The voices / 57 fragments

Plautus

254 BC — 184 BC

Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.

Author and source reference ↗

▷ Play this voice Search within this voice ↗Place in time ↗wisdom justice patience life friendship love knowledge courage

Historical source references

Trinummus
Bacchides
Menæchmi
Aulularia
Captivi
Rudens
Truculentus
Epidicus
Mostellaria
Fortune · anthology attribution: Plautus
Friendship · anthology attribution: Plautus
Ingratitude · anthology attribution: Plautus
Slander · anthology attribution: Plautus
Printed citation: Plautus
Number 30 · printed citation: Plautus
Number 451 · printed citation: Plautus
Number 539 · printed citation: Plautus
Number 169 · printed citation: Plautus
Printed page 197 · quotation 5 · Plautus · Persa

Archive entries

01c. 219 BC

What is yours is mine, and all mine is yours.

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02c. 219 BC

Not by years but by disposition is wisdom acquired.

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03c. 219 BC

These things are not for the best, nor as I think they ought to be; but still they are better than that which is downright bad.

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04c. 219 BC

He whom the gods favour dies in youth.

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05c. 219 BC

You are seeking a knot in a bulrush.

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06c. 219 BC

In the one hand he is carrying a stone, while he shows the bread in the other.

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07c. 219 BC

I had a regular battle with the dunghill-cock.

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08c. 219 BC

It was not for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.

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09c. 219 BC

There are occasions when it is undoubtedly better to incur loss than to make gain.

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10c. 219 BC

Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.

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11c. 219 BC

If you are wise, be wise; keep what goods the gods provide you.

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12c. 219 BC

Consider the little mouse, how sagacious an animal it is which never entrusts its life to one hole only.

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13c. 219 BC

Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a friend in need.

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14c. 219 BC

Things which you do not hope happen more frequently than things which you do hope.

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15c. 219 BC

To blow and swallow at the same moment is not easy.

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16c. 219 BC

Each man reaps on his own farm.

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17Undated

The prudent man really frames his own fortunes for himself.

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18Undated

He is a friend indeed who proves himself a friend in need.

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19Undated

You love a nothing when you love an ingrate.

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20Undated

Those men who carry about and who listen to accusations, should all be hanged, if so it could be at my decision—the carriers by their tongues, the listeners by their ears.

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21Undated

Vulgarity in manners defiles fine garments more than mud.

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22Undated

Every man, however wise, sometimes requires the advice of a friend in the affairs of life.

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23Undated

"He wishes well" is worthless, unless the deed go with it.

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24Undated

Eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears.

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Plautus

Archive entries

Read further

Meditations

The Republic

Tao Te Ching