Laudator Temporis Acti

You cannot so easily persuade them to plough the soil or to wait for the harvest as to challenge an enemy and earn wounds as a reward. Indeed, they think it tame and spiritless to accumulate slowly by sweat what they can get quickly by losing some blood.

nec arare terram aut exspectare annum tam facile persuaseris quam vocare hostem et vulnera mereri. pigrum quin immo et iners videtur sudore adquirere quod possis sanguine parare.

This may have been a commonplace in descriptions of northern barbarians: five hundred years earlier Herodotus (5.6.2) had observed that the Thracians regarded agricultural work as dishonourable, and considered plunder and war the most onourable sources of livelihood. For Tacitus this observation serves as a contrast with the Roman ideal of the farmer-soldier, who embodied the Roman military values of steadfastness, discipline, and hard work. Virgil, for example, describes how the hardy youth of ancient times could both tame the earth with hoes and storm citadels in war (Aen. 9.607– 8); Vegetius (Mil. 1.3) says that in the past the same men were both warriors and farmers, changing only their type of arms; the elder Cato could still assert that 'the bravest men and most energetic soldiers are made from farmers' (Agr. praef. 4). Roman tradition emphasized that many of the city's early heroes were both farmers and soldiers, like Cincinnatus who was summoned from his plough to lead the army (Cic. Sen. 56, Livy 3.13.36, Colum. Rust. praef. 13–14).

Brigandage beyond the boundary of a nation is not disreputable, indeed they commend it as training the young and suppressing laziness.

latrocinia nullam habent infamiam, quae extra fines cuiusque civitatis fiunt, atque ea iuventutis exercendae ac desidiae minuendae causa fieri praedicant.

I like a Russian to be Russian;
   The Englishman should English be;
And if in Prussia men are Prussian,
   Frenchmen in France be we!
Whilst here our hearts are gushing o'er,
And can but count "one Frenchman more,"
Friends, friends, oh, faithful let us stand;
Aye faithful to our native land!

J'aime qu'un Russe soit Russe,
Et qu'un Anglais soit Anglais.
Si l'on est Prussien en Prusse,
En France, soyons Français.
Lorsqu'ici nos coeurs émus
Comptent des Français de plus,
Mes amis, mes amis,
Soyons de notre pays,
Oui, soyons de notre pays.

My own motive in mentioning and refuting the rumour has been to illustrate by one conspicuous instance the falsity of hearsay gossip, and to urge those who read this book not to prefer incredible tales — however widely current and readily accepted — to the truth unblemished by marvels.

mihi tradendi arguendique rumoris causa fuit, ut claro sub exemplo falsas auditiones depellerem peteremque ab iis, quorum in manus cura nostra venerit, <ne> divulgata atque incredibilia avide accepta veris neque in miraculum corruptis antehabeant.

ne suppl. Rhenanus

Approaching here, I see—some men, quite drunk.
You're sensible. What fortune brings is all
Uncertain. Take your pleasure while you can!

ὄχλον ἄλλον ἀνθρώπων προσιόντα τουτονὶ
ὁρῶ μεθυόντων. νοῦν ἔχετε· τὸ τῆς τύχης
ἄδηλον· εὐφραίνεσθ᾿ ὃν ἔξεστιν χρόνον.

The day's toil is past and the hour of rest comes again; caressing slumber in its turn relaxes our tired limbs.

The mind storm-tossed and careworn drinks deep the cup of forgetfulness.

Oblivion steals over all the body and lets no sense of soreness abide with the afflicted.

fluxit labor diei,
redit et quietis hora,        10
blandus sopor vicissim
fessos relaxat artus.

mens aestuans procellis,
curisque sauciata,
totis bibit medullis        15
obliviale poclum.

serpit per omne corpus
Lethaea vis, nec ullum
miseris doloris aegri
patitur manere sensum.        20

• Sleep
• More on Sleep
• Hymn to Sleep
• Paean to Sleep
• Prayer for an Insomniac
• Benedetto Accolti's Ode to Sleep
• Accolti's Ode to Sleep Revisited
• Fernando de Herrera's Ode to Sleep
• A Sonnet to Sleep, by Giovanni Della Casa
• A Sonnet to Sleep, by Pontus de Tyard

It is not our cloistered Hellenists and city-dwellers but our shepherds and yokels who, in their daily occupations and habits of housekeeping, touch most nearly the ancient Greek — not merely the Greek of the unsettled early days and of the quiet Middle Ages, but the alert and enterprising citizen of fifth-century Athens.

'Go today into the recesses of the Ardennes and you will still find some of these children of the soil. You will meet the old-fashioned peasant, systematically ignorant of everything connected with commerce and industry, an aristocrat and a conservative in his own peculiar way, protesting against every novelty, and adding year by year to his ancestral store. An Athenian of two thousand years ago would have understood him: today he is but the last survivor of a vanishing race.'

A man who can be trusted in troubles is a better sight than a calm to sailors.

                                πιστὸς ἐν κακοῖς ἀνὴρ
κρείσσων γαλήνης ναυτίλοισιν εἰσορᾶν.

There are three ways in which those who aim at acquiring the art of generalship may reasonably hope to do so, first by studying histories and availing themselves of the lessons contained in them, secondly by following the systematic instruction of experienced men, and thirdly by the habit and experience acquired in actual practice, and in all three the present Achaean strategi were absolutely unversed.

Ὅτι τριῶν ὄντων τρόπων, καθ᾿ οὓς ἐφίενται πάντες στρατηγίας οἱ κατὰ λόγον αὐτῇ προσιόντες, πρώτου μὲν διὰ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων καὶ τῆς ἐκ τούτων κατασκευῆς, ἑτέρου δὲ τοῦ μεθοδικοῦ καὶ τῆς παρὰ τῶν ἐμπείρων ἀνδρῶν παραδόσεως, τρίτου δὲ τοῦ διὰ τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων ἕξεως καὶ τριβῆς, πάντων ἦσαν τούτων ἀνεννόητοι οἱ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν στρατηγοὶ ἁπλῶς.

Competent writers always examine what they have put down. Better than competent writers — good writers — examine their effects before they put them down: they think that way all the time. Bad writers never examine anything. Their inattentiveness to the detail of their prose is part and parcel of their inattentiveness to the detail of the outside world.

I have read many books, but to little purpose, for want of good method, I have confusedly tumbled over divers authors in our Libraries, with small profit for want of art, order, memory, judgement.

You shall hear nothing more on this subject except a proverb borrowed from the streets: 'When you say what you want to say, you shall hear what you do not want to hear.'

nihilque super hoc amplius audies nisi illud de trivio: cum dixeris quod vis, audies quod non vis.

If he persists in saying just what he likes, he shall hear what he won't like.

si mihi perget quae volt dicere, ea quae non volt audiet.

The most important question to the critical theorist is therefore Cicero's famous "Cui bono?" — "Who benefits?"

"Cui bono?" is the well-known test of Cassius Longinus (Consul, B.C. 127) for discovering the author of a secret crime, — to whom is it for a benefit? who is the gainer by it? cui being the person, and bono the thing. The phrase is often misquoted, as if cui agreed with bono — to what good end? what purpose does it serve?

Rosc. A. 30 L. Cassius ille identidem in causis quaerere solebat, cui bono fuisset.
Rosc. A. 5 accusant ii quibus occidi patrem Sex. Rosci bono fuit.

The Dative of Purpose or Tendency designates the end toward which an action is directed or the direction in which it tends. It is used—

    [....]

    Much more frequently in connection with another Dative of the person:—

      Especially with some form of esse; as,—

        fortunae tuae mihi curae sunt, your fortunes are a care to me (lit. for a care);

        nobis sunt odio, they are an object of hatred to us;

        cui bono? to whom is it of advantage?

The best description of what the ancient Greek landscape looked like is the vision of the 12 mountains of Arcadia in the early Christian prophecy of Hermas, an Arcadian shepherd.

4 And he led me away to Arcadia, to a certain rounded mountain, and seated me οn top of the mountain, and showed me a great plain, and around the plain twelve mountains, and each mountain had a different appearance. 5 The first was black as soot, and the second was bare, without any vegetation, and the third was full of thorns and briars. 6 The fourth had half-withered vegetation; the tops of the plants were green, but the part by the roots was dry. And some of the plants were withering when the sun scorched them. 7 The fifth mountain had green grass and was very rugged, and the sixth mountain was all full of ravines, some small and some large, and the raνines had vegetation, but the vegetation was not very flourishing, but looked rather withered. 8 The seventh mountain had blooming vegetation, and the whole mountain was thriving, and cattle and birds of every kind were feeding οn the mountain; and the more the cattle and the birds ate, the more and more the vegetation of that mountain flourished. The eighth mountain was full of springs, and every species of the Lord's creation drank from the springs οη that mountain. 9 The ninth mountain had nο water at all, and was completely desolate; it had wild beasts and deadly reptiles that destroyed people. The tenth mountain had very large trees and was completely shaded, and beneath the shade sheep lay resting and chewing their cud. 10 The eleventh mountain was thickly wooded all over, and these trees were very productive, each adorned with various kinds of fruit, so that anyone who saw them wanted to eat of their fruit. And the twelfth mountain was completely white, and its appearance was very bright, and the mountain in and of itself was extraordinarily beautiful.

There seems little doubt that Beethoven's worship of nature had deeply religious overtones. This worship went far beyond the conventional pastoral and arcadian evocations characteristic of the followers of Rousseau and Schiller to border upon religious fervor: "Every tree in the countryside said to me: 'Holy! Holy!' In the forest, enchantment! Who can express it all?" Even more explicit is the passage on a leaf of sketches: "Almighty in the forest! I am happy, blissful in the forest: every tree speaks through you, O God! What splendor! In such a woodland scene, on the heights there is calm, calm in which to serve Him."

If ever you have come upon a grove that is full of ancient trees which have grown to an unusual height, shutting out a view of the sky by a veil of pleached and intertwining branches, then the loftiness of the forest, the seclusion of the spot, and your marvel at the thick unbroken shade in the midst of the open spaces, will prove to you the presence of deity.

si tibi occurrerit vetustis arboribus et solitam altitudinem egressis frequens lucus et conspectum caeli densitate ramorum aliorum alios protegentium summovens, illa proceritas silvae et secretum loci et admiratio umbrae in aperto tam densae atque continuae fidem tibi numinis faciet.

The gods themselves are not slow to prefer the forests of earth to heaven,
and every grove has its own deity.
Long let each grove have its deity!
Leave not, O gods, your homes amid the trees.

Dii quoque non dubitant caelo praeponere silvas,
   Et sua quisque sibi numina lucus habet.
Et sua quisque diu sibi numina lucus habeto,
   Nec vos arborea, dii, precor, ite domo.

In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus.

What have you by your Rhine and Ister here
That may enthrone you with the ancient Greek?
The newspaper, the journal, the critique,
Ministers of police — tobacco — beer!

You who have never known those sisters dear,
Freedom and Art, who, girdled, there would seek
To place upon their heads crowns which bespeak
Perfection — would you pedants Greeks appear?

Nay, all your efforts are but mockeries.
For Greece knew how to spread th' eternal sheen
Of beauty over everything. What is

The art of which your boasts have ever been?
In a great ocean of absurdities
A few ingenious swimmers may be seen!

---

Was habt ihr denn an euerm Rhein und Ister,
Um neben dem Hellenenvolk zu thronen?
Journale, Zeitungsblätter, Rezensionen,
Tabak und Bier und Polizeiminister!

Die nie ihr kanntet jene zwei Geschwister,
Freiheit und Kunst, die dort in schönern Zonen
Auf's Haupt sich setzen der Vollendung Kronen,
Ihr haltet euch für Griechen, ihr Philister?

Gestümpert habt ihr bloß nach vielen Seiten,
Da Griechenland der Schönheit ewigen Schimmer
Auf alles Seiende gewußt zu breiten.

Was ist die Kunst, mit der ihr prahlet immer?
In einem Ozean von Albernheiten
Erscheinen einige geniale Schwimmer!

For no one would call a person blessedly happy who has no shred of courage, temperance, justice, or practical wisdom, but is afraid of the flies buzzing around him, stops at nothing to gratify his appetite for food or drink, betrays his dearest friends for a pittance, and has a mind as foolish and prone to error as a child's or a madman's.

οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἂν φαίη μακάριον τὸν μηθὲν μόριον ἔχοντα ἀνδρείας μηδὲ σωφροσύνης μηδὲ δικαιοσύνης μηδὲ φρονήσεως, ἀλλὰ δεδιότα μὲν τὰς παραπετομένας μυίας, ἀπεχόμενον δὲ μηθενός, ἂν ἐπιθυμήσῃ τοῦ φαγεῖν ἢ πιεῖν, τῶν ἐσχάτων, ἕνεκα δὲ τεταρτημορίου διαφθείροντα τοὺς φιλτάτους φίλους, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν διάνοιαν οὕτως ἄφρονα καὶ διεψευσμένον ὥσπερ τι παιδίον ἢ μαινόμενον.

The satirist undoubtedly grouped mankind into three categories:

                                                    ad hoc se
Romanus Gaiusque et barbarus induperator
erexit.                                           (X 137-9)

Labels: typographical and other errors

Οἱ αὐτοὶ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν αὐτοῖς τὰ αὐτά.—"The same persons saying the same things to the same persons, about the same things." A proverbial saying quoted by Grangaeus, a commentator on Juvenal, illustrative of the drudgery of the pedagogue. Observe the declension of αὐτός in the Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Accusative cases.

Though guiltless, you will continue to pay for the sins of your forefathers...

Delicta maiorum immeritus lues...

Thy father's crimes, though guiltless, thou shalt rue...