"Virtus" (John Owen)

     I rather liked my daily reading from Brevissima this morning - it's #180 in the collection, from John Owen (c. 1564-c.1628), Epigrammata 3.96. The text in Latin is:

Non est in verbis virtus, at rebus inhaeret;

Res sunt, non voces, spes amor atque fides.

Roughly rendered in English:

Virtue is not in words, but it is inherent in things [acts, deeds]

Hope, love, and faith are things [acts, deeds], not words.

The real problem with this one is that while the Latin is clear, the fact that no real English equivalent exists for the Latin noun res - it is most often rendered "thing," but can be anything from "matter," "topic of discussion," "affairs," to stuff like, "the universe," "government," and such. Here, much of the play of meaning hinges on the idea that to the Romans, the act of hoping, loving, or being faithful is every bit as much a concrete thing as a stone, to be contrasted with mere words. That contrast is not as plain in English, in my opinion.