‘Tis fear that proves souls base-born.
[Degeneres animos timor arguit.]
Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 4, l. 13 (4.13) [Dido] (29-19 BC) [tr. Fairclough (1916)]
(Source)
Of the bravery shown in Aeneas' tale demonstrating what a great, if not even divine, man he is.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
Feare shews degenerate minds.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]
Fear ever argues a degenerate kind.
[tr. Dryden (1697)]
Fear argues a degenerate mind.
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]
Fear proves a base-born soul.
[tr. Connington (1866)]
Fear shows degenerate souls.
[tr. Cranch (1872)]
Fear proves the vulgar spirit.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]
For fear it is shows base-born souls.
[tr. Morris (1900)]
Fear argues souls degenerate and base.
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 2, l. 14]
'Tis cowardice
betrays the base-born soul.
[tr. Williams (1910)]
Fear proves a bastard spirit.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]
Mean souls convict themselves by cowardice.
[tr. Day Lewis (1952)]
For in the face of fear
the mean must fall.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971)]
Tell-tale fear
Betrays inferior souls.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981), ll. 19-20]
If there is any baseness in a man, it shows as cowardice.
[tr. West (1990)]
Fear reveals the ignoble spirit.
[tr. Kline (2002)]
Fear
Always gives away men of inferior birth.
[tr. Lombardo (2005)]
Fear exposes the lowborn man at once.
[tr. Fagles (2006), l. 16]
Fear shows up lesser men.
[tr. Bartsch (2021)]
Quotations about:
degeneracy
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