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
money making-money
You must spend money to make money.
pain pleasure
I seek the utmost pleasure and the least pain.
fire flames smoke
Flame is very near to smoke.
winning games loses
There are games in which it is better to lose than win.
nuts cracks shells
He that would eat the nut must crack the shell.
taken wife dowry
I have taken a wife, I have sold my sovereignty for a dowry. [Lat., Uxorem accepi, dote imperium vendidi.]
women dumb age
I know that we women are all justly accounted praters; they say in the present day that there never was in any age such a wonder to be found as a dumb woman. [Lat., Nam multum loquaces merito omnes habemus, Nec mutam profecto repertam ullam esse Hodie dicunt mulierem ullo in seculo.]
women anger males
A woman finds it much easier to do ill than well. [Lat., Mulieri nimio male facere melius est onus, quam bene.]
our-words pouring labor
We are pouring our words into a sieve, and lose our labor. [Lat., In pertusum ingerimus dicta dolium, operam ludimus.]
salt paint without-pain
A woman without paint is like food without salt.
blessing men
A man with courage has every blessing.
evil knows
The evil that we know is best.
substance fool too-late
The fool too late, his substance eaten up, reckons the cost.
football use mortals
Ah yes, the gods use us mortals as footballs!