Tuesday, January 19, 2021

January 19th Latin of the Day - "Vivas ut possis quando nec quis ut velis."

 Vivas ut possis quando nec quis ut velis.

"Live as you can since you cannot live as you wish."

~ Caecilius Statius, c. 219 - 166 B.C.E., Plocium

Monday, January 18, 2021

January 18th Latin of the Day - "vulneratus non victus"

 vulneratus non victus

"wounded, not defeated" - I have seen this paraphrased as "bloodied but unbowed"

Sunday, January 17, 2021

January 17th Latin of the Day - "ad libitum"

 ad libitum - commonly abbreviated ad lib. or simply ad lib

"at pleasure" ("as it pleases," "to the point that pleases")

Often used now in theater, to refer to inserting lines "at pleasure" to the performance that were not in the script.

Saturday, January 16, 2021

January 16th Latin of the Day - "Ubi libertas, ibi patria"

 Ubi libertas, ibi patria.

"Where freedom is, there is my country."

Literally, "Where freedom (is), there (is) the fatherland."

~ Anonymous

Thursday, January 14, 2021

January 14th Latin of the Day - "Patria est, ubicumque est bene."

 Patria est, ubicumque est bene.

"Wherever we are content, that is our country."

More literally, "That is the fatherland, wherever it is well (with us)." Wherever things are well, that is home. 

~ Marcus Pacuvius, c. 220 - c. 130 B.C.E. From Teucer

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Saturday, January 2, 2021

January 2nd Latin of the Day - "Cum mortuis non nisi larvae luctantur"

 Cum mortuis non nisi larvae luctantur.

"None except ghosts fight with the dead."

Apparently proverbial. I came across it today in the preface to Pliny the Elder's Natural History.