![]() Maximum Remedium Irae Mora Est: “Delay is the Greatest Remedy for Angerâ€. Horas Non Numero Nisi Serenas: “I Do Not Count the Hours Unless They Be Bright†a traditional sundial motto which seems less fitting on a clock. These famous words are from Cicero’s De Senectute (“On Old Ageâ€: 69) by themselves they might not be remembered, but they begin (and on a clock are supposed to evoke) a powerful polysyndeton: Horae quidem cedunt, et dies et mensis et anni, nec prateritum tempus umquam revertitur, nec quid sequatur sciri potest (“The hours depart indeed, and the days, and the months, and the years nor do the past times ever return, nor is that which may follow to be knownâ€). Horae Quidem Cedunt…: “The hours indeed fall…â€. This is the motto of the First (Canadian) Hussars. Hodie Non Cras: “Today, Not Tomorrowâ€. He precedes the remark with Forsan et (“Perhaps evenâ€). The original is Virgil, Aeneid I: 203: Aeneas, driven ashore in Africa, is addressing the remnant of his men. Haec Olim Meminisse Juvabit: Literally “Someday it will be pleasant to remember this†more loosely “Someday we’ll laugh about thisâ€. One often sees the alternative continuation non vi sed saepe cadende (“not by force but by frequent droppingâ€) I understand (Notes and Queries #21, 1850) that this goes back at least as far as Gilles Menage, aka Aegidius Menagius, “Amsterdam 1713â€. This is Ovid, Ex Ponto iii: 10 the original continues consumitur annulus usu, atteritur pressa vomer aduncus humo (â€the ring is worn away with use, and the curved plowshare by the pressurof the earthâ€). Gutta Cavat Lapidem: "The Drop Hollows Out the Stone". This might have been the motto of that tortoise who raced the hare, but in fact it was associated (by Suetonius) with the Emperor Augustus, and much later was a motto of the early printer Aldus Manutius. Hurrying may not be the fastest way to get the job done. In the original the first two words were separated from the last two by by the name (in the vocative case) of the person addressed, one Postumus, repeated: Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume, labuntur anni ("Ah Postumus, Postumus, the fleeting years glide by").įestina Lente: "Make Haste Slowly". Another commonplace this I can trace back only to Robert Burton's 17th-century Anatomy of Melancholy (2: 3: 1: 1).Įheu Fugaces Labuntur Anni: "Alas, the Fleeting Years Glide By". The immediately preceding words are dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas ("as we speak, jealous time runs away").ĭies Dolorem Minuit: "Time Diminishes Sorrow". Long a commonplace, this can be traced back to Horace ( Odes 1.11). I would be very grateful for any corrections, comments, or additions. ![]() I here append a discussion of some of the mottoes so far considered. And no one word can be more than about 10 characters. The space available for the inscription of these mottoes is small, so none can be more than about 45 characters in toto. And it occurs to me that I might well share some of that work here, and perhaps gain some useful input.īecause of the nature of the task, I am relatively uninterested in mottoes that depend for their wit on the particular location of a timepiece: Hora Fugit Ora (on a dial placed high up) is the first example that leaps to mind. I've been terribly busy in Real Life.īut part of what has kept me busy has been a project involving clock- and sundial-mottoes, many of which- the majority of which- are in Latin. I am sorry that I have not been heard from much on the Forum in recent days.
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