Sapiens contra omnes arma fert, cum cogitat.
This is another one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.
Scala 27 (1301-1350)
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