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Group 39: Latin

533. Animi imago vultus, indices oculi.

534. Vultus animi ianua et tabula.

535. Oratio vultus animi est.

536. Ut visus in oculis, ita mens in anima.

537. Domus propria, domus optima.

538. Parva domus, parva cura.

539. Parva domus, magna quies.

540. Haec manus inimica tyrannis.

541. Hic Rhodus, hic saltus.

542. Forma flos, fama flatus.

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Study Guide

533. The face is the image of the mind, the eyes are its indicators. (This saying is adapted from Cicero. The word animus is notoriously difficult to translate; you can read some notes about both animus and anima in this Latin Audio Proverbs blog post.)

534. The face is the door of the mind and its writing-tablet. (The Latin word tabula means "board, plank," but it is also the "writing tablet," the little plank or board on which letters were written.)

535. Speech is the face of the mind. (Compare this saying in Publilius Syrus: Imago animi sermo est, "Speech is the image of the mind." Likewise, compare this saying in Seneca: Oratio cultus animi est, "Speech is the cultivation of the mind.")

536. As sight in the eyes, so is the mind in the soul. (The word anima is notoriously difficult to translate; you can read some notes about both animus and anima in this Latin Audio Proverbs blog post.)

537. One's own house is the best house. (There is a delightful Aesop's fable about how the gods got angry at the tortoise for expressing this sentiment, and therefore condemned the tortoise to carry its house around with it, wherever it went.)

538. Small house, small trouble. (My husband and I are currently looking for a house, and this is definitely one of the mottoes governing my house search!)

539. Small house, great calm. (You can find this motto on one of the many lovely terracotta tiles for sale at Black Dog of Wells.)

540. This hand is an enemy to tyrants. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)

541. Here is Rhodes, here is your jump. (This is from an Aesop's fable about a boastful athlete who returned home bragging about the great long-jump he had made at an athletic festival at Rhodes. Aesop challenged the man to stop talking and put on a demonstration: "Here is Rhodes, here is your jump," said Aesop.)

542. Beauty is a flower, fame is a puff of a wind. (In other words, they are both fleeting! And be sure to note the lovely alliteration in the Latin.)