Friday, October 15, 2004
Vergil's Birthday
What better way to celebrate the birthday of the Roman poet Vergil (70-19 B.C.) than to recall a few lines from his epic Aeneid?
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- 1.203: Perhaps one day it will be pleasant to remember even these things. (forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.)
- 2.49: I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts. (timeo Danaos et dona ferentis.)
- 3.56-57: Accursed hunger for gold, to what lengths do you not drive human hearts? (quid non mortalia pectora cogis, / auri sacra fames?)
- 4.569-570: Woman is ever a fickle and changeable thing. (varium et mutabile semper / femina.)
- 6.126-127: Easy is the descent to the underworld; every night and every day dark Hades' gate stands open. (facilis descensus Averno: / noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis.)
- 8.560: O that Jupiter would bring back to me the bygone years! (o mihi praeteritos referat si Iuppiter annos!)
- 10.284: Fortune helps the brave. (audentis fortuna iuvat.)
- 10.467-469: For each the appointed day is fixed, for all the span of life is short and irrecoverable; but this is the task of bravery -- to make our fame live on by our deeds. (stat sua cuique dies, breve et irreparabile tempus / omnibus est vitae; sed famam extendere factis, / hoc virtutis opus.)
- 12.646: Is it really such a terrible thing, to die? (usque adeone mori miserum est?)
