Latin Via Proverbs: Home - Previous - Next

Group 114: Latin

1473. Maneo nemini.

1474. Lupum auribus teneo.

1475. Memorem mones.

1476. Ignem aquae misces.

1477. Danaidum dolium exples.

1478. Ante barbam doces senes.

1479. Sapientis est carere patria.

1480. Est sapientis providere.

1481. Deo parere libertas est.

1482. Durum est omnibus placere.

1483. Durum tondere leonem.

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Study Guide

1473. I wait for no one. (This is an inscription on a sundial: I (i.e. Time) wait for no one.)

1474. I'm holding the wolf by the ears. (Compare the English saying, "to take the bull by the horns." You can find this discussed by Varro.)

1475. You are warning someone who is already mindful. (You can find this in Erasmus's Adagia, 1.2.12.)

1476. You're mixing fire and water. (You can find this in Erasmus's Praise of Folly.)

1477. You're filling up the jar of the daughters of Danaus. (In other words: you are wasting your time. The daughters of Danaus were condemned in the afterlife to fill a jug of water that had holes in it.)

1478. You're teaching old men before you even have a beard. (You can find this saying in Erasmus's Adagia, 3.3.10.)

1479. A wise man lacks a country. (You can find this saying mentioned in Cicero.)

1480. A wise man has forethought. (You can find this in a fragment of Cicero's Hortensius, with something similar in the De Republica: sapientis est prospicere.)

1481. To obey God is freedom. (You can find this saying in Seneca.)

1482. It is hard to please everybody. () Durum est omnibus placere.

1483. It is hard to shear the lion. (You can also find this expressed as a prohibition: ne velis tondere leonem.) Durum tondere leonem.