Part 188

=Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno=--Ovid (_rār´a av´iss in ter´rīs nī-grō´kwe sim-ill´im-a sig´no_).--A rare bird on the earth, and very like a black swan: _i. e._, a prodigy. This species being almost entirely unknown in the time of the Romans.

=Recipe= (_res´ip-e_).--Receive.

=Recte et suaviter= (_rek´tē et swa´vit-er_).--Justly and pleasantly.

=Redeunt Saturnia regna= (_red´e-unt sat-ur´ni-a reg´na_).--The age of Saturn (_i. e._ the golden age) returns.

=Reductio ad absurdum= (_re-duk´shi-o ad ab-surd´um_).--A reducing a position to an absurdity.

=Rem acu tetigisti= (_rem ak´ū teti-gist´ī_).--You have hit the nail on the head (_lit._ touched the matter with a needle-point).

=Requiescat in pace=--R. I. P. (_rek-wi-ess´kat in pā´se_).--May he (or she) rest in peace. Symbol used on monuments, expressing a prayer for the repose of the soul.

=Res gestæ= (_rēs jest´ē_).--Exploits.

=Res judicata= (_jūdi-ka´ta_).--A case or suit already decided.

=Respice finem= (_res´-piss-e fī´nem_).--Look to the end.

=Respublica= (_rēs-pub´lik-a_).--The common weal; the commonwealth. Name applied to the Roman state prior to the time of the Empire.

=Resurgam= (_re-sur´gam_).--I shall rise again. Frequently inscribed on memorials to the dead.

=Ride si sapis= (_rī´de sī sap´iss_).--Laugh if you are wise; _i. e._, the wise cultivate a cheerful habit of mind.

=Ruat cœlum= (_rū´at sē´lum_).--Let the heavens fall.

=Rus in urbe= (_russ in ur´be_).--The country in town.

=S=

=Sal atticum= (_sal at´tik-um_).--Attic salt--_i. e._, wit. Salt was used both by the Greeks and Romans as the common term for wit; Attic (_i. e._ Athenian) wit being especially delicate and elegant.

=Salus populi suprema est lex= (_sal´us pop´u-li su-prē´ma est lex_).--The welfare of the people is the supreme law.

=Salve= (_sal´vē_).--How are you? I hope you are well. A form of familiar salutation among the Romans.

=Salvo jure= (_sal´vō jū´re_).--Saving the right.

=Sanctum sanctorum= (_sank´tum sank-tor´um_).--The holy of holies. In ecclesiastical law the chancel of a church is so called; also frequently applied to a private room or study.

=Sartor resartus= (_sar´tor re-sar´tus_).--The tailor patched. The title of Carlyle’s well-known work.

=Satis superque= (_sat´iss su-per´kwe_).--Enough and more than enough.

=Satis verborum= (_ver-bor´um_).--Enough of words.

=Secundum artem= (_sek-un´dum ar´tem_).--According to rule.

=Secundum naturam= (_na-tūr´am_).--According to nature.

=Semper avarus eget=--Horace (_sem´per av-ār´us ej´et_).--The covetous man is ever in want.

=Semper felix= (_fē´lix_).--Always happy.

=Semper fidelis= (_fid-ē´liss_).--Always faithful.

=Semper idem= (_ī´dem_).--Always the same. (This is the masculine form; the feminine form is _e´a-dem_, and the neuter _id´em_--all three singular.)

=Semper paratus= (_par-a´tus_).--Always ready.

=Senatus populusque Romanus=--S. P. Q. R. (_sen-ā´tus popu-lus´kwe Ro-mā´nus_).--The senate and the Roman people.

=Seniores priores= (_sen-i-or´ēz pri-or´ēz_).--Elders first. Elderly persons being accorded in ancient times special reverence. Cicero (106-43 B. C.) wrote a work, _De Senectute_, in praise of old age.

=Seriatim= (_ser-i-ā´tim_).--In a series.

=Servabo fidem= (_ser-vā´bō fid´em_).--I will keep faith.

=Sic= (_sik_).--Thus: so. Generally used ironically to call attention to a literary error.

=Sic itur ad astra=--Virgil (_sik it´ur ad ass´tra_).--Such is the way to immortality (_lit._, to the stars).

=Sic passim= (_pas´sim_).--So everywhere.

=Sic transit gloria mundi= (_sik trans´it glor´i-a mun´dī_).--Thus passes away earthly glory. Words said to have been used at the inauguration of the early Popes.

=Sic vos non vobis=--Virgil (_sik vōs non vō´biss_).--Thus you toil, but not for yourselves. The poet here refers to bees, who make honey, but not for their own use.

=Similia similibus curantur= (_sim-il´i-a sim-il´i-bus ku-ran´tur_).--Like things are cured by like. Motto of homœopathic school of medicine.

=Sine die= (_sin´e dī´ē_).--Without a day being appointed: indefinitely.

=Sine invidia= (_in-vid´i-ā_).--Without envy.

=Sine odio= (_ō´di-ō_).--Without hatred.

=Sine qua non= (_sin´e kwā non_).--An indispensable condition.

=Siste, viator= (_sis´te vi-ā´tor_).--Stop, traveler.

=Si vis pacem, para bellum= (_sī viss pā´sem par´ā bell´um_).--If you wish for peace, prepare for war.

=Sola nobilitas virtus= (_sō´la no-bil´itas vir´tus_).--Virtue alone is true nobility.

=Sola virtus invicta= (_sō´la vir´tus in-vik´ta_).--Virtue alone is invincible.

=Spectemur agendo= (_spek-tē´mur a-jen´dō_).--Let us be tried by our actions.

=Spes mea in Deo= (_spēs mē´a in Dē´o_).--My hope is in God.

=Spes tutissima cœlis= (_spēs tu-tiss´im-a sē´līs_).--The safest hope is in heaven.

=Sponte sua= (_spon´te su´ā_).--Of one’s own accord.

=Stat magni nominis umbra=--Lucan (_stat mag´nī nom´in-iss um´bra_).--He stands the shadow of a mighty name.

=Status quo= (_stā´tus kwō_).--The state in which. A legal term indicating the position in which a case stood before certain action was taken in it.

=Status quo ante bellum= (_an´te bell´um_).--The state in which both parties were before the war.

=Stet.=--Let it stand--_i. e._, remain as it was.

=Sua cuique voluptas= (_sū´a ku-ī´kwe vol-up´tas_).--Every man has his own pleasures.

=Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re= (_su-ā´vit-er in mod´o for´ti-ter in rē_).--Gentle in the manner, but vigorous in the deed.

=Sub judice= (_jū´diss-e_).--Under consideration. A legal phrase used to indicate that a case is still under consideration, during which time it is held to be contempt of court to comment upon the case in the public press or elsewhere.

=Sub pœna= (_pē´nā_).--Under a penalty.

=Sub rosa= (_rō´sā_).--Under the rose: privately. The rose in ancient times was the emblem of silence, and was used in decorations to show that anything said during the entertainment was not to be divulged. Cupid presented Harpocrates (the god of Silence) with a rose, not to betray the amours of Venus.

=Sub silentio= (_sil-en´shi-o_).--In silence.

=Sufficit= (_suf-fī´sit_).--It is enough.

=Sui generis= (_sū´ī jen´er-iss_).--Of its own kind; _i. e._, not referable to any particular class.

=Summum bonum= (_sum´mum bō´num_).--The chief good.

=Suo marte= (_sū´o mar´te_).--By one’s own exertions, without the assistance of others.

=Suppressio veri= (_sup-press´i-o vēr´ī_).--Suppression of the truth.

=Suum cuique= (_su´um ku-ī´kwe_).--Let every man have his own.

=T=

=Tabula rasa= (_tab´u-la rā´sa_).--A smooth or blank tablet. From the waxen tablets on which the ancients wrote with a sharp instrument called a _stilus_ or style, and with the broad upper end of which writing was erased.

=Tanto melior!= (_tan´tō mel´i-or_).--So much the better! well done! excellent!

=Telum imbelle sine ictu=--Virgil (_tē´lum im-bell´e sin´e ik´tū_).--A feeble weapon, thrown without effect.

=Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis= (_tem´-por-a mū-tan´tur et nōs mū-tā´mur in ill´īs_).--The times are changed, and we with them.

=Tempus fugit= (_fū´jit_).--Time flies. A Latin inscription frequently seen upon sun-dials and old church clocks.

=Tempus omnia revelat= (_om´nia re-vē´lat_).--Time unveils all things.

=Terra firma= (_ter´ra firm´a_).--Solid earth; a safe footing.

=Terra incognita= (_ter´ra in-kog´nit-a_).--An unknown country.

=Tertium quid= (_ter´shi-um kwid_).--A third something. A logical term.

=Toga virilis= (_tog´a vir-ī liss_).--The garb of manhood, assumed by Roman youth in their sixteenth year with considerable ceremony, usually at the feasts of Bacchus in March.

=Totidem verbis= (_tot´id-em ver´bis_).--In just so many words.

=Toto cœlo= (_tō´tō sē´lō_).--By the whole heavens: diametrically opposite.

=Tria juncta in uno= (_trī´a junk´ta in ū´no_).--Three joined in one.

=Troja fuit= (_Trō´ja fū´it_).--Troy was--_i. e._, exists no longer. Refers to the destruction of Troy by the Greeks (1184 B. C.).

=Tu quoque, Brute!= (_tū kwō´kwe Brū´tē_).--And thou too, Brutus! When Brutus, the friend and favorite of Julius Cæsar, struck the latter at his assassination, he uttered the words _Tu quoque, Brute!_ pulled his toga over his face, and sank, pierced with wounds, at the foot of Pompey’s statue.

=U=

=Ubique= (_ub-ī´kwe_).--Everywhere.

=Ubi supra= (_ub´i su´prā_).--Where above mentioned.

=Ultima ratio regum= (_ul´tim-a rā´shi-o rē´jum)_.--The last argument of kings. Louis XIV. placed this inscription on his great guns.

=Ultima Thule= (_ul´tim-a Thū´lē_).--The utmost boundary or limit. _Thule_ was an island regarded by the ancients as the most northerly point in the whole earth, and variously supposed to have been Iceland and one of the Shetland group.

=Ultimus Romanorum= (_ul´tim-us Ro-man-or´um_).--The last of the Romans.

=Ultra vires= (_ul´trā vī´rēs_).--Beyond one’s powers; beyond the rights possessed (legal).

=Uno animo= (_ū´no an´im-o_).--Of the same opinion.

=Usque ad nauseam= (_us´kwe ad naw´se-am_).--To utter disgust.

=Ut infra= (_in´frā_).--As below.

=Ut supra= (_su´prā_).--As above.

=V=

=Vade mecum= (_vā´de mē´cum_).--Go with me: a constant companion. Title given to medical and other handbooks for convenient reference.

=Vale= (_valē´_), or =Valeas= (_val´e-ass_).--Farewell, adieu. The usual parting salutation of the Romans.

=Valeat quantum valere potest= (_val´e-at kwant´um val-ēr´e pot´est_).--Let it pass for what it is worth.

=Valete, ac plaudite= (_val-ē´te ak plaud´it-e_).--Farewell, and clap. (The concluding words of a Latin comedy.)

=Vanitas vanitatum= (_van´it-ass van-it-ā´tum_).--Vanity of vanities.

=Variæ lectiones= (_var´i-ē lek-shi-ō´nēs_).--Various readings.

=Variorum notæ= (_var-i-or´um nō´tē_).--The notes of various authors.

=Varium et mutabile semper femina=--Virgil (_var´i-um et mū-tā´bil-e sem´per fē´min-a_).--A woman is ever changeable and capricious.

=Velis remisque= (_vē´līs rē-mīs´kwe_).--With sails and oars--_i. e._, with tooth and nail, with might and main.

=Veni, vidi, vici= (_vē´nī, vī´dī, vī´sī_).--I came, I saw, I conquered. By these three words--so easy was the victory--Julius Cæsar informed the Senate of his having defeated Pharnaces near Zela, 47 B.C.

=Ventis secundis= (_ven´tīs se-kun´dīs_).--With favorable winds.

=Verbatim et literatim= (_ver-bā´tim et lit-er-ā´tim_).--Word for word and letter for letter.

=Verba volant, scripta manent= (_ver´ba vol´ant, scrip´ta man´ent_).--Words fly, writings remain.

=Verbum sat sapienti= (_ver´bum sat sap-i-en´tī_).--A word is enough to a wise man.

=Veritas odium parit=--Terence. Truth procures hatred.

=Veritas vincit= (_very´tass vin´sit_).--Truth conquers.

=Versus= (_ver´sus_).--Against. A legal term.

=Vestigia= (_ves-tī´ji-a_).--Tracks; traces.

=Vestigia nulla retrorsum= (_ves-tī´ji-a null´a ret-ror´sum_).--No steps backward.

=Vetera extollimus, recentium incuriosi=--Tacitus (_vet´er-a ex-toll´im-us re-sen´shi-um in-ku-ri-ō´sī_).--We exalt the deeds of old, being indifferent to those of recent times.

=Vexata quæstio= (_vex-ā´ta kwēs´ti-o_).--A much-debated question.

=Via= (_vī´ā_).--By way of.

=Via media= (_vī´a med´i-a_).--A middle course.

=Vice= (_vi´se_).--In the place of.

=Vice versa= (_vi´se ver´sā_).--The terms being exchanged.

=Vide= (_vī´dē_)--See.

=Vide et crede= (_vī´de et krē´de_).--See and believe.

=Vide ut supra= (_vī´de ut sū´prā_).--See as above; see the preceding statement.

=Videlicet=--_viz._ (_vid-ē´liss-et_).--To wit; namely.

=Vi et armis= (_vī et ar´mīs_).--By force and arms--_i.e._, by main force.

=Vincit amor patriæ= (_vin´sit am´or pat´ri-ē_).--The love of our country prevails.

=Vincit omnia veritas= (_vin´sit óm´ni-a very´tass_).--Truth conquers all things.

=Vincit veritas= (_vin´sit very’tass_).--Truth conquers.

=Vinculum matrimonii= (_vin’ku-lum mā-tri-mō´ni-i_).--The bond of marriage.

=Vindex injuriæ= (_vin’dex in-jū´ri-ē_).--An avenger of injury.

=Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur= (_vir sap´it kwī paw´sa lok´-wit-ur_).--He is a wise man who says but little.

=Virtus est vitium fugere=--Horace (_vir´tus est vish´i-um fū´jer-e_).--It is virtue to avoid vice.

=Virtuti nihil obstat et armis= (_vir-tū´tī ni´hil ob´stat et ar´mīs_).--Nothing can resist valor and arms.

=Virtuti non armis fido= (_vir-tū´tī non ar´mīs fī´dō_).--I trust to virtue, and not to arms.

=Virtutis amor= (_vir-tū´tiss am´or_).--The love of virtue.

=Vis inertiæ= (_viss in-er´shi-ē_).--The power of inertia: passive resistance.

=Vivat regina!= (_vī´vat rē-jī´na_).--Long live the Queen! The phrase formerly used at the conclusion of royal proclamations.

=Vivat rex!= (_vī´vat rex_).--Long live the King!

=Viva voce= (_vī´vā vō´se_).--By the living voice: by oral testimony. That portion of an examination in which the candidate is tested as to his knowledge of the subject by an examiner who personally interrogates him.

=Vivida vis animi= (_vī´vid-a viss an´im-ī_).--The vigorous strength of intellect: the lively vigor of genius.

=Vivit post funera virtus= (_vi´vit post fū´ner-a vir´tus_).--Virtue survives the grave.

=Vox et præterea nihil= (_vox et prē-ter´e-ā ni´hil_).--A voice and nothing more.

=Vox populi, vox Dei= (_pop´u-lī, Dē´ī_).--The voice of the people is the voice of God. Quoted as a proverb by William of Malmesbury, author of “De Gestis Regum Anglorum,” twelfth century.

=Vulgo= (_vul´gō_).--Generally, commonly.

=Vultus est index animi= (_vul´tus est in´dex an´im-ī_).--The countenance is the index of the mind.

LITERATURE

Literature, in the widest sense, is the record of the impressions made by external realities of every kind upon great men, and of the reflections which these men have made upon them.

VAST RANGE OF LITERATURE

The subject matter of literature covers the whole range of human life and activity, as well as every known manifestation of physical nature. For not only are actual events and the doings and sayings of actual persons reproduced in it, but the rules deduced from the observation of the conditions of man’s life are included in its records. Similarly it presents to us not merely what individual men found to interest them in particular countries in a particular epoch, but also the general laws which have been gradually formulated by long-continued observation of the processes of nature.

Literature, therefore, plays a very important part in the life of man. It is the greatest of the secondary sources of knowledge, and it makes an immense contribution to the sum total of facts--the joint result of the experience of the individual and of the race--which gives to each one of us a wide outlook upon the world at large. But we must remember that literature--as literature--is concerned solely with the _subjective_ outlook upon the world.

WHY WE STUDY LITERATURE

In order to realize to how large an extent the subjective existence of man is made up of the material of books, we will pause a moment to consider what literature does for us. Through literature we converse with the great dead, with Plato, with Buddha, with Montaigne, with Addison; we walk the streets of Babylon, of Athens, of Rome, of Alexandria; we see great monuments, reared ages ago and long since crumbled to the dust; we recreate the life of distant epochs, and thus by comparison gauge the progress achieved by the men of today. Through literature we learn wisdom from Aristotle, geometry from Euclid, law from Justinian, morality from Christ and St. Paul. Literature makes the physical features, the inhabitants, the climate, the products of the antipodes as familiar as those of the neighboring county.

HOW IT HAS CREATED NEW WORLDS AND PEOPLES

More than this, the masters of creative literature have made regions of their own which they have peopled with the children of their genius. Homer has given us an Ægean of sunlit islands and purple seas; Dante, a dark and mysterious Inferno; Milton, a Garden of Eden; Shakespeare, an Elizabethan England, with landscapes more brightly hued, and men and women more finely real, than the landscapes or the people of the England of Elizabeth; Molière, a France more natural and more vivid than the France of the Grand Monarque. And so it is that Odysseus, Antigone, Beatrice, Hamlet, Tartufe and the rest, these spiritual offspring of great souls, live side by side with Moses, Alexander, Cæsar, Joan of Arc, Henry VIII., and Washington: for literature has made the personalities of each almost as familiar to us as those of our dearest or most intimate friends.

HOW LITERATURE HELPS US INTERPRET LIFE

There is one other important point which must be noticed. It is this: the _subjective_ outlook reacts upon the _objective_. The knowledge of the world which we gain through our own previous experiences, and through literature, increases our capacity for understanding the objective world, and heightens and intensifies the pleasure which we derive from the contemplation of works of art or of nature. It is this principle which underlies the truth which Goethe states when he says that a traveler does not take anything out of Rome which he has not first brought into it.

LITERATURE IS THE BRAIN OF HUMANITY

Just as in the individual the brain preserves a record of his previous sensations, of his experience, and of his acquired knowledge, and it is in the light of this record that he interprets every fresh sensation and experience, so the race at large has a record of its past in literature, and it is in the light of this record alone that its present conditions and circumstances can be understood. The message of the senses is indistinct and valueless to the individual without the co-operation of the brain; the life of the race would be degraded to a mere animal existence without the accumulated stores of previous experience which literature places at its disposal.

BOOKS AS LIBERAL EDUCATORS

So great is the part that books play in our life, or, at least, in the formation of our several personalities, that to master the contents of certain books of admitted excellence has always been considered a chief element in a liberal education; that is to say, it is a recognized method of introducing the mind to the world at large. We must, nevertheless, recognize a broad distinction in the manner in which books render us this assistance. In the case of some books the value of the contribution consists mainly, though not exclusively, in the actual facts which they contain; in others, the actual facts are of secondary importance and their chief value consists in the manner in which these facts are brought before our minds. No hard and fast line can be drawn between the two classes, but the difference may be broadly indicated by saying that while the former give us the _facts_ of life, the latter give us _pictures_ of life.

The distinction may be illustrated by one or two examples. Such works as Locke’s _Essay on the Human Understanding_, and Gibbon’s _Decline and Fall of Rome_, must obviously be placed under the head of books in which the facts are of first importance. Equally, the novels of George Eliot, in which she gives us a full and truthful picture of English midland life, must be included among those books where the presentation of the facts is of more importance than the facts themselves. And so, too, in the case of _The Story of an African Farm_, where we have a picture of rural life in South Africa, or in _Diana of the Crossways_. Only in the latter work the personality of the central character is so commanding that the book is not so much a picture as a portrait--a portrait of a beautiful and wayward woman exposed to temptation by the very abundance of her own gifts.

Here, then, we have two distinct elements, matter and manner; and it is upon the degree in which these elements are respectively present in any given work that the main divisions of literature--the division which separates works of creative literature from works of literature, simply so-called--is based.

Poetry, drama, history, biography, essays, description, criticism, the great masterpieces of fiction--all open up to us the untold wealth of reality and imagination.

ENGLISH LITERATURE

The English is the most remarkable as well as the most prolific of modern literatures. Before the Saxons invaded Britain there was a Celtic literature of a rhythmic character, preserved, in the main, orally by the Gaelic and Cymric elements of the population. Gaelic literature is associated with Fionn, Ossian, and the battle of Gabhra, alleged to have been fought A. D. 284, while Cymric literature finds powerful utterance in Aneurin’s poem, the _Gododin_, which celebrates the battle of Cattraeth, fought, according to tradition, in the year 570. During the fifth and sixth centuries various Teutonic tribes effected a settlement in Britain, and the island was ultimately subjugated by the Saxons. In the middle of the eleventh century it again suffered conquest at the hands of the Normans. The institutions and language of the conquerors were largely imposed upon the natives, and so great has been the vitality of the Saxon speech that about two-thirds of the words now composing the English language are, radically or derivatively, of Saxon origin.

So, the fabric of English literature is colored with the varying tints of racial characteristics--the somber imagination of the Celt, the flaming passion of the Saxon, the golden gaiety of France, and the prismatic fancy of the South. There have been many influences brought to bear upon its speech; yet, in this composite texture, the Anglo-Saxon element is dominant. That is the first outstanding fact of importance.

THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD, 449-1066

The existing remains of Anglo-Saxon literature include compositions in prose and poetry, some of which must be referred to a very early period, one or two perhaps to a time before the Angles and Saxons emigrated to England. Gildas, the author of a Latin treatise on British history, is the precursor of the Anglo-Saxon writers, but the earliest author of real distinction is St. Columbanus, an Irish missionary to western Europe, who wrote religious treatises and Latin poetry, and died in 615.

Cædmon, a monk of Whitby, was the first Anglo-Saxon writer of eminence who composed in his native tongue. Encouraged by the Abbess Hilda, he wrote his _Paraphrase_, in which he discoursed of the Creation and the Fall, and other Biblical themes. His verse was constructed neither in measure nor rhyme, but it was differentiated from prose by a kind of rough poetic alliteration.

The most important Anglo-Saxon poem is that called _Beowulf_, after its hero, extending to more than six thousand lines. This poem may be described as the heathen complement to Cædmon’s Christian _Paraphrase_. Beowulf is a Scandinavian prince, who slays a fiendish cannibal, after encountering supernatural perils, and is at last slain in a contest with a frightful dragon. Its scene appears to be laid entirely in Scandinavia. Its date is uncertain; parts of it may have been brought over at the emigration from Germany, though in its present form it is much later than this.

The next great name in the early literature is that of the Venerable Bede, who was born at Jarrow, and became the great monastic teacher of Wearmouth, dying in 735. He wrote numerous works in Latin, the chief of which was his famous _Ecclesiastical History of the Anglo-Saxons_.