WIST Quotations

Juvenal -- Satires

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Hold it the greatest wrong to prefer life to honor and for the sake of life to lose the reason for living.

Juvenal (c.55-127) Roman satirist [Decimus Junius Juvinalis]
Satires

Juvenal -- Satires, 2.84 [tr. P. Green (1967)]

Dave — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:36:47 +0000

Corruption comes by degrees.

Juvenal (c.55-127) Roman satirist [Decimus Junius Juvinalis]
Satires, 2.84 [tr. P. Green (1967)]

Juvenal -- Satires, no. X

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Look around the habitable world, how few
Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.

Juvenal (c.55-127) Roman satirist [Decimus Junius Juvinalis]
Satires, no. X

(Dryden trans., 1683)

Juvenal -- Satires, Satire 1, l. 30.

Dave — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:56:15 +0000

It is difficult not to write satire.

[Difficile est saturam non scribere.]

Juvenal (c.55-127) Roman satirist [Decimus Junius Juvinalis]
Satires, Satire 1, l. 30.

Juvenal -- Satires, Satire 10, l. 78-79

Dave — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 13:46:00 +0000

The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two things — bread and circuses!

[Nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses.]

Juvenal (c.55-127) Roman satirist [Decimus Junius Juvinalis]
Satires, Satire 10, l. 78-79

Alt. trans.: "The people long for only two things: bread and circuses."

Juvenal -- Satires, Satire 2, l. 83

Dave — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 13:46:31 +0000

No man ever became extremely wicked all at once.

[Nemo repente fuit turpissimus.]

Juvenal (c.55-127) Roman satirist [Decimus Junius Juvinalis]
Satires, Satire 2, l. 83

Alt. trans.: "No one ever became thoroughly bad all at once" or "No one's only corrupted overnight" or "No one reaches the depths of turpitude all at once."

Juvenal -- Satires, Satire 6, l. 347 [tr. Evans (1861)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

But who will guard the guardians themselves?

[Sed uis custodiet ipsos custodes?]

Juvenal (c.55-127) Roman satirist [Decimus Junius Juvinalis]
Satires, Satire 6, l. 347 [tr. Evans (1861)]

"But who is to guard the guards themselves?"
"But who watches the watchmen?"

The original context in Juvenal is that while a husband might put his wife under guard to prevent her adulteries, who will guard the guards?

Juvenal -- Satires, Satire 8, l. 83

Dave — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 11:42:13 +0000

Count it the greatest sin to prefer life to honor, and for the sake of living to lose what makes life worth living.

[Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.]

Juvenal (c.55-127) Roman satirist [Decimus Junius Juvinalis]
Satires, Satire 8, l. 83