1601. Caret periclo, qui, etiam cum est tutus, cavet.
This is another one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.
1602. Nec habeo, nec careo, nec curo.
You can read more about George Wither and his famous motto in this Wikipedia article.
1603. Venter auribus caret.
[venter: stomach] The idea is that hunger doesn't listen to anything - it wants to be fed! You can also find the saying expressed this way: Venter aures non habet.
1604. Esca ventri et venter escis.
[esca: food, victuals; dim. escula] You can find these words in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, 6.
1605. Esca omnium malorum voluptas.
Here you have two noun phrases: Esca omnium malorum (est) voluptas. The idea, of course, is that wickedness needs something to feed on - and what it feeds on is our sense of pleasure. Yikes!
1606. Somno, esca, potu, nemo carere potest.
[potus: drink, beverage] Here you can see that esca must be in the ablative, along with somno and potu, as required by the verb carere.
1607. Potus furtivus dulcis est.
[furtivus: stolen, secret, furtive] Compare the English saying, "Stolen fruit tastes sweet."
1608. Furtiva Venus dulcior.
Here Venus, the goddess of love, is standing in for love itself.
1609. Aquae furtivae dulciores sunt.
[aqua: water] These words are from the Biblical book of Proverbs, 9.
1610. A cane muto et aqua silente caveto.
You can also find this same advice expressed with an imperative: Cave tibi a cane muto et aqua silenti.
1611. Aquae furtivae suaves sunt.
[suavis: sweet, pleasant, charming] This is an alternate translation of the saying recorded in the Biblical book of Proverbs, using the word suavis this time, instead of dulcis.
1612. Quod suave est aliis, aliis fit amarum.
You can find this idea expressed in Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 4. It is another one of those aliis...aliis proverbs, "What is sweet to some becomes bitter to others."
1613. Suavissimus post laborem fructus.
Compare the saying you saw earlier: Acti labores iucundi sunt.
1614. Fortiter et suaviter.
This is the motto of Farleigh Dickinson University.
1615. Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re.
This expands on how suaviter and fortiter can be combined, as in the previous saying.
1616. In verbo suavis, in re gravis.
[gravis: heavy, weighty, serious] Here is a similar idea, but now expressed with rhyme: suavis-gravis.
1617. Tarde, sed graviter vir sapiens irascitur.
This is another one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.
1618. Pugnare cum diis cumque Fortuna grave est.
Compare the sayings you have already seen: "Non est pugnandum cum Fortuna" and "Cum diis non pugnandum."
1619. Dolor animi multo gravior est quam corporis.
The word multo expresses the degree of difference: multo gravior, "much more serious."
1620. Grave est fidem fallere.
[fallo: deceive, mislead, cheat] The infinitive, fallere, functions like a neuter noun here, hence the neuter adjective, grave.
1621. Naturam fallere grave est.
Compare the English saying, "You can't fool Mother Nature."
1622. Ne crede oculis; falli possunt.
Note the passive infinitive, falli: they can be fooled.
1623. Fallere fallentem non est fraus.
Compare the earlier saying about breaking faith with the faithless: Frangenti fidem fides frangatur eidem.
1624. Ora ne te fallat hora.
This saying plays on the sounds of ora and hora, as you saw in an earlier saying: Ora, ne te rapiat hora.
1625. Omnes fallimur.
Here you see the passive form of fallo again: "We are all deceived," "We can all be deceived," etc.
1626. Fallit quemque caecus amor sui.
[caecus: blind] The word sui is used as the genitive form of the pronoun se: amor sui, "love of oneself."
1627. Amor caecus est.
Compare the English saying, Love is blind.
1628. Caeca invidia est.
Here are Livy's words, from his Histories, 38: Caeca invidia est, nec quicquam aliud scit quam detractare virtutes, corrumpere honores ac praemia earum.
1629. Caecum odium.
Whitney chose Caecum Odium for one of his emblems.
1630. Quam caeca avaritia est!
This is from one of Cicero's Philippics, 2.
1631. Fortuna caeca est.
Here is the passage from Cicero's De Amicitia, 54: Fortuna caeca est, sed eos etiam plerumque efficit caecos quos complexa est.
1632. Fortuna caeco trahit omnia cursu.
[cursus: running, course, race] Here it is not Fortuna that is blind, but instead her cursus, the way she races along blindly. Notice how the noun phrase "caeco...cursu" wraps nicely around the verb phrase "trahit omnia."
1633. Vita hominis cursus est ad mortem.
You have seen other proverbs about the entanglement of life and death, such as "Nascentes morimur" and "Vita morti propior cotidie." Here is another version of this same saying: Vita ipsa cursus ad mortem est.
1634. Cursus in fine velocior.
[velox: swift, quick, speedy] Note the masculine comparative form of velox, velocior, agreeing with cursus.
1635. Vidi sub sole nec velocium esse cursum nec fortium bellum.
The words are from the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, 9.
1636. Ne velox sis ad irascendum.
The gerund here with the preposition ad expresses much the same idea as the English "to" - Do not be quick to get angry.
1637. Nihil est animo velocius.
Here you have the neuter comparative form of velox, velocius: nihil velocius, nothing is faster...
1638. Deus non est velox ad poenam.
[poena: punishment, penalty] The idea is that divine judgment does not come swiftly, but it is sure to come. Compare this similar saying: Dii lenti, sed certi vindices, "The gods are slow but certain avengers."
1639. Sequitur sua poena nocentes.
Notice that even though sequitur takes a passive ending, it is still a transitive verb, taking nocentes here as its object. Here is a fuller form of the saying, which is from the Renaissance poet Faustus Andrelinus: sequitur sua poena nocentes, seu velox, seu tarda, viros.
1640. Plus est quam poena sine spe miserum vivere.
This is another one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus. The infinitive phrase, sine spe miserum vivere (accusative subject of the infinitive), is the subject of the sentence.
1641. Culpae poena par esto.
[culpa: fault, blame, crime] Here you have another example of the future imperative being used with a third-person subject: Let the punishment be (poena est) equal to the crime (culpae par).
1642. Graviori culpae gravior poena.
Here the verb is implied but not stated: (Let there be) a more serious punishment for a more serious crime.
1643. Ne maior poena quam culpa sit.
This is the flipside of the idea of letting the punishment fit the crime; now we are warned not to let the punishment be greater than the crime.
1644. Quam malus est, culpam qui suam alterius facit!
The word quam here is being used in exclamation: How wicked is the man who...
1645. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
These words from the Catholic prayer of confession have given rise to the use of the phrase "mea culpa" in a purely secular usage in English; you can read more about "mea culpa" at this Wikipedia article.
1646. Da veniam culpae.
[venia: pardon, forgiveness] The word venia means "pardon" or "forgiveness" (hence the phrase, "venial sin," meaning a sin that can be forgiven).
1647. Necessitati datur venia.
You can find this principle expressed in Cicero's De Officiis, 2.
1648. Dura iustitia; gratior est venia.
Note the parallel construction of this saying: dura/gratior and iustitia/venia.
1649. Sit venia dicto.
This is the kind of thing you might say if you are about to bring up some awkward topic of conversation: Excuse me for mentioning this, but... You can also use this formula: Sit venia verbis.
1650. Da veniam lacrimis.
[lacrima: tear; dim. lacrimula] This is a formulaic expression to ask pardon for the tears that accompany what you are saying.
Scala 34 (1651-1700)
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