# "De hominum [...] vita merita



## Enrico Davide Torò

Hi everybody,

Many thanks for checking in on this post. I'm Enrico, a Ph.D. student in philosophy with a passion for classics. I'm only now taking up again my Latin since High School and I'm currently trying to translate short Latin passages from some pagan and Christian authors alike. Could you help me out?

1) The first passage is from Cicero's _Tusculanes disputationes, _IV, 26, 57. The original Latin is the following: "_De hominum [...] vita merita_," where the implicit subject is _philosophia _('philosophy'). Davie and Griffin translate (quite liberally) this passage as follows: "philosophy is far form receiving the praise its services to human life have deserved."

I translated, more simply: "deserving the life of human beings," where the implicit subject, again, is philosophy. Do you find my translation appropriate?

< Other questions have been given their own threads.  Cagey, moderator > 


Many thanks to anyone who's willing to check these preliminary translations out. Any help is appreciated.

Best,

Enrico


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## Scholiast

saluete omnes

Perhaps Enrico could give us the complete sentence? I have tried checking the original text in Cic. (_Tusculan*ae* Disp._, incidentally), but failed to find it. What edition are you working from?

To the best of my knowledge and belief, Forum rules require adequate context for respondents to be able to give appropriate answers and assistance.

Σ


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## Agró

Book 5.6.
Splash Latino - Cicerone - Rhetorica - Tusculanae Disputationes - Liber Quintus - 6
(With Italian translation).


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## Cagey

Yes, a complete sentence should be provided whenever you ask a question in a WordReference forum.

[6] Cuius igitur potius opibus utamur quam tuis, quae et vitae tranquillitatem largita nobis es et terrorem mortis sustulisti? Ac philosophia quidem tantum abest ut proinde ac de hominum est vita merita laudetur, ut a plerisque neglecta a multis etiam vituperetur.
Cicero: Tusculan Disputations V - The Latin Library


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## Enrico Davide Torò

Dear all,

Many thanks for this. And pardon my sloppiness in providing the reference. Cagey is right. That's exactly the context of the quotation. 

As for the English translation, the one I referred to comes from the volume _On Life and Death__, _translated by Davie and Griffin.


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## Scholiast

saluete, Enrico et alii omnes

OK, here goes. 'Even philosophy is so far from granting suitable praise for a well-deserving human life, that while for the most part being wholly neglected, by many it is even criticized.'

Σ


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## Sobakus

philosophia quidem tantum abest ut proinde ac de hominum est vita merita laudetur = philosophia multum est dē hominum vītā merita (= multum hominibus prōfēcit), nōn tamen proinde laudātur (, quīn etiam vituperātur).


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