Juvenal
Juvenal
Decimus Iūnius Iuvenālis , known in English as Juvenal /ˈdʒuːvənəl/, was a Roman poet active in the late 1st and early 2nd century AD, author of the Satires. The details of the author's life are unclear, although references within his text to known persons of the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD fix his terminus post quem...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPoet
lying poverty depth
Rarely they rise by virtue's aid who lie plunged in the depth of helpless poverty.
prayer lying believe
Your prayer must be for a healthy mind in a sound body. Ask for a brave soul that has no fear of death, deems length of life the least of nature's gifts and is able to bear any kind of sufferings, knows neither wrath nor desire and believes the woes and hard labors of Hercules better than the loves and feasts and downy cushions of Sardanapalus. Reveal what you are able to give yourself; the only path to a life of tranquility lies through virtue.
kindness lying dishonesty
There is nothing worse than words of kindness that lie.
virtues
Our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised.
command
I wish it, I command it. Let my will take the place of a reason.
disease flocks whole
From the disease of one the whole flock perishes.
poverty traveler robbers
The traveler without money will sing before the robber. [Lat., Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator.]
vices worst leap
No one ever reached the worst of a vice at one leap
faults bears
Who'd bear to hear the Gracchi chide sedition?
bird black earth rare
A rare bird on earth, and very like a black swan.
nice italian hell
No nice extreme a true Italian knows; But bid him go to hell, to hell he goes.
fear desire reason
When did reason ever direct our desires or our fears?
grief men blow
Let me moderate our sorrows. The grief of a man should not exceed proper bounds, but be in proportion to the blow he has received. [Lat., Ponamus nimios gemitus: flagrantior aequo Non debet dolor esse viri, nec vulnere major.]
purple gains grapes
The grape gains its purple tinge by looking at another grape. [Lat., Uvaque conspecta livorem ducit ab uva.]