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3537. Obscuris vera involvens. (L.) Virg. A. 6, 100.-Involving truth in obscurity. The response of the Cumaan Sibyl to Æneas.

Applied to disputants, who, seeing the weight of truth against thein, encumber it with verbiage and circumlocution, not having any fair argument by which to rebut it.

3538. Obscurum per obscurius. (L.)-[To explain] a thing that is obscure, by something still more so.

This accords with a definition (given by I forget whom) of Meta-
physics. It is to the effect that when one man is attempting to
explain a point, which he does not himself understand, to another
who does not comprehend what he is saying, that is
"Meta-
physics."

3539. Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit. (L.) Ter. And. 1, 1, 40.-Obsequiousness begets friends, truth hatred.

3540. Obstupui, steteruntque comæ, et vox faucibus hæsit.

(L.) Virg. A. 2, 774.

I stood appalled, my hair erect,
And fear my tongue-tied utterance checked.—Conington.

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3543. Occasionem cognosce. (L.)—Know your opportunity. Cf. Shakesp. Julius Cæsar, Act 4, sc. 3, 18:

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

3544. Occasio prima sui parte comosa, posteriore calva; quam si occuparis teneas, elapsam semel non Jupiter ipse potest reprehendere. (L.) —Opportunity has hair on her forehead, but is bald behind; if you meet her, seize her, for once let slip Jove himself cannot catch her again.

Cf. Rem tibi quam nosces aptam, dimittere noli;
Fronte capellata est, post est occasio calva.

Dion. Cato, Distich. de Moribus.

Don't let escape what's suited to your mind;
Occasion has locks before, is bald behind.-Ed.

3545. Occidit miseros crambe repetita magistros. (L.) Juv. 7, 154. Like warmed-up cabbage served at each repast, The repetition kills the wretch at last.-Gifford.

Said of recitations which masters had to endure in school.

First they read the essay sitting,
Then recite it standing, lastly
Sing it sure this everlasting

Cabbage is enough to kill him.-Shaw.

The phrase is something akin to the French toujours perdrix, q. v.

3546. Occidit una domus, sed non domus una perire

Digna fuit. (L.) Ov. M. 1, 240.-One house fell, but

it was not the only house that deserved to perish.

I'm

3547. Occupet extremum scabies! mihi turpe relinqui est. (L.) Hor. A. P. 417.-The devil take the hindmost! ashamed to be left behind.

3548. O certe necessarium Adæ peccatum, quod Christi morte deletum est! O felix culpa, quæ talem et tantum meruit Redemptorem! (L.) St Augustine 1-0 sin of Adam, certainly necessary as procuring its atonement by the death of Christ! Blessed transgression, that didst merit such a Redeemer and so mighty a one! Recited in the office for Easter Eve at the Benediction of the Lights. Cf. G. Ercolani, In lode di Maria:

Adam, quasi lodar ti dei

Del tuo folle desio, se per lui solo
Bella cagion della gran Donna sei.

(It.)-Adam, thy mad

desire is almost worthy of praise, since by it thou art the happy cause of the great Lady.

3549. O Corydon, Corydon, secretum divitis ullum

Esse putas? Servi ut taceant, jumenta loquentur,

Et canis, et postes, et marmora.

(L.) Juv. 9, 102.

Poor simple Corydon! do you suppose

Aught is kept secret that a rich man does?
If servants hold their tongues, the beasts will blab,
The dog, the door-posts, and the marble slab.-Ed.

3550. Oculis magis habenda fides quam auribus.
better to trust our eyes than our ears.

(L.)-It is

(L.) Pers. 1, 1.

3551. O curas hominum! O quantum est in rebus inane !

Alas for man! how vain are all his cares !

And oh what bubbles his most grave affairs !-Gifford.

3552. O curvæ in terris animæ, et cœlestium inanes! (L.) Pers. 2, 61.-0 souls! always bowed to earth, without a spark of heavenly aspiration!

O souls, in whom no heav'nly fire is found,

Flat minds, and ever grov'lling on the ground!

3553. O dea certe. (L.) Virg. A. 1, 328.—A goddess surely! O goddess, for no less you seem.

3554. O der Einfall war kindisch, aber göttlich schön. (G.) Schill. Don Carlos, 1, 2.-(Don C. loq.) O the simplicity was childish, but divinely beautiful!

3555. Oderint dum metuant. (L.) Accius, Atreus, ap. Cic. Off. 1, 28, 97.-Let them hate me, so they fear me.

3556. Odero, si potero: si non, invitus amabo. (L.) Ov. Am. 3, 11, 35.—If I could I would hate: if I cannot I must love against my will.

3557. Oderunt hilarem tristes, tristemque jocosi,

Sedatum celeres, agilem gnavumque remissi.

(L.) Hor. Ep. 1, 18, 89.

The grave dislike the gay, the staid the pert,
The quick the slow, the lazy the alert.-Conington.

3558. Oderunt peccare boni virtutis amore:
Tu nihil admittes in te formidine pænæ.

(L.) Hor. Ep. 1, 16, 52.

'Tis love of right that keeps the good from wrong,

You do no harm because you fear the thong.-Conington.
To the first line (above) has been added by a later hand (see Orelli,
Horace, Turin, 1852 in 1.), thus making an antithetical couplet:
Oderunt peccare mali formidine pænæ.

The wicked dare not sin from fear of pain.

3559. Odia in longum jaciens, quæ reconderet, auctaque promeret. (L.) Tac. A. 1, 69.-Storing up resentment a long time, in order to bring it forward with increased acrimony.

/3560. Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requiris.

Nescio sed fieri sentio, et excrucior.

(L.) Cat. 85.

I love and hate: why so you may inquire
I know not but 'tis so, I am on fire.-Ed.

"

Cf. Reynard's "On aime sans raison et sans raison l'on hait
(Folies amoureuses).—One loves without reason, and without reason
one hates.

3561. O dii immortales! non intelligunt homines, quam magnum vectigal sit parsimonia! (L.) Cic. Parad. 6, 3, 49.-Ye immortal gods! If men could only understand what a wonderful revenue lies in thrift!

3562. O dii quam ineptus! quam se ipse amans sine rivali! (L.) Cic. Q. F. 3, 84.-Good heavens! was there ever anything so foolish as a man to be in love with himself without a rival to dispute his claims! Said of Pompey.

3563. Odimus accipitrem quia semper vivit in armis. (L.) Ov. A. A. 2, 147.-I hate the hawk that always lives in arms. Applied before now to the first Napoleon.

3564. Odimus immodicos (experto credite) fastus. (L.) Ov. A. A. 3, 511.-Excessive arrogance, you may take my word for it, is an hateful thing.

3565. Odiosa 'st oratio, quom rem agas, longinquom loqui. (L.) Plaut. Merc. 3, 4, 25.—It is an odious style, when you have work in hand, to be speaking continually.

3566. Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.

Favete linguis.

(L.) Hor. C. 3, 1, 1.

I bid the unhallowed crowd avaunt!
Keep holy silence.—Conington.

Cf. Prop. 4, 6, 1, Sacra facit vates, sint ora faventia sacris.-The bard engages in holy offices, let your silence reverence the holy rites. Odi profanum (I hate what is profane), Motto of Earl of Listowell. 3567. Odium theologicum. (L.)-Theological hatred. Mutual aversion of rival schools of divines; doctrinal disputes.

3568. O domus antiqua, beu quam dispari

Dominare domino! (L.) Enn. ap. Cic. Off. 1, 39, 139. -O ancient house, alas how unsuitable is the lord that owns thee now!

3569. O dulces comitum valete cœtus,

Longe quos simul a domo profectos

Diversæ variæ viæ reportant.

(L.) Cat. 46, 9.

And you, ye band of comrades tried and true,
Who side by side went forth from home, farewell!

How far apart the paths shall carry you

Back to your native shore, ah, who can tell?-Sir T. Martin.

3570. O faciles dare summa Deos, eademque tueri

Difficiles.

(L.) Lucan. 1, 510.

Freely they grant, the blessed gods,
But grudge the tenure of our goods.-Ed.

3571. O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori. (L.)

Virg. E. 2, 17.-0 pretty boy, trust not too much to your rosy looks!

3572. O fortunatam natam me consule Romam!

(L.) Cic. Poet. Fragm, ap. Quint. 9, 4, 41.

How fortunate a natal day was thine

In that late consulate, O Rome, of mine !-Ed.

Juvenal who quotes (10, 123) the wretched jingle, remarks that Cicero might have laughed at Antony's wrath, si sic omnia dixisset, if all that the great orator has said, had been in this style.

3573. O fortunati mercatores! gravis annis

Miles ait, multo jam fractus membra labore.
Contra mercator, navim jactantibus austris,
Militia est potior.

(L.) Hor. S. 1, 1, 4.

Thou lucky merchants! cries the soldier stout,
When years of toil have well-nigh worn him out;
What says the merchant, tossing o'er the brine?
Yon soldier's lot is happier, sure, than mine.-Conington.

3574. O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint
Agricolas, quibus ipsa, procul discordibus armis,
Fundit humo facilem victum justissima tellus.

The country labourer.

(L.)

Too happy swains, did ye but know
Your bliss, on whom your fields bestow,
Far from war's din and scenes of blood,
A measure just of kindly food.-Ed.

Virg. G. 2, 458.

3575. Ogni medaglia ha il suo riverso. (It.)

Prov.-Every

medal has its reverse. There are two sides to every story.

3576. Oh, Bone Custos, salve, columen vero familiæ,

Cui commendavi filium hinc abiens meum. (L.) Ter.
Phor. 1, 5, 56.-0 my good guardian, I salute thee!
Trusty prop of my house, into whose hands I committed
my son when I went away from hence!

The custos, among the Romans, was the tutor or pedagogue who
had the education of the children, or the charge of taking them to
and from school. Cardinal Newman has fancifully applied the
lines to the Roman Church, as the divinely appointed guardian of
the Incarnate Son of God in the mystery of the Eucharist.

3577. Oh! c'était le bon temps, j'étais bien malheureuse! (Fr.) Rulhière? Oh it was so nice then, I was so unhappy! The exciting interest attaching to days of struggle and poverty, especially in the recollection of them. original saying is Sophie Arnould's, the actress, which Rulbière turned into poetry.

The

3578. Ohe! Jam satis est. (L.) Hor. S, 1, 5, 12.-Hold, that

is enough.

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