The Routledge dictionary of Latin quotations: the illiterati's guide to Latin maxims, mottoes, proverbs and sayings PDF
Preview The Routledge dictionary of Latin quotations: the illiterati's guide to Latin maxims, mottoes, proverbs and sayings
T R H E O U T L E D G E D I C T I O N A R Y O F LATIN QUOTATIONS RT9093_FM.fm Page ii Friday, August 13, 2004 11:42 AM Also by Jon R. Stone Latin for the Illiterati (1996) More Latin for the Illiterati (1999) and The Craft of Religious Studies (1998) The Essential Max Müller: On Language, Mythology, and Religion (2002) Expecting Armageddon: Essential Readings in Failed Prophecy (2000) A Guide to the End of the World (1993) On the Boundaries of American Evangelicalism (1997) Prime-Time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious Broadcasting (1997) T R H E O U T L E D G E D I C T I O N A R Y O F LATIN QUOTATIONS The Illiterati’s Guide to Latin Maxims, Mottoes, Proverbs, and Sayings Jon R. Stone ROUTLEDGE NEW YORK AND LONDON RT9093_discl.fm Page i Wednesday, October 27, 2004 2:25 PM Published in 2005 by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 www.routledge-ny.com Published in Great Britain by Routledge 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN U.K. www.routledge.co.uk Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group. Copyright © 2005 by Jon R. Stone. Printed in the United States of America on acid free paper. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Routledge dictionary of Latin quotations : the illiterati's guide to Latin maxims, mottoes, proverbs and sayings / Jon R. Stone. p. cm. Latin with English translations. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-96908-5 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-415-96909-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 0-415- 97431-3 (jacketed hardback) 1. Quotations, Latin. 2. Quotations, Latin—Translations into English. I. Stone, Jon R., 1959- PN6080.R68 2004 398.9'71--dc22 2004002081 RT9093_FM.fm Page v Friday, August 13, 2004 11:42 AM For Benton Johnson A Gifted Teacher, An Inspiring Mentor — With Great Admiration RT9093_FM.fm Page vi Friday, August 13, 2004 11:42 AM RT9093_FM.fm Page vii Friday, August 13, 2004 11:42 AM CONTENTS Preface ix References and Sources xv Pronunciation Guide xvii The Routledge Dictionary of Latin Quotations Latin Proverbs and Maxims 1 Latin Mottoes and Phrases 131 Familiar Latin Quotations 225 Abbreviations 335 Main Authors Cited 337 Selected English–Latin Index 341 vii RT9093_FM.fm Page viii Friday, August 13, 2004 11:42 AM RT9093_FM.fm Page ix Friday, August 13, 2004 11:42 AM PREFACE In a recent airing of a PBS travel program, a group of San Francisco-area college students were filmed visiting China, their ancestral home. After arriv- ing in a wayside village, one of the women students quoted the ancient prov- erb, “When you drink water, remember the source,” and then asserted, “That’s very Chinese!” There is a similar Chinese aphorism that rebukes those who would drink from a fountain without first giving thought to the ancestor who had dug the well. In both instances, the notion is the same: we owe our lives, but also our daily conveniences, to those who came before us. Whether Chi- nese or American, Asian or Western, the proverb aptly applies to all. Our ancestors planted the trees whose fruits we now eat; they built the roads and bridges over which we now drive. Indeed, it is they who handed down to us the storehouse of folk wisdom that we draw upon daily to guide, enrich, and inform our lives. For those of us who study cultural history, much of what we find in ancient proverbial wisdom centers around themes of memory and connection. Ancient wisdom encourages us to be ever mindful of our ties, as well as our obligations, to the past. The way we go in this life follows after those who came before us. “Via trita, via tuta,” the old Roman adage asserts, “The beaten path is the safe path.” There is a certain comfort and assurance in knowing that the road we travel upon is a familiar one and that it will not lead us astray. The image that emerges, then, is of one generation after another following a trail blazed by revered ancestors—of following and then of passing on a tradition set down in custom as well as in word. At the same time, the connection is not only from past to present, but also from present to future. A people’s life continues onward ever mindful of their connection to their forebears, but also of what guideposts or markers they will leave for their descendants. Someday, we too will be ancestors, and the wis- dom we have gleaned from our experiences will guide those who follow after us—or so we hope. Four centuries ago, Sir Francis Bacon published De Sapientia Veterum (On the Wisdom of the Ancients), a delightful book of Classical myths and fables in which he sought to recover examples of “humane wisedome” from antiquity that had been “buried in obliuion [oblivion] and silence.” In his Preface, Bacon observed that “There is found among men … a two-fold use of Para- bles, and those … referred to contrary ends; conducing as well to foulding [folding] up and keeping of things under a vaile [veil], as to the inlightening [enlightening] and laying open of obscurities.” These Parables, he noted, must ix
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