“From one learn all.”
Ab uno disce omnes.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Lines 65–66 (tr. Fairclough)
“They can because they think they can.”
Possunt, quia posse videntur.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book V, Line 231 (tr. John Conington)
“What a woman can do in frenzy.”
Furens quid Femina possit.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book V, Line 6 (tr. Fairclough)
“Death twitches my ear. "Live," he says. "I am coming."”
Mors aurem vellens, "vivite," ait, "venio."
Appendix Virgiliana, Copa 38.
Attributed
“In youth alone, unhappy mortals live;
But, ah! the mighty bliss is fugitive:
Discolored sickness, anxious labor, come,
And age, and death's inexorable doom.”
Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi
Prima fugit; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus
Et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis.
Book III, lines 66–68 (tr. John Dryden).
Georgics (29 BC)
“What madness has seized you?”
Quae te dementia cepit!
Book II, line 69
Eclogues (37 BC)
“At times the world sees straight, but many times the world goes astray.”
Interdum volgus rectum videt, est ubi peccat.
Horace, Epistles, Book II, epistle i, line 63
Misattributed
“Roman, remember by your strength to rule
Earth's people—for your arts are to be these:
To pacify, to impose the rule of law,
To spare the conquered, battle down the proud.”
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento
(Hae tibi erunt artes), pacique imponere morem,
Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Lines 851–853 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)
“Let someone arise from my bones as an Avenger.”
Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Line 625
“They who bettered life on earth by new-found mastery.”
Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 663 (tr. William Morris); the blessed in Elysium. A paraphrase of this is inscribed on the Nobel prize medals for Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, and Literature: Inventas vitam juvat excoluisse per artes ("inventions enhance life which is beautified through art").
“Do not trust the horse, Trojans.
Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts.”
Equo ne credite, Teucri.
quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Lines 48–49; Trojan priest of Apollo warning against the wooden horse left by the Greeks.
“Now, Aeneas, is the hour for courage, now for a dauntless heart!”
Nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 261 (tr. Fairclough); Sibyl's words to Aeneas as they enter the underworld.
“I sing for maidens and boys.”
Virginibus puerisque canto.
Horace, Odes, Book III, ode i, line 4
Misattributed
“Trust not too much to that enchanting face;
Beauty's a charm, but soon the charm will pass.”
O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori.
Book II, line 17 (tr. John Dryden)
Eclogues (37 BC)
“How fortunate, both at once!
If my songs have any power, the day will never dawn
that wipes you from the memory of the ages, not while
the house of Aeneas stands by the Capitol's rock unshaken,
not while the Roman Father rules the world.”
Fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt,
Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
Accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.
Fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt,
Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
Accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IX, Lines 446–449 (tr. Robert Fagles)
“We cannot all do everything.”
Non omnia possumus omnes.
Book VIII, line 63 (tr. Fairclough)
Eclogues (37 BC)
“The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies.”
Facilis descensus Averno<!--Averni?-->:
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
Facilis descensus Averno:
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
Variant translation:
: It is easy to go down into Hell;
Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air—
There's the rub, the task.
Compare:
Long is the way
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, line 432
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Lines 126–129 (as translated by John Dryden)
“In those days I, Virgil, was nursed of sweet Parthenope, and rejoiced in the arts of inglorious ease.”
Illo Vergilium me tempore dulcis alebat
Parthenope studiis florentem ignobilis oti.
Book IV, lines 563–564 (tr. Fairclough)
Georgics (29 BC)
“Sorrow too deep to tell, your majesty,
You order me to feel and tell once more.”
Infandum, regina, jubes<!--iubes?--> renovare dolorem.
Infandum, regina, jubes renovare dolorem.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Line 3 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald); these are the opening words of Aeneas's narrative about the fall of Troy, addressed to Queen Dido of Carthage.