EMPEROR NERO (37-68)—in the early years of his reign, on being requested to sign a writ for the execution of a malefactor. (Suetonius, Twelve Caesars: Nero). Cf. "Je vondrais, disiez-vous, ne savoir pas écrire." (Would that I knew not how to write; you said).—Racine, Britannicus, act iv, c. 4. (Burrhus). Joachim Gersdorff, a Danish deputy, when signing the treaty between Denmark and Sweden (1658) is reported to have said. 'Vellem me nescire litteras.' (I could wish that I was unable to write.)— Percy Anecdotes, vol. 1, p. 155. Quando hic sum, non jejuno Sabbato; quando Romae ST. AMBROSE (340-97).-Reply to St. Augustine, who had consulted him with regard to fasting. At Rome they fasted on Saturday, and at Milan they did not. (St. Augustine, Epistolae, xxxvi, § 32: To Casulanus). This is supposed to be the origin of the saying 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.' Cf. When they are at Rome, they do there as they see done.-Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, pt. iii, sec. 4, mem. 2, subs. 1. Quicquid laudat vituperio dignum est; quicquid cogitat, vanum; quicquid loquitur, falsum; quicquid improbat, bonum; quicquid extollit, infame est. (Whatever they praise deserves blame; whatever they think is vain; whatever they say is false; whatever they disapprove is good; whatever they glorify is infamous). POPE JOHN XXII (1244-1334)— alluding to the common people. (Bzovius, Ad ann. 1334, No. 2). * Nero. Quid times? Cæsarem vehis. (What do you fear? Cesar is your passenger). See Καίσαρα φέρεις &c. Qui facit per alium est perinde ac si faciat per seipsum. (He who does a thing through an agent is as responsible as if he were to do it himself). POPE BONIFACE VIII (c 12251303)-(Sexti Decretalium Liber, x, tit. 20, de Regulis Juris 72). Usually quoted as 'Qui facit per alium facit per se" (He who acts through another acts himself), a legal maxim. 66 Quinctili Vare, legiones redde! (Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!) EMPEROR AUGUSTUS (63 B.C.-14 A.D.)-alluding to the defeat of the Romans by Arminius, when Varus lost three whole legions. (Suetonius, Twelve Caesars; Augustus, 23). Cf. O mort épargne ce qui reste! Varus, rends-nous nos légions. (O death! spare what remains! Varus, give us back our legions.) Casimir Delavigne's, Messénienne on Waterloo. See Give me back my youth. Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit regnare (Who knows not how to dissimulate, knows not how to reign). LOUIS XI. (1423-83)-referring to his son, asserting that he would know enough if he knew the five words above (De Thou, Histoire Universelle, vol. iii, p. 293). Cf. Sir Walter Scott, Quentin Durward, ch. i; Savoir dissimuler est le savoir des rois. (To know how to dissimulate is the knowledge of kings)-Richelieu, Mirame (tragedy); also Montaigne's Essays, bk. 2. ch. xvii, and note; Qui ne sçait dissimuler ne peut régner. (Who knows not how to dissimulate carnot reign)-XVIth century proverb; and . . . . . vivere nescit, Ut bene vulgus ait, qui nescit dissimulare. (He knows not how to live, As says the saw, who knows not how to feign) Palingenius, Zodiaeus Vita "Cancer," 683. Qui tacet consentire videtur. (Silence gives consent). POPE BONIFACE VIII (12251303)-(Sexti Decretalis Liber, bk. v, tit. xii, de Regulis Juris, 43). Cf. Qui ne dit mot consent. (Silence gives consent)-French Proverb. Quoniam meos tam suspicione quam crimine judico carere oportere. (Because the members of my household should be free not only from crime, but from the mere suspicion of it). JULIUS CAESAR (100-44 B.C.)— when asked why he had put away his wife, after Clodius (in love with her) had introduced himself into Cæsar's house disguised as a woman (Suetonius, Twelve Casars: Julius Casar, 74). Plutarch (Lives. Cæsar, 10) quotes the saying as: "OTɩ TÙY ἔμην ἠξιοῦν μηδὲ ὑπονοηθῆναι. (Because I considered that my wife should not even be the object of suspicion). In his Apophthegmata (Casar, 3) the words are given as: Τὴν Καίσαζος γυναῖκα καὶ διαβολῆς δεῖ καθαρὰν εἶναι (Cæsar's wife should be above suspicion). Cf. . . τὸν Καίσαρος ἔδει γάμον οὐ πράξεως αἰσχρᾶς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ φήμης καθαρὸν εἶναι (Casar's marriage should be free not only from a shameful act, but even from the report of it).- Plutarch, Lives: Cicero, 29. Quousque tandem abutere, Cati lina, patientia nostra ? (How far then, Catiline, will you abuse our patience?). CICERO (106-43 B.C.)-at the beginning of the first oration against Catiline (In Catilinam, I, i, 1). Rex regnat, sed non gubernat. (The king reigns, but does not govern). JAN ZAMOISKI (1541-1605)--in a speech at the Diet of 1605, reproaching King Sigismund III (1568-1632). See Le roi règne et ne gouverne pas. Sancte Pater, sic transit gloria mundi. (Holy Father, thus passeth away the glory of the world). Formula used at the crowning of the popes, and said as the lighted bunches of tow extinguish themselves. See Sic transit gloria mundi. Sanitas sanitatum, omnia sani tas. (Sanity of sanities, all is sanity). BENJAMIN DISRAELI [Earl of Beaconsfield] (1804-81)-in a speech at Manchester, April 3, 1872, he said: A great scholar and a great wit, 300 years ago, said that, in his opinion, there was a great mistake in the Vulgate... ... and that instead of saying, 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,'- Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas-the wise and witty king really said Sanitas, &c. The views expressed in that speech were called "a policy of sewage" by a leading Liberal member of Parliament, and the phrase was referred to by Disraeli in his speech at the Crystal Palace, June 24, 1872. Beaconsfield probably was referring to Gilles Ménage (1613-92), for in a postscript to a letter from G. G. Leibnitz (1646-1716) to the abbé Nicaise, dated Hanover, Sept. 29, 1693, the philosopher mentions that he was in the habit of using the phrase without knowing that Ménage used it also, as he learns from Ménagiana is the case: Comme nous [i.e. Ménage and M. de Balzac] nous entretenions de ce qui pouvoit rendre heureux, je luy dis; Sanitas sani tatum, & omnia sanitas. Il me pria cependant de ne point publier cette pensée, parce qu'il vouloit luy donner place en quelque endroit. En effet il s'en est servy dans quelqu'un de ses "ouvrages." ("As we were talking of what could make any one happy, I said to him: Sanitas sani tatum, et omnia sanitas. He begged me, however, not to publish this idea, *The Vulgate, Ecclesiastes 1, 2. because he wanted to nse it in some place. In fact he has made use of it in some one of his works.") — Ménagiana, p. 166, Amsterdam, 1693. Sat celeriter fieri, quidquid fiat satis bene. (Whatever is done well enough is done quickly enough). EMPEROR AUGUSTUS (63 B.C.14 A.D.)-Suetonius, Twelve Casars: Augustus, xxv). Si ad naturam vives, nunquam eris pauper si ad opiniones, nunquam eris dives. (If you live according to nature, you will never be poor: if according to fancy, you will never be rich). EPICURUS (342-270 B.C.)-(Seneca, Epistolae, xvi, 7). Sic transit gloria mundi. (Thus passeth away the glory of the world). It is said that, as the Roman emperors passed in state through the streets of the Imperial city, they were preceded by an officer who carried burning flax and who from time to time uttered the above words. See Sancia Pater, sic transit gloria mundi. Sint ut sunt, aut non sint. (Let them be as they are, or let them be not at all). LORENZA RICCI, general of the Jesuits (1703-75) reply, when it was proposed to him that the order should be preserved on condition that some of its rules should be altered. The Order was abolished, by Clement XIV, on July 21, 1773. Also attributed to CLEMENT XIII (1693-1769). Sub hoc signo vinces.-See In hoc signo vinces. Tandem aliquando surge, carnifex? (Are you ever going to rise, you butcher ?) MAECENAS written on his tablets, and thrown to the Emperor Teneo te, Africa! (I hold thee fast, Africa). CASAR (100-44 B.C.)-who fell on landing in Africa, turning in his favour what would otherwise have been looked upon as a bad omen. (Suetonius, Twelve Cæsars, 59). See J'ai saisi cette terre de mes mains, &c.; Oh! oh! voilà qui s'appelle, &c. Tibi istum ad munimentum mei committo, si recte agam; sin aliter, in me magis. (I hand it over to you as a defence for myself, if I do right; if I do wrong, as a defence against myself). EMPEROR TRAJAN (c. 52-117)— to Subarranus when appointed captain of his guards, referring to a drawn sword (Dio Cassius). Another version is 'Pro me; si merear, in me,' (For me; if I deserve it, against me)-Percy Anecdotes, vol. iii., p. 343. Ubi tu, Caius, ego, Caia. (Where you are, M, there will I, N, be). Formula pronounced by a bride at marriage ceremonies, according to Roman tradition. Ultima ratio regum. (The last argument of kings). CARDINAL RICHELIEU (15851642)-maxim adopted by him, who even had it engraved on cannons. He derived it from Cardinal Francisco Ximenès (1436-1517), who, when asked for reasons for certain acts of authority on his part, commanded a discharge of artillery, saying Hæc est ratio ultima regis' (There is the king's last argument'). Cf. -the gag-the rack-the axe-is the ratio ultima Roma'-Sir W. Scott, Monastery, ch. xxxi (Henry Warden). Urbem marmoream se re linquere, quam lateritiam accepisset (.. I found Rome brick, and left it marble). AUGUSTUS (63 B.C.-14 A.D.) -referring to the improvements he had made in the city (Suetonius, Twelve Casars, ii, 29; cf. Dio Cassius, Ivi, 589). The saying was alluded to by Lord Brougham (1778-1868) in his speech on Law Reform in the House of Commons, Feb., 1828. He spoke for six hours. "Urbem venalem et mature perituram, si emptorem invenerit" (the city was for sale, and would come to an untimely end if a purchaser could be found). JUGURTHA (d. 106 B.C.)-apostro phizing Rome (Sallust, Jugurtha, 35). Urbi et orbi. (On the city and the world). Formula accompanying the papal benediction given from the balcony of St. John de Latran on Holy Thursday, Easter Day and Ascension Day. Cf. also Mme. de Staël, Corinne, bk. x, ch. v, end. Usque ad aras amicus. (I am a friend right up to the altar.)See Μέχρι τοῦ βωμοῦ φίλος είναι Utinam populus Romanus unam cervicem haberet ! (Would that the people of Rome had but one neck!) CAIUS CALIGULA (12-41)—when JULIUS CESAR (100-44 B.C.)—— in a note to Amantius, at Rome, after his victory over Pharnace, King of Pont, near Zela. The note is, however, probably not authentic. There is no Latin authority for the words, but Plutarch (Lives: Julius Cæsar, 50) quotes them as 'HÍλov, εἶδον, ἐνίκησα. Cf. "But what of that? he saw me, and yielded; that I may justly say with the hook-nosed fellow of Rome,-I came, saw and overcame "- Shakespeare, II King Henry IV., act IV., sc. 3. "Cæsar himself could never say "He got two victories in a day, "As I have done, that can say, Twice I, "In one day, Veni, Vidi, Vici."--S. Butler, Hudieras, pt. 1. can. 3, 1. 733. Vicisti, Galilæe! (Thou hast conquered, Galilæan). Attributed to the EMPEROR JULIAN, "the Apostate" [331-63]. The story is that he was mortally wounded by a javelin, and that he threw some blood from the wound against heaven, exclaiming as above (Theodoret, Eccles. History, bk, iii, ch. 25). Cf. Thou hast conquered, O pale GalileanSwinburne, Hymn to Proserpine. Viribus unitis. (With united strength) JOSEPH VON BERGMANN-motto adopted by the Emperor of Austria Francis Joseph I, Feb. 12, 1848. |