![]() Horace: You often praise but reject both the fortune and the life of the ancient fatherland. Short Philosophical Sentences in Wheelock’s Latin We are able to tolerate neither our vices nor the remedies. But now we have much leisure and many are greedy. They were often thinking about our duties and were always praising the glory of war. Translation: The Roman people used to have great spirits and few faults. ![]() Nec vitia nostra nec remedia tolerare possumus. Sed nunc multum otium habemus, et multi sunt avari. De officiis nostris cogitabamus et gloriam belli semper laudabamus. Populus Romanus magnos animos et paucas culpas habebat. Many foolish men always think about money, few about friends but they are mistaken: we are able to be well without much money, but without friendship we are not strong and life is nothing. True friendship is splendid, and all splendid things are rare. Translation: Few men have true friends, and few are worthy. Multi viri stulti de pucunia semper cogitant, pauci de amicis sed errant: possumus valere sine multa pecunia, sed sine amicitia non valemus et vita est nihil. Amicitia vera est praeclara, et omnia praeclara sunt rara. Pauci viri veros amicos habent, et pauci sunt digni. Without philosophy greedy men always think about money: they have much money, but nothing satisfies a greedy man. Translation: The farmer often praises both the life and the fortune of the sailor the sailor often praises the great fortune and life of the poet and the poet praises the life and fields of the farmer. Sine philosophia avari viri de pecunia semper cogitant: multam pecuniam habent, sed nihil virum avarum satiat. Enjoy!Īgricola et vitam et fortunam nautae saepe laudat nauta magnam fortunam et vitam poetae saepe laudat et poeta vitam et agros agricolae laudat. Note that some of these are unedited Latin passages and sentences from the original authors while others are simplified for the purpose of accessibility to beginning Latin students. In the interest of whetting your appetite for Ancient Roman philosophy, here is a small selection of philosophical passages and sentences from the early chapters of Wheelock’s Latin and my own translations of them. Although Ancient Roman stoicism does have a metaphysical component in its views on the cosmic order of things, Ancient Roman stoicism was also highly practical and down-to-Earth, as can be seen in various passages from Seneca in Wheelock’s Latin. It’s quite easy to see, for example, that the Ancient Romans were an infinitely more practical people than the Ancient Greeks, with Roman philosophy being less lofty and metaphysical and more about practical philosophy as the art of life ( ars vitae, in latin), promoting the health of the state, molding the character of the Roman people ( populus Romanus), and avoiding the many dangers of money and power. While I was working my way through the early chapters, I was struck by how clear a picture (albeit a simplified one) of Ancient Roman philosophy emerges from the brief passages and simplified sentences in Wheelock’s Latin. ![]() So I’ve recently been working my way, once again, through Wheelock’s Latin, the text I used to study Latin originally, both for its own sake and in hope of being able one day to teach Latin in addition to philosophy.
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