Page images
PDF
EPUB

3266. Ne nimium. (L.)-Not too much.

Earl of Aberdeen. 3267. Ne obliviscaris. (L.) Do not forget. Duke of Argyll. 3268. Νήπιοι, ουδ ̓ ἴσασιν ὅσῳ πλεόν ἥμισυ παντὸς,

Ουδ' ὅσον ἐν μαλάχῃ τε δε ἀσφοδέλω μέγ' όνειαρ. (Gr.) Hes. Op. 41.-Fools, they know not how much more the half is than the whole, nor how much nourishment there is in mallow and asphodel.

3269. Ne plus ultra. (L.)-No farther can be done. The highest possible degree, perfection, greatest attainment.

3270. Ne, pueri, ne tanta animis assuescite bella; Neu patriæ validas in viscera vertite vires.

(L.) Virg. A. 6, 833.

Nay, children, nay, your hate unlearn,
Nor 'gainst your country's vitals turn
The valour of her sons.-Conington.

3271. Nequam illud verbum 'st, Bene volt, nisi qui bene facit. (L.) Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 38.-That expression, "He means well," is worth nothing except the man does well."

66

3272. Nequaquam satis in re una consumere curam. (L.) Hor. S. 2, 4, 48.-It is foolish to devote all your care to one object.

3273. Neque enim concludere versum

Dixeris esse satis: neque, si quis scribat, uti nos,

Sermoni propiora, putes hunc esse poetam.

(L.) Hor. S. 1, 4, 40.

'Tis not enough to turn out lines complete
Each with its proper quantum of ten feet;
Colloquial verse a man may write like me,
But (trust an author) 'tis not poetry.-Conington.

3274. Neque enim lex æquior ulla est

Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.

(L.) Ov. A. A. 1, 655.

This is the justest law that Heaven imparts

That murderers should die by their own arts.-Ed.

3275. Neque fœmina, amissa pudicitia, alia abnuerit. (L.) Tac. A. 4, 3.-When once a woman has lost her chastity, she will deny nothing.

3276. Neque mala vel bona quæ vulgus putet. (L.) Tac. A. 6, 22.-Things are neither to be pronounced good or bad merely upon public opinion.

3277. Neque quies gentium sine armis neque arma sine stipendiis neque stipendia sine tributis haberi queunt. (L.) Tac. H. 4, 74.-International peace cannot be maintained without armies; armies must be paid; and the pay requires taxation.

3278. Nequicquam exornata est bene, si morata est male; Pulchrum ornatum turpes mores pejus cœno collinunt. (L.) Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 132.-It is no good her being well dressed, if she's badly mannered: ill breeding mars a fine dress worse than dirt.

3279. Nequicquam populo bibulas donaveris aures;

Respue quod non es.

Tollat sua munera cerdo.

Tecum habita et noris, quam sit tibi curta supellex.

(L.) Pers. 4, 51.

'Tis labour lost, trust me, with thirsting ears

To listen to the flattery of the town:

Disown your acted part, and let the clown

Take back his gifts. Look close at home and know
How small a stock of virtue you've to show. -Ed.

3280. Ne quid hiet, ne quid protuberet, angulus æquis

Partibus ut coeat, ne quid deliret amussis. (L.) Auson. Id. 16.-Avoiding all gaps and all excrescences, so that the angle shall have its sides equal, and the plumb-line wander neither hither nor thither.

Said of a man making a strict examination of conscience (Cf. the passage); but, applicable also to the final touches or polish given to any composition in poetry, letters, or art.

3281. Ne quid nimis. (L.) Ter. And. 1, 1, 35.-Avoid excess. Viscount Sherbrooke.

3282. Nervos belli pecuniam infinitam. (L.) Cic. Phil. 5, 2, 5. -Endless money makes the sinews of war.

Cf. Libanius, orat. 4, 6 (vol. ii. p. 477, Ed. Reiske), rà veûpa ToÛ πολέμου. (Gr.)-The sinews of war; and Rabelais, Gargantua, 1, 46, Les nerfs des batailles sont les pécunes. (Fr.)-Cash is the sinews of battles. Diogenes Laert. (Vit. Bionis, 4, 7, § 3) ascribes to Bion the saying, τὸν πλοῦτον εἶναι νεῦρα πραγμάτων. (Gr.)-Money is the sinews of affairs. See also Eschin. adv. Ctes. cap. 53.

3283. Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futuræ,

Et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis.

(L.) Virg. A. 10, 501.

O impotence of man's frail mind,
To fate and to the future blind,

Presumptuous and o'erweening still

When fortune follows at its will !-Conington.

3284. Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine captos Ducit, et immemores non sinit esse sui.

(L.) Ov. ap. Ep. 1, 3, 25.

Home, sweet home.

There's a magical charm in the land of our birth,
That entrances beyond every region of earth:

Its spell is upon us where'er we may roam,

And forbids us to dim the sweet image of home. -Ed.

Cf. Super flumina Babylonis, illic sedimus et flevimus, quum recordaremur Sion, etc. Vulg. Ps. 137, 1 seqq.

3285. Nescio qua præter solitum dulcedine læti. (L.) Virg. G. 1, 412.-Their spirits excited by some secret and unwonted delight.

3286. Nescire autem quid antea quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. Quid enim est ætas hominis, nisi memoria rerum veterum cum superioribus contexitur? (L.) Cic. Or. 34, 120.-To be unacquainted with events which took place before you were born, is always to be a child; for where is the value of human life, unless memory enables us to carry back earlier events to the times which went before?

(L.)

3287. Nescis tu quam meticulosa res sit ire ad judicem. Plaut. Most. 5, 1, 52.—You do not know what a frightful thing it is to go to law.

3288. Nescit vox missa reverti.

(L.) Hor. A. P. 390.-The word which has once gone forth can never be recalled.

3289. Nessun maggior dolore

Che ricordarsi del tempo felice

Nella miseria.

(It.) Dante, Inf. 5, 12, 1.

There is no greater woe

Than in the hour of misery to recall

The happy days of yore.-Ed.

The words form the Motto of Byron's Corsair, and are referred to in Locksley Hall:

"This is truth the poet sings,

That a sorrow's crown of sorrows is remembering happier

things.

Cf. Boethius (De Consol. Phil. lib. 2), In omni adversitate, etc.; and
Vulg. Jer. Thren. 1, 7, Recordata est Ierusalem, etc.

Chaucer, Troilus and Cressida, 3, 1625, has:

For of fortune's sharpe adversite,
The worst kind of infortune is this,
A man that has been in prosperite,
And it remember when it passed is.

3290. N'est on jamais tyran qu'avec un diadême? (Fr.) Chénier, Caius Gracchus.-Cannot a man be a tyrant except he

wear a crown? This line lost none of its point, recited as it was in the presence of Robespierre.

3291. Ne sutor supra crepidam (judicaret). (L.) Plin. 35, 10, 36.-A cobbler should stick to his last.

When a cobbler, not content with pointing out defects in a shoe of Apelles' painting, presumed to criticise the drawing of the leg, the artist checked him with the rebuke here quoted. It is often said of those who offer opinions on subjects with which they are not professionally acquainted.

3292. Ne te longis ambagibus ultra

[blocks in formation]

Hor. Ep. 1, 7, 82.-To

3293. Ne tentes, aut perfice. (L.)—Either attempt not, or accomplish it. Marquess of Downshire.

3294. Neu regio foret ulla suis animantibus orba,

Astra tenent cæleste solum, formæque deorum.

(L.) Ov. M. 1, 72.

Creation nowhere lacks inhabitants:

Heaven has the stars, and moving shapes of God.-Ed.

3295. Ne vile fano. (L).-Bring nothing base to the shrine, or fane. Motto of the Earl of Westmoreland (Fane). (2.) Ne vile velis.-Desire nothing vile. Motto of the Marquess of Abergavenny and Lord Braybrooke (Nevile).

3296. Nicht grösseren Vortheil wüsst' ich zu nennen Als des Feindes Verdienst erkennen. (G.)

Goethe,

Sprüche. I know no greater advantage than to recognise the worth of an enemy.

3297. Nichts halb zu thun ist edler Geister Art. (G.) Wieland, Oberon, 1, 1.-To do nothing by halves is the way of

noble souls.

3298. Nichts ist höher zu schätzen, als der Werth des Tages. (G.) Goethe, Reflex. u. Max.-Nothing should be valued more highly than the value of a single day. Cf. Was aber ist deine Pflicht? Die Forderung des Tages. Id. ibid. What is thy duty? The claims of each day.

3299. Nichtswürdig ist die Nation, die nicht

Ihr Alles freudig setzt an ihre Ehre. (G.) Schill. Jungfr. v. Orleans, 1, 5.-Unworthy is the nation that does not gladly stake its all for its honour.

3300. Nie erwirbt man sich Hochachtung, Wo man Alles von sich wissen,

Alles übersehen lässt. (G.) Herder?—No one ever earns
veneration who allows everything about him to be known.
(L.) Tert. de Pudic, cap. 8, n.
nothing to Andromache, i.e., nothing to
Beside the question. Similar to Nihil ad
ad rem (see Cic. Cæcin. 58).-It is not
Cf. Lucret. 3, 830, Nil est ad nos.-It is
It concerns us not.

3301. Nihil ad Andromachen.
65.-This is
the purpose.
versum, nihil
to the point.
nothing to us.

3302. Nihil agit qui diffidentem verbis solatur suis :

Is est amicus qui in re dubia re juvat, ubi re est opus. (L.) Plaut. Ep. 1, 2, 9.-It is no good comforting a downhearted man with words; a true friend in misfortune helps a man with deeds, where deeds are required. 3303. Nihil aliud necessarium ut sis miser, quam ut te miserum credas. (L.)-Nothing else is necessary to make you miserable, than to imagine that you are so.

3304. Nihil aliud potest Rex quam quod de jure potest. (L.) Law Max. The king can do nothing but what the law allows him to do.

3305. Nihil apud hunc lautum, nihil elegans, nihil exquisitum. (L.) Cic. in Pis. 27, 67.-There was nothing about the man to indicate any feeling of taste, elegance, or refinement. Said of a coarse meal, or rude appointments of a house or table. A man of no taste.

3306. Nihil cum fidibus graculo. (L.) Gell. N. A. præf. 19.— Jackdaws have no business with a lute. Ignoramuses must not meddle with poetry.

3307. Nihil difficile est naturæ, utique ubi in finem sui properat. .. Urbes constituit ætas: hora dissolvit. Momento

fit cinis: diu sylva. (L.) Sen. Q. N. 3, 27, 3.-Nothing is difficult for Nature, particularly when she is advancing to a given end. It takes an age to build cities, but an hour brings them to nothing. A forest is long in growing, but a moment reduces it to ashes.

3308. Nihil enim legit, quod non excerperet.

Dicere etiam

solebat, nullum esse librum tam malum, ut non aliqua parte prodesset. (L.) Plin. Ep. 3, 5, 10.-He never read a book without making extracts from it. He also used to say, No book was so bad, but what some part of it might be found of use. Said of the elder Pliny.

« PreviousContinue »