Wisdom is publicly rejected, affairs are pursued with force,
A good speaker is spurned, and the wretched warrior is loved.
Men strive not with educated speeches but instead with insults
attack one another and enter into mutual enmity.
They seize property suddenly not by the right of law but with swords
As they seek sovereignty and wander with the power of the mob.[Pellitur e medio sapientia, vi geritur res,
spernitur orator bonus, horridus miles amatur.
haut doctis dictis certantes nec maledictis
miscent inter sese inimicitiam agitantes,
non ex iure manum consertum, sed magis ferro
rem repetunt regnumque petunt, vadunt solida vi.]Ennius (239-169 BC) Roman poet, writer [Quintus Ennius]
Annales, Book 8, Sec. 3, l. 262-8
(Source)
On public discourse during wars. Fragment quoted by Cicero in Epistle 171.
Alt. trans.: "Pushed away from the centre good sense, force rules the day, / despised the good orator, the horrid soldier cherished. / Fighting, not with learned words or curses, / they clash with one another, pushing hostilities, / laying hand onto one another not rightfully, but rather with the sword / they seek material gain and strive for power, advancing with brute force."
Quotations by:
Ennius
He who has conquered is not conqueror
Unless the conquered one confesses it.[Qui vincit non est victor nisi victus fatetur.]
Your minds that once did stand erect and strong,
What madness swerves them from their wonted course?
[Quo vobis mentes, rectae quae stare solebant
antehac, dementis sese flexere viai?]Ennius (239-169 BC) Roman poet, writer [Quintus Ennius]
Annals, Book 6, frag. 11 [tr. Falconer (1923)]
(Source)
Setting the words of Appius Claudius to verse, when Appius in his old age berated the Senate for considering peace and alliance with King Pyrrhus of Epirus, who had defeated them (in a "Pyrhhic victory") at Heraclea (280 BC). Fragment recorded in Cicero, De Senectute, ch. 6 / sec. 16 (4.16) (44 BC).
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
Why seid Appius haue ye inclyned and revaled youre couragious hertys whiche til nowe were accustumyd to be ferme and stidfast. Be ye madd or for lak of discressyon agree ye for to condescend and desyre ye to make alliance and peas with kyng Pirrus bycause that he putteth in strength for to putt you downe and in subjection and wolde destroye yowe?
[tr. Worcester/Worcester/Scrope (1481)]
Why do your wits
And senses so rave?
What foolish conceit
Doth encumber your brain?
Where be the ripe judgments,
Which wont you were to have,
To agree to your country's
Ruin most plain?
[tr. Newton (1569)]
Whether now bend your minds, a headlong fall to bring,
Which heretofore had wont to stand, as straight as any thing.
[tr. Austin (1648)]
Whither now do you bend your Thoughts
Which, heretofore, were firm and resolute,
What! madly on your Ruin. ? --
[tr. J. D. (1744)]
What Frenzy now has your wild Minds possest?
You, who were first with sagest Counsels blest,
Your selves on sure Destruction thus to throw!
[tr. Logan (1744)]
Shall folly now that honoured Council sway,
Where sacred wisdom wont to point the way!
[tr. Melmoth (1773)]
Ah! wither have your minds demented turned themselves, wich heretofore were wont to stand erect?
[Cornish Bros. ed. (1847)]
Whither have your minds, which used to stand upright before, in folly turned away?
[tr. Edmonds (1874)]
Wont to stand firm, upon what devious way
Demented rush ye now?
[tr. Peabody (1884)]
Whither have swerved the souls so firm of yore?
Is sense grown senseless? Can feet stand no more?
[tr. Shuckburgh (1895)]
Where are the minds that used to stand serene,
where is the bravery that once has been?
[tr. Allison (1916)]
What is this madness that has turned your minds, until now firm and strong, from their course?
[tr. Grant (1960, 1971 ed.)]
Where are your minds? They always stood up straight till now! Are you mad? Where did you miss the road?
[tr. Copley (1967)]
Up until now your minds were straight and firm.
What bends them now onto this foolish path?
[tr. Cobbold (2012)]
How on earth could your mind
Once upright and dignified
Take a downturn and backslide?
[tr. Bozzi (2015)]
What madness has turned your minds, once firm and strong, from their course?
[tr. Freeman (2016)]
Who kindly sets a wand’rer on his way
Does e’en as if he lit another’s lamp by his:
No less shines his, when he his friend’s hath lit.[Homó, qui erranti cómiter monstrát viam,
Quasi lúmen de suo lúmine accendát, facit.
Nihiló minus ipsi lúcet, cum illi accénderit.]Ennius (239-169 BC) Roman poet, writer [Quintus Ennius]
Telephus, frag 412-414 [tr. Miller (1913)]
(Source)
The fragment comes to us from Cicero, De Officiis [On Duties; On Moral Duty; The Offices], Book 1, ch. 16 / sec. 51 (44 BC). Original Latin. Alt. trans.:
He that directs the wandering traveller,
Doth, as it were, light another's torch by his own;
Which gives him ne'er the less of light, for that
It gave another.
[tr. Cockman (1699)]
The man who kindly points out the way to the wandering traveller, gives light to the lamp of another, without diminishing by the communication the light of his own.
[tr. McCartney (1798)]
He who kindly shows the bewildered traveller the right road, does as it were light his lamp by his own; which affords none the less light to himself after it has lighted the other.
[tr. Edmonds (1865)]
Who kindly shows a wanderer his way,
Lights, as it were, a torch from his own torch, --
In kindling others' light, no less he shines.
[tr. Peabody (1883)]
The man who kindly points the way top a wanderer, does as though he kindles a light from the light that is his; it shines none the less for himself when he has kindled it for his fellow.
["trib Teleph. R suae lumine accendit facis Hartman, Mnemoe., XXI, 382 fortass recte"]
No sooner said than done — so acts your man of worth.
[Dictum factumque facit frux.]
Ennius (239-169 BC) Roman poet, writer [Quintus Ennius]
Fragment 315 [tr. Warmington]
(Source)
Quoted in Priscianus, Ars Prisciani, Book 6.
There is no fellowship inviolate,
no faith is kept, when kingship is concerned.[Nulla sancta societas
Nec fides regni est.]Ennius (239-169 BC) Roman poet, writer [Quintus Ennius]
Fragment 402-3 [tr. Miller]
(Source)
Quoted in Cicero, De Officiis, Book 1, ch. 8, sec. 26 (scaen. 404 Vahlen), speaking of Julius Caesar.
Alt. trans.:
- "To kingship belongs neither sacred fellowship nor faith."
- "No society is sacred, nor faith of empire." [tr. Johnson (1828)]
- "There is no holy bond, and no fidelity / 'Twixt those who share a throne." [Source]
- "Where the throne's shared, there cannot be good faith." [Source]
Whom they fear, they hate. And whom one hates, one hopes to see him dead.
[Quem metuunt oderunt; quem quisque odit, perisse expetit.]
Ennius (239-169 BC) Roman poet, writer [Quintus Ennius]
Fragment 410
(Source)
Quoted by Cicero, De Officiis, Book 2, ch. 7 (sec. 23) [tr. Miller]. Alt. trans.: "Whom men fear they hate; and whom they hate they eagerly wish their destruction." [tr. McCartney (1798)]
And earth who herself bestowed the body takes it back and wastes not a whit.
[Terram corpus quae dederit, ipsam capere neque dispendi facere hilum.]
Ennius (239-169 BC) Roman poet, writer [Quintus Ennius]
Fragment from the Annales Book 1, frag. 11-12 [tr. Warmingham (1935)]
(Source)
In Varro, De Lingua Latina, Book 5, sec 60, ll. 4-5 (1st C BC). In some locations, the Latin is given as "terraque corpus quae dedit ipsa capit neque dispendi facit hilum."
Alternate translations:
The body she's given Earth does herself take back, and of loss not a whit does she suffer.
[tr. Kent (1938)]
Earth herself takes back the body which she gave, and permits no loss whatsoever.
[Source (2013)]
A sure friend is known in unsure times.
[Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur.]
Ennius (239-169 BC) Roman poet, writer [Quintus Ennius]
Fragment, Scaenica 210 [Vahlen]
As quoted in Cicero, On Friendship [De Amicitia], ch. 17. sec. 64.
Alt. trans.:
- "In unsure fortune a sure friend is seen." [tr. Peabody (1884)]
- "When things get iffy, you find out who your true friends are." [tr. Ehrlich (1995)]
- "A sure friend is tried in doubtful matters." [Source]
- "A friend is never known until one have need." [Source]
- "A friend is never known 'till a man have need." [Source]
- "A true friend is discerned during an uncertain matter." [Source]
- "A certain friend is discerned in an uncertain time." [Source]