Latin Literature

"Qualis ubi audito venantum murmure tigris horruit in maculas somnosque excussit inertes, bella cupit laxatque genas et temperat ungues, mox ruit in turmas natisque alimenta cruentis spirantem fert ore virum."

"Unus ibi ante alios, cui laeva voluntas semper et ad superos (hinc et gravis exitus aevi) insultare malis rebusque aegrescere laetis."

"Sors aequa merentes respicit."

"Ac velut hiberno deprensus navita ponto, cui neque Temo piger neque amico sidere monstrat Luna vias, medio caeli pelagique tumultu stat rationis inops, jam jamque aut saxa malignis expectat summersa vadis aut vertice acuto spumantes scopulos erectae incurrere prorae."

"Sed nec puniceo rediturum nubila caelo promisere jubar, nec rarescentibus umbris longa repercusso nituere crepuscula Phoebo: densior a terris et nulli peruia flammae subtexit nox atra polos."

"Paret Atlantiades dictis genitoris et inde summa pedum propere plantaribus inligat alis obnubitque comas et temperat astra galero. tum dextrae uirgam inseruit, qua pellere dulces aut suadere iterum somnos, qua nigra subire Tartara et exangues animare adsueuerat umbras. desiluit, tenuique exceptus inhorruit aura. nec mora, sublimes raptim per inane volatus carpit et ingenti designat nubila gyro."

"Radiant majore sereno culmina et arcano florentes lumine postes. postquam jussa quies siluitque exterritus orbis, incipit ex alto: grave et inmutabile sanctis pondus adest verbis, et vocem fata sequuntur."

"Aliquis, cui mens humili laesisse veneno summa nec impositos umquam ceruice volenti ferre duces."

"Tacitumque a principe vulgus dissidet, et, qui mos populis, venturus amatur."

"Quid si peteretur crimine tanto limes uterque poli, quem Sol emissus Eoo cardine, quem porta vergens prospectat Hibera, quasque procul terras obliquo sidere tangit avius aut Borea gelidas madidive tepentes igne Noti?"

"Sociisque comes discordia regnis."

"Exaudi, si digna precor quaeque ipsa furenti subiceres. orbum visu regnisque carentem non regere aut dictis maerentem flectere adorti, quos genui quocumque toro; quin ecce superbi —pro dolor!—et nostro jamdudum funere reges insultant tenebris gemitusque odere paternos. hisne etiam funestus ego? et videt ista deorum ignavus genitor? tu saltem debita vindex huc ades et totos in poenam ordire nepotes. indue quod madidum tabo diadema cruentis unguibus abripui, votisque instincta paternis i media in fratres, generis consortia ferro dissiliant. da, Tartarei regina barathri, quod cupiam vidisse nefas."

"Impia jam merita scrutatus lumina dextra merserat aeterna damnatum nocte pudorem Oedipodes longaque animam sub morte trahebat. illum indulgentem tenebris imaeque recessu sedis inaspectos caelo radiisque penates seruantem tamen adsiduis circumuolat alis saeva dies animi, scelerumque in pectore Dirae."

"Animula vagula blandula, hospes comesque corporis, quae nunc abibis in loca, pallidula, rigida, nudula, nec ut soles dabis iocos?"

"It is almost impossible for jokes that are centuries old to retain any life. The fact that a few of the jokes of Shakespeare or Rabelais or Cervantes continue to make us smile is something of a miracle. Almost six hundred years old, Poggio's Facetiae is by now largely interesting only as a symptom. These relics, like the remains of long-dead insects, tell us what once buzzed about in the air of the Vatican."

"Francesco Filelfo, jealous of his wife, was in the greatest anxiety lest she should have to do with some other man, and was, day and night, intent upon keeping good watch over her. One night, in a dream (for we are often visited in our slumbers by what has preyed upon the mind when waking) he saw a certain Demon, who promised him full security respecting his wife, if he but followed his prescription. Fast asleep, he accepted, saying it would afford him the greatest pleasure, and that he would be happy to requite such a good turn: — "Well then," quoth the Demon, "take this ring, and keep it carefully on your finger; for, so long as the finger shall be in the ring, your wife may never sleep with another man without you know of it." Filelfo, whom joy at once wakened, sensit se digitum habere in uxoris cunno. That ring is indeed a first rate preservative for jealous husbands, and secures them against their wives being unchaste without their knowledge."

"At the Roman Court good Fortune generally prevails, and there is but seldom room for talent or honesty; every thing is obtained through intrigue or luck, not to mention money, which seems to hold supreme sway all over the world. A friend of mine, sore at the preference given over him to men very much his inferiors, both in learning and merit, complained to Angelotto, Cardinal of Saint-Mark, that no account was taken of his worth, that he was left aside for people who could not bear comparison with himself; and he spoke of the pains he had been at for his education and the acquisition of knowledge. The Cardinal was never slow at animadverting upon the pravity of Court: "Here," quoth he, "learning and merit stand for nothing; however, be not disheartened, but devote some of your time to unlearning the good you know and learning some of the bad you know not, if you wish to be acceptable to the Pope.""

"A rustic of our parts, rather silly and assuredly a raw hand at love-deeds, took unto himself a wife. Now, it happened one night that she, renes versus virum volvens, had put nates in ejus gremio; the bow was bent, the shaft was shot, and perchance hit the mark. Amazed at that, our clodhopper enquires of his wife whether she had two, and being answered in the affirmative: "Ho, ho!" saith he, "one will do for me; the other is really a superfluity." The woman, a sly hussy, who was courted by the parish priest, rejoined: — "The second one we can give as an alms: let us make a present of it to the Church and to our vicar; to him it will be most acceptable, and will not prejudice you in the least, since one is enough for you." The man assented, equally anxious to please the priest, and to rid himself of a superfluity. So, the vicar having been asked to supper and had matters explained to him, the meal over, all three got into the same bed, the woman in the middle, the husband in front, and the other behind, so as to avail himself of the gift made him. Famished, and greedy of the long coveted dainty, the priest was the first to open fire; the woman, participating in the engagement, gave a few sighs. Fearing lest his allotment should be trespassed upon: "Observe our agreement, my friend," cried the husband; "use thy share, but leave mine untouched." To which the priest replied: "So help me God: I care little for what is thine, provided I enjoy what belongs to the Church." Our blockhead acquiesced, and bade him use freely what he had conceded to the Church."

"I think I should not omit to mention the place where most of the above tales were related, I might almost say, acted. That place is our Bugiale, a sort of laboratory for fibs, which the Pope's Secretaries had formerly instituted for their amusement. Until the reign of Pope Martin we were wont to select, within the precincts of the Court, a secluded room where we collected the news of the day, and conversed on various subjects, mostly with a view to relaxation, but sometimes also with serious intent. There nobody was spared, and whatever met with our disapprobation was freely censured; oftentimes the Pope himself was the first subject-matter of our criticism, so that many people attended our parties, lest they should themselves be the objects of our first chapter."

"He related that an itinerant quack came to Venice, on whose sign was pictured a Priapus divided, at certain intervals, by band-strings. A certain Venetian came up, and enquired the meaning of those partitions. The quack, for the fun of the thing, replied that membrum suum was endowed with such a peculiar property, that if, with a woman, he used but the first part, he begot merchants; if the second, soldiers; up to the third, Generals; up to the fourth, Popes; his fee being proportionate to the rank and quality ordered. The dolt took his word for it, and, after a conference with his wife, brought him to his house, and bargained for a soldier. As soon as the quack had set about the job, the husband made a pretence of withdrawing, but hid himself behind the bed; when he saw the pair hard at work manufacturing the soldier agreed upon, he rushed forward, and giving the man's backside a vigorous push, so as to secure the advantage even of the fourth division: "By God's Holy Gospel," be shouted, "this will be a Pope!" fancying he had diddled the fellow."

"Edward Seymour Forster, Lucius Annaeus Florus; Cornelius Nepos, LCL (1929)"

"J. Wright & Arnold M. Duff, eds. Minor Latin Poets, Vol. 2, LCL (1934)"

"Difficilius est provincias obtinere quam facere; viribus parantur, iure retinentur."

"Ne pereant lege mane rosas: cito virgo senescit."

"Consules fiunt quotannis et novi proconsules; solus aut rex aut poeta non quotannis nascitur."

"Cive Romano per orbem nemo vivit rectius: quippe malim unum Catonem quam trecentos Socratas."

"Quando ponebam novellas arbores mali et piri, cortici summae notavi nomen ardoris mei. nulla fit exinde finis vel quies cupidinis: crescit arbor, gliscit ardor: animus implet litteras."

"Mulier intra pectus omnis celat virus pestilens; dulce de labris loquuntur, corde vivunt noxio."

"Lucius Annaeus Florus (c. 74 – 130 AD), a Roman historian, who lived in the time of Trajan and Hadrian and was also born in Africa."

"Julius Florus, described as an ancient Roman poet, orator, and author who was born around 74 AD and died around 130 AD Florus was born in Africa, but raised in Rome."

"Publius Annius Florus, described as a Roman poet and rhetorician."

"Nævius was the first poet who really deserves the name of Roman."

"Nævius seems to have been the last of the ancient line of poets. Ennius was the founder of a new dynasty. Nævius celebrated the First Punic War in Saturnian verse, the old national verse of Italy. Ennius sang the Second Punic War in numbers borrowed from the Iliad. The elder poet, in the epitaph which he wrote for himself, and which is a fine specimen of the early Roman diction and versification, plaintively boasted that the Latin language had died with him. Thus what to Horace appeared to be the first faint dawn of Roman literature, appeared to Nævius to be its hopeless setting. In truth, one literature was setting, and another dawning."

"Epigramma Naevi plenum superbiae Campanae, quod testimonium esse iustum potuisset, nisi ab ipso dictum esset."

"Naevius in manibus non est et mentibus haeret paene recens? adeo sanctum est vetus emne poema."

"Immortales mortales si foret fas flere flerent divae Camenae Naevium poetam. Itaque postquam est Orchi traditus thesauro, obliti sunt Romae loquier lingua latina."

"Si quidem vis loqui, non perdocere multa longe promicando oratio est."

"Vos qui regalis corporis custodias agitatis, ite actutum in frundiferos locos ingenio arbusta ubi nata sunt non obsitu."

"Quae ego in theatro hic meis probavi plausibus Ea non audere quemquam regem rumpere, quanto libertatem hanc hic superat servitus."

"Pati necesse est mult a mortales mala."

"Odi summussos; proinde aperte dice quid sit quod times."

"Oderunt di homines iniuros."

"Laetus sum laudari me abs te, pater, a laudato viro."

"Desubito famam tollunt si quam solam videre in via."

"Cedo qui vestram rem publicam tantam amisistis tam cito? Proveniebant oratores novi, stulti adulescentuli."

"Quasi pila in choro ludens datatim dat se et communem facit. Alii adnutat, alii adnictat, alium amat alium tenet. Alibi manus est occupata, alii pervellit pedem; anulum dat alii spectandum, a labris alium invoeat, cum alio cantat, at tamen alii suo dat digito litteras."

"Semper pluris feci ego potioremque habui libertatem [multo] quam pecuniam."

"Seseque i perire mavolunt ibidem quam cum stupro redire ad suos popularis."

"Sin illos deserant fortissimos virorum magnum stuprum populo fieri per gentes."

"Transit Melitam Romanus insulam integram; urit populatur vast at, rem hostium concinnat."