A Latin Reader

43. Large Thoughts in Few Words

Sī vīs ad sum­mum prō­gredī, ab īnfimō ōrdīre — Seneca.

Īra furor bre­vis est. — Horace.

Dīmid­i­um fac­tī quī coepit habet. — Horace.

Nōn ignāra malī mis­erīs suc­cur­rere dis­cō. — Vergil,

Aliē­na vitia in oculīs habē­mus; ā tergō nos­tra sunt. — Seneca.

Poten­tis­simus est quī sē habet in potestāte. — Seneca.

Est pro­fec­tō Deus qui quae nōs ger­imus audit et videt. — Plau­tus.

Mag­num iter adscendō, sed dat mihi glōria vīrēs. — Prop­er­tius.

Nisi ūtile est quod facimus, stul­ta est glōria. — Phae­drus.

Cin­erī glōria sēra est. — Mar­tial.

Glōria virtūtem tamquam umbra sequitur. — Cicero.

Amīcum perdere est damnōrum max­i­mum. — Syrus.

Dēgen­erēs ani­mōs tim­or arguit. — Vergil.

Stultōrum ēven­tus mag­is­ter est. — Livy.

Genus est mor­tis male vīvere. — Ovid.

Rīdē, sī sapis. — Martial.

Mag­num est vec­tī­gal par­simō­nia. — Cicero.

Leve fit quod bene fer­tur onus.’ — Ovid.

Dulce et decōrum est prō patriā morī. — Horace.

Calamitās virtūtis occāsiō est. — Seneca.

Memo­ria est thēsaurus omni­um rērum et custōs. — Cicero.

Sī vis amārī, amā. — Seneca.

Homō doc­tus in sē sem­per dīvi­tiās habet. — Phaedrus.

Ubicumque homō est, ibi ben­efi­ciō locus est. — Seneca.

Homō sum, et nihil hūmānī aliēnum ā mē putō. — Ter­en­tius.

Nihil ali­ud est ēbri­etās quam vol­un­tāria īnsā­nia. — Seneca.

Nihil amās cum ingrā­tum amās. — Plautus.

Ben­efi­ci­um accipere lībertātem estvēn­dere.— Syrus.

Faber est suae quisque fortū­nae. —Sal­lust.

Nēmō līber est quī cor­porī servit. — Seneca.

Vēritās numquam per­it. — Seneca.

Aliēnum aes hom­inī acer­ba est servitūs. — Syrus.

Audendō virtūs crēsc­it, tar­dandō tim­or. — Syrus.

Cuiv­īs dolōrī remedi­um est pati­en­tia. — Syrus.

Deliberandō saepe per­it occāsiō. — Syrus.

Malum est cōn­sil­i­um quod mūtārī nōn potest. — Syrus.

Numquam perīcu­lum sine perīculō vinci­tur. — Syrus.

Stul­tum est querī dē adver­sīs, ubi cul­pa est tua. — Syrus.

ad sum­mum: to the top.

ab īnfimō: at the bottom.

Imper­a­tive of ōrdior.

The author of this sen­ti­ment is Lūcius Annaeus Seneca, the moral­ist and philoso­pher who became the.tutor of Nero.

Quīn­tus Horātius Flac­cus, whose lyric poet­ry is still read in all col­le­giate clas­si­cal courses.

We say, Well begun is half done.

nōn īgnāra malī: not unac­quaint­ed with mis­for­tune myself I learn, etc. Dido utters the sen­ti­ment; hence the fem­i­nine form, īgnāra.

Pūblius Vergilius Marō, whose epic poem, the Aeneid, has been for near­ly twen­ty cen­turies an impor­tant fac­tor in lib­er­al culture.

Titus Mac­cius Plau­tus, an ear­ly writer of comedies.

A poet who lived in the sec­ond half of the last cen­tu­ry B.C.

Phae­drus put into verse form some of the fables of Aesop.

cin­erī: ash­es, i.e. the ash­es of the dead.

Mār­cus Valerius Mār­tiālis, the epi­gram­ma­tist whose work is valu­able for the infor­ma­tion it gives of the life of the Romans from Nero to Trajan.

Mār­cus Tul­lius Cicerō, ora­tor and states­man, whose works are numer­ous and valuable.

Pūblil­ius Syrus, pos­si­bly a slave, whose name is con­nect­ed with many pithy sayings.

ēven­tus: expe­ri­ence.

Titus Livius, the great­est of the Roman historians.

Evil liv­ing is a kind of death.

Pūblius Ovid­ius Nāsō, who wrote charm­ing but rather light verse in the gold­en peri­od of Roman literature. 

par­simō­nia: thrift.

virtūtis: vir­tu­ous action.

locus: opportunity.

I am a human being, and noth­ing belong­ing to human­i­ty do I regard as out­side my interest.

Pūblius Ter­en­tius Āfer, who lived lat­er than Plau­tus, and wrote come­dies in more pol­ished form.

Because the drunk­ard becomes intox­i­cat­ed by his own act.

We say archi­tect; the Romans said smith. Gāius Cris­pus Sal­lustius wrote his­to­ry.

is a slave to.

Another’s mon­ey was the reg­u­lar expres­sion for debt.

Abla­tive of the gerund.

Abla­tive of the gerund.

cuiv­īs dolōrī: for any pain whatever.

Abla­tive of the gerund.

dē adver­sīs: about adver­si­ty.