Plautus
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus, commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus. The word Plautine /ˈplɔːtaɪn/ refers to both Plautus's own works and works similar to or influenced by his...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPlaywright
graves
Food of Acheron. (Grave.) [Lat., Pabulum Acheruntis.]
oil vain lost
I have lost my oil and my labor. (Labored in vain.) [Lat., Oleum et operam perdidi.]
law littles ticklish
You little know what a ticklish thing it is to go to law. [Lat., Nescis tu quam meticulosa res sit ire ad judicem.]
men
Man is a wolf to man. [Lat., Homo homini lupus.]
mind affliction remedy
A well-balanced mind is the best remedy against affliction.
traps worms
To snatch the worm from the trap.
waste pumps breaths
To waste one's breath; to pump into a sieve.
holes mice rely
A mouse relies not solely on one hole.
home abuse looks
Are you not accustomed to look at home, when you abuse others?
fire next smoke
Fire is next akin to smoke.
men wrath giving
Give assistance, and receive thanks lighter than a feather: injure a man, and his wrath will be like lead.
good-things purchasers
Good things soon find a purchaser.
can-do
He can do most who has most power.
jam done goodness
And so it happens oft in many instances; more good is done without our knowledge than by us intended. [Lat., Itidemque ut saepe jam in multis locis, Plus insciens quis fecit quam prodens boni.]