Latin Mottoes

You've probably been looking for a list of Latin mottoes from 16th-century sources. Well, here it is. Most of them made sense to me, but these three I couldn't quite figure out:

Simul astu et dentibus utor.
I use my cunning and my teeth simultaneously.

Scribit in marmore læsus.
The injured man writes in marble.

Quod huic deest me torquet.
What this creature lacks torments me.

This one should be the motto for the government bailout of the banks:

Ei, qui semel sua prodegerit, aliena credi non oportere.
He who has once squandered his own, ought not to be trusted with another's.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 08, 2009
Category: Literature

Comments

"Quod non capit Christus, rapit fiscus.
What Christ does not take, the treasury snatches."
Did the Romans have an IRS?

Posted by Matt in Florida on 04/08/09 at 11:06 AM

"I use my cunning and my teeth simultaneously."

Perhaps just a way to say that you speak cunningly.

"What this creature lacks torments me."

Not sure if it is separating man from animal with the term creature but if so I think it is saying that basically ignorance is bliss. ex. "That creature lacks knowledge of death but it torments me."

Posted by Pablo on 04/08/09 at 11:33 AM

Simul Astu et Dentibus Utor: Sort of a Platonic counter to Facta non Verba; Why only use your brawn? Why not, like the fox, use your brains as well?

Posted by William on 04/21/13 at 02:06 AM

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