Livy
From Wikiquote Jump to: navigation, search He is truly a man who will not permit himself to be unduly elated when fortune’s breeze is favorable, or cast down when it is adverse.Titus Livius (around 59 BC - 17 AD), known as Livy in English, wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding (traditionally dated to 753 BC) through the reign of Augustus.
Contents |
Sourced
- Aetolos Acarnanas Macedonas, eiusdem linguae homines, leues ad tempus ortae causae diiungunt coniunguntque: cum alienigenis, cum barbaris aeternum omnibus Graecis bellum est eritque; natura enim, quae perpetua est, non mutabilibus in diem causis hostes sunt...
- Translation: The Aitolians, the Akarnanians, the Macedonians, men of the same speech, are united or disunited by trivial causes that arise from time to time; with aliens, with barbarians, all Greeks wage and will wage eternal war; for they are enemies by the will of nature, which is eternal, and not from reasons that change from day to day...
- Liber XXXI, 29, 15
Histories
- Rome has grown since its humble beginnings that it is now overwhelmed by its own greatness.
- Praefatio, sec. 4
- We can endure neither our vices nor the remedies for them.
- Praefatio, sec. 9
- This above all makes history useful and desirable: it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.
- Praefatio, sec. 10
- Sic deinde, quicumque alius transiliet moenia mea!
- Translation: And so be damned, whomever shall jump over my walls!
- Book I, sec. 7
- Spoken when Romulus slew his brother Remus for jumping over the walls of his encampment (soon to be Rome) in mockery.
- The old Romans all wished to have a king over them because they had not yet tasted the sweetness of freedom.
- Book I, sec. 17
- Before anything else [Numa] decided that he must instill in his subjects the fear of the gods, this being the most effective measure with an ignorant, and at that time uncultured, people.
- Book I, sec. 19
- Law is a thing which is insensible, and inexorable, more beneficial and more profitious to the weak than to the strong; it admits of no mitigation nor pardon, once you have overstepped its limits.
- Book II, sec. 3
- Shared danger is the strongest of bonds; it will keep men united in spite of mutual dislike and suspicion.
- Book II, sec. 39
- Fame opportunely despised often comes back redoubled.
- Book II, sec. 47
- From abundance springs satiety.
- Book III, sec. 1
- The troubles which have come upon us always seem more serious than those which are only threatening.
- Book III, sec. 39
- Passions are generally roused from great conflict.
- Book III, sec. 40
- Nature has ordained that the man who is pleading his own cause before a large audience, will be more readily listened to than he who has no object in view other than the public benefit.
- Book III, sec. 68
- Resistance to criminal rashness comes better late than never.
- Book IV, sec. 3
- Potius sero quam numquam.
- Translation: Better late than never.
- Book IV, sec. 23
- In valor you are their equals; in necessity, the last and strongest weapon, their superiors.
- Book IV, sec. 28
- There is nothing man will not attempt when great enterprises hold out the promise of great rewards.
- Book IV, sec. 35
- Favor and honor sometimes fall more fitly on those who do not desire them.
- Book IV, sec. 57
- Toil and pleasure, dissimilar in nature, are nevertheless united by a certain natural bond.
- Book V, sec. 4
- There are laws for peace as well as war.
- Book V, sec. 27
- Fortune blinds men when she does not wish them to withstand the violence of her onslaughts.
- Book V, sec. 37
- Vae victis!
- Translation: Woe to the vanquished!
- Variant: Woe to the conquered!
- Book V, sec. 48
- No one wants to be excelled by his relatives.
- Book VI, sec. 34
- The result showed that fortune helps the brave.
- Book VIII, sec. 29
- Envy like fire always makes for the highest points.
- Book VIII, sec. 31
- They are more than men at the outset of their battles; at the end they are less than the women.
- Book X, sec. 28
- Luck is of little moment to the great general, for it is under the control of his intellect and his judgment.
- Book XXII, sec. 25
- He would not anticipate those counsels which are rather bestowed by circumstances on men, than by men on circumstances.
- Book XXII, sec. 38
- He will have true glory who despises it.
- Book XXII, sec. 39
- Truth, they say, is but too often in difficulties, but is never finally suppressed.
- Book XXII, sec. 39
- All things will be clear and distinct to the man who does not hurry; haste is blind and improvident.
- Book XXII, sec. 39
- We do not learn this only from the event, which is the master of fools.
- Book XXII, sec. 39
- You know how to vanquish, Hannibal, but you do not know how to profit from victory.
- Book XXII, sec. 51
- They lived under a just and moderate government, and they admitted that one bond of their fidelity was that their rulers were the better men.
- Book XXII, sec. 83
- Notissimum [...] malum maxime tolerabile
- Translation: The best known evil is the most tolerable.
- Variant: Those ills are easiest to bear with which we are most familiar.
- Book XXIII, sec. 3
- The name of freedom regained is sweet to hear.
- Book XXIV, sec. 21
- It is easy at any moment to surrender a large fortune; to build one up is a difficult and an arduous task.
- Book XXIV, sec. 22
- Such is the nature of crowds: either they are humble and servile or arrogant and dominating. They are incapable of making moderate use of freedom, which is the middle course, or of keeping it.
- Book XXIV, sec. 25
- Many things complicated by nature are restored by reason.
- Book XXV, sec. 11
- In difficult and desperate cases, the boldest counsels are the safest.
- Book XXV, sec. 38
- The populace is like the sea, motionless in itself, but stirred by every wind, even the lightest breeze.
- Book XXVII, sec. 27
- Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies’ resources, and minimized their own.
- Book XXVII, sec. 44
- Men are only too clever at shifting blame from their own shoulders to those of others.
- Book XXVIII, sec. 25
- I approach these questions unwillingly, as it wounds, but no cure can be effected without touching upon and handling them.
- Book XXVIII, sec. 27
- No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds.
- Book XXVIII, sec. 28
- Temerity is not always successful.
- Book XXVIII, sec. 42
- There is always more spirit in attack than in defense.
- Book XXVIII, sec. 44
- Greater is our terror of the unknown.
- Book XXVIII, sec. 44
- Men are slower to recognise blessings than misfortunes.
- Book XXX, sec. 21
- Nowhere are our calculations more frequently upset than in war.
- Book XXX, sec. 30
- Better and safer is an assured peace than a victory hoped for. The one is in your own power, the other is in the hands of the gods.
- Book XXX, sec. 30
- It is easier to criticize than to correct our past errors.
- Book XXX, sec. 30
- It is when fortune is the most propitious that she is least to be trusted.
- Book XXX, sec. 30
- Good fortune and a good disposition are rarely given to the same man.
- Book XXX, sec. 42
- We feel public misfortunes just so far as they affect our private circumstances, and nothing of this nature appeals more directly to us than the loss of money.
- Book XXX, sec. 44
- No law is sufficiently convenient to all.
- Book XXXIV, sec. 3
- No law can possibly meet the convenience of every one: we must be satisfied if it be beneficial on the whole and to the majority.
- Book XXXIV, sec. 3
- The state is suffering from two opposite vices, avarice and luxury; two plagues which, in the past, have been the ruin of every great empire.
- Book XXXIV, sec. 4
- It is better that a guilty man should not be brought to trial than that he should be acquitted.
- Book XXXIV, sec. 4
- There is nothing worse than being ashamed of parsimony or poverty.
- Book XXXIV, sec. 4
- The most honorable, as well as the safest course, is to rely entirely upon valour.
- Book XXXIV, sec. 14
- There is nothing that is more often clothed in an attractive garb than a false creed.
- Book XXXIV, sec. 16
- He was always before men’s eyes; a course of action which, by increasing our familiarity with great men, diminishes our respect for them.
- Book XXXV, sec. 10
- Such impetuous schemes and boldness are at first sight alluring, but are difficult to handle, and in the result disastrous.
- Book XXXV, sec. 32
- The sun has not yet set for all time.
- Book XXXIX, sec. 26
- There is an old saying which, from its truth, has become proverbial, that friendships should be immortal, enmities mortal.
- Book XL, sec. 46
- A fraudulent intent, however carefully concealed at the outset, will generally, in the end, betray itself.
- Book XLIV, sec. 15
- He is truly a man who will not permit himself to be unduly elated when fortune’s breeze is favorable, or cast down when it is adverse.
- Book XLV, sec. 8
Unsourced
- Perīculum in morā
- Translation: (There is) danger in delay.
External links
Wikipedia has an article about: Livy Wikisource has original works written by or about: Livy
|
[Hide]▼
oss.kliknieuws.nl
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:11:37 GMT+00:00
Kliknieuws.nl Telkens kreeg Livy Stoltz (12) uit Oss echter een antwoord dat ze niet in aanmerking kwam voor dolfijntherapie. OSS Ze was pas negen jaar toen ze stiekem ...
youtube.com
Sun, 16 May 2010 08:47:12 PDT
Livy's Dance Recital 2010 from Massey's School of Dance Oklahoma. youtube.com.
[Hide]▲
