There are good reasons you see so many people with Latin tattoos.
很多人纹有拉丁语的纹身 并非心血来潮
For a start, Latin is a highly economical language –
首先 拉丁语是一门极为精炼的语言
you can say a lot in just a handful of words.
区区几词意义颇丰
Another reason is that Latin literature
另外 拉丁语文学中
is full of timeless truisms.
历久弥新的金句比比皆是
Observations made over 2,000 years ago
来自两千多年前罗马的观念
are often as applicable to us now as they were to the Romans.
往往同样适用于当代
Here are five quotes from Latin authors
比如这五句拉丁谚语
I feel are just as relevant to us today.
我觉得仍然具有现实意义
Number one:
第一句
Non videmus manticae quod in tergo est.
We cannot see the baggage that’s on our own back.
我们看不见自己背上的包袱
In the mid-1st Century BC,
公元前1世纪中叶
the Latin love poet, Catullus, observed a common human trait.
爱情诗人卡图卢斯观察到了这个人类普遍的特征
While we find it easy to recognise faults in other people,
我们很容易发现他人的缺点
we tend to be more or less blind to our own.
却对自己的视而不见
“Each of us has been assigned his own fault,” he wrote,
他写道：人人都有不足之处
“but we cannot see the baggage that’s on our own back.”
可我们看不到自己背上的包袱
Catullus’ message then, from over 2,000 years ago,
这句名言历时两千余年
is to think about your own faults before criticising others.
仍然提醒我们在批评别人前反思自己
Two:
第二句
Omnia vincit amor.
Love conquers all.
爱战胜一切
Love, in Virgil’s line, isn’t just a human emotion,
维吉尔认为爱并非人类的情感
it’s a divine force.
而是神性的力量
Love, amor, is Cupid,
爱 即丘比特
the son of Venus, the goddess of love.
是爱神维纳斯的儿子
He will strike you with his arrow and make you fall hopelessly in love.
丘比特向人射箭就能让人深坠爱河无法自拔
The love-sick poet who sighed, “Omnia vincit amor”
这位单相思诗人感慨道：爱战胜一切
knew that to be in love isn’t necessarily to be happy.
他知道爱不一定意味着欢喜
To be in love is also to be in pain.
爱也可能带来痛苦
Virgil shows us there’s no point in trying to fight it.
诗人告诉我们 完全没必要尝试去与爱对抗
“Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori” he continues.
他继续说道”Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori”
“You’re better off yielding to love
你最好向爱投降
than trying to shield yourself from his spell.”
你无法抵御爱的魔咒
Three:
第三句
Si hortum in bibliotheca habes deerit nihil.
If you have a garden and a library, you’ll lack nothing.
如果你有花园和图书馆 你就无所不有
Cicero actually wrote,
实际上西塞罗写的是
“If you have a garden in the library, you’ll lack nothing.”
如果你在图书馆里有个花园 你就无所不有
Houses in Rome typically had the garden in the middle of the house
罗马住宅的花园通常在房屋中心
rather than at the back.
而不是背后
In the ancient world there was a tradition for learning outside.
古时候人们有到自然中学习的传统
Students at Plato’s academy in Greece, for instance,
例如希腊柏拉图学院的学生
used to learn among the trees.
就在丛林中学习
Cicero’s message is if you have books and nature you have everything.
西塞罗真正的意思是：有了书与自然 你就拥有了一切
Four:
第四句
In vino veritas.
In wine is truth.
真理藏在酒中
Anyone who has drunk a few glasses can vouch for this.
饮者皆可作证
Wine loosens the tongue.
酒能打开话匣子
It may make you talk a lot of nonsense but as the ancients knew,
让人说不少废话 但是古人知道
it could also make you spill your secrets.
酒也能让人吐真言
The historian Pliny the Elder alluded to a popular saying,
历史学家老普林尼对酒的评价
about wine bringing out the truth.
变成了流行的说辞
“Veritas vino est.”
At the same time, he pitied the drunks
同时他也对醉酒者表示同情
who do not see the Sun rising and therefore live shorter lives.
他们看不见太阳升起 人生也更加短暂
Five:
第五句
Donec eris sospes multos numerabis amicos.
For as long as you’re doing well, you’ll have many friends.
富人总有很多朋友
Ovid was one of the leading poets of his day
奥维德是他所处时代的顶尖诗人
but fell foul of the emperor
但是不得皇帝喜爱
and was banished to the coast of modern Romania.
被放逐至现在罗马尼亚的海岸边
While there he wrote about his miserable fate,
他在那里记录自己悲惨的命运
which he blamed on a poem and a mistake.
认为都是一首诗和一个错误所致
The poem was full of advice about how to love and make love
这首诗充满了对爱与性的建议
and was far too raunchy for his times.
对当时的时代来说太过淫秽
What the mistake was remains a mystery to this day.
而他所说的错误至今也不得而知
In exile, the once popular poet found himself friendless.
放逐之中 这位红极一时的诗人发现自己身边一个朋友都没有
The message is surely to work out who your real friends are
这则名言也能让你及时看清
before it’s too late.
谁是你真正的朋友
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感谢收看 别忘了订阅
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并点击可以接受到新视频推送的按钮
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下期再见