Playwrights From Rome

"... the only contestant who can confidently enter the lists is the man who has seen his own blood, who has felt his teeth rattle beneath his opponent’s fist, who has been tripped and felt the full force of his adversary’s charge, who has been downed in body but not in spirit, one who, as often as he falls, rises again with greater defiance than ever."

"Let another say. “Perhaps the worst will not happen.” You yourself must say. “Well, what if it does happen? Let us see who wins! Perhaps it happens for my best interests; it may be that such a death will shed credit upon my life.”"

"Socrates was ennobled by the hemlock draught. Wrench from Cato's hand his sword, the vindicator of liberty, and you deprive him of the greatest share of his glory."

"Plura sunt, Lucili, quae nos terrent quam quae premunt, et saepius opinione quam re laboramus."

"Mos antiquis fuit, usque ad meam servatus aetatem, primis epistulae verbis adicere 'si vales bene est, ego valeo'. Recte nos dicimus 'si philosopharis, bene est'. Valere enim hoc demum est. Sine hoc aeger est animus."

"There is no reason why poverty should call us away from philosophy—no, nor even actual want. For when hastening after wisdom, we must endure even hunger. Men have endured hunger when their towns were besieged, and what other reward for their endurance did they obtain than that they did not fall under the conqueror’s power? How much greater is the promise of the prize of everlasting liberty, and the assurance that we need fear neither God nor man! Even though we starve, we must reach that goal."

"Armies have endured all manner of want, have lived on roots, and have resisted hunger by means of food too revolting to mention. All this they have suffered to gain a kingdom, and—what is more marvellous—to gain a kingdom that will be another’s. Will any man hesitate to endure poverty, in order that he may free his mind from madness?"

"If you would not have a man flinch when the crisis comes, train him before it comes."

"Leve aes alienum debitorem facit, grave inimicum."

"Prove your words by your deeds."

"quid est sapienta? semper idem velle atque idem nolle."

"Press on, therefore, as you have begun; perhaps you will be led to perfection, or to a point which you alone understand is still short of perfection."

"Nemo quam bene vivat sed quam diu curat, cum omnibus possit contingere ut bene vivant, ut diu nulli."

"It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time."

"You will thus understand that what you fear is either insignificant or short-lived."

"Mucius put his hand into the fire. It is painful to be burned; but how much more painful to inflict such suffering upon oneself!"

"[Mucius] might have accomplished something more successful in that camp, but never anything more brave."

"It was a great deed to conquer Carthage, but a greater deed to conquer death."

"Illud autem ante omnia memento, demere rebus tumultum ac videre quid in quaque re sit: scies nihil esse in istis terribile nisi ipsum timorem."

"I may become a poor man; I shall then be one among many. I may be exiled; I shall then regard myself as born in the place to which I shall be sent. They may put me in chains. What then? Am I free from bonds now? Behold this clogging burden of a body, to which nature has fettered me! “I shall die,” you say; you mean to say “I shall cease to run the risk of sickness; I shall cease to run the risk of imprisonment; I shall cease to run the risk of death.”"

"I do not know whether I shall make progress; but I should prefer to lack success rather than to lack faith."

"You do not know where death awaits you; so be ready for it everywhere."

"Tu me' inquis 'mones? iam enim te ipse monuisti, iam correxisti? ideo aliorum emendationi vacas?' Non sum tam improbus ut curationes aeger obeam, sed, tamquam in eodem valetudinario iaceam, de communi tecum malo colloquor et remedia communico."

"Sola virtus praestat gaudium perpetuum, securum; etiam si quid obstat, nubium modo intervenit, quae infra feruntur nec umquam diem vincunt."

"You need a change of soul rather than a change of climate."

"You must lay aside the burdens of the mind; until you do this, no place will satisfy you."

"Nam qui peccare se nescit, corrigi non vult."

"Magnus gubernator et scisso navigat velo."

"He who does not wish to die cannot have wished to live."

"I forbid you to be cast down or depressed. It is not enough if you do not shrink from work; ask for it."

"Would you know what makes men greedy for the future? It is because no one has yet found himself."

"Ideo pueris et sententias ediscendas damus et has quas Graeci chrias vocant, quia complecti illas puerilis animus potest, qui plus adhuc non capit. Certi profectus viro captare flosculos turpe est et fulcire se notissimis ac paucissimis vocibus et memoria stare: sibi iam innitatur. Dicat ista, non teneat; turpe est enim seni aut prospicienti senectutem ex commentario sapere. 'Hoc Zenon dixit': tu quid? 'Hoc Cleanthes': tu quid? Quousque sub alio moveris? impera et dic quod memoriae tradatur, aliquid et de tuo profer."

"Praeterea qui alium sequitur nihil invenit, immo nec quaerit."

"Quid ergo? non ibo per priorum vestigia? ego vero utar via vetere, sed si propiorem planioremque invenero, hanc muniam. Qui ante nos ista moverunt non domini nostri sed duces sunt. Patet omnibus veritas; nondum est occupata; multum ex illa etiam futuris relictum est."

"Amicitia semper prodest, amor aliquando etiam nocet"

"You must die erect and unyielding."

"It is disgraceful, instead of proceeding ahead, to be carried along, and then suddenly, amid the whirlpool of events, to ask in a dazed way: “How did I get into this condition?”"

"It is the quality of a great soul to scorn great things and to prefer that which is ordinary rather than that which is too great."

"Then it is that the height of unhappiness is reached, when men are not only attracted, but even pleased, by shameful things, and when there is no longer any room for a cure, now that those things which once were vices have become habits."

"Facis rem optimam et tibi salutarem, si, ut scribis, perseveras ire ad bonam mentem, quam stultum est optare, cum possis a te impetrare. Non sunt ad caelum elevandae inarms nee exorandus aedituus, ut nos ad aurem simulacri, quasi magis exaudiri possimus, admittat; Prope est a te deus, tecum est, intus est. Ita dico, Lucili: sacer intra nos spiritus sedet, malorum bonorumque nostrorum observator et custos..."

"Non faciunt meliorem equum aurei freni."

"If you see a man who is unterrified in the midst of dangers, untouched by desires, happy in adversity, peaceful amid the storm, who looks down upon men from a higher plane, and views the gods on a footing of equality, will not a feeling of reverence for him steal over you, will you not say: “This quality is too great and too lofty to be regarded as resembling this petty body in which it dwells? A divine power has descended upon that man.”"

"Do not they bring it to pass by knowing that they know nothing at all?"

"It is the common vice of all, in old age, to be too intent upon our interests."

"What comes from this quarter, set it down as so much gain."

"It is a maxim of old that among themselves all things are common to friends."

"According as the man is, so must you humor him."

"I bid him look into the lives of men as though into a mirror, and from others to take an example for himself."

"As the saying is, I have got a wolf by the ears."

"Quot homines tot sententiae: suus cuique mos."