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]▼
hemeltoday.co.uk
Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:09:54 GMT+00:00
Hemel Gazette Captains' awards: Meg Bright, Alice Beeny, Livy Vize, Holy Bilcock. Netball captains: Beth Ashley Roberts, Molly Mc Munn, Milly Jones, Daisy Goldhagen. ...
![[danni's little cousin] dancing to hannah montana!](/TCWr7-GYHNSRQs7-ryze9lFdocEs7-VIs7-ZBPr7-5GITr7-6-out.jpg)
youtube.com
Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:40:53 PST
wow, 700 views already! dont forget to comment and rate guys. xo. youtube.com.
[Hide]▲
