Et In Orcadia Ego

Earlier this week the Daily Telegraph's letters page had the amusing heading 'Et in Orcadia Ego' over a letter concerning why the Orkneys were considered the happiest place to live in the UK. The phrase is, of course, a pun on 'Et in Arcadia Ego'. Perhaps the sub-editor intended to import the sense of mortality which the original phrase carried, or perhaps it was simply the opportunity to create a pun.

De mortuis nil nisi bonum

The recent death of a neighbour, who incidentally was a good egg, brought the phrase de mortuis nil nisi bonum to mind.

Cum sancto

Cum sancto sanctus eris, cum perverso perverteris is a wise proverb.   It means roughly - with the holy man you will be holy, with the wicked man you will be wicked.  Thanks to Laura Gibbs, on whose Bestiaria Latina Blog I found this proverb.  Laura attributes it to Polydorus, however a quick search on Google shows that it comes from 2 Samuel, chapter 22, verses 26 and 27, which in the Latin Vulgate reads:

26. cum sancto sanctus eris et cum robusto perfectus  
27. cum electo electus eris et cum perverso perverteris 

Amici fures temporum

I can attest to the truth of this proverb: amici fures temporum, which means friends (are) the thieves of time.  These wise words are attributed to the eminent Elizabethan and Jacobian Sir Francis Bacon in his 1605 book The Advancement and Proficience of Learning Divine and Humane.

Amici is the nominative plural of amicus, -i (m), which means friend, and fures is the nominative plural of fur, furis (c) which means thief.  Temporum is the genitive plural of tempus, -i which means time.

Sus sui pulcher

Sus sui pulcher is part of a pithy Latin proverb: "Asinus asino et sus sui pulcher (est)."  The full phrase means: "A donkey (is) beautiful to a donkey, and a pig to a pig."

Asino and sui are the dative singulars of the second declension noun - asinus, -i donkey and the third declension noun sus, suis pig.

Si vis pacem, para bellum.

I saw this wise proverb from the fifth century writer Vegetius in a letter in the Sunday Telegraph on Sunday, 27th January.  In Engish, the advice is "If you want peace, prepare for war".  Sadly, the converse is also true, and worryingly relevant to the UK's present circumstances.

vis is the second person singular of the present indicative of the irregular verb volo and means you (s) want.  para is the singular imperative of the verb paro, parare, paravi, paratum to prepare.  It simply means prepare.