Virgil

Time bears away all things...

Love conquers all and we must yield to Love.

Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a Latin poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became the Roman Empire's national epic.

Quotes

Georgics (c. 37 BC)

• Audacibus annue coeptis.
  • Look with favor upon a bold beginning.
  • Book I, line 40

• Umida solstitia atque hiemes orate serenas,
  agricolae.
  • O farmers, pray that your summers be wet and your winters clear.
  • Book I, line 100

• Ut varias usus meditando extunderet artis
  paulatim.
  • Practice and thought might gradually forge many an art.
  • Book I, line 133

• Labor omnia vicit
  improbus et duris urgens in rebus egestas.
  • Toil conquered the world, unrelenting toil, and want that pinches when life is hard.
  • Book I, lines 145-146 (translated by H. Rushton Fairclough).
  • Variant translation: Restless work conquers everything.

• Nosque ubi primus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis
  Illic sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper.
  • And when the Rising Sun has first breathed on us with its panting horses,
    over there the red Evening Star is lighting his late lamps.
  • Book I, lines 250-251
  • Variant translation:
    And when to us the sun with panting steeds
    Hastens at dawn, far off the star of eve
    There lights her glowing lamp.

• Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est.
  • So strong is custom formed in early years.
  • Book II, line 272

• Inter pocula laeti.
  • In their drunken jollity.
  • Book II, line 383

• O ubi campi!
  • O, where are those fields!
  • Book II, line 486; expression of a longing for the country-side.

• Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.
  • Blessed is he who has been able to win knowledge of the causes of things.
  • Book II, line 490
  • Variant translation: Happy is the one who knows the causes of things.
    • Translated by H. Rushton Fairclough

The best days of life for us poor mortals flee first away; then come diseases, and old age, and labour, and sorrow; and the severity of unrelenting death hurries us away.

• Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi
  Prima fugit; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus
  Et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis.
  • The best days of life for us poor mortals flee first away; then come diseases, and old age, and labour, and sorrow; and the severity of unrelenting death hurries us away.
  • Book III, lines 66-68
  • Variant translations:
    • All the best days of life slip away from us poor mortals first; illnesses and dreary old age and pain sneak up, and the fierceness of harsh death snatches away.
    • Ever the best day of life for unhappy dying creatures is the first fleeting one; soon come diseases, and sorrowful old age, and toil, and the merciless quick grasp of hard death.

• Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus.
  • But meanwhile it is flying, irretrievable time is flying.
  • Book III, line 284
  • Variant translations:
    • The irrevocable time flees.
    • Time flies by and cannot be restored.

• Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent.
  • They keep out of the hives the drones, an indolent bunch.
  • Book IV, line 168

• Si parva licet componere magnis.
  • If small things we may with great compare.
  • Book IV, line 176 (translated by Alexander Pope)
  • Variant translation: If one may compare small things with great.

Eclogues (c. 42 BC)

• Sub tegmine fagi.
  • In the shade of a beech tree.
  • Book I, line 1

• O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori.
  • O charming boy, trust not too much in thy beauty.
  • Book II, line 17
  • Variant translations:
    • Ah, lovely boy, trust not too much to your bloom!
    • O charming boy, trust not too much in thy beauty.
    • O my pretty boy, trust not too much in your looks.
    • O handsome lad, don’t trust too much in your complexion.

• Trahit sua quemque voluptas.
  • Each has his dear delight which draws him on.
  • Book II, line 65
  • Variant translations:
    • Each is led by his own pleasure.
    • Everyone is attracted to what pleases him.
    • Everybody is influenced by his own pleasure.
    • Everyone is dragged on by their favourite pleasure.

• Latet anguis in herba.
  • A snake lurks in the grass.
  • Book III, line 93
  • Variant translations:
    • Beware of snakes in the grass.
    • There’s a snake hidden in the grass.

• Sicelides Musae, paulo maiora canamus.
  Non omnis arbusta iuvant humilesque myricae.
  • Sicilian Muses, let us sing a somewhat loftier strain.
    Not all do orchards please and the lowly tamarisks.
    • Translated by H. Rushton Fairclough
  • Book IV, line 1-2; marks the transition in the text to a more important subject.
  • Variant translations:
    • Let us sing of greater things.
    • Let us sing somewhat loftier songs.
    • Let us sing of something a little grander.

• Magnus ab integro saeclorum.
  • The great cycle of periods is born anew.
  • Book IV, line 5

• Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem.
  • Begin, baby boy, to recognize your mother with a smile.
  • Book IV, line 60
  • Variant translation:
    • Little boy, begin to know your mother by a smile.
    • Begin, little child, to greet thy mother with a smile.
    • Begin, little child, to recognize your mother with a smile.

• Saepibus in nostris parvam te roscida mala
  (Dux ego vester eram) vidi cum matre legentem.
  Alter ab undecimo tum me iam acceperat annus,
  Iam fragilis poteram a terra contingere ramos:
  Ut vidi, ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error!
  • In our orchard I saw you picking dewy apples with your mother (I was showing you the way). I had just turned twelve years old, I could reach the brittle branches even from the ground: how I saw you! how I fell in love! how an awful madness swept me away!
  • Book VIII, lines 37-41
  • Variant translation: I beheld you in your childhood, (for I was your guide) together with your mother, picking dewy apples in our hedges. I was at that time just twelve years old; and I could hardly reach from the ground the brittle branches. How did I gaze, how was I undone, how did a fatal bewilderment seize me!

• Nunc scio quid sit Amor.
  • I know thee, Love!
  • Book VIII, line 43 (translated by Alexander Pope)
  • Variant translation: Now I know what Love is.

• Non omnia possumus omnes.
  • We cannot all do everything.
  • Book VIII, line 63 (translated by H. Rushton Fairclough).
  • Variant translation: All of us can not do/know everything.

• Numero deus impare gaudet.
  • God delights in an odd number.
  • Book VIII, line 75
  • Cf. Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act V, scene i, line 2: Good luck lies in odd numbers ... there is divinity in odd numbers.

• Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque.
  • Time bears away all things, even our minds.
  • Book IX, line 51

• Cantantes licet usque (minus via laedit) eamus.
  • Let us go singing as far as we go: the road will be less tedious.
  • Book IX, line 64

• Omnia vincit Amor; et nos cedamus Amori.
  • Love conquers all and we must yield to Love.
  • Book X, line 69
  • Variant translations:
    • Love conquers all things — let us yield to Love.
    • Love conquers all things: let us too give in to Love.
    • Love conquers all things; let us too surrender to love.

Aeneid (c. 29–19 BC)

I sing of arms and a man.

• Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
  Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque venit
  Litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
  Vi superum, saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram.
  • Arms, and the man I sing, who, forced by Fate,
    And haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate,
    Expelled and exiled, left the Trojan shore.
    Long labours both by sea and land he bore.
  • Book I, lines 1-4 (translated by John Dryden)
    • Cf. beginning of the Odyssey, translated by Alexander Pope: The man for wisdom's various arts renown'd, / Long exercis'd in woes, oh Muse! resound. / . . . / On stormy seas unnumber'd toils he bore.
  • Variant translations:
    • I sing of arms and a man.
    • I sing of arms and the man who first from the shores of Troy came destined an exile to Italy and the Lavinian beaches, much buffeted he on land and on the deep by force of the gods because of fierce Juno’s never-forgetting anger.
    • This is a tale of arms and of a man. Fated to be an exile, he was the first to sail from the land of Troy and reach Italy, at its Lavinian shore. He met many tribulations on his way both by land and on the ocean; high Heaven willed it, for Juno was ruthless and could not forget her anger.
      • Translated by W. F. Jackson Knight

• Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?
  • Can heav'nly minds such high resentment show?
  • Book I, line 11 (translated by John Dryden)
  • Variant translation: Why such great anger in those heavenly minds?

• O terque quaterque beati!
  • O thrice and four-times blessed!
  • Book I, line 95; referring to the Trojans who had died defending their city.
  • Variant translation: O three and four times blessed!

• Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto.
  • They appear thinly scattered and swimming in the vast deep.
  • Book I, line 118

• Furor arma ministrat.
  • Rage supplies arms.
  • Book I, line 150
  • Variant translation: Rage furnishes arms.

• O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem.
  • O you who have borne even heavier things, God will grant an end to these too.
  • Book I, line 199
  • Variant translations:
    • A god will also give us an end to this.
    • O you who have suffered worse, God will bring an end to this too.

• Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
  • An hour will come, with pleasure to relate your sorrows past, as benefits of Fate.
  • Book I, line 203 (translated by John Dryden)
  • Variant translations:
    • Maybe one day we shall be glad to remember even these things.
    • Perhaps it will even please us to remember these things someday.
    • Perhaps, one day, remembering even these things will bring pleasure.

• Durate et vosmet rebus servate secundis.
  • Endure, and save yourselves for more favorable things.
  • Book I, line 207

• Lacrimis oculos suffusa nitentis.
  • Her bright eyes brimming with tears.
  • Book I, line 228 (of Venus).
  • Variant translations:
    • Having her eyes suffused with tears.
    • Her sparkling eyes suffused with tears.

• O Dea certe.
  • No doubt, a goddess.
  • Book I, line 328

• Dux femina facti.
  • A woman (is) leader in the deed.
  • Book I, line 364 (translated by Charles Anthon)

• Sum pius Aeneas, raptos qui ex hoste Penates
  classe veho mecum, fama super aethera notus.
  Italiam quaero patriam et genus ab Iove summo.
  • I am pious Aeneas, who carries my Penates,
    snatched from the enemy, in my fleet with me, known by my fame above the ether.
    I seek my fatherland, Italy, and a race from highest Jove.
  • Book I, lines 378-380

• Data fata secutus.
  • Following his declared fate.
  • Book I, line 382
  • Variant translations:
    • Following the fate decreed.
    • Complying with his declared fate.
    • Following what is decreed by fate.

• Dixit et avertens rosea cervice refulsit,
  Ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem
  Spiravere; pedes vestis defluxit ad imos,
  Et vera incessu patuit dea.
  • Thus having said, she turn'd, and made appear
    Her neck refulgent, and dishevell'd hair,
    Which, flowing from her shoulders, reached the ground,
    And widely spread ambrosial scents around.
    In length of train descends her sweeping gown;
    And by her graceful walk the Queen of Love is known.
  • Book I, lines 402-405 (translated by John Dryden)

• Mirabile dictu.
  • Strange to say.
  • Book I, line 439
  • Variant translation: Marvelous to say.

• ‘En Priamus! Sunt hic etiam sua praemia laudi,
  Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt.
  Solve metus; feret haec aliquam tibi fama salutem.’
  Sic ait atque animum pictura pascit inani.
  • ‘Look, there’s Priam! Even here prowess has its due rewards, there are tears shed for things even here and mortality touches the heart. Abandon your fears; I tell you, this fame will stand us somehow in good stead.’ So he spoke, and fed his thoughts on the unreal painting.
    • Translation per The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1981), p. 263
  • Book I, lines 461-464

• Lumenque iuventae
  purpureum.
  • The purple light of youth.
  • Book I, lines 590-591
  • Cf. Thomas Gray, The Progress of Poesy, I. 3, line 41: The bloom of young Desire and purple light of Love.

• Di tibi, si qua pios respectant numina, si quid
  Usquam iustitiae est et mens sibi conscia recti,
  Praemia digna ferant.
  • Surely as the divine powers take note of the dutiful, surely as there is any justice anywhere and a mind recognizing in itself what is right, may the gods bring you your earned rewards.
  • Book I, lines 603-605
  • Variant translations of mens sibi conscia recti (meaning "a good conscience"):
    • A mind conscious of its own rectitude.
    • A mind conscious to itself of rectitude.
    • A mind which is conscious to itself of rectitude.

No stranger to misfortune myself, I have learned to relieve the sufferings of others.

Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Grecians, even bearing gifts.

• Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco.
  • No stranger to misfortune myself, I have learned to relieve the sufferings of others.
  • Book I, line 630; Dido, Queen of Carthage, greets Aeneas and his men with these words.
  • Variant translations:
    • No stranger to trouble myself I am learning to care for the unhappy.
    • No stranger to trouble myself, I am learning to help those who are in distress.

• Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem.
  • Unspeakable, queen, are the pains you command me to renew.
  • Book II, line 3; these are the opening words of Aeneas's narrative about the fall of Troy, addressed to the queen Dido of Carthage.
  • Variant translation: A grief too much to be told, O queen, you bid me renew.

• Quamquam animus meminisse horret, luctuque refugit.
  • At which my memory with grief recoils.
  • Book II, lines 12
  • Variant translation: My soul shudders at the recollection.

• Equo ne credite, Teucri.
  quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
  • Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Grecians, even bearing gifts.
  • Book II, lines 48-49; Trojan priest of Apollo warning against the wooden horse left by the Greeks.
  • Variant translations:
    • Whatever it may be, I fear the Greeks, even when bearing gifts.
    • O Trojans, do not trust the horse. Be it what it may, I fear the Grecians even when they offer gifts.

• In utrumque paratus.
  • Prepared for either alternative.
  • Book II, line 61

• Horresco referens.
  • I shudder recounting.
  • Book II, line 204; this refers to the horrible death of the Trojan priest Laocoön: The goddess Athena sent a two-headed serpent from Tenedos to devour Laocoon and his two sons as a warning to the Trojans.

• Tacitae per amica silentia lunae.
  • Through the friendly silence of the soundless moonlight.
  • Book II, line 255

The only safe course for the defeated is to expect no safety.

The gods thought otherwise.

• Quantum mutatus ab illo!
  • How changed from what he was!
  • Book II, line 274; of Hector's pitiful condition, compared to the Hector who in triumph had come back, dressed in Achilles' armour.

• Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus.
  • The fatal day, th' appointed hour, is come.
  • Book II, line 324 (translated by John Dryden); of Troy's doom.
  • Variant translations:
    • The final day has come, with its inevitable hour.
    • The last day has come and the inevitable hour is here.

• Fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium et ingens
  Gloria Teucrorum.
  • We Trojans are at an end, Ilium has ended and the vast glory of the Teucrians.
  • Book II, lines 325-326

• Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem.
  • The only salvation the conquered have is to hope for none.
  • Book II, line 354
  • Variant translations:
    • The only safe course for the defeated is to expect no safety.
    • Nothing can save the conquered but the knowledge that they cannot now be saved.
      • Translated by W. F. Jackson Knight

• Heu nihil invitis fas quemquam fidere divis!
  • Alas! it is right for one to trust to nothing when the gods are adverse.
  • Book II, line 402 (translated by Charles Anthon)

• Dis aliter visum.
  • The gods thought otherwise.
  • Book II, line 428

• Sequiturque patrem non passibus aequis.
  • He follows his father, but not with equal steps.
  • Book II, line 724; of Ascanius (Aeneas's son), when fleeing from Troy.
  • Cf. Dryden's translation: And with unequal paces tript along.

• Obstupui, steteruntque comae, et vox faucibus haesit.
  • Aghast, astonished, and struck dumb with fear, I stood; like bristles rose my stiffened hair.
  • Book II, line 774 (translated by John Dryden)
  • Variant translations:
    • I was amazed, my hair stood on end, and my voice stuck in my throat.
    • I was stunned, my hair stood on end, and my voice clung to my jaws.

• Cessi et sublato montes genitore petivi.
  • I departed and I sought mountains with my father on my back.
  • Book II, line 804

• Parce sepulto.
  • Spare the buried.
  • Book III, line 41; i.e. do not run down a dead person, because he/she can not defend him/herself.

• Quid non mortalia pectora cogis,
  Auri sacra fames!
  • What do you not drive human hearts into,
    cursed craving for gold!
  • Book III, lines 56-57
  • Variant translation: The accursed hunger for gold!

• Fama volat.
  • The rumor is flying.
  • Book III, line 121

The mad prophetic Sibyl you shall find,
Dark in a cave, and on a rock reclin'd.
She sings the fates, and, in her frantic fits,
The notes and names, inscrib'd, to leafs commits.

• Insanam uatem aspicies, quae rupe sub ima
  fata canit foliisque notas et nomina mandat.
  quaecumque in foliis descripsit carmina uirgo
  digerit in numerum atque antro seclusa relinquit:
  illa manent immota locis neque ab ordine cedunt.
  uerum eadem, uerso tenuis cum cardine uentus
  impulit et teneras turbauit ianua frondes,
  numquam deinde cauo uolitantia prendere saxo
  nec reuocare situs aut iungere carmina curat:
  inconsulti abeunt sedemque odere Sibyllae.
  • The mad prophetic Sibyl you shall find,
    Dark in a cave, and on a rock reclin'd.
    She sings the fates, and, in her frantic fits,
    The notes and names, inscrib'd, to leafs commits.
    What she commits to leafs, in order laid,
    Before the cavern's entrance are display'd:
    …many not succeeding, most upbraid
    The madness of the visionary maid,
    And with loud curses leave the mystic shade.
  • Book III, lines 443-452 (translated by John Dryden)

Think it not loss of time a while to stay,
Tho' thy companions chide thy long delay…

Beg the sacred priestess to relate
With willing words, and not to write thy fate...
She shall direct thy course, instruct thy mind,
And teach thee how the happy shores to find.

• Hic tibi ne qua morae fuerint dispendia tanti,
  quamuis increpitent socii et ui cursus in altum
  uela uocet, possisque sinus implere secundos,
  quin adeas uatem precibusque oracula poscas
  ipsa canat uocemque uolens atque ora resoluat.
  illa tibi Italiae populos uenturaque bella
  et quo quemque modo fugiasque ferasque laborem
  expediet, cursusque dabit uenerata secundos.
  haec sunt quae nostra liceat te uoce moneri.
  • Think it not loss of time a while to stay,
    Tho' thy companions chide thy long delay;
    Tho' summon'd to the seas, tho' pleasing gales
    Invite thy course, and stretch thy swelling sails:
    But beg the sacred priestess to relate
    With willing words, and not to write thy fate...
    She shall direct thy course, instruct thy mind,
    And teach thee how the happy shores to find.
    This is what Heav'n allows me to relate:
    Now part in peace; pursue thy better fate...
  • Book III, lines 453-461 (translated by John Dryden)

• Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum.
  • A monster horrendous, hideous and vast, deprived of sight.
  • Book III, line 658
  • Variant translation: A horrific, bloated, enormous beast...

• Degeneres animos timor arguit.
  • Fear betrays ignoble souls.
  • Book IV, line 13
  • Variant translation: Fear argues degenerate souls.

• Agnosco veteris vestigia flammae.
  • I feel once more the scars of the old flame.
  • Book IV, line 23

• Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius ullum.
  • Rumour, the evil faster than all.
  • Book IV, line 174; often quoted as "fama vires acquirit eundo".
  • Variant translations:
    • Rumor grows as it goes.
    • The rumor grows while it has it.
  • Rumour is of all pests the swiftest.
    • Translated by W. F. Jackson Knight

• Quis fallere possit amantem?
  • Who can deceive a lover?
  • Book IV, line 296
  • Variant translation: Who could deceive a lover?

• Nec me meminisse pigebit Elissae
  Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus.
  • Nor can my Mind forget Elisa's Name,
    While vital Breath inspires this Mortal Frame.
  • Book IV, lines 335-336; said by Aeneas to Dido.
  • Variant translations:
    • Nor will it displease me to remember Elissa as long as I remember myself,
      as long as my spirit rules these limbs.
    • Nor will it ever upset me to remember Elissa so long as I can remember who I am,
      so long as the breath of life controls these limbs.

• Nusquam tuta fides.
  • Nowhere is trust safe.
  • Book IV, line 373
  • Variant translations:
    • Faith is safe nowhere.
    • Nowhere is there true honor.

O tyrant Love, to what dost thou not drive the hearts of men!

• Improbe Amor, quid non mortalia pectora cogis!
  • O tyrant Love, to what dost thou not drive the hearts of men!
  • Book IV, line 412; referring to the unwise actions undertaken by Dido, actuated by amorous passion.
  • Variant translations:
    • O tyrant love, to what do you not drive the hearts of men!
    • Oh! cruel love! to what do you not impel the human heart?
    • O wretched love! to what dost thou not impel the human breast?
    • O cruel love, to what extremity do you not drive mortal hearts!

• Varium et mutabile semper
  femina.
  • Fickle and changeable always is woman.
  • Book IV, line 569
  • Variant translations:
    • A windfane changabil huf puffe
      Always is a woomman.
      • Translated by Richard Stanyhurst
    • Women were ever things of many changing moods.
      • Translated by W. F. Jackson Knight
    • A woman is an ever fickle and changeable thing.

• Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.
  • Let someone arise from my bones as an Avenger.
  • Book IV, line 625
  • Variant translations:
    • Rise up from my dead bones, avenger!
    • Arise, you avenger someone, from my bones.
    • Arise from my bones, o Avenger, whoever you may be.

• Possunt, quia posse videntur.
  • They can because they think they can.
  • Book V, line 231
  • Variant translation: They are able because they seem (are seen) to be able.

• Gratior et pulchro veniens in corpore virtus.
  • Even virtue is more fair, when it appears in a beautiful person.
  • Book V, line 344
  • Variant translations:
    • More lovely virtue, in a lovely form.
    • Virtue more pleasing in a pleasing form.

• Obscuris vera involvens.
  • Wrapping truth in mystery.
  • Book VI, line 100 (of Sibyl's prophecy).
  • Variant translations:
    • Wrapping truth in obscurity.
    • Truth wrapped in mystery.
    • Involving truth in obscurity.
    • Shrouding truth in darkness.

• Bella, horrida bella.
  • Wars, horrid wars.
  • Book VI, line 86

• Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito.
  • Yield not to evils, but attack all the more boldly.
  • Book VI, line 95
  • Variant translations:
    • Do not thou yield to misfortune but go forth emboldened against it.
    • Yield not before misfortune, but go forward against it all the more resolutely.
    • Yield not thou to evils, but against them go the more boldly whither thy fortune permits thee.

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.

• Facilis descensus Averni:
  noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
  sed revocare gradium superasque evadere ad auras.
  hoc opus, hic labor est.
  • 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.
  • Book VI, lines 126-129
  • Variant translation:
    Easy is the way down to the Underworld:
    by night and by day dark Dis’s door stands open;
    but to withdraw one’s steps and to make a way out to the upper air,
    that’s the task, that is the labour.

• Fidus Achates.
  • The faithful Achates.
  • Book VI, line 158; phrase often applied to a friend or a relative who remains faithful at all events — Achates was Aeneas' most faithful friend.
  • Variant translation: The faithful companion.

• Procul, O procul este, profani!
  • Far off, Oh keep far off, you uninitiated ones.
  • Book VI, line 258
  • Variant translations:
    • Stay away, you uninitiated!
    • Begone, you that are uninitiated, begone!
    • Keep away, oh keep far away, you profane ones!

• Vestibulum ante ipsum primisque in faucibus Orci
  Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae,
  Pallentesque habitant Morbi tristisque Senectus,
  Et Metus et malesuada Fames ac turpis Egestas,
  Terribiles visu formae, Letumque Labosque;
  tum consanguineus Leti Sopor.
  • Just before the entrance, even within the very jaws of Hell,
    Grief and avenging Cares have made their bed:
    there pale Disease dwell, and sad Age,
    and Fear, and ill-counseling Famine, and loathly Want,
    shapes terrible to view; and Death and Distress; next.
    Death's own brother Sleep.
  • Book VI, lines 273-278
  • Variant translations of Malesuada Fames:
    • Evil-counselling hunger.
    • Hunger is a bad adviser.
    • Hunger persuading to evil.
    • Hunger impelling to evil acts.
    • Hunger, the great counsellor of ill.

• Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum
  Tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.
  • They stood, pleading to be the first ferried across,
    and stretched out hands in yearning for the farther shore.
  • Book VI, lines 313-314
  • Variant translations:
    • Craving the far shore stood the suppliant band,
      Seeking first passage, each with outstretched hand.
    • There all stood begging to be first across
      And reached out longing hands to the far shore.
    • The first stood praying to be taken across,
      they stretched out their hands in desire for the farther shore.
    • They stood begging to be the first to make the voyage over
      and they reached out their hands in longing for the further shore.
    • There they stood, entreating to be the first to pass over,
      and ever stretched forth their hands with longing desire for the farther shore.

• Inventas aut qui uitam excoluere per artis.
  • It is of benefit to have improved life through discovered knowledge.
    

    

    Mind moves matter.
  • Book VI, line 663; a paraphrase of this is inscribed on the Medicine and Physiology Nobel prize medals: Inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes ("inventions enhance life which is beautified through art").

Each of us bears his own Hell.

• Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus
  Mens agitat molem et magno se corpore miscet.
  • The Spirit blows through the world, penetrates all its parts.
    Mind moves matter and mixes itself with the great body.
  • Book VI, lines 726-727
  • Variant translation: The spirit within nourishes, and mind instilled throughout the living parts activates the whole mass and mingles with the vast frame.

• Quisque suos patimur Manes.
  • Each of us suffers his own spirit.
  • Book VI, line 743
  • Variant translation: Each of us bears his own Hell.

• Laudumque immensa cupido.
  • And the infinite longing for praise.
  • Book VI, line 823
  • Variant translation: And an immense desire for praise.

• Párcere subiectis et debellare superbos.
  • Spare the meek, but subdue the arrogant.
  • Book VI, line 853; Aeneas' father tells him about the future task of the Roman state

• Heu pietas, heu prisca fides.
  • Alas for our piety! Alas for our ancient faith!
  • Book VI, line 878

• Sunt geminae Somni portae, quarum altera fertur
  Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris,
  Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto,
  Sed falsa ad caelum mittunt insomnia Manes.
  • Two gates the silent courts of sleep adorn,
    That of pale ivory, this of lucid horn.
    Through this, true visions take their airy way,
    Through that, false phantoms mount the realms of day.
  • Book VI, lines 893-896
  • Variant translation: There are two gates of Sleep, one of which it is held is made of horn and by it real ghosts have easy egress; the other shining fashioned of gleaming white ivory, but deceptive are the visions the Underworld sends that way to the light.

• Hic domus, haec patria est.
  • Here is our home, here our country!
  • Book VII, line 122

• Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.
  • If Heav'n thou can'st not bend, Hell thou shalt move.
  • Book VII, line 312 (translated by Alexander Pope)
  • Variant translations:
    • If I can not bend Heaven, I shall move Hell.
    • If I cannot move Heaven, I will solicit Hell.
    • If I cannot bend Heaven then I shall stir up Hell.
    • If I cannot change the will of Heaven, I shall release Hell.
    • If I am unable to make the gods above relent, I shall move Hell.

• O mihi praeteritos referat si Iuppiter annos.
  • Oh if only Jupiter would give me back my past years.
  • Book VIII, line 560
  • Variant translations:
    • O, that Jupiter might give me back my past years!
    • O if Jupiter would bring me back the years which have passed!

• Placidaque ibi demum morte quievit.
  • And there he reposed in tranquil death.
  • Book IX, line 445 (of Nisus).
  • Variant translation: There at last he found peace in the calm of death.

• Macte nova virtute, puer, sic itur ad astra.
  • Blessings on your young courage, boy; that’s the way to the stars.
  • Book IX, line 641
  • Variant translations:
    • Advance, boy, to new virtue; so one mounts to the stars.
    • Blessings on your fresh courage, boy, so it is man rises to the stars.

• Audentes fortuna iuvat.
  • Fortune favours the brave.
  • Book X, line 284
  • Variant translations:
    • Fortune helps the daring.
    • Fortune assists the bold.

• Dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos.
  • As he dies, he remembers his beloved Argos.
  • Book X, line 782

• Experto credite.
  • Believe one who has had experience.
  • Book XI, line 283; often paraphrased as "experto crede".
  • Variant translations:
    • Trust the expert.
    • Trust one who has gone through it.

• Spes sibi quisque.
  • Each one his own hope.
  • Book XI, line 309
  • Variant translations:
    • Each must rely on himself.
    • Let each be a hope unto himself.

• Sit Romana potens Itala virtute propago.
  • Let the Roman offspring be powerful, by Italian valor.
  • Book XII, line 827 (translated by Joab Goldsmith Cooper)

Disputed

• Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores.
  • I wrote these lines; another has borne away the honour.
  • Epigram attributed to Virgil by Tiberius Claudius Donatus in his Life of Virgil (c. 5th century A.D.).
  • Variant translation: I wrote these lines, another has taken the credit.

Misattributed

• Minuit praesentia famam.
  • Presence diminishes fame.
  • Claudian, De Bello Gildonico, 385.
  • Wrongly attributed to Virgil in an epistle ascribed to Dante Alighieri, sometimes printed in his works (see Moore's Studies in Dante: Scripture and Classical Authors in Dante, p. 240). Paget Toynbee, in Dante Studies and Researches (1902), writes: "This attribution to Virgil of a passage from Claudian is one of several reasons for rejecting this letter [epistle] as spurious".

• Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam.
  • Life's short span forbids us to enter on far reaching hopes.
  • Horace, Ode IV, AD L. Sextium, Consularem.

• Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam,
  Maiorumque fames.
  • As money grows, care follows it and the hunger for more.
  • Horace, Ode XVI, Ad Maecenatem.

• Virginibus puerisque canto.
  • I sing for maidens and boys.
  • Horace, Carminum Liber III, Carmen I, line 4.

• Interdum volgus rectum videt, est ubi peccat.
  • At times the world sees straight, but many times the world goes astray.
  • Horace, Epistles, II, i, 63.

Quotes about Virgil

All the charm of all the Muses often flowering in a lonely word.
~ Alfred Tennyson

• "Or se' tu quel Virgilio e quella fonte
  che spandi di parlar sì largo fiume?",
  rispuos' io lui con vergognosa fronte.

  "O de li altri poeti onore e lume,
  vagliami 'l lungo studio e 'l grande amore
  che m'ha fatto cercar lo tuo volume.

  Tu se' lo mio maestro e 'l mio autore,
  tu se' solo colui da cu' io tolsi
  lo bello stilo che m'ha fatto onore."

  • "Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain
    Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?"
    I made response to him with bashful forehead.

    "O, of the other poets honour and light,
    Avail me the long study and great love
    That have impelled me to explore thy volume!

    Thou art my master, and my author thou,
    Thou art alone the one from whom I took
    The beautiful style that has done honour to me."

  • Dante Alighieri, in The Divine Comedy (c. 1308-1321), Inferno, Canto I, lines 79-87 (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

• Ma Virgilio n'avea lasciati scemi
  di sé, Virgilio, dolcissimo patre,
  Virgilio a cui per mia salute die'mi.
  • But us Virgilius of himself deprived
    Had left, Virgilius, sweetest of all fathers,
    Virgilius, to whom I for safety gave me.
  • Dante Alighieri, in The Divine Comedy (c. 1308-1321), Purgatorio, Canto XXX, lines 49-51 (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

• Animae dimidium meae.
  • Half of my soul.
  • Variant translation: Half my own soul.
  • Horace, referring to Virgil, in Odes, Book I, ode iii, line 8

• O Virgile! ô poète! ô mon maître divin!
  • Oh Virgil! Oh poet! Oh my divine master!
  • Victor Hugo, in Les Voix intérieures (1837), VII, 'À Virgile'.

• Cedite Romani scriptores, cedite Grai!
  Nescioquid maius nascitur Iliade.
  • Make way, you Roman writers, make way, Greeks!
    Something greater than the Iliad is born.
  • Sextus Propertius, referring to Virgil’s Aeneid, in Elegies, Book II, xxxiv, lines 65–66

• Thou that singest wheat and woodland, tilth and vineyard, hive and horse and herd;
  All the charm of all the Muses often flowering in a lonely word.
  • Alfred, Lord Tennyson, To Virgil (1882), st. 3