Juvenal

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.Which roughly translates asWho will Guard the Guardians, orWho watches the watchers.”

“Where talent is lacking, anger writes poetry.”

“..but who will guard the guardians?”

“Dedicate one's life to truth”

“odi hanc ego quae repetit uoluitque Palaemonis artem seruata semper lege et ratione loquendi ignotosque mihi tenet antiquaria uersus nec curanda uiris.”

“All wish to possess knowledge, but few, comparatively speaking, are willing to pay the price.”

“Besides what endless brawls by wives are bred,The curtain lecture makes a mournful bed.”

“Must this with farce and folly rack myhead unpunish'd ? that with sing-song,Whine me dead?”

“Writing in the incurable itch that possesses many.”

“Panem et circenses.”

“incipe, Calliope. licet et considere: non estcantandum, res uera agitur. narrate, puellae 35Pierides, prosit mihi uos dixisse puellas.”

“Semper ego auditor tantum? numquamne reponamvexatus totiens rauci Theseide Cordi?inpune ergo mihi recitaverit ille togatas,hic elegos? inpune diem consumpserit ingensTelephus aut summi plena iam margine libriscriptus et in tergo necdum finitus Orestes?nota magis nulli domus est sua quam mihi lucusMartis et Aeoliis vicinum rupibus antrumVulcani. Quid agant venti, quas torqueat umbrasAeacus, unde alius furtivae devehat aurumpelliculae, quantas iaculetur Monychus ornos,Frontonis platani convulsaque marmora clamantsemper et adsiduo ruptae lectore columnae:expectes eadem a summo minimoque poeta.et nos ergo manum ferulae subduximus, et nosconsilium dedimus Sullae, privatus ut altumdormiret; stulta est clementia, cum tot ubiquevatibus occurras, periturae parcere chartae.cur tamen hoc potius libeat decurrere campoper quem magnus equos Auruncae flexit alumnus,si vacat ac placidi rationem admittitis, edam.”

“quid Romae faciam? mentiri nescio; librum, si malus est, nequeo laudare et poscere; motus astrorum ignoro; funus promittere patris nec uolo nec possum; ranarum uiscera numquam inspexi; ferre ad nuptam quae mittit adulter, quae mandat, norunt alii; me nemo ministro fur erit, atque ideo nulli comes exeo tamquam mancus et extinctae corpus non utile dextrae.”

“Would you not like to fill up a whole note-book at the street crossings when you see a forger borne along upon the necks of six porters, and exposed to view on this side and on that in his almost naked litter, and reminding you of the lounging Maecenas: one who by help of a scrap of paper and a moistened seal has converted himself into a fine and wealthy gentleman?”

“What? Am I to be a listener only all my days? Am I never to get my word in—I that have been so often bored by the Theseid of the ranting Cordus? Shall this one have spouted to me his comedies, and that one his love ditties, and I be unavenged? Shall I have no revenge on one who has taken up the whole day with an interminable Telephus or with an Orestes which, after filling the margin at the top of the roll and the back as well, hasn't even yet come to an end? No one knows his own house so well as I know the groves of Mars, and the cave of Vulcan near the cliffs of Aeolus. What the winds are brewing; whose souls Aeacus has on the rack; from what country another worthy is carrying off that stolen golden fleece; how big are the ash trees which Monychus hurls as missiles: these are the themes with which Fronto's plane trees and marble halls are for ever ringing until the pillars quiver and quake under the continual recitations; such is the kind of stuff you may look for from every poet, greatest or least. Well, I too have slipped my hand from under the cane; I too have counselled Sulla to retire from public life and take a deep sleep; it is a foolish clemency when you jostle against poets at every corner, to spare paper that will be wasted anyhow. But if you can give me time, and will listen quietly to reason, I will tell you why I prefer to run in the same course over which Lucilius, the great nursling of Aurunca drove his horses.”

“Ask for a valiant heart which has banished the fear of death, which looks upon the length of days as one of the least of nature's gifts; which is able to suffer every kind of hardship, is proof against anger, craves for nothing, and reckons the trials and gruelling labours of Hercules as more desirable blessings than the amorous ease and the banquets and cushions of Sardanapallus. The things that I recommend you can grant to yourself.”

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchmen?)”

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will guard the guards?”

“No man becomes bad all at once.”

“Sit mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body)”

“It is to be prayed that the mind be sound in a sound body.Ask for a brave soul that lacks the fear of death,which places the length of life last among nature’s blessings,which is able to bear whatever kind of sufferings,does not know anger, lusts for nothing and believesthe hardships and savage labors of Hercules better thanthe satisfactions, feasts, and feather bed of an Eastern king.I will reveal what you are able to give yourself;For certain, the one footpath of a tranquil life lies through virtue.”

“orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.”

“Many suffer from the incurable disease of writing, and it becomes chronic in their sick minds.”

“Never does Nature say one thing and Wisdom another.”

“Many commit the same crime with a very different result. One bears a cross for his crime; another a crown.”

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - Who will watch the watchers?”

“The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things: bread and circuses!”