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Group 48: Latin

639. Nive candidior.

640. Adamante durior.

641. Subere levior.

642. Fele rapacior.

643. Lepore timidior.

644. Glire somniculosior.

645. Phoenice rarior.

646. Chamaleonte mutabilior.

647. Samsone fortior.

648. Salomone sapientior.

649. Milone robustior.

650. Persarum rege beatior.

651. Crambe recocta molestior.

652. Melle dulci dulcior.

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Study Guide

639. Whiter than snow. (The Latin grammar of Donatus cites this as an example of hyperbole.)

640. Harder than adamant. (Adamant is a proverbially hard substance. Vergil tells us, for example, that Tartarus is sealed behind columns of adamant.)

641. Lighter than cork. (This is a phrase which made its way into Eramsus's Adagia, 2.4.7.)

642. More grasping than a cat. (To see the predatory cat at work, you can read about the adventures of the cat, the eagle, and the sow in this Aesop's fable.)

643. More timid than a rabbit. (An Aesop's fable tells us that the rabbits were so scared that they were ready to commit suicide, although they changed their minds when they realized the frogs were even greater cowards than the rabbits.)

644. Sleepier than a dormouse. (The proverbially sleepy dormouse was made immortal, of course, in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.)

645. More rare than a phoenix. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)

646. More changing than a chameleon. (The chameleon is a lizard able to change its color, using its chromatophore cells.)

647. Stronger than Samson. (You can read about the amazing strength of Samson in the Biblical Book of Judges.)

648. Wiser than Solomon. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)

649. Stronger than Milo. (Milo of Croton was an ancient Greek athlete who was renowned for his strength, who supposedly trained by carrying a newborn calf around on his back.)

650. More fortunate than the king of the Persians. (You can find this saying in Horace.)

651. More irksome than leftover cabbage. (Erasmus includes this comparison in the introduction to his Adagia, under the heading De Figuris proverbialibus, "About Proverbial Figures of Speech.")

652. Sweeter than sweet honey. (You can find this saying used in Plautus's Asinaria.)