Love. Fear. Government. Si meliores sunt quos ducit amor, plures sunt quos corrigit timor. "If those are best whom love constrains, they are most numerous whom fear holds in check." Hope. Spes est vigilantis somnium. "Hope is the dream of a man awake.” — Adapted from Quintilian. Miscellaneous Authors. Rule of Life. Quum fini appropinquas, bonum cum augmento operare. "As you approach your latter end, redouble your efforts to do good." - Saying of Ptolemy, the astronomer, quoted in Latin by Lord Bacon. Government. Arms. Laws. Imperatoriam majestatem non solum armis decoratam, sed etiam legibus oportet esse armatam; ut utrumque tempus et bellorum et pacis recte possit gubernari. "Imperial majesty ought to be not only clothed with arms, but armed with laws; to the end that proper government may prevail both in times of war and peace." - Opening lines of the Proemium, or preface, to the Institutes of Justinian. Justice. Justitia est constans et perpetua voluntas jus suum cuique tribuendi. "Justice is the constant and eternal desire of rendering every one his due.” — Institutes of Justinian, Lib. I, 1, I. Jurisprudence. Jurisprudentia est divinarum atque humanarum rerum notia; justi atque injusti scientia. Jurisprudence is the knowledge of things divine and human; the science of right and wrong." - Ib., Lib. I, 1, 1. Avarice. Man. Wants. Homines quo plura habent, eo ampliora cupiunt. "The more men have, the more they want.” — Ib. Laws. Rule of Life. Juris praecepta sunt: honeste vivere, alterum non laedere, suum cuique tribuere. "The mandates of the law are these: to live uprightly, to harm not another, and to render every one his own." — Ib., Lib. I, 1, 3. Justice. Equity. Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus, aut differemus justitiam vel rectum. "Justice and equity we will neither sell, nor deny, nor delay.” Magna Charta, Ch. 29. Kindness. Doing Good. Summa caritas est unicuique facere justitiam omni tempore, cum opus fuerit. "The greatest kindness is to do good to every one all the time, as opportunity shall present." Westm. I. Anno 3, Ed. I, Ch. 50. Justice. Justitia non novit patrem, matrem, neque fratrem; personam non accipit, sed Deum imitatur. "Justice recognizes neither father, nor mother, nor brother; it acknowledges no person, but portrays God.” — St. Jerome. Rule of Life. Occupation. Facito aliquid operis, ut semper te diabolus inveniat occupatum. "Be busy about something, so that the devil may always find you occupied." St. Jerome. Monuments. Si monumentum quaeris, circumspice. "If you seek my monument, look about you.” - The celebrated epitaph of Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. These words, with ten or twelve lines more of what Mirabeau called 'execrable Latin,' may be found inscribed on a shaft in the vault of that magnificent structure which the architect was wont to call his greatest monument. Wisdom. Truth. Wrangling. Intelligit, qui orando pulsat, non qui vexando obstrepit, ad ostiam veritatis. "He has understanding who with supplication pushes to the gate of truth, not he who by wrangling raises his voice against it.”. St. Augustine. Saints. True and False. Multi odorantur in ara qui cremantur in igne. - St. "Many are worshiped at altars who are burning in flames." Augustine. It is not every man who has been canonized as a saint that is entitled to adoration. Living in Necessity. Malum est in necessitate vivere: sed in necessitate vivere, necessitas nulla est. "It is bad to live in necessity, but there is no necessity to live there." Epicurus, quoted by Seneca, Epist. 13. Change. Revolution. Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. "All things are subject to change, and we change with them."Borbonius. Frequently quoted Tempora mutantur, etc. Learning. Atheism. God. Breves haustus in philosophia ad Atheismum ducunt, largiores autem reducunt ad Deum. "Slight draughts of learning lead to atheism, but larger ones bring men back to God.". Bacon. Homo fervidus et diligens ad omnia paratur. "The man who is earnest and diligent is prepared for all things."— Thomas à Kempis, de Imit. Christi. Sin. Preparation. To-morrow. Melius est peccata cavere, quam mortem fugere. Si hodie non es paratus, quomodo cras eris? Cras est dies incertus et qui scis si crastinum habebis? "It is better to avoid sin, than to fly from death. If to-day you are not prepared, how will you be to-morrow? To-morrow is an uncertain day, and how do you know you will have to-morrow?"— Thomas à Kempis. Rule of Life. Time. Memento semper finis, et quia perditum non redit tempus. "Always remember the end, and that lost time never returns."Thomas à Kempis. Hope. Life. To-morrow. Credula vitam Spes fovet, ac melius cras fore semper ait. "Credulous hope cherishes life, and ever tells us that to-morrow will be better." Tibullus. Grace. Beauty. Illam quicquid agit, quoquo vestigia flectit, Componit furtim, subsequiturque decor. "In whatever she does, wherever she turns, grace steals into her movements, and attends her steps."— Tibullus. Prosperity. Adversity. Rule of Life. Cum fueris felix, quae sunt adversa caveto; Non eadem cursu respondent ultima primis. "While you are prosperous, provide against adversity; the end of life will not be attended by the same train of fortune as the beginning." Cato. Idleness. Man. Evil. Homines nihil agendo discunt male agere. "By having nothing to do, men learn to do evil.” — Cato. Enemies. Friends. Praestat habere acerbos inimicos, quam eos amicos qui dulces videantur. "It is better to have open enemies than pretended friends.” Cato. Virtutum primam esse puta compescere linguam; "Count it the first of virtues to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to a god who knows when to be silent.". Roses among Thorns. Cato. Sed inter vepres rosae nascuntur et inter feras nonnullae mitescunt. "In the midst of thorns roses spring up, and among savage beasts some become gentle." - Ammianus Marcellinus, Historia, 16, 7. Language of Truth. Veritatis absolutus sermo ac semper est simplex. "The language of truth is unadorned and always simple.” — Ammianus Marcellinus, Hist. 14, 10. |