Thursday, July 14, 2011

Scala 43 (2101-2150)

<== Go back to Scala 42 (2051-2100)

2101. Quod deus donavit, custodiamus!

[custodio: keep watch, guard] Note the subjunctive: custodiamus. You can find this saying invoked in a story by Petrus Alfonsi.


2102. Non dormit qui custodit.

This is a motto of the Coghill family.


2103. Maximo periclo custoditur, quod multis placet.

As often, the antecedent for the relative pronoun is implied but not expressed: custoditur (hoc), quod...


2104. Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

You can read about the history of this famous saying here at Wikipedia.


2105. Consilium custodiet te.

Note the future tense: custodiet. (It's all a matter of vowels: present indicative, custodit; subjunctive, custodiat; future, custodiet.)


2106. Pax servetur, pacta custodiantur.

[pactum: agreement, bargain, pact] Both verbs are subjunctive: servetur (from the verb servare) and custodiantur (from the verb custodire). Notice that pax and pacta make for a nice alliteration, and the words are also related etymologically, coming from the same root - Latin pax originally meant a treaty or truce.


2107. Pacta semper sunt servanda.

Here is the gerundive again, this time in neuter plural, agreeing with the subject: pacta. This construction expresses the idea of necessity or command impersonally - in English, we might say, "You must stick to your agreements" or "Bargains must be kept."


2108. Medius locus semper tutus.

[locus: place, location] This is another one of those proverbs urging you to avoid extremes of any kind. Compare the saying you saw earlier: In medio tutissimus.


2109. Virtus omni loco nascitur.

The saying is adapted from one of Seneca's letters, 7.66: Potest ex casa vir magnus exire, potest et ex deformi humilique corpusculo formosus animus ac magnus. Quosdam itaque mihi videtur in hoc tales natura generare, ut approbet virtutem omni loco nasci.


2110. ad locum

This Latin phrase is often abbreviated: ad loc. You will see this term used in a commentary on a text to indicate a source, the "place" were you will find something. You might also be familiar with the phrase as used by Jeremy the Nowhere Man (a.k.a. Jeremy Hillary Boob Ph.D.) in the Beatles' film, Yellow Submarine: "Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo. So little time — so much to know!"


2111. In loco parentis.

This is another Latin phrase you will still find used in English. I work at a university and the degree to which the university needs to function "in loco parentis" for its students is a topic that often comes up! For more, see the Wikipedia article.


2112. Da locum melioribus.

You can find these words in Terence's Phormio.


2113. Metus cum venit, rarum habet somnus locum.

This is another one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.


2114. Incertum est quo loco te mors exspectet; itaque tu illam omni loco exspecta.

[itaque: thus, therefore, so] The subjunctive exspecto is because of the indirect question introduced by "quo loco." The words are from Seneca in one of his letters, 3.26.


2115. Est locus unicuique suus.

[unusquisque: each, each one, each and every one] This is another one of those "cuique suum" proverbs, but this time with a different pronoun: unusquisque, "each one." You could also say "Est locus cuique suus," but the "unicuique" adds a kind of "each and every one" feeling to it. Note the way unusquisque declines: the que does not change, but the unus changes (uni) and so does the quis (cui) - hence, unicuique.


2116. Unusquisque onus suum portabit.

This proverb is a good way to remember that onus is a third-declension noun of the neuter persuasion. Like tempus and other common third-declension neuters, it ends in -us... but don't let that fool you: Unusquisque onus SUUM portabit.


2117. Unusquisque in arte sua sapiens est.

These words come from the Biblical book of Sircah, 38.


2118. Unusquisque facere se beatum potest.

Note the predicate adjective, beatum, agreeing with the pronoun se, object of the infinitive verb: facere se beatum, "to make himself happy."


2119. Unicuique suum.

Here is "Cuique suum" now done with the pronoun unicuique instead.


2120. Suum unicuique pulchrum est.

Compare the proverbs you saw earlier: "Suum cuique pulchrum" and "Suum cuique pulchrum videtur."


2121. Unaquaeque arbor de fructu suo cognoscitur.

Here you see the feminine singular form of unusquisque, agreeing with arbor, unaquaeque = una+quae+que.


2122. Redde unicuique secundum vias suas.

[secundum: according to] Be careful with secundum here - this is not the adjective secundus, but instead a preposition which takes the accusative case: secundum vias suas. Etymologically, it comes from the verb "sequor," so it means something like "following, after" and, thus, "according to."


2123. Secundum naturam vivo.

The words are from Seneca's De Otio, which contains a lengthy discussion of just what it means to live "secundum naturam."


2124. Nolite iudicare secundum faciem.

[facies: face, look, appearance] The words are from the Gospel of John, 7.


2125. Prima facie.

This is a Latin phrase that is still often used in English. Read more in this Wikipedia article.


2126. Facies non omnibus una.

Here you have a dative being used for something we would consider possession in English: For all of them (omnibus), the face is not one = They do not all have the same face. The words are from Ovid in his Metamorphoses, 2.


2127. Veritatis una vis, una facies est.

Here you have the genitive being used in two parallel noun phrases: "veritatis vis" (una est) and "veritatis facies" (una est). The words again are from Seneca in one of his letters, 27.102.


2128. Ne avertas faciem a proximo tuo.

[averto: turn aside, avert] Note the subjunctive with ne used to express a negative command. The words are from the Biblical book of Sirach, 41.


2129. Deus avertat.

Compare the English expressions "God forbid!" and "Heaven forfend!"


2130. Dii omen avertant!

[omen: omen, sign] Note the subjunctive: avertant, "may the gods turn aside" any bad omen.


2131. Bonum nomen, bonum omen.

[nomen: name, noun, reputation] Although this saying is not exactly what I would consider a tongue-twister, it does show up on a List of Latin Tongue-Twisters.


2132. Nomen, omen.

This is a variation on the preceding proverb - a nomen can be an omen, either good (as in the previous saying)... or possibly not good, "ominous" in the English sense of that word.


2133. Plus prodest omen felix, quam nobile nomen.

Here the nomen and the omen are not considered in parallel, but rather in opposition to one another, with the "omen felix" outweighing the "nobile nomen."


2134. Qui timet amicum, vim non novit nominis.

The nomen here is the nomen of "amicus" itself, from the same root as the verb "amo" - and the opposite of a nemicus, an enemy or "non-friend." The Latin word "vis" is often used to indicate the "meaning" of a word (compare the English use of "force" to refer to the meaning of a statement). This is another one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.


2135. Saepe sub nomine pacis bellum latet.

You can find this idea invoked in Cicero's Philippics, 12.


2136. Vive tibi et longe nomina magna fuge.

This is a sentiment expressed in Ovid's Tristia, 3. Of course, if Ovid had taken such advice to heart earlier on in his life, he might never have had to write the Tristia at all!


2137. Melius est nomen bonum quam divitiae multae.

The words are from the Biblical book of Proverbs, 22. You can also find the same idea expressed this way: Plus valet bonum nomen quam divitiae multae.


2138. Bonum nomen numquam exstinguitur.

[exstinguo: put out, quench, extinguish] Here the metaphor implies that even when the flame of light goes out, the light of a good reputation keeps on shining.


2139. Inter amicos numquam amor exstinguitur.

This saying plays on the real etymological connection between amicus and amor, both of which are formed from the same Latin root.


2140. Ignis divisus citius exstinguitur.

The neuter comparative form, citius, from the adjective citius is being used adverbially here (as often for the neuter singular): citius exstinguitur, "is more quickly put out."


2141. Ignis igne non exstinguitur.

Compare the English saying, "you can't fight fire with fire."


2142. Fumus, ergo ignis.

[fumus: smoke] Compare the English, "Where there's smoke, there's fire."


2143. Post mortem fumus, pulvis et umbra sumus.

The rhyme, fumus-sumus, reveals the medieval provenance of this saying.


2144. Non est fumus absque igne.

[absque: without, apart from] The word "absque" means without, and is formed from the same root as the preposition "ab" plus the generalizing -que suffix that you see in ubique, quisque, etc.


2145. De fumo in flammam.

[flamma: flame] This is a "bad-to-worse" type of proverb (compare the English "out of the frying pan, into the fire").


2146. Semper flamma fumo proxima est.

You can find these words in Plautus's Curculio.


2147. Inter cineres condita flamma manet.

[cinis: ash, funeral ash] The words are from one of the elegies of the sixth-century Latin poet, Maximianus, 2.


2148. Servate fidem cineri.

The ash here refers to the ashes of the dead. This is a motto of the Harvey family.


2149. Cineri gloria sera venit.

Here again you have the ashes of the dead, cineri. The word are from Martial's epigrams, 1.25.


2150. Cineri medicina.

Just as glory comes too late for someone who is died (see previous saying), so too with medicine: applying a cure to someone who is already dead and cremated is a proverbial fool's errand. The proverb is alluded to in Propertius's elegies, 2.14.


Scala 44 (2151-2200)

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